"Winnie, this is a horrible idea," Sadie said quickly, jogging to match her possessor's swift pace.
Winnie said nothing.
"Come on! I'm not even eighteen yet. We're gonna get caught! Like, what do we do if the bartender asks for our IDs and we don't have ones that say we're twenty-one?"
Winnie said nothing. Her pace visibly quickened. Sadie was running out of breath and patience.
"Winnie!" she darted in front of her, firmly putting her foot down, though she was not confident at all. Winifred stopped and stared Sadie down, piercing white eyes crackling like ice, completely devoid of expression. Neither of them said anything for a while, and Sadie began feeling more and more anxious, her gut screaming at her not to follow along with Winnie's impulsivity.
"If you're just going to stare at me, then get out of my way," the white-haired girl snapped, shouldering past Sadie, blue cloak swimming in the chilled wintry winds, footsteps slamming down harder on the pavement with each step.
And Sadie stood there, not bothering to even look back. She kept to herself for a while and finally decided that it would be best just to go, maybe keep an eye on Winnie. She didn't have to drink, she concluded. It would be better if she went, anyway; she'd never seen Winnie drunk- no one had- and perhaps if she were there she could prevent anything bad from happening.
Poppy and Jaeda stood waiting at the door, Jaeda seemingly comfortable in her thick parka, but Poppy was shivering in her poorly chosen cardigan.
"If I'd known you two were going to take so long, I would've just brought my jacket!" Poppy complained, teeth chattering against the frigid temperatures.
"You're an idiot, then," Winnie said flatly; was that friendly teasing or genuine bluntness?
"Oh geeeeez," said Poppy, rolling her eyes with a smile, her rosy lips blushing blue. She seemed to be very cold, Sadie noted to herself, and felt undeniably guilty. Maybe if she hadn't argued with Winnie, then her poor friend wouldn't be suffering as much.
"We should go in," Jaeda said softly, taking Poppy's red-tinted hands.
"Your hands are so warm, Jade!" Poppy exclaimed very loudly, taking Jaeda's other hand and forcing her own into it. "You should get me some of these gloves, too!"
Jaeda smiled, her gentle brown features warm and calm. She was always so benign, thought Sadie, admiring her.
Inside the bar, the atmosphere was lively and jovial, pasty red faces on these merry fat men, of whom scarfed their cocktails and wine, beer dribbling down their chins, sweaty waistcoats with buttons popped to reveal ugly chests forested in curly black hair, countering the thin bartender, who seemed opposite of his rowdy customers; slicked brown hair, face of fancied countenance, posture upright and conceited, snobbishly dishing out drinks and cleaning glasses with papery white cloths.
"I don't quite like this place…" Sadie muttered, though no one heard her over the boisterous cheering and yelling.
"Hey Poppy, Jaeda," said the bartender, suddenly warm and friendly. He glanced at Winnie and Sadie, eyebrows raised as he scanned over them. "Friends of yours?"
"Hella," Poppy said with a wink, "we dormed through aca and all that shit."
But they had never dormed through academy; you didn't dorm with people who weren't in your grade, and Poppy and Jaeda were in a grade higher than them. Sadie wondered if this was another one of Poppy's tricks, one to ensure the bartender didn't ask for IDs. Surely they looked twenty-one, but something made Sadie's stomach churn with anxiety.
The bartender seemed to buy Poppy's lie; was he always this gullible, or did Poppy just gain his trust enough to be able to lie without being questioned? Perhaps there was a more cunning side to Sadie's friend than she initially considered.
Winnie seemed to be very much into this whole drinking scheme and curtly requested for the bar's most powerful drink, something Sadie was rather taken aback by.
"Are you sure, Winnie?!" the blue-haired girl grabbed her possessor's cloak and tugged frantically on it.
"Damn, I didn't take you for much of a reckless bitch," Poppy said with a smirk, leaning her arm on Winnie's shoulder, "I love it!"
Winnie barely reacted and quietly paid for her request, downing it in a matter of seconds, cherry red vodka dripping down her neck, and when she pulled back there was an icy fire in her eyes, pale lips bruised crimson, chest hefty with gasps for air.
"Holy shit, Win! Drink, girl!" Poppy cheered, raising her own blood-red glass.
Sadie and Jaeda made eye contact, Sadie with a concerned countenance, Jaeda with a slightly amused/worried mixture.
Winnie continued chugging glasses with no second thought whatsoever. Sadie had never seen this side of her; impulsive, reckless, and… Drunk?
The white-haired girl grabbed Sadie by the collar of her sweater and pushed her face close. Winnie's cheeks were stained with a red blush, her breath tinged with the strong stench of alcohol, lips dripping with vodka.
"W-Winnie…?" Sadie's heart began to pound viciously in her chest, thumping and thumping until she was certain everyone could hear it.
She felt the sting of spiked cherries melt into her mouth, a surprisingly pleasant, yet strong, sensation. Soft, wetted lips molded onto her own, another tongue pressing onto hers, mouths dancing, warming and strange feelings, cravings, thoughts, wanting to be touched other places, bodies creeping closer, fingers slipping into one another's, other hand rummaging through tangly white hair, pushing that head closer, closer…
Winnie had kissed her, she realized. And then she was suddenly pushed up against the wall. Winnie's gentle lips slid down the crevices of her neck, and Sadie was unaware of anything else- any sounds, sights, touches- just Winnie. All Winnie. Winnie kissing her, Winnie touching her- Winifred. The long cloak of the girl shielded their bodies from sight, and she met Sadie's sapphire eyes, just staring, then pressing her finger up to her lips.
"Shh." Her delicate fingertips traced Sadie's inner thigh, climbing up her leg, pushing past her skirt, down her-
Sadie couldn't suppress a gasp of surprise as Winnie touched her. Her body was craving it, she pushed her hips outward, grabbing her possessor's wrist, wanting more. She knew that, somewhere, deep down, this was wrong. They shouldn't be doing things like this at such a young age, more or less in a public bar.
As common sense overtook Sadie, she abruptly shoved Winnie away from her, who fell to the floor in silence. She looked to her left, there seemed to be men watching with suggestive expressions, and she clenched her fists. She looked to her right, and there were her friends, who were staring, their eyes wide with shock.
Sadie felt her cheeks burn and ran out of the bar without daring to look back.