"All I'm saying, Bayley, is that I'm tired," Octavia sighed. "Tired of always doing what's expected of me. Tired of always being good. I'm fucking tired."
"You said the F word," Bayley looked surprised.
"Yeah, so?" Octavia shrugged.
The two friends had wandered a bit away from the party. Octavia looked down at herself and sighed. She felt awkward in that long, baby pink, cocktail dress. Her mother originally wanted to go for a full ball gown but Octavia had managed to talk her into this instead. It still had a tulle skirt though, something she would have loved not to wear. The top was full on lace in a floral pattern. Many girls would dream of an expensive dress like this. She dreamed of getting out of it.
"Oh my god, that's Roman Reigns," Bayley grabbed Octavia's arm and whispered the words.
Octavia looked up and noticed Roman on his motorcycle across the street. It was silly of Bayley to whisper since he couldn't hear them that far away. He was watching them though and Octavia became even more aware of the stupid dress she was wearing. She pushed the dress back in her mind, took a deep breath and looked at Bayley.
"If anyone asks, you don't know where I am. I went for a walk on my own," she said.
"Wait, you can't leave," Bayley protested.
"Why not?" Octavia asked.
"It's your party," Bayley answered.
"I'll be back soon. Just go back and enjoy yourself," Octavia said.
She moved forward before she lost her courage. Roman watched her inquisitively as she walked towards him. He knew who she was. Everyone knew who Octavia Helmsley was. He was surprised to see the raven haired beauty walk over to him. She stopped in front of him and he took in her bottle green eyes for a second. He had never been close enough to see her eye colour before even though he had watched her many times and overheard many conversations in school. He kept his mouth closed and waited for her to speak.
"I hear you're the one to go to for a good time," she said.
"You want me to corrupt you, princess?" He asked.
"I'm not a princess," she said.
"Yeah? What does your daddy call you?" He asked.
"Angel," she almost sounded ashamed.
"Daddy's little angel," he laughed. "I would have said perfect angel but since you're here talking to me, I know that would be the last thing he'd call you right now."
She looked down while tucking her hair behind her ear. She looked like she was second guessing herself about walking over to him. He couldn't deny he had pictured being alone with her many times and he didn't want her to leave. He got off his motorcycle, lifted up the seat and pulled out an extra helmet hidden in a room underneath.
"Here," he handed it to her.
He got back on his motorcycle while she put on the helmet. His own helmet hang on the steer. He grabbed it and put it on.
"Hop on, princess," He nodded behind him. "Your dress will probably be ruined once we get there but I got a feeling you don't care tonight."
"I don't even care where we're going," she said as she climbed on.
"You've been on one of these before?" He asked.
"No," she answered.
"Hold on to me and lean with me. Follow my movements," he said.
He fired up the engine. She clung to him while he drove. She had no idea where they were going and she didn't care. She just wanted one night of freedom. One night where she actually chose what she wanted to do and right now she wanted to be with him no matter where they ended. The ride was soon over and she stared at a cosy, little house.
"Punk lives here," he said.
"Punk?" She asked.
"Phil," he chuckled. "We all call him Punk."
"Didn't he drop out?" She asked.
"Yeah, to chase his dream of becoming a tattoo artist. He's really talented which is why they snatched him up down at Bo Dallas' shop right away. He's an apprentice right now but Bo has promised him a full time job once he's ready."
He helped her off the motorcycle and placed the helmet back under the seat. Her pink dress was dirty as expected and her hair had become a mess that actually looked good on her. As if she had a wild side.
"His parents aren't home but they don't mind us all being here," he said.
"Us all?" She asked.
"Yeah, let's go in and meat the others," he said.
A minute later she stared at Punk, Alexa and Dean. She knew Alexa from class since they were the same year but Dean and Roman were a year older than them. They all looked surprised to see her there.
"Octavia," Alexa tilted her head. "I never thought I'd see you here."
"I can leave if you want," Octavia said.
"What? No, stay. You're more than welcome," Alexa smiled. "I'm tired of being the only girl."
"My girl," Punk smirked.
"We know," Dean rolled his eyes while pointing his thumb backwards at Punk. "Asshole won't let us share her."
A pillow came flying and hit Dean in the back of his head.
"Hey! You almost made me drop my beer!" He shouted.
"Good," Punk said.
"Just because you don't drink, that doesn't give you the right to play saint," Dean said.
"You don't drink?" Octavia looked surprised.
"No one pressures each other here," Roman said. "You're welcome how you are. So beer or not?"
"Don't you got anything stronger?" She challenged him.
He licked his lips and let out a low chuckle before diving into a bag in front of Dean's feet and pulling out a bottle of whiskey.
"Help yourself," he handed her the bottle.
She couldn't back down now and she didn't want to either. She felt strangely welcome in this group. She grabbed the bottle, screwed the lid off and took a big swig.
"Friend!" Dean made puppy eyes.
"Behave!" Roman slapped Dean on the back of his head.
"Uh, looks like Roman's ready to cheat on you," Alexa joked.
She wasn't sure what Alexa meant by that joke so she took another swig of the bottle while the others laughed.
"Octavia ran away from her own party," Roman took a step closer to her. "Happy birthday, princess."
"How did you know?" She asked.
"Come on!" Dean laughed. "Everyone's heard about Octavia Helmsley's big 18 year old birthday. I think my invitation got lost in the mail, by the way."
"Sorry," she looked down.
"Hey, I'm kidding," he said.
"I wouldn't have minded you all coming. It's just my dad," she apologized.
"Your dad and your asshole boyfriend," Dean said.
They had expected her to protest or at least defend her boyfriend John Cena a bit but nothing came.
"Looks like you agree," Dean said.
"I don't know," she shrugged. "John is... well... John."
"You know he's a bully, right?" Roman asked.
"He gave Punk a hard time until Roman and I came along," Dean said.
"I still wanna punch his face," Punk said. "No offence to you, Octavia. You've never done any of us any harm."
"I don't like hurting people," she said.
She scratched her arm and tried finding something interesting to look at on the wall. She knew what they were saying was true and she felt embarrassed.
"So daddy's little angel finally stepped out of the shadows and decided to make a choice on her own. What happened tonight, princess?" Roman asked.
"I hate this dress," she answered.
"So take it off," Dean stuck out his tongue.
Another slap from Roman was delivered to the back of Dean's head.
"So daddy's angel, my princess tonight and what does John call you?" Roman asked.
"My name," she answered.
"What? No cute nickname?" He chuckled. "Why am I not even surprised?"
"I don't call him anything either," she said.
"You guys are so romantic," Dean rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"Who the fuck cares?" Punk shrugged. "As long as you're practicing safe sex so you don't get any of the diseases he might pick up from around town."
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked.
"He's cheating on you," Alexa said. "With almost anything that moves."
That was news to her. She knew he bullied people in school and she knew he loved to flirt but she didn't know he actually moved from flirting into other things with other women.
"Why are you even together? You don't seem to really care about him," Roman said.
"Our fathers own the law firm together. They're partners. We've just been put together ever since we were children. We're expected to get married and have kids of our own," she said.
His heart went out to her. No one really knows what's going on in another person's life. He placed his arms around her, dragged her to the couch, sat down and pulled her down on his lap.
"Well, princess, tonight we're gonna have some fun," he said.
"I'll drink to that," she held up the whiskey bottle.
A couple of hours flew by fast. She had never had that much fun and felt so welcome in a group of people before. It was like she had finally found her people as strange as it sounded. Everyone was drunk except for Punk.
"If you want a tattoo, I'm your man. I do all my friends for free," he offered.
"Really?" She asked.
"Yeah, he did mine," Roman flexed his arm while she looked at his tribal tattoo.
"It's beautiful," she said.
"Later," Alexa said. "One question, Octavia. What kind of underwear do you wear?"
"Excuse me?" Octavia looked shocked by that question.
"I'm guessing boring, white, cotton underwear. Old school. Something your mother has picked out for you and you've probably been wearing the same kind all your life," Alexa said.
Octavia looked ashamed. Alexa was spot on.
"If you were set free in an underwear store and could pick anything you wanted, what would you pick?" Alexa asked.
"I don't know," Octavia answered.
"Let's find out," Alexa grinned.
"Everything's closed now," Octavia said.
"Good thing I got keys," Alexa held up a set of keys. "What? Alexa Bliss, hello. My parents own Blissful Moments. You didn't think you were the only rich bitch here, did you?"
"Just go with it," Roman chuckled in her ear. "Alexa loves when we go raid her parents' mall after closing hours."
"We're not stealing. We're borrowing," Alexa said.
"And forgetting to return," Dean said.
Since Punk was sober, he drove them all to the mall. It wasn't a regular mall. This was like an old school mall where there weren't walls between the different sections. Octavia had never thought it was owned by Alexa's parents but it made sense.
"I'm making everyone ice cream soda," Dean said.
"Dean, we talked about this," Alexa said.
"It's tradition," Dean winked. "Octavia, what flavours would you like?"
"Ehm... Lemon soda and licorice ice cream," Octavia answered.
"Is that a good combo?" He asked.
"I don't know," she laughed. "But I'll find out soon."
Dean moved towards the snacks station while Alexa wrapped an arm around Octavia's lower back.
"Come on, girl. Let's find you some underwear and maybe some other clothes as well," she said.
"Shit, I'm drunk," Octavia shook her head.
"We all are," Alexa laughed. "Come on, Octavia."