- Breaking Benjamin, Follow -

https://open.spotify.com/track/6zOhqIUxnJllXN59FSvXcq

-April 25th -

Having a birthday party turned out to be an interesting experience.
I should have known there would be chaos the moment the door opened and Ellen came in with a bottle of tequila and a bag of limes.
An hour and three shots later, Simon came in with a case of beer, closely followed by Selma, Oddball and Ethan.

Just in time to see Ellen and me standing on the coffee table belting out Breaking Benjamin tunes with the stereo set to loud.
Selma took it all in stride. She jumped into the sofa and started singing with us. Over by the doorway, the most beautiful grey eyes in the world were filled with laughter at our dodgy airguitar and headbanging moves. Oddball went over to the dresser where the tequila was stood next to two shotglasses. He sniffed he bottle before poured some into a shotglass and downed it with a grimace.

"Ugh. I'm sticking to beer," he grunted and followed Simon to the kitchen.

The song ended and I did a spontaneous split jump off the table and landed in a weird kneeling position next to the stereo. Ellen decided to be ladylike and descend via the sofa, but being balance-impaired after tequila and headbanging, she tripped over Selma, sending them both tumbling.
I stood up, lowered the volume of the stereo and went to help the laughing bundle of girls. Ethan was already there, trying to sort out which leg belonged to which body. I simply tugged on an arm and helped Selma to her feet.
She squealed and pulled me into a hug.

"Most of the guests aren't even here and we're already trashing the house," Ethan said dryly indicating the scattered throw cushions in my mum's sofa.

I handed Ellen up and suddenly had both girls standing up looking at me with big smiles.

"Birthday toast?" Ellen asked and headed for the tequila.

"Yeah!" I cheered and dragged Selma over to the booze.

I filled both shotglasses before I realised we were four people in the room.

"We'll share for this one, " Ellen said and handed one to Ethan and the other to me before holding the salt out to me.
I widened my thumb out and received a sprinkle of salt on the little hollow of skin between my index and thumb. I picked up a wedge of lime with the same thumb and index finger as Ellen poured salt on Ethan's hand and placed a lime in his grip.

"Hang on," Selma said as I got ready to lick the salt.

I stopped and looked at her just in time to see her and Ellen exchange a quick look. I narrowed my eyes and prepared for some potentially incriminating idea.

"Yeah... It's bad luck to lick the salt from your own hand," Ellen said innocently.

Selma nodded convincingly, but I recognised the look of miscief in her eyes as identical to her brother's.
I braved a look at Ethan who shrugged with one of those crazy hypnotic, trademark, shy smiles of his.

Ellen hid a smirk behind Ethan's back and I decided to play along.

"Ready?" I asked.

Ethan nodded back with a smile, and I found myself lifting my hand to his mouth.

Our eyes locked as my lips touched his skin and his touched mine. The shudder through my body as his toungue licked the salt from my skin felt like an earthquake and I saw the pulse in his pupils as my toungue traced his skin.
It felt like lighting a fuse. I had no idea where the dynamite was hidden but at that moment, the explosion felt imminent.
The salt hit my tastebuds and woke me up enough to remember what I was doing and the sharp hit of the tequila brought me back down to earth.
By the time I bit the lime, my head was back in the real world, but my body was everywhere else.
My heartbeat was pounding in places there was no logical explanation for and I was having a very hard time getting oxygen into my lungs. The piece of skin he had just touched was giving me goosebumps down to the soles of my feet.
His gunmetal grey eyes, with the beautiful gold, were still on mine as we handed the glasses to Ellen and Selma.

"Happy birthday, Izzy," he said with a deeper voice than normal.

Before I could answer, the doorbell rang and the rest of the party guests arrived. The spell was broken and the party was started.

A fair few hours, and half a bottle of tequila into the party, I was in the kitchen with Selma and Ellen.
The good buzz from the alcohol lay over me like a fog. My hand was still tingling from where Ethan's toungue had licked it. I almost felt that the spot could be luminescent and kept looking at it in case it was becoming visible.
My eyes had been chasing Ethan all night, but hostess duties had held me from actually being in the same area as him at any time. He and Oddball had taken on the responsibility of keeping the music going and were doing regular runs down to my basement to keep variation and requests booming in the living room.
But I had a beer in my had, a load of friends and good music.
I was having the best birthday of my life.

"Oh this is too funny," Simon laughed as he entered the kitchen.

He was still chuckling as he got himself a drink.

"What's the joke?" Ellen asked.

He casually handed her a can of beer.

"Oh nothing... Just Ethan being manhandled by Vero," he grinned.

We stared at him.

"Deer in headlights! No escape!" Simon laughed.

I felt my eyes narrow and my mouth turn into a straight line.
Ignoring Selma and Ellen's hands trying to hold me back I walked over to the doorway into the living room to check the damage.
Ethan was pinned up to the wall by the sofa by a dirtily grinding Vero. The look of flirty lust on her face was matched by a look of terror on his.

I was suffering from drunken tunnel vision and suddenly felt the urge to do something. I squared my shoulders.

"Oh shit," Ellen muttered behind me at the same time as Simon laughed.

"This should be good!" Simon laughed.

I shook Selma's hand off and marched across the room. As if I was just casually strolling through the room I wandered towards Ethan and Vero.

"That one's not yours," I said firmly at the same time as I wrapped her blond ponytail around my hand yanking her backwards with me.
In my own mind I managed this elegant feat, all without breaking a single drunken stride.

Tugging on her hair I dragged her into the hallway where I released her and turned to face her livid expression.

"What the fuck, Izzy" She spat.

I grinned angrily.
I was drunk.
Drunk enough to have to support myself on the wall with my hand.
Again, in my drunken head, I looked strong and confident

"What's your problem?" She asked again.

My vision swam, but she was provoking me. With herculean effort I pulled myself together and squared my shoulders.

"The problem is that you don't get to maul just anyone!" I said pointing a finger in what I hoped was the general direction of her face.

"Maul?" She hissed.

"You have no idea, Vero... You don't respect personal space or privacy or anybody else's feelings do you?" I asked.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

I stared at her, feeling angry, and drunk, and annoyed, and hurt by Ethan's apparent lack of interest, and stupid for feeling so addicted to him.

"Lay off Ethan!" I hissed.

She stared at me for a few minutes before an evil smirk spread across her face.

"He's cute tho" She said with an even voice but with a gleeful look in her eyes.

I narrowed my eyes.

"I bet under that quiet extreior, he's a beast," Vero taunted.

"Just... don't fucking touch him," I warned.

"Because... why?" Vero asked with a wicked enjoyment.

It struck me that she might be a fraction more sober than yours truly, but I was way out of my own control.
Even in my drunken state, I registered people watching the whole exchange. Simon was looking very serious, as if my next words would seal his fate. Oddball was stood with a smirk and arms crossed.

And then there was Ethan. His face was lit up in a careful smile. His hands were in his pockets and something about the look in his eyes reminded me of a child at christmas. He was enjoying my chivalry.
And he was pissing me off.

I looked back at Vero.

Because why...?
I couldn't give her an honest answer. Even my drunk mind was able to run censorship on that much.

"Just... don't!" I said.

"Why? So you can have him?" She smirked.

And I lost it.
I snarled like a wild beast and started launcing myself towards her. Before I got to her, Ellen and Selma had grabbed my arms and I was being dragged backwards into a spare room.

I struggled to get free from them but the moment the door closed behind Ellen I realised what just happened. With a feeling of complete terror, I collapsed on the floor and I began to cry. Big ugly heaving sobs and tears pouring down my face. Thankfully I wasn't a drunk howling crier, but still.

Selma sat down on the floor next to me. Ellen sat down on my other side.

For a few minutes I sat with my hands in front of my face and let the tears run.
It calmed, I looked up at my two friends and saw the smirks on their faces. And the full extent of what I had just done, dawned on me.

"Fuck!" I exclaimed and rolled front first into fetus position with my face into the floorboards.

I didn't even care that my ass was up in the air as I hit the floor with my fists.

Ellen laughed quietly.

"Well... That certainly told my brother didn't it?" Selma laughed.

"I am such a fuck up!" I moaned.

I was still drunk, but suddenly the comedy of the situation dawned.

I sat up into kneeling position and saw how the other two were withholding giggles.

I started laughing too. I had almost attacked Vero.
Over Ethan.

"I have fucked up so bad!" I muttered once the laughter stilled.

Ellen patted my knee.

"How am I ever going to look him in the face after that?" I groaned.

"Well... chances are he is flattered," Selma said.

I reached out to whack her, but the alcohol was still playing tricks on my system and the motion made me feel dizzy in an unwanted way. I closed my eyes and fought back the wave of nausea.

"I think I need to go to bed!" I announced and stood up.

The floor felt uneven and the whole house swayed for a few seconds before I fell down.

I woke up the next morning with my mouth feeling like the Sahara desert and a feeling of absolute dread in my gut. I opened my eyes to see a disgustingly fresh Oddball sat in the armchair in the corner.

"Playing damsel in shining armor knock you out?" He asked.

I groaned.
Oddball laughed quietly.

"How bad did I fuck up?" I asked, considering if it could be possible to never get out of bed.

"You kinda did stake a claim there Iz," Odd chuckled.

I groaned into my pillow.
This was bad.
It was worse than bad.
It was a fucking catastrophe.

"So how much can I blame on alcohol?" I asked barely daring to lift my head.

I still spotted Oddball's pearly white teeth, glinting like a choir of happy little gnomes. His dimples had never been deeper.

"None what so ever," he chuckled.

"And how much did Ethan catch of it?" I asked fearful of the answer.

"Enough to put a smile on his face," Odd said.

"I want to die!" I muttered into my pillow.

"No you don't. You want to shower. Brush your teeth. Get dressed and then go down into the basement and tell Ethan straight up that you want his babies," Odd laughed.

I threw my pillow at his head realising I had given him my only escape from burying my blushing face.

The door opened and Simon sauntered in.

"So. How's our little wildcat? Still in the mood for saving other people's virtue?" He grinned and sat at the edge of my bed.

I burrowed into my cover.

"That was beyond impressive. Hell. If you had blazed in like that for me, I'd be flattered!" Simon laughed.

I sneaked a look at him.

"Alcohol is not my friend!" I stated.

"But you become so much fun when you drink!" Simon grinned.

I blushed, deeply.
Remembering how Simon and I had kissed that new years eve when we were sixteen. We had shared a bottle of wine and somehow ended up kissing as if it had been the end of the world, not the end of the year. I still blushed to think what could have happened if our parents hadn't come back from their party and given us hell for drinking.

Simon smirked at me and I knew he was thinking about the same new years eve. He winked and suggestively licked his lips. I kicked him.

"Ouch!" He said.

"Not funny!" I growled.

"It could have been," He smirked.

I slowly counted to three, before sending him the best deadpan look I could muster.

"I love messing with you," Simon wispered and leant down to kiss my cheek.

I decided I needed a trip to the toilet so I stood up and realised I was in my underwear.

"Who undressed me?" I asked.

"That would be Ellen and my sister," I heard from the doorway.

I turned to see a very amused Ethan casually leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
Recalling I was still stood in my bra and panties and for some reason a single sock I froze in place for a few seconds wishing this was a bad dream.

"Fuck!" I said and stomped into the bathroom while trying to hide my blush and embarassed state. I got into the bathroom before remembering that I hadn't brought any fresh clothes. Cracking open the door I registered Ethan sitting on my bed, Oddball still in my chair and Simon leafing through the CD's on my bedside table.

"Simon!" I hissed drawing three faces towards me.

"Yeah?" Simon drawled lazily before he slowly drifted over.

"I need clothes!" I muttered.

His eyebrow raised.

"Underwear in the second drawer. Sweats under that. T-shirts top drawer!" I said.

"I'm on it. Unless you want Ethan to pick your undies?" Odd chuckled with a thumb towards my bed... and the boy on it.

"Fuck off and just get me some clothes!" I hissed and tried to avoid glancing at the boy currently sat with my paperback copy of 'Pride and Prejudice', actually looking like he was reading it.

I closed the bathroom door and heard some discussion regarding colours, presumably centered on my not very matched up underwear collection. Mostly boring black.

"What about this?" I heard Oddball's voice.

"I don't care," I heard Ethan say.

Great.
He didn't care.

"Sure you don't!" Oddball laughed.

"Not about her underwear you moron!" Ethan said.

"So....?" Simon asked.

There was a silent pause before I heard Oddball's laughter.

"I fucking knew it!" Oddball laughed.

"Shut up! I'm going to get breakfast on," I heard Ethan say before foosteps left my room and someone knocked on my bathroom door.

I opened to see Simon with a pile of clothes.
I saw the other two had left the room and felt my bottom lip quiver.

"Aww... Izzy! Don't cry!" Simon said before he pulled my still mostly undressed form into a hug.

"I just screwed up everything. I'm so sorry!" I muttered.

"Apart from possibly giving Ethan chronic blush for the next week, no harm done," Simon said before pushing me off and eyeing my body.

"Although you are making me feel all kinds of weird here...." he chuckled.

I groaned and retreated out of the hug and into the bathroom for a shower.

"Get the coffee on!" I ordered as I closed the door.

I showered and pulled the clothes on, registering that they had settled for a modest black underwear set rather than the hot pink one. I pulled my sweats and t-shirt on and twisted my hair into a loose bun before gathering all my courage.
With my heart nervously pounding in my ears and my palms sweaty, I went downstairs to face my humiliation.
I looked around and saw to my amazement that the lounge in front of me and the hallway were tidy. Not a single trace of a party left.
I slowly headed down the hallway and heard laughter from the kitchen. I stopped for a second to listen.
Just in case I needed to find the nearest shovel and appropriate site for my self-dug grave.

"..oh the look on Vero's face when you told her to get lost!" Odd said.

"And Selma smacking you over the head!" Simon laughed.

"What I want to know is what you're actually going to say to Izzy," Oddball said

"I don't know..." Ethan said doubtfully.

"I suggest you leave it. It could get weird if she was just drunk and impulsive last night. I mean... you don't want to ruin a good friendship," Simon said.

"I don't think that was just alcohol. She wouldn't have defended me or you like that," Oddball chuckled.

"Will you two leave it? Izzy doesn't like me like that," Ethan muttered.

"But you want her to?" Oddball asked.

"Yeah...well... " Ethan sighed.

I was still around the corner. My heart thundering.
Had Ethan just said that he wanted me to like him?
As in... like him?
I realised my stalkerish behaviour and decided to make an entrance.
I waited untill the conversation in the kitchen had moved safely on to a new song that Oddball and Simon were trying to write. It was riddled with bad rhymes and they were looking for new phrasings to match the melody.

I sat down at the table.
As if by magic a big mug of coffee appeared. Out of sheer habit I held it up, waiting for Simon to clink.
Like a lemon I ended up not getting the response I wanted.
I sighed.

"How do you feel?" Oddball asked.

"Like I made an ass of myself!" I responded honestly.

Oddball chuckled and placed a couple of pancakes in front of me.

"Thanks!" I muttered.

"You're welcome," Ethan smiled.
I dared a look at him to see him in an apron and the skillet in his hand.

"Well... I am going to tidy up downstairs. Simon?" Oddball said firmly.

Simon nodded reluctantly and left the table with Oddball after sending Ethan a look of warning.
I turned to the pancakes and tucked in.

"Hey. These are pretty good!" I said.

"I can smell Ethan-pancakes!" I heard from the hallway as Selma came in.

Bouncing over, she kissed her brother's cheek.

"I knew that was you cooking the moment I smelled the cardamom!" She chirped with her arms around his waist.

"It's just pancakes," Ethan said.

"But you are the god of cooking! Izzy still sleeping? You know... extra brownie points for bringing her breakfast in bed and all that jazz," She chatted.

Ethan shook his head and nodded subtly towards me.

I didn't miss the smirk flashing over her face before she turned around and spotted me.
She stopped and registered that there weren't anybody else in the room.

"Did I interrupt something?" She asked cautiously.

I braved a look up at Ethan and saw a small smile on his face.

"Nah... just breakfast," he said.

I nodded gratefully as our eyes met in a mutual agreement that we were awkwardly okay.

Selma looked between us before getting a cup and filling it with coffee.
There was a plate of pancakes already there when she sat down next to me.

"Oh... I almost forgot. Happy birthday, Izzy!" Selma said and pulled an envelope out of her hoodie.

I took it and opened to find two tickets to an upcoming Prince concert.

"Thank you," I said and gave her a seated hug.

"It's from both of us," she said and indicated the man with the apron and spatula.

For a second I hesitated. There was the mature option of standing up, walking over and giving him a hug. Or the childish option of a smile and a nod.
The embarassed look on his face told me he was having a similar dilemma.

"For the love of... Just fucking hug it out!" Selma huffed looking between us.

I stood and took the couple of steps over, prepared for an awkward quick pat on the back. To my surprise he pulled me into him and kissed my forehead, just at the hairline, before he drew back with a smile.

"For the record? I would have saved you too," he said, finally acknowledging the big pink elephant in the room.

I breathed out in relief and started laughing.

"So? We're good?" I asked cautiously.

"Yeah. We're good," he grinned.

(A/N:
A bit of drunken debauchery there for you!
Izzy really can not handle her alcohol...

So. Just to be on the adult side here...
Getting drunk is an experience most people go through.
I have had my fair share of drunk adventures, but that doesn't mean I encourage it.
Drink sensibly. And make sure you and your friends look after each other if you ever do drink...

Adult moment over...)