If Amanda and Ali get kicked out of Vanish and blacklisted for brawling on the dancefloor, I won't hear the end of it.

I push through the crowd and finally, find them.

"Stop shouting," I stand in front of Amanda.

She relaxes for just a second, and it is enough time for Graham and me to usher her off the dancefloor.

"Get your coat," I tell her. "We're leaving."

"Ali is the one causing problems," Amanda says.

"And she is leaving too," I tell her.

She sighs, but storms downstairs to the coat check.

Graham and I head back to the bar. I try to settle both our tabs, but he insists on covering my bill. I don't argue, since I only ordered two drinks. Once I've got my card back, I go and find Ali, and I force her out too. John and Graham get into an argument, with John pulling at Ali trying to get her to go home with him. I manage to get her out of John's grip while the two men get into a heated argument.

After I practically drag Ali's plastered ass down to coat check and out of the bar, Amanda is waiting impatiently outside. She looks at us, with me practically carrying Ali over my shoulder, and turns her back, beginning to walk back to the flat. I struggle after her, dragging Ali behind me as I walk.

"Here," I turn my head at the sound of a man's voice. Blaise approaches us. He has an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips, which explains why I didn't recognize the voice at first. Still, he scoops Ali up from underneath one of his arms.

"Aren'tchu handsome," she is slurring her words a bit. I notice now that we are finally free of that pounding music.

"Thanks," I manage, looking him over.

He offers me a slight smile, and he begins to walk with Ali. I let them go ahead of me since the sidewalk isn't wide enough for all of us, listening to Ali complimenting him. He ignores it, for the most part.

"After we drop them off, you interested in drinking?" I recognize Draco's voice from behind me.

Without turning around to look at him, I walk forward. I listen to his footsteps accelerating until he is walking beside me.

"Are you following me?" I ask.

"At this moment, technically," he muses. "More generally, no."

My head turns to look up at him. He shrugs, continuing to stalk forward, trailing after Blaise, who is following Amanda. I don't even have a second to pause on the idea of showing these men where I live. It could be dangerous, but also three drunk girls walking together at night is probably just as dangerous.

I mean, I could have asked Graham to walk us home. He seemed to be preoccupied with his fight with John. Also, Graham is only theoretically safer than these men. He acts kinder, which perhaps might make him all the more dangerous.

"I already told you, I'm not putting out tonight," I continue to explain.

"If I wanted to sleep with someone easily, I wouldn't be bothering you," Draco says.

I almost scoff, "what, do women just throw themselves at you then?"

My eyes are fixed on Ali, who is still rattling off something to Blaise. He is a good friend I guess, for putting up with her drunken attempts at flirting just so his mate can try to coax me away. Blaise looks back at us and offers a thumbs up with his free hand before Ali nearly slips and his attention snaps back to her.

"If you want to put it that way," Draco shrugs, "although, women who throw themselves at me aren't nearly as interesting as the ones who don't."

There is a gleam in his eye. As intolerable as he was minutes ago, he is at least attempting to be pleasant now. In fact, he peers at me as best as he can, for seconds at a time.

"Well, if you are looking for a woman who doesn't like you, you've found the right one," I grimace.

It's hard to look away from him. His gaze is so intense. At least, when he bothers to look at me it's intense. Half of the time, he cannot stand my appearance, that much is clear. Maybe it directly correlates to what I am wearing. The first night we met, I had on a flannel and shorts. At Mad Goodbye, I was wearing a regular jumper, which I suppose is more attractive. Now, my body is on full display, and every time I turn my head to see his eyes, he is watching me.

"I guess you're right," he answers, looking away.

"Usually am," I look forward again, and see Blaise struggling.

I move over and help him carry Ali. We trail behind Amanda, whose pace has picked up. She practically races home. All the way back to our flat, Ali is rambling to Blaise, not paying me any mind. We get back to the flat, and struggle to bring Ali up the lift, to the best of our abilities. Amanda doesn't lock the front door behind her, so at least we get in with ease.

I take Ali to her bedroom and force her to lie on her side. After dragging the garbage can over to her, I use a makeup wipe to get off the best of her makeup. She mumbles a thank you, and she's half-asleep within seconds.

Satisfied, I make my way into the living area. Blaise is examining the pictures of us on our only shelving unit. Draco has picked up the deck of cards on it. He peers at them.

"They're from a giftshop," I tell him, gesturing to the cards. "Ali got them in London."

He puts them back, next to the other games. Niamh brought a bunch of board games when she first moved in, but she never plays them with us. Once, she had a board game night when she thought we'd be out of the house. Our plans got cancelled because of the rain, and she was not happy.

"Should we go?" Draco asks, looking back at me.

I smirk, "you really don't know how to hear the word, do you?"

"Afraid not," Blaise smirks.

Draco shoots him a glare.

It seems Draco was right when he promised to see me again. It also seems that I may poor decisions sober and worse decisions drunk.

"Give me a minute," I relent.

I head into my bedroom and slip on some socks so that I can wear shoes other than those heels. While I have enough time to change outfits, I don't. Not only do I not know what to change into, but I also don't know that I want to look any more frumpy than I currently do. I need all the favours that I can have.

Once I'm back in the main area, I slip on some shoes, and we head out the door. I make sure to lock it behind me just in case Blaise decides to slip back here after he ditches Draco and me. We make our way out of the building into the dark night.

It's cold outside. My jacket feels lighter now that the wind is picking up and the warmth of alcohol and adrenaline isn't filling my body anymore. I keep my teeth from chattering, but I rub my arms to try to stop the shivering.

Blaise pulls a flask out of his pocket, offering it to me, "if you're interested."

"There's no GHB in that, is there?" I ask, a smile on my face.

He unscrews the cap and takes a sip. I watch him swallow. Handing it back to me, he winks.

I take a sip. It's stronger than the stuff I usually take, and almost immediately I feel warmer. Bolder as well.

"Sorry, what'd you say your last name was?" Blaise asks again, looking me over.

"Miller," I tell him. I run my tongue over my teeth, covering my mouth with my hand. "What was that?"

"Blishen's," he answers.

I almost laugh, "let me guess, it's 300 pounds for a bottle. Something ludicrous."

"It is ludicrous," Draco answers, looking at Blaise.

Blaise shrugs his shoulders, "like you don't have a bottle of Blishen's in that stupid castle that you plan on sharing with her."

"Well, I don't mind wasting your money," I joke, looking between the pair of them. "If I'm going to waste anyone's money, I'd rather it be yours."

"Not that bloke from the hotel?" Draco pulls out his own flask. Unlike Blaise, who only sipped on the contents, I watch him chug it down. He doesn't know how to drink in moderation, but I guess I don't either anyway. He finally breaks. "I saw him settle your tab."

"We had a bet," I explain. "That I lost, but he paid anyway, probably because he felt guilty that I have such shit flatmates, or maybe he's trying to get in my pants, but I don't fuck coworkers. I mean, I don't generally fuck anyone, but especially not coworkers."

The words are shooting out of my mouth, like a gun with a trigger stuck. I've never held a gun, but I once saw a movie where the trigger got jammed and the gun kept firing. Maybe that's not possible in the real world, but it doesn't matter. I'm so drunk that the alcohol content of the liquor has disintegrated the filter between what I think and what I say.

"So you're a virgin," Blaise laughs.

"No," I correct him. "I might look less than fuckable, but I assure you-"

"Do you intend to talk unless we cut you off?" Draco asks. He shoves his hands deep into the pockets of his trousers and leans forward. Sulking like a child.

"Maybe," I look down.

We stop at a corner, waiting for the light to change.

"I'd listen to her talk all night, but unfortunately, I'm going to leave you two kids to party. Enjoy yourselves," Blaise wraps an arm around my shoulder. "You know, I think I'm going to like you, Jane. Hopefully, you put up with him for long enough for me to see you again."

He nods, and then turns and walks off in the direction. He jogs across the street, just in time for the light to change in our direction.

Draco and I continue our journey.

~~~~~

Oh hello. Shit is going down. I think chapter 8 in particular is going to be a super fun time for you all. Let me know what you think in the comments!