Disclaimer: If I really owned them, do you think I'd still be working for minimum wage?
A/N- Let me first apologize profusely for taking to long to update. I went away for two months and never really got to go online. I meant to post this chapter before I left, but (shocker) FFN wasn't working. Good news is that over the summer I have managed to finish the story. But, because I am a selfish evil person who loves getting reviews for every chapter and loves putting all of my readers in suspense even more, I'm going to post a chapter every few days. Or maybe every day… depends how many reviews I get (hint, hint)
Now a note to my favorite people in the world- Reviewers:
I HEART YOU ALL WITH A PASSION!!!! Most of you feel bad for Candi, yeah, I do too… it's never fun to have your boyfriend cheat on you, If only she went out with Fred… right?
Well I want to thank you all personally: skateboardchick, Jessica, Marshmellow16b, OliverPhelpsLover, PaintedDragon, Meg, Noodlejelly, PotterPrincess, queenie, and Wigginout. You all rock my world.
And now, without any further ado… (Drum roll please) The Fifth instalment of
Life After Hogwarts
Still August 24
8:30 pm
I have to admit, I look seriously hot. I'm sure Shane will appreciate this. If only George would, but no. He'll probably be busy swooning over Candi, whom I'm sure will look at least ten times hotter than I do.
We're going to dinner and then to a club a few miles away from the college. Although I pretended not to care, I spent a long time deciding what to wear and getting ready. After digging through both mine and Candi's closets, I finally had the perfect outfit: A backless black top, extremely tight dark-wash jeans, and black Steve Madden shoes. I put on more makeup than I usually wear, especially black eyeliner and mascara. My hair is scrunched so it falls in dark curls down my back. I don't look like the sporty Alicia I normally do, and I like this. I like looking in the mirror and seeing this new, improved, and totally sexy Alicia staring back at me.
The other three are in the kitchen waiting for me, so I'd better go. At least I'll definitely catch someone's attention. Even if it's not the guy I've been dreaming over for years. With his beautiful red curls… and lips like silk…
August 25
9:45 am
Must take a shower. I feel so dirty! Must wash off all of my suspicions. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. What did I do last night? I don't remember anything after we got to the club. I just woke up in Shane's bed. Why was I in Shane's bed? How did I get there? What did I do? I don't even want to think about it. It doesn't help that I feel like someone's pounding on my head with a sledgehammer.
Candi isn't here. She's probably at George's flat. Don't want to think about that either. Just makes my headache worse.
Still
August 25
10:53 am
Felt better after I took a shower and made some coffee. At least I felt better until memories of last night came rushing back to me. Even with my still horrible hangover, I can remember every detail.
It started out good. The four of us went to eat dinner at a loud, dimly lit restaurant that smelled like smoke and alcohol. George would barely look at me the whole time, but Shane sat really close. He really is a great guy. Gorgeous, sweet… Any other girl would be ecstatic to have this chance with him. What's wrong with me? After we ordered, Candi and I went to the bathroom to fix our hair and makeup. She, as usual, looked amazing (and not slutty) wearing (literally) a red bandanna tied around her as a shirt, and the shortest, tightest denim skirt I have ever seen. Only she could get away with an outfit like that.
"Shane really likes you." She said as soon as we entered the room.
"Did he tell you that?" I asked sarcastically, pulling an eyebrow brush out of my bag.
"He didn't have to. You can tell by the way he looks at you. He's obsessed!"
That gave me something else entirely to think about. We were friends. Close friends with a very flirty relationship, but nonetheless friends. But as soon as I got back to the table, I realized what Candi meant. Shane immediately put his arms around my waist and pulled me into his lap. (Can't say I really minded…) It was nice, in a friendly sort of way.
"You look so good tonight," He whispered in my ear in that wonderfully husky accent.
I smiled back and said "You always look good."
"Shouldn't I be the one saying that?" He asked giving me a squeeze.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Candi and George across the table. Candi was smirking at me and George looked sour, which I couldn't figure out why. He stayed quiet for the rest of dinner.
I backed off on the flirting in the cab to the club. I was beginning to feel nervous that I was leading Shane on. That was the last thing I wanted to do right now, I wasn't sure quite how I felt about him, and didn't want him getting the wrong idea. He didn't seem to notice though, and massaged my back through the whole ride. Maybe I should have stopped him, but it felt too good.
My plan was to ditch Shane when we got to the club. To be perfectly honest, the situation was now starting to scare me. I can't really explain why, but something just felt wrong.
I didn't put Operation Ditch Shane into effect immediately. I danced with him a few times. He's a great dancer. Something new to add to the "Things Shane is perfect at" list.
My opportunity to get away from him came sooner than I expected when a pretty redhead tried to cut in on us.
"Catch you later!" I said giving him a quick peck on the cheek to show him no hard feelings.
He grabbed my arm "Wait, Alicia. You sure you don't mind?" But his eyes said 'please don't leave.'
"Not in the least," I assured him, turning away so I didn't have to see his lost puppy look. "Have fun, I'll see you later." And walked off without a second glace.
I wandered around by myself for a while, occasionally dancing with the many guys cat calling to me. Damn it felt good to be wanted. Not once, though, did I let them get too close. I took on the mysterious woman role. Letting the man have a dance, and then taking off, never letting them know anything about me. I must have been around the dance floor a dozen times, but not once did I see Candi or George. It didn't bother me too much though. Not until I caught them.
After an hour or so, I was beginning to seriously sweat, so I decided to swing by the bathroom to see if I still looked decent or if my makeup was smudging something horrible. I never made it there. The door to the woman's bathroom was locked. I figured it was probably just out of order, and all I needed was the mirror, so I pulled my wand out of my boot and unlocked the door. And that's when I realized exactly why the door was locked. George was lying on his back on the floor of the bathroom (ew) with Candi straddling him. I think you can guess what they were doing. I immediately closed the door. I don't think that they even noticed that I caught them.
Leaning on the door, I sank down to the floor, shaking. The image of them together burned into my mind. I felt sick, I mean, I had obviously known that they had been doing that, but seeing it… it secured the fat that I now never had a chance with George.
Still shaking violently, I got up and headed towards the bar. Right now I desperately needed a drink, or 50. The bartender looked about my age, maybe a few years older. He was good looking in a way, with spiky blond hair streaked with blue and a nose ring.
"What'll it be, Sugar?" He asked.
"What's the strongest you got?" I groaned.
"That bad, huh?" I nodded. "Wanna talk about it?"
"Not especially."
He nodded, showing that he understood and slid me a bottle. "This'll cheer you right up, Sugar."
Not even caring what it was, I chugged it, drinking it in almost one gulp. It was bitter, didn't taste like anything I'd had before. Mind you, I wasn't normally a big drinker. "Give me another one." I demanded.
He handed me another bottle which I downed almost as fast. Three bottles later I was feeling incredibly dizzy and nauseous, but I dtill couldn't get that horrible sight out of my head. "Anozzer one." I ordered, slurring my words.
He shook his head. "Sugar, you've had more than enough. You're going to kill yourself."
"Gif me anozzer one!" I repeated, having to lean on the table for support.
"Damn Sugar, what happened?" That's when I started to cry, and throw up. It was disgusting. I was feeling so dizzy I thought I was going to fall off the stool, everything was spinning. The bartender sighed and took off his apron. "Jack, cover for me!" He called to somewhere behind him. "Come on, Sugar, we're going outside." He picked me up easily and I clung to him afraid that if I let go I'd fall right into the endless pit of flashing lights, sweat, bodies, and music and never stop falling. I was much drunker than I had ever been before.
The cool air hit me as soon as we stepped outside. I immediately felt a little better since I was away from the lights and the music. Now I was just dizzy, confused, and sleepy.
"Where are we?" I mumbled.
"In an alley right behind the club." He sat down, but kept me on his lap. "You okay, Sugar?" That was when I began throwing up again. He held my hair back and then stroked it when I finished and started crying again. "Not a regular drinker are you?"
I looked up at him, his face was blurry and he was still stroking my hair. "Are you an angel?"
He laughed. "Far from it, but you can count on me anytime to save you sugar." Then he kissed me roughly on the lips. Obviously, he didn't care about the fact that I had just thrown up about six times. Still extremely confused and dizzy, I didn't stop him when he shoved his tongue in my mouth, but when he started to unbutton my jeans I weakly pushed his hand away.
"Stop, Angel." I said.
"Come on, Sugar. You know you want this."
"No. No I don't. I want George."
"Sugar, you're drunk. You don't know what you want."
I started crying again. "Angel, no! NO!" I screamed the last 'no.'
"Shut the fuck up, Bitch." He yelled at me and slapped me across the face. I started fighting and struggling against him and he grabbed on to my shirt, ripping the string that held it on me in back. It fell off, but I didn't even notice that I was topless. All that mattered was getting away from him. As drunk as I was, I still knew that he was going to rape me if I didn't do something. But I wasn't strong enough, especially not in the state that I was in.
"Stop, Mother fucker!" Another shout cut through my panic. Then all of a sudden, he was gone. Through my tear stained vision, I saw him fighting with someone else, someone who was strangely familiar. I couldn't even watch, I just turned away and kept crying. Then someone came up to me. "Alicia! Alicia, are you ok? Alicia answer me!" It was a guy. His face was directly in front of me, but it was so blurry I couldn't tell who it was. "Alicia!"
Suddenly it hit me. "Shane!" I sobbed. "H-he was going to r-rape me!"
"Shh…" he whispered, wrapping his arms around me. "I'm here. It's all going to be okay." We sat like that for a while, until I finally stopped crying. "I'm going to take you home. Here put this on." He took off his shirt and handed it to me, so he was just wearing a beater.
After I put the shirt on he picked me up and carried me around the building and hailed a cab back to the college. He held me tightly the whole way. I was thankful for that. As soon as we got back, he carried me up to my room. "No." I whimpered when we were just outside my door. "I want to stay with you." He nodded and carried me two doors down to his room. He had told me a few days ago that his roommate wouldn't be coming up until next week, so we had the dorm to ourselves. He started to take me into his roommate's room, but I stopped him again. "Shane, don't leave me!" I knew I was being pathetic, but I just couldn't stand the thought of being alone right then. "I won't leave you. Ever." He said sincerely, and brought me to his bed.
I probably fell asleep immediately. So I didn't sleep with him. Shane was just being the perfect guy. Maybe it's time to re-evaluate the way I feel about him. I owe him my life; I could have been killed last night. If he hadn't shown up I definitely would have been raped.
It's almost noon, I know that the minute Candi walks in the door she's going to want to know exactly what happened. I'm not sure what I'm going to tell her. I should really go talk to Shane, but right now, I'm too embarrassed. I think I'll go back to sleep, maybe the world will look brighter in a couple hours…
A/N- I think that is one of the darkest things I've ever written. I practically scared myself… where do I get my ideas? Anyway, I'm not sure if I need to raise the rating for this chapter, so if anyone has a problem with it just tell me and I'll raise it. Don't worry, the story gets happier after this. Also… yes, I know she wouldn't remember it all this well, but for purpose of the story she does. Any problems? Good.
R/R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~Lexa~