Lux's POV

I had been walking with Natasha for a few minutes, until I remembered that I didn't even ask her where she was taking me.

I had been so determined to get away from Mike, that bowling place and all of the drama I had been engulfed in, that I hadn't even paid any mind to my surroundings at all.

I come to a halt once I finally come back to reality, "Uh, where are we going, Tash? You've never been around here, so I don't understand where it is that you think you're taking me…" I question.

"It's a surprise," she says secretively as she grabs my arm and forces me to walk with her. And by her smile, I get the feeling that I'm not going to like this surprise too much.

"Look, no offense, but I don't think I can take any more surprises today," I inform her.

"This is a good surprise," she says hesitantly and pauses before she speaks again, "…Soooo. Do you have your fake id on you?" she asks curiously.

I sigh but I can't help but smile, "What are you up to?"

She looks at me nervously before she stops in front of a building and gestures to it.

"A bar? You brought me to a bar?" I ask. "Tash, they're never going to believe we're 21."

"We used to use our fake id's all the time," she whines.

"Yeah, to get into R-rated movies and get jobs."

"Exactly."

"Tash, we can get arrested… I think?" I pause as I consider the possible consequence of getting caught with a fake id.

"So? Your parents can come bail us out," she laughs.

"No funny," I remind her.

"Okay, but after everything that's happened, don't you think you deserve a drink?" she asks seriously.

"I don't want to be one of those people that think they can drink their problems away. That's not me," I remind her.

"Well, don't you think I deserve a drink?" Tasha smiles. "Come on, you have no idea how much I had to walk to come and see you. My feet are killing me and I would prefer not to feel them anymore," she laughs.

"Fine," I give in. "One drink, but then I have to take you home."

"Sure," she answers with a nod as if she hadn't even heard me.

An hour afterwards and 3 shots later, I remember that I have to be at Mike's by eight, "We should get going?" I tell her. I was a little drunk, but still in my right mind to tell time.

"Why? We just got here," she says as she tries to raise her hand to call the waiter over to our table.

I pull her hand back down, "Well, for one we're almost over our budget," I remind her, "And two, I promised Mike I'd be back by eight."

"So, wait a sec. He was serious?" she asks in confusion.

"Yeah."

She laughs, "And what? Now, you're just going to do whatever he says? Why, Lux?"

"Because I promised them I would try to listen to them. And this is me trying."

"Wait. So all of a sudden you're taking orders from them?"

"I'm not taking orders."

"Yes, you are. They're treating you like a dog."

I sigh and try to ignore her comment. She must've been drunker than I thought…Or maybe I was so drunk that I didn't know what the hell I was saying? Either way, I was annoyed. "Then I guess I'm a dog," I tell her, "What's wrong with that?"

"Everything. You're not even acting like the right kind of dog," she says harshly.

"Okay, Tash," I answer calmly, but she keeps going.

"A house dog would listen and obey, Lux. But you're not a house dog. You're a stray remember? You've been out in the wild for years, surviving all on your own."

"Tasha, you're drunk," I tell her.

"Try to tie a leash on a house dog, he sits still. But try to tie a leash on a stray, and he bites. You need to bite, Lux."

"Who do you want me to bite?" I ask sarcastically.

"You know what I mean," she answers, and strangely I do know what she means. However weird her analogy is, I understand it perfectly, which is the problem. "You're not one of their kids, Lux and you never will be. Getting home by curfew doesn't make you one, and I don't even understand why you would want to be one in the first place. It's like you're trying to be someone else...If you capture a stray, bring him inside, and take him a bath, you can't expect him to keep off of the furniture and not eat the cat."

I have to burst out laughing at her last sentence and Tasha does too. "Just as I was trying to take you seriously, Tash. You were this close," I put my two fingers close together to show her.

"I am drunk," she confesses, "But that doesn't mean what I'm saying isn't true. Don't let them change who you are, especially if they don't bother listening to your barks. I mean, you're side," she laughs again.

"Yeah, I know," I answer.

"Another drink?" she asks happily.

"We don't have any more money," I remind her.

"So?"

Just as I am about to cave in, we both turn our attention to two guys approaching us.

"Hey, ladies," one of them says. "Can we buy you two a drink?" he asks and I can tell he has his eyes on Tasha.

She nods, "Well, if you insist," she says as she eyes me with a smile. The waiter walks toward us, as soon as the guy waves him over.

"Another round of…" the guy starts.

"Tequila," Tasha answers.

"Coming right up," the waiter says as he walks away.

"So, I'm James the brown-haired balsy guy says and this is my friend Eric," he points to the shy blonde guy next to him.

"I'm Tasha and this is my best friend, Lux," she gestures towards me and all I could really do was smile awkwardly. I hated meeting new people. I had met too may new people this week than I expected to in a lifetime.

Not to mention, I had just broken up with my boyfriend.

Correction: I had just been abandoned by my boyfriend.

On second thought, this might not be such a bad idea.

I glance over at Eric and suddenly realize that he's really cute. Older. But still cute.

"So…" Tasha starts, "Are you two from around here?"

"Um, no, actually," James answers. "Minnesota. Why is it that obvious we're outsiders?" he laughs.

"Pretty much," she says. And we all share an awkward moment of silence, "Well, I don't know about you," she tells James, "…but I could use some air, James…" I give her a worried look, once I realized what she was trying to do and she gives me an innocent shrug back.

"Yeah, me too," James says, once he catches on.

"Uh," I start.

"You two can wait for the drinks, right?" she says with a raised eyebrow as she walks toward me.

"I don't want to wait for the drinks," I whisper when she gets closer so that only she could hear.

"You'll be fine," she whispers back as she puts her hands in he pockets and starts walking out with James following close behind her.

I stare in her direction for as long as I could, so that I wouldn't have to do turn around a face this random guy.

"They just set us up. Didn't they?" Eric asks as he takes a seat, causing me to turn my attention towards him.

"Apparently so," I answer as I fidget in my seat, not knowing what to do with myself.

"I'm sorry. I had no idea he was going to do this," he explains embarrassingly.

"He?" I laugh, "From what I remember, my friend was the one who volunteered to go outside with a complete stranger."

"Yes, well, we made the first move when we walked over here."

I shrug my shoulders. "Yeah, you're right. It is your fault," I joke as I take a sip from my water.

"Ahah… You don't drink I take it?" he asked with some interest.

"I do, but I think at least one of us needs to sober up before we have to leave," I answer.

"You're leaving? But we just got here," he says in a pretend-hurt voice, which I can't help but chuckle at.

"Yeah, well, I have school in the morning, so I don't think hanging out late and getting wasted is the greatest idea."

"Really? You go to school? What's your major?" Eric asks with a smile and for some reason I find myself getting lost in it.

"Um…English," I answer nonchalantly as I take another sip of my glass, so that I can keep myself from smiling about the lie I just made.

"Really? Me too," he smiles and then straightens his face, "Well, it was English. I gradated a few months ago."

"Wow. Congratulations," I answer as I awkwardly take another sip of my drink.

"And you have a test tomorrow or something?" he asks curiously.

"Well, no. But—"

"Oh you're one of those…" he says in an annoyed voice, as the waiter comes over and places the four tequila glasses out in front of us. "Thanks, man," Eric says as the man walks away.

"One of those what?" I ask with my eyebrows raised.

"One of those goody-two-shoes women that doesn't drink, never misses a class, never does anything that doesn't give you a hundred percent control of the outcome… Am I close?" he finishes as he takes a shot of tequila.

"Nope. Not at all. Quite the contrary, actually. And you must be one of those men that thinks that being a complete asshole is the only way to get a woman to like you? Am I close?" I spat as I put my glass down and grab my jacket from the back of the chair.

"Wait," he puts his hand up and glances down at the table, "…Look, I didn't mean to sound like an asshole."

"Then what did you mean?" I retort, completely unimpressed by his sudden need to change his mind once I called him out on his mistake.

He sighs deeply and I watch him intently, because he looks as if he's going to say something. But he doesn't.

"Okayyy…Well, not like this encounter hasn't been the most amazing encounter I've ever had," I start sarcastically, "but I should really get my goody-two-shoes ass back home…" I start to put my jacket on and try to look behind him in search for Tasha. All I wanted to do was get the hell out of there, and I knew that Tasha and I should've left early when we had the chance. If the guy she was with was anything like this one, she probably has him in a headlock as we were speaking.

"My ex-girlfriend," he says in a really loud voice.

"Excuse me?" I ask, and I really hope he's not calling me that after we just met.

"We just broke up because she was the goody-two-shoes that didn't like not having a hundred percent control over anything…even our relationship," he chuckles sarcastically. "It just happed on Friday and I'm still a little upset about it, obviously."

"Oh," I begin awkwardly not knowing what else to say to him. For a second I thought about talking about Bug, since we were sort of in the same boat but I changed my mind, "I'm sorry… She sounds like a bitch," I continue, and suddenly I'm not sure I should've said that.

Surprisingly he smiles, "Yes, that she was… And apparently I must be the biggest idiot to be talking about my ex-girlfriend to a woman that I just met. I mean, it's not like I'm still hung up on her or anything…"

I shake my head playfully, "No, of course not."

"I'm just still trying to get used to it. You know?"

"And you decided to do that in a bar. You decided that the only way to gain that control back, is to get wasted?"

"Pretty much," he says as he reaches for another shot, but I put my hand on his so that he couldn't lift it.

"You're not getting control of anything if you're drinking. You're actually handing the control over to an object, which is even dumber that handing it over to another person."

"I'm not an alcoholic or anything," he tries to defend.

"I didn't think that," I correct. "I've just seen too many people lose control because of alcohol."

"But, you're here? And you're drinking?"

"And yes… right you are," I answer with a hint of embarrassment. "But I was just bored, and I know that I'm not going to gain any control from it... And I pretty much lost control of everything already, so why not one more thing right?" I smile as I try to grab the shot from the table but he pushes my hand back down, causing me to eye him confusingly.

"I have an idea," he offers.

"I don't like it already," I look at him skeptically.

"Let's do something."

"Uh…"

"No, not that," he interrupts. "Let's go and do something that we both have control over."

I laugh, "Like what?"

I watch as he thinks for a few seconds and a smile appears on his face, "…Come with me."

"Because getting into a car with a drunken stranger isn't the dumbest move ever?" I say nonchalantly. "Plus, my friend is outside," I remind him.

"Who said anything about a car?"

"Huh?"

He takes his gaze off of me when we both hear the text tone on his phone go off. "Excuse me," he says as he grabs it from his pocket and studies it, then passes it over to me.

"So, my friend is not outside," I answer as I read the text and realize that James took her out to eat and was taking her home afterwards.

"Now you don't have anything keeping you from coming with me. You'll have complete control." I eye him suspiciously. "…Or are you going to be someone else's puppet instead?"

"A house dog actually," I answer with a smile as I remember Tasha's analogy.

"Huh?" he asks in confusion.

"Nothing," I shake my head. "I'm in."