"Are you two ready yet?" Ste shouted frustratingly up the stairs as he adjusted the cuffs of his baby-blue shirt with a struggle.
Danni and Sunil hopped their way downstairs, both giggling and fixing their hair one last time. "Ooh, check you out! On the pull tonight, are we?" Sunil nodded at Ste. "Eh, no, I thought we were just spending some time-" Ste mumbled as the two brushed past him towards the door. "Have you got your wallet and phone?" Danni asked Sunil as she opened the door. "Yep. I don't really need my phone. I'll take it just in case I get a load of guys' numbers!" Sunil laughed as they made their way outside.
As a result of the heavy rain from earlier that day, the air was cool and the road was glistening under the streetlights. Danni was struggling to walk on the cobblestone in heels so she made her way over to the footpath. She hummed an upbeat song in excitement as she scrolled through her Twitter newsfeed.
"You're not actually bringing lads home tonight, are you?" Ste tried to say sarcastically, but it came across quite concerned.
Sunil took out his phone too and said, "Well, things happen really quickly and unexpectedly, don't they? One minute you don't like someone and the next, you want them."
A little more quietly, even though Danni could probably hear, Ste asked, "Are you sure you're okay buying me drink?" Danni appeared to have misheard and looked over at Sunil in shock and was jumping to conclusions in her head. She immediately began texting. "Yeah! My treat! I did burn the pizzas earlier so I suppose I have to make it up to you." Sunil laughed. "I actually like burned food sometimes. Like, toast, popcorn, pizza crust… Maybe that's just because I burn food all of the time, too. I used to be a pastry chef, believe it or not. Ha!" Ste chuckled.
Sunil then received a text from Danni. It read, "is this gonna be a date for you 2? i thought you didn't like him! ;) x" to which, Sunil texted back, "oh no haha i'll tell u later! :) x"
They continued to walk towards The Loft, which was lit up and the feint sound of Call Me by Blondie danced through the village and was accompanied by the rustling of the trees. "So, is this a good place to go?" Sunil asked Ste. "Well, yeah, it's alright. It's the only club around here. It used to have a bad rep though… A lot of drugs were being passed around and stuff… There's a few dealers and users around here…" Ste muttered.
"Ugh, drugs. Me and Danni were just talking about this the other day in Wales, weren't we Danni? Do you think you could be with someone who was a druggie? I don't think I could. I mean, if you choose drugs over everything else that's important in life, I couldn't waste my time with someone like that." Sunil proclaimed. "Yeah, like I understand that drugs give you, like, a temporary release from things but there's so many better ways to have a good time or deal with things. Your problems are still there when you sober up." Danni added. Ste had become very silent and was struggling to keep up.
Danni texted Sunil once again. "i think he likes u, js x"
Sunil looked at his phone in confusion and then at Danni before replying, "have u been drinking already haha? we've known each other for a day! what makes u say that?"
Almost instantly, Danni ended the conversation with, "well he hasnt stopped staring at you x".
They climbed the slippery steps of The Loft and made their way past the bouncers. They stood at the entrance and looked around. Some people had followed the theme and dressed in 80s styled clothing but most of the women were in their usual partying gear with one or two small 80s touches. They seemed to be fairly early as it wasn't exactly a deafening club vibe but people were dancing with their drinks and grouped together. Danni noticed a few dirty looks Ste received upon arrival and decided to stand in front of him as they made their way to the bar. A short, menacing-looking blonde woman was working the bar and asked what drinks they wanted, avoiding looking at Ste.
After getting their drinks, Danni began the traditional nudging at Sunil to point out attractive men and they began discussing who might be gay. Ste looked utterly bewildered and appeared as if he had never been there before. "Well, c'mon then, let's go boogie!" Danni said as she dragged Sunil towards the dancefloor by the arm. It seemed as if Ste was about to say something but was too late and turned back to his drink.
A few guys had already started dancing towards Danni and she happily danced with them. She had her hands resting on a man's shoulders and he had his hands on her hips. They laughed and twirled around as the music continued. After realising he was just taking up space on the dancefloor, Sunil made his way back to the bar to find Ste looking really anxious.
"What's the matter?" Sunil had to shout as the place had become more crowded. "I-… I think I'm gonna go." Ste yelled back as he stood up. Sunil put his hand on his shoulder and sat him back down. "I don't think so! You just need to have another drink and chill!" Sunil said as he called the blonde woman back to take another order.
As the night continued, Danni had managed to snog two guys and get both of their numbers. Looking quite proud of herself, she made her way outside to get some fresh air. Standing by the railings, was a tall women with mid-length dark hair and a long, woolen cardigan. "Alright?" Danni giggled as she fumbled through her bag to find a pocket to put the numbers into. "Hello." the woman replied without expression. "It's not bad here, eh? Are you from around here?" Danni shouted quite loudly as her ears hadn't adjusted to the lower volume of the music outside. "Yes, I am." the woman smiled and turned to Danni. "My name is Sienna, what's yours?" she asked. "Danni. I'm new here. Me and a friend were just travelling through and thought we'd stay here for a while. It's quiet, but it's nice!"
The woman looked curiously at Danni for a moment before saying, "You look oddly familiar to me."
Danni finished rummaging through her bag and thought for a moment. "Yeah, you look quite familiar to me, too… That's weird, ain't it? Haha! Maybe we saw each other somewhere abroad before." Danni suggested. Sienna didn't answer, instead she turned back and looked out across the village again. They began to chat a little more before another woman burst outside suddenly and seemed to look really worried. She hurried past Siena and Danni and began making her way down the stairs as fast as she should in her large heels. "Is everything alright, Maxine?" Sienna called after her. There was no response but Sienna now looked really worried, also. "I have to go. That's my stepmother." Sienna said abruptly before sliding past Danni and also making her way down the stairs. Danni looked rather confused but was getting ready to head back inside. Before she could, Ste appeared at the door. He looked as miserable as the day before and just half-smiled at Danni as he leaned against the railings.
"You okay? You look knackered." Danni asked with concern. "Yeah. Fine, thanks. I just can't be in there any longer. Everyone just stares or tries to have a go at me. I just want to go home." Ste said quietly. "I would take you back but I promised this guy I was talking to that I'd come back in for a dance." Danni smiled as she leaned next to Ste. "That was Dodger you were talking to, by the way. He's an alright guy. He's kinda like me, actually." Ste said, looking up. "No offence babe, but he looks like he was carved to perfection by the hand of God." Danni laughed.
"No, I mean, he lost the love of his life at one point, too. The only difference is, he recovered. Look at him, he's able to come out every weekend and move on to better things." There was a moment of silence as Ste continued to stare up at the sky.
"You'll be fine… Trust me. You have me and Sunil now and we're not going to turn away or anything… We're really good mates, you know. Not just with each other, but with other people." Danni assured him. "You'll leave in a few days, though." Ste said almost angrily. "Nah, I don't think so. We spoke about it earlier. We have enough money to go to a few more places but we're honestly just too tired. I think we're going to stay here for a good while. The people are alright here." Danni sighed as she began to look up to the sky, too. "Do you know that woman I was talking to? I think she said her name was Sienna." Danni asked suddenly. Ste smiled and replied, "The crazy baby-snatcher? Yeah, everyone knows that one."
"Baby-snatcher?" Danni now looked at Ste for confirmation.
"Yeah! She bloody went and tried to steal this woman's family from her. She manipulated her husband to turning on his wife and then stole her kids from her. She's a right-"
"She seemed nice, though! Surely there's another side to that?" Danni suggested. "Nah, that's how they get you, don't they? They seem nice, and then, bam. I'd stay away from that one if I were you. You don't have kids or a husband though so you're probably safe."
Sunil now made his way outside. "Oh, I was looking for you two! Not having a romantic moment, are we?" Sunil teased. Danni laughed but Ste replied with "no" as if he was being asked seriously by someone really intimidating. "I was just telling Ste that we're staying here for the foreseeable future." Danni announced as she fixed herself up to get ready to go back inside. "I'll leave you two to it, I have a hunk to dance with!" she beamed as she danced her way back inside.
After the music died down again as the door closed behind Danni, Sunil leaned beside Ste. "You're not enjoying yourself." Sunil began. "Is there someone in there that you have a problem with?"
"Try all of them." Ste said with disgust. "It was a bad idea, coming here." Ste said as he started to move towards the stairs. Sunil grabbed his hand to stop him. "You're being a drama queen. I won't enjoy tonight unless you come back in with me. Do you want to be the reason my first night out here is rubbish?" Sunil joked as he lightly tugged at Ste's hand.
"We'll have a few more drinks and then, we'll go. You're better off showing everyone you can still have a good time without them rather than being like this. That's what they want." Ste thought about it for a moment, sighed and then followed Sunil to the door.
A few drinks later, Ste had loosened up a little bit, but still seemed quite agitated. It was noticeable that everyone was trying to figure out who the two new people were with Ste. One man approached them as he ordered another drink. "What have we got here? New boyfriend?" he grinned as he looked Sunil up and down. "We all know how this one's gonna end, don't we?" he chortled. "Sorry, who do you think you are? Back off." Sunil said as he stood up. They stared at each other before the man gave one final laugh and moved on.
Almost immediately afterwards, a woman (who was the barmaid from earlier, just very drunk) approached Ste and had the same questions. She then tipped her drink over Ste's lap and pretended it was an accident. Danni stood up in fury and slapped the woman straight across the face. You could hear the contact over the music and the rowdy crowd. Although no one really noticed the conflict, the woman and Danni had begun to scratch and rip at each other. Both women had a handful of the other woman's hair. Sunil and Ste pulled the ladies apart as they screamed at each other.
Danni now had a large scrape on her cheek but didn't seem to notice. The other woman was in an even worse state with scrape marks, a ripped blouse and her hair extensions were hanging off of her head. "Serves you right, bitch!" Danni shrieked as Sunil held her back. Ste struggled to keep a hold of the other woman, who clawed at his face several times. The man from earlier returned and punched Ste straight in the jaw, knocking him back. "Assaulting women now too, are we?" he roared. Sunil stood inbetween them and began mouthing off, also. With no surprise, Sunil was also punched to the ground. The man and woman, who appeared to be a couple, laughed and stumbled away as security grabbed Sunil, Danni and Ste and helped them outside. "Get off me!" Ste said as he yanked his arm out of the guard's grasp. "Why are we being kicked out and they're allowed to stay?!" Danni argued in utter rage. The security guards did not answer and simply closed the doors in their faces. "What a joke! Are you two okay?" Danni asked with worry as she began to fix herself once again. Only Sunil replied. Ste was facing the opposite direction but was evidently crying. Danni stood in front of him and wiped the tears off of his face and embraced him. "Bunch of scumbags…" Sunil said as he patted Ste's back. "C'mon, let's head home."
Ste was unsurprisingly dizzy from the punch and was struggling to walk in a straight line. Sunil walked beside him to keep him steady and put him straight on to the couch as soon as they got back to the house. "Lie down, I'm going to get you some water." Sunil said as he made his way to the kitchen. Danni sat with Ste in silence as they waited. "That's why I didn't want to go out tonight." Ste mumbled as he held his head in agony. "It doesn't matter, just forget about it." Danni said softly as she rubbed Ste's leg. Ste tried to sit up, "How am I supposed to just forget about things like that? It's not a once off! It won't be different tomorrow! I'll go back outside tomorrow and people will still be like that with me!" Ste's head spun again from shouting and he had to lie back down. Sunil arrived with a glass of water and a cold beer can for Ste to hold against his head. They all sat in silence until Danni got up a few moments later. "Okay, I'm going to head to bed… Goodnight." She fiddled with her bag and began to stumble upstairs.
"Thanks for standing up for me." Ste's voice was stuck in his throat and took a sip of water. "You didn't have to do that."
"But, I wanted to. I wasn't joking when I said we're going to be here for you. It's the same way me and Danni look out for each other. We're not going to judge you on your past, you know. We both have some pretty messed up pasts of our own but look at all of the things we've done together… It's been one strange day, hasn't it?" Sunil sighed.
"What are you staring at?" Ste asked. "Oh, it's just, your jeans are still wet from that drink. It looks like you've wet yourself, haha." Sunil laughed nervously, slightly embarrassed. "Yeah, well, I am a bit of a baby, aren't I?" Ste laughed.
"I'm sorry for acting the way I did yesterday." he uttered. "It was out of order. I didn't think you two would actually give a toss."
"Well, now you know we do… Dennis was right though, you are alright." Sunil smiled. "Dennis said that?" Ste mumbled in surprise. "Yeah, yesterday! Y'know, after everything you've been through, I'm surprised you're here and coping."
"I'm not coping, though… Not properly, anyways." Ste admitted.
"Well, like, you've managed to remain a good person. You keep to yourself, your head's in the right place, you know what's important, you haven't become an alcoholic or a drug addict-… you're not an alcoholic or a drug addict, are you?" Sunil stopped suddenly. "No, of course not!" Ste said in an unusual tone. Sunil laughed and handed Ste's glass of water to him. He sat up once again and took a larger gulp but was still visibly dizzy.
"You're not going to throw up or anything, are you?" Sunil asked. "I don't think so, why?" Ste replied. But before he could even look at Sunil, Sunil had already leaned in and planted a kiss on Ste's lips.