*Sorry I haven't posted in awhile! I've been very busy, but I promise that I will work on it more in the next few weeks. Please let me know if you see any mistakes or have any recommendations. Thanks!
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Skylar couldn't remember the last time she'd felt this happy. Her cheeks hurt from smiling, and her abs hurt from laughing.
Home. This was what home felt like.
"Okay, okay, we get it!" Desmond slammed his almost-empty coffee cup on the table.
Skylar wondered if any one at the tables around them knew that it was mostly whiskey, as was the one in front of her.
Alec laughed at his friend and turned to face her.
They had all been arguing about the crush, or not-crush, that Desmond had on one of the Dauntless-born girls they'd grown up with and if she was "top ten initiate class material" or not.
Skylar had forgotten the girl's name. Not because she wasn't paying attention to what they were saying, but because the boys had been referring to her as "Double-D."
"Alright, Sky. I'm calling you that, by the way," Alec leaned forward and took a sip of his mostly-whiskey-coffee. "Although I should call you something else since you refuse to use my real name. When your brother said that you like to bite, he didn't mean literally, right?" He smiled charmingly at her as his friends laughed loudly.
The laugh earned them a glare from the two other tables of initiates in the cafeteria as well as a few of the Dauntless-born. She was the only female at the table, as well as the only initiate, and their laughing had earned them more than their fair share of glares.
Skylar took a large sip from her cup. "I'm not going to answer that. Can't go giving away all my secrets right off the bat," she said to him flirtatiously. Though she was careful not to lean too far forward, because with the black tank top she was wearing, the view of her chest would definitely give him the wrong idea. Although maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.
It was well after dinner, and Skylar had been surprised that so many people had stuck around the cafeteria. The atmosphere around them had turned into something entirely different, making her wonder about the bar Alec had told them he'd bring them to later.
Alec smirked at her and leaned forward. "Well, if you aren't going to tell me, then I suppose I'll just have to find out for myself."
"Do you two need a room?" Desmond asked him and drank the rest of the contents of his cup. "Pretty sure there's a broom-closet on the next floor that has a lock on it."
A laugh erupted around them again.
"Pretty sure," Conrad told his friend, "you KNOW, that it has a lock because you've been there yourself. Many times."
"Did any of them have double-d's too?" She teased Desmond, who stuck out his tongue at her. His tongue!
"Oh!" Skylar said abruptly. "That reminds me! I want a few piercings! And tattoos!" she finished her cup. "Where do we go?" She directed her question toward Alec.
"Right now?" Alec asked her. "You just got here."
Skylar shrugged, why not? The rest of them finished their cups and made their way out of the cafeteria without paying any mind to the other initiates.
Conrad insisted they make a "pit stop" on the way, which ended up being a friend of his, who refilled the flasks that him, Desmond, and Isaac had in their pockets. No questions asked.
As they walked, Alec questioned her on what she planned to get. She told him that she wanted her tongue pierced in two places, and planned on more once they were done with initiation.
"Tongue huh?" He asked quietly.
Skylar could hear in his voice what that he was thinking about something dirty. She hummed a "Mhm" and nodded.
Once they were in the parlor, a few of the others went to the back of the room to talk to a friend.
Alec told her that a few of them already had a few tattoos under their clothes and had scheduled to get more later on in the week.
"Oh, so you have to schedule ahead of time?" she asked him.
Skylar's voice must have shown her disappointment because a large man with a piercing covered face and dark blue hair answered for him.
"Not if you're him," he nodded to Alec. "Or a hot chick," he nodded to her.
Skylar let out a flirtatious laugh and sat on the chair he told her to sit in.
"I'm Chuck. Do I know you from somewhere?" She shook her head, so he asked her what she wanted.
Alec began talking to another artist about something. Skylar explained to Chuck quietly that she had a few more she wanted but that there were a few she wanted to get immediately.
There was one, in particular, she couldn't live without, so they started with that.
While she laid on her side to get the first tattoo, Desmond came across the room to them, passing Alec the flask, who then passed it to her. Chuck didn't seem to have a problem with it, so she gulped down a few large sips.
"The ribs hurt like a bitch," the tattoo artist explained. "Not usually the first choice for initiates."
But it was the perfect place, so Skylar toughed through it. By the time they were almost done, their group had dwindled back down to just the four of them once again. Skylar, Alec, Desmond, and Conrad.
Skylar knew that no one could see what work he was doing because of the angle she was laying at, and that was all right with her. When they were all called to the front of the shop to talk to another artist, Chuck finished up and wrapped it.
"You're done?" Desmond asked her as she walked to the front of the shop.
"We didn't even get to see it!" Alec's words were slurred.
"Yeah!" Conrad protested, "and as your new best friends, we deserve to."
New best friends? Skylar chuckled and pulled the flask from Alec's pocket, whose cheeks reddened.
"Calm down Connor," Skylar took another sip of the whiskey.
Conrad scoffed at her. She was definitely feeling the buzz now.
She tilted the bottle toward them, "you can see it later. I promise."
Before anyone could respond, Alec snatched the flask from her hand and hid it behind his back, startling her.
"What was that?" Skylar turned to see that it was Lucas who had spoken. He walked up to them, Eric in tow.
Alec feigned innocence. "What was what?"
"Show me your hands," Lucas demanded. When he did, they were empty. Lucas turned him around, and again, found nothing.
Skylar's gaze locked onto Desmond, when although was the farthest away from Alec, clearly was the one that had ended up with the flask. How had they managed to do that so quickly?
"Have you been drinking?" Lucas demanded. Eric glared from behind him menacingly.
A series of "no sirs" echoed from the boys, so he turned to his sister.
Skylar decided the best approach to the situation was to change the subject.
"I got a tattoo!" She pulled up her shirt and started to peel away the cloth that covered seemed to do the trick.
"No shit? Already?" Lucas said and walked toward her. "On your ribs? Ouch."
She nodded enthusiastically and finished peeling the bandage to the side.
It was a simple design, just a quote and a small black and white tree and its shadow. But he would know how much it meant to her.
"When the sun in the sky sets my world ablaze, the only protection I will have is Shade."
When Lucas read skimmed the words with his eyes, a pained look crossed his face.
Skylar waited for her brother's response, but he only shook his head.
"Why is Shade capitalized?" A clearly inebriated Desmond peeked around Lucas to read the tattoo.
She didn't answer him and instead stared at her brother.
"It's perfect Sky," he said quietly and covered the tattoo.
A smile grew on her face, but it disappeared as soon as Lucas cleared his throat.
"But it doesn't excuse the fact that you're drinking on your first night here. Seriously Sky? You have training tomorrow!"
Lucas turned to her friend and held his hand out. Desmond looked Skylar, who nodded and folded her arms.
"You know," she told him, conveying annoyance in her voice. "Jami would just let us keep it and send us to our dorm."
"Yeah," Lucas smirked when Desmond flinched as he snatched the flask from his grasp. "Well, I'm not Jami." He passed it to Eric, who slid it into his pocket and glared toward Skylar.
"So, boys," Lucas told them and folded his arms. Skylar covered her laugh with her hand as a look of fear crossed each of their faces. "Can I trust you to get my baby sister back to the dorms safely?" He asked them menacingly. Each of them nodded in response.
"And do I need to tell you what is going to happen to you if you try anything with her? Especially if you get her drunk first?"
"Oh, C'mon!" She pushed past her older brother playfully and turned Desmond around so that she was pushing her friends away from Lucas and their leader. "Unless you're going to play a red card, you have no say in what I do, or who I do. And vice versa!" She explained. Not that she was going to do anything, with any of them.
Once her friends were walking on their own accord, she turned back to him. "You should just consider yourself lucky I'm not trying anything with this," she motioned to Eric, who widened his eyes.
"Because, hot," Skylar started walking backward as she spoke, toward where her friends had stopped. "damn!"
She backed up so that her friends started moving with her again. "Would I love a piece of that."
Okay, maybe she was more than buzzed.
Lucas was now glaring at her.
She nodded toward Eric, and to her surprise, Skylar found a smirk had made its way onto the "ruthless" leaders face. She sent him a wolfish grin and a wink before turning and ushering her friends down the hallway.
"Drink some water," Lucas's growl echoed down the hall.
Skylar didn't bother turning around, and only waved her hand in the air and continued walking, "yeah yeah, alright."
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