Categories > Celebrities > Fall Out Boy > Fate

Chapter One

by danceislife 0 reviews

Dead Squirrels and Cow Blood

Category: Fall Out Boy - Rating: PG-13 - Genres: Drama,Humor,Romance - Published: 2009-08-05 - Updated: 2009-08-14 - 2630 words

0Unrated
Chapter 1

I went into tonight thinking it would suck.

And for the past hour and 27 minutes it has.

“Can I go already?” I think, circling the rim of my glass with my middle finger. I notice the need to repaint my chipping black nail polish.

“Come on Harper! Cheer up! It’s a beautiful Friday night!” Reid says, putting her hands on my shoulders causing me to jump slightly from the surprise. Reid and Avery went to the restroom five minutes ago, together of course (because girls can’t go alone) and have finally returned.

“Are you sure nothings wrong?” Avery asks, sitting down to my right.

“I’m just not feeling it tonight. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” I resume the circles on the glass. My other hand is cupping my cheek, scrunching my face into a displeased expression.

“We always come here. Maybe you need a change of scenery,” Reid suggests, sitting to my left.

“Reid’s right. Want to go to a different bar tonight? Somewhere with a cover? Maybe in the city?” Avery says. Then, her eyes light up.

Oh. No.

“No,” I say sternly. Avery pouts.

“You haven’t even heard what I’m suggesting!” Avery says, playing innocent.

“No, but I know what’s coming.” She’s going to suggest a dance club in the city.

“Please?” Avery whines. “We never go dancing!”

I give Reid a questioning look.

“If Harper’s in, I’m in,” she says. I return my glaze to Avery. That pout. No one can resist it.

“Please oh please oh please!” Avery clasps her hands together, fingers intertwined.

“Fine!” I throw my hands up in defeat.

“Yes!” Avery squeaks, jumping up in victory. I shake my head.

“I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?” I ask Reid while Avery continues her personal celebration dance.

“Probably.” Reid smiles, linking her arm with mine.

“Let’s go ladies!” Avery says, linking her arm on my other side.

The night air is perfect in my personal opinion. I love fall. I love the colors, the leaves, the crisp air and most of all, the smell.

“I’ll drive!” Reid says. Avery and I look at each other.

“Shot gun!” we yell at the same time, taking off running towards the car. The rush of adrenaline perks me up. I reach the car first, sticking my tongue out at Avery.

“No wonder I’m DD tonight. You two are no more mature than eight year olds!” Reid is really no better than we are. However, she’s the mom when we’re drinking.

“Have fun with us tonight. Let’s take a cab! My treat,” Avery says.

I sometimes forget that Avery has money coming out of her ears. Her father is some sort of high up executive in a company we really don’t know anything about. Something about prosthetics.

Don’t get me wrong though, Avery is one tough cookie. She works hard for her money but her dad really likes us and when we go out like this he gives her some money for us to have a good time. He pulled Reid and me aside one day and said it’s his way of thanking us for being there when Avery’s mom died. That was also when we were twelve. But we all grew up together and our parents treated us like sisters. Our teachers would get our names confused, even though we really didn’t look alike.

Avery is short, with short blonde hair and green eyes and a face that will melt your heart. She is one of the silliest people I know. I’ve seen her cry once, at the most obvious time.

Like the Von Trapp kids, I’m next in height. I am 5’5” and I wont let you forget it either. My eyes are peculiar in that they are slightly different colors. My hair is also blonde like Avery’s, but styled differently and my facial structure is much different than Avery’s round one.

Which brings us to Reid. At 5’9” she’s the tallest. Avery can reach her height in heels but I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. She has long dark brown hair and blue eyes.

Our differences didn’t keep our teachers in grade school from mixing us up though. We were pretty good at guessing which of us the teacher was talking to; we even got one teacher to think I was Reid, Harper was Avery, and Avery was me. That lasted until after the first test. Yes, we put our actual names on the test. And when we went to pick them up he realized that we were making things up. Fortunately, we all had a good laugh and he continued to call us by the wrong names just for fun.

Pulling out of the parking lot of our regular bar, O’Malley’s, Reid put in one of the mix-tapes her ex-boyfriend made her. Reid’s car didn’t have a cd player or anything fancy like that; just a simple tape player. She liked it that way though. Avery and I once thought it was because she missed her ex, but she also made her own mix-tapes and we made ones for her as well.

“I love this song!” Avery yells from the backseat. She begins to sing along.

“I don’t mind, I don’t care! As long as you’re here!” she belts out. ♥ Reid rolls down the window and ejects the tape, causing static to bleed through the speakers.

“Reid! You’re killing my groove! And it’s fucking cold!” Avery says, sticking her head between the front seats.

“You can get your groove on tonight as much as you want,” she replys. I begin to feel excited about this evening.

“The night is young my darlings!” Reid rolls up the windows. She was right. The clock on the dash read 9.

“Just drop your car at my house,” Avery says. “We’ll get a cab to pick us up.”

We commute into Chicago almost every day. Avery and I are building our portfolios with a regional photography company. The summer has been filled with weddings, but now our subjects have changed to more of a variety. Take tomorrow for example. We are taking photographs for some bands. Reid happens to be doing makeup and hair for the shoot. She works for an independent styling company but is going to school for art history. Tomorrow should be fun though. The girls keep me entertained.

“Do you remember the name of that cab company we used last time?” Avery asks, pulling out her cell phone.

“I have the card still,” I say, handing her the card from my wallet. Reid pulls the car into Avery’s driveway behind my car.

“Way to block me in,” I tease.

“You’re going into the city with us tomorrow anyway,” she replies, cutting the engine and getting out. Avery closes her cell phone in triumph.

“We have 10 minutes to beautify!” she declares. We rush into the house and 9 minutes later we are out in Avery’s driveway awaiting our pumpkin coach for the night.

“I love that color on you!” Reid says. I’m wearing a dark purple embellished tank. She’s wearing green, which is my favorite color on her. Avery is in black. We’re all wearing flats. We know better than to wear heels when we go out.

“Remember though, we have that shoot tomorrow. We can’t be out too late or get too drunk,” Reid says, playing mom again. Avery groans.

“You’re going to be a Debbie Downer tonight, aren’t you?” she asks.

“No. This will be the last mom moment. I promise,” Reid promises, crossing her fingers behind her back.

“I know you’re lying, but I’m going to let it slide,” Avery says.

The cab pulls up and we all crowd into the back seat.

“To the city,” is all Avery says and we take off through our little town to the expressway.

“Do you mind if I talk on my cell phone?” the driver asks.

“Of course not! We don’t want you to have to deal with all our crazy girl talk,” Avery says. She’s very bold and out there. He starts having a conversation with the other end of the phone and we start playing our classic car game.

“Would you rather,” Reid thinks for a second. “Eat a dead squirrel or,” she pauses to think. “jump in a tub of cow blood.” Avery turns up her nose.

“Eww Reid you’re gross!” She gives me a playful nudge. “I guess a dead squirrel is better than one that’s alive,” she muses.

“But it could be alive and just die in the process of you eating it,” Reid says.

“I don’t want cow blood anywhere near my vag,” I interject. We all laugh.

“Okay, it’s my turn,” Avery says. “Would you rather have mustard or ketchup on that dead squirrel!”

The game continues well into the city. We are so absorbed, I miss when we enter the city, but once we are past the first few streets, the nightlife and tall buildings are inviting.

“Where would you like me to drop you?” the driver asks.

“Oh, I don’t know. Millennium Park? Where’s a good night club around here?” Avery says.

The driver drops us off at a club with a small line out the door and a few people milling about smoking and chatting. Music pulsates through the glass and I can see lights flickering inside.

Avery pays the driver and we step in line.

“I haven’t been in a night club since that night in Paris.” Avery’s eyes glass over in bliss.

“How is Rodrigo anyway? Still in Denmark?” I ask. Rodrigo and Avery met in Paris while she was on vacation almost a year ago. They had been dating every since.

“Unfortunately. But he did seem to think he’d be coming stateside soon!” She giggled at the thought.

“Anywhere near here? Or are we going on a road trip,” Reid says deviously.

“Probably a road trip,” Avery responds without missing a beat, knowing we would go with. “Or plane trip. He thinks it will either be NYC or LA. I don’t understand why Chicago couldn’t have been an option. Or even Detroit. Minneapolis? Somewhere a little closer.” Avery crosses her arms and heaves her shoulders up and down.

“Aww sweetie we didn’t mean to upset you. Let’s go have a good time,” I encourage.

“Does that mean you’re out of your bad mood?” She looks up at me, eyes sparkling.

“Yes my dear, yes it does.” She cheers and claps her hands together. She looks like a little kid when she’s excited.

The line has moved significantly and we finally reach the door.

“ID’S and $10,” the bouncer says. Avery may be the shortest, but she’s older by Reid and me by a year. We were all legitimately legal, but he asks us each individually anyway.

“How old are you?” He questions.

“22,” Avery chirps.

“21,” Reid says, flashing a smile.

“What she said,” I say, pointing to Reid. He bursts out laughing at my response.

“Ya’ll can go in,” he says, pulling open the door at the same time.

The club is dark, warm and crowded. Lights bounce off the walls in time to the music and a huge disco ball hangs from the black ceiling. At least, I think it’s black. Hard to tell from the lighting.

“I’m heading to the bar!” Reid yells over the music. Avery and I follow suit.

“What are you getting?” Avery says in a much quieter tone. The bar is in a different room and the wall acts as a buffer for the music.

“Some sort of martini. Apple?” I respond. Avery scrunches her face in thought.

“How about we start with a shot first? Lemon drops?” Avery says.

“3 lemon drops please,” Reid says. Bartenders of both genders flock to her. “It’s a gift” she always says.

“$12” he says, placing the glasses in front of us.

“We’re opening a tab.” Avery hands him a credit card.

“To friendship!” Avery says, raising her glass.

“That’s lame. We need something better than that,” Reid says.

“What, like world peace?” Avery responds with a snort while Reid glares. Reid did pageants up until a year ago. She decided she wanted a tattoo more than a title.

“How about to getting so fucked up tonight that tomorrow will be horrible and fun at the same time?” I suggest.

“To tonight!” Reid agrees. We clink our glasses together and down the liquor. Lemon drops are sweet and difficult to taste the alcohol. We’ve all gotten smashed on them at least once. Like every other time, the liquid slides down my throat in a pleasant heat I can feel warm my body as it goes.

“Now you can get your martini.” Avery has the lemon in her mouth and it’s difficult to understand her.

“Apple martini please,” I tell the bartender when he arrives. I place a $2 tip down. We do tips in cash, starting at small increments and ascending as the night continues. Never above $10 though. Although Avery did that once to get one guy’s number. Turns out Marcus was gay but now they’re good friends. I joke saying she has to pay for friends.

We’re all laid back about joking with each other, and let fights slide off after a day or two if it’s a big one.

Except for Sara. Sara used to round off our little group. But Sara decided she hated Avery because Avery later dated one of her ex’s. She forced Reid and I to choose between her and Avery. But we decided to remain neutral. In that act, Sara decided she didn’t want to talk to any of us anymore. This rift only made this current friendship stronger.

“I think I’ll have an apple martini as well,” Reid says, also handing the bartender a tip.

“And can I get a Cosmo?” Avery asks.

Martinis in hand, we move down to an open spot down the bar.

“After this, we’re dancing!” Avery announces, throwing her hand in the air. The hand with her drink in it. Amazingly, she doesn’t spill any of it. It doesn’t keep Reid and I from leaning back at her outburst. I lean a little too far and into someone.

“Sorry,” I say, turning my head to face the person.

“Not a problem,” a boy with slightly ruffled hair says with a smile. ♥♥

“Cheers,” I say, raising my glass. He clinks his beer against it.

“Caleb.” He switches the hand his beer is in and sticks it out in greeting.

“Harper,” I answer, grasping his hand in a firm handshake. The bartender places a beer in front of him.

“I’ll see you around Harper.” He smiles and grabs the beer and walks away from the bar into the other room.

“Oo! Oo! Bet! Bet!” Avery exclaims once he’s out of earshot.

“I agree! We,” Reid says, glancing at Avery, “bet you $20 to get that guy’s number.”

Oh no. They have a mission.

And so the night begins.

***

Sorry everyone! I have to repost all of this. I loathe ficwad! But I love all of you.

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xoxo,
Kade
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