A night out [3]

We had just entered the dungeon. Walking through the darkness, we were met with deafening sounds. Carnal and raw, those were the best words I had to describe it.

"The Dungeon" was the name of the bar we had chosen, but on Friday nights, it turned out to be more of a club than a traditional bar.

Here, I had a hard time following my group. With taller people everywhere standing grouped and walking around, I had my fair share of both heaven and hell, bumping into both soft and hard people.

Thankfully, we soon arrived at a more quiet lounge which, of course, Sarah had already booked. Using some sort of noise reduction magic, the ear-destroying music diminished to the level of background music.

As it turns out, Sarah had gone all out to make our night a success. At our table, we were met by three buckets of liquids. Beer, cider, and sparkling wines were sitting neatly in the iced baths, waiting to be consumed. During our time getting awed by the already insane service, Sarah received a tablet that we could use to order more specific options, like hard liquor and different kinds of shots.

Still slightly inebriated, even after our walk through the illuminated streets breathing in the cold air, James retorted.

"This is insane! How much did you spend on this Sarah?! There is no way we can just let you pay for all this!"

James did have a point, this all seemed extremely expensive, but I had already gotten the impression that the Lindt family must be filthy rich. How else would Sarah be so comfortable paying for it in the first place? Just as I expected, we were met by a stereotypical "rich girl"-answer.

"It's fine. My father paid for it saying "I'm so happy my little girl has gotten friends already! No need to think about the costs, I know the owner personally at "The Dungeon", so just put it on a tab". So there is no problem at all."

'Daddy's girl?'

Although we were still a bit tense, we accepted Sarah's answer and sat down, grabbing a drink each. The alcohol in our bodies did seem to make it easier to accept such a ludicrous situation.

With a different constellation than at the restaurant, I now had Brad across, James in front, and the soft body of Sarah close enough to me that I could pretend to feel her warmth.

Brad kicked off the conversation.

"So Miren, what family are you from? I don't recognize your surname."

Even though we had conversed a lot at the restaurant, it had mostly consisted of appreciation of the food and drinks. Brad, Sarah, and James seemingly already knew a bit about each other, but they had no idea who I actually was.

'I'll just tell it straight, if I do believe that I might socialize with them in the future, it's better to come clean now.'

Taking a sip of my beer, feeling it was a bit too watery for my taste, I answered curtly.

"Me? Well, I'm just an orphan who got forced by the principal to attend the academy."

*Dum-dum-da-dum*

The only thing heard was the background music. All three of them had gotten completely frozen hearing the tragedy that I was an orphan. All three reacted with some pity in their eyes, with Sarah being the worst offender. The frown on her face collaborated with her sorrowful eyes to create the impression of gazing at a lost puppy or something.

I started talking again to try and diffuse the tension I had accidentally created.

"Guys, It's fine. I'm also a student at Kirkegaard, you know? That means I've already lived 16 years without parents, it's not like me saying it now would suddenly make me depressed about it."

Putting on the brightest smile I could muster, they instead became frozen for another reason. I had underestimated how cute I would look once I finally bring out a real smile.

'Guess I did have the right assumption about my appearance after all. This is genuinely the face of a future model! I just need to grow a bit...'

Three pairs of cheeks reddened at my expression, and once again Sarah was the most dramatic. Sitting turned towards me, she couldn't help but pull me into a tight hug.

Enveloped in her softness, as I was still at her chest level, I had a hard time forming clear thoughts. With the exception of one, one that gave me a bit of relief and at the same time a complete sense of loss.

'I guess she doesn't care about the incident anymore, I'm now fully just an animal in her eyes.'

Confirming my thoughts she said:

"I know you told me not to call you cute and treat you like anyone else at the restaurant, but let me just do this once!"

Unbeknownst to me, who thought it was just an act of affection towards a pet, this was also a way of comforting me for not having parents.

Brad broke our hug, or at least her hugging me while I was trying to keep my emotions in check, by cracking a horribly stereotypical joke.

"Get a room, guys! Hahaha!"

"Shut it, Brad! This is just a friendly hug! If you weren't so damn annoying, you would get one too!"

James intervened swiftly, in order for our good old time not to escalate into a fistfight.

"Let's order something fun instead! Now that we are here we should make full use of it, shouldn't we?"

Sarah and Brad answered.

"Yea, we should."

"Yes, let's order some shots! I always take at least a couple before going dancing!"

'The bouncy Sarah likes to dance? Thank god that we have a front-seat view of the dance floor!'

I added to their conversation.

"So, what shots should we order then?"

"Just order two of each, my father won't have any problems with it!"

After just a couple of minutes, while we kept drinking and talking, our designated waiter came around with a huge tray containing at least five shots for each of us.

"Here you go, the owner doubled the amount as a gesture of good faith. Just use the tablet if you need anything else."

And with those words, she left.

Brad took the initiative.

"Let's do it then!"

Grabbing a shot each, we got to it. I had somehow gotten a shot of whiskey, having no idea why it would be part of a shot assortment, and I tasted heaven. The burning sensation made its way down my throat, spreading out in my mouth making me feel complete. This was by far my favorite drink during our time out, and as such I made James order a couple more.

While making small talk, we kept taking shots. I could see the others getting more and more relaxed, with their faces slightly reddening.

Me? I kept enjoying my whiskey and must've had at least six shots from the tray, but my head still felt pretty clear. I could sense that I was a bit more cheerful and talkative than usual, but nothing more.

With that Brad went out for an adventure, hunting for a place to spend the night. Fixing his suit and lightly stroking his none existent hair, he set out.

With Brad gone, there was one more person who seemed to get a little bit impatient.

Sarah was completely in party mode. Alternating moving a bit to the beat and singing, she seemed ready to hit the dance floor. After a brief try to get to dance with James, he said he would join her on her next run, wanting to talk with me for a bit alone. Sarah danced her way out to the dance floor, her jiggling figure quickly attracting unwanted attention, which she swiftly diffused throughout her session.

Me and James were now alone at the table, making some light small talk. During our talk, I kept enjoying my glasses of whiskey while James had, responsibly but to Brad's horror, switched to drinking water to sober up a bit.

Our savior seemed to have weaker resistance to alcohol than the rest of us. Albeit not wasted, he was very lightly slurring some words and he seemed to have lost a bit of his judgment. Something I could deduce by our upcoming conversation.

"So are you sure your body has recovered enough to drink? I think I heard that the health teacher was pretty agitated at your condition."

"Oh, it is fine. She did tell me off a bit for what happened, but I feel completely fine now."

"That's good. I thought you would be bedridden for a long time after what happened after all..."

"After what happened?"

James had fucked up again, but this time, I wouldn't let it slip so easily. I was curious, what had actually happened? Although I had found my answers to most suspicious situations after the recording, I still felt something was missing. It also helped that I was inebriated enough to not care about the consequences.

"Oh sorry. I think I'm just a bit drunk. Don't mind it."

He let out a weak excuse to try to divert the conversation, but he was, after all, really bad at lying.

"I know something happened, our teacher already accidentally talked about me letting out my lightning energy. So just tell me, we are friends right?"

*Haaaa*

Sighing, he resolved himself to tell the truth.

"Yes. Your lightning rampaged after you recorded your status. When I first met you, I already got the impression that you were special. You can call it a gift if you want, but I have since childhood been able to determine if a person has something special about them. You are one of these people Miren."

'What's happening, why isn't he just explaining what happened at the recording? I already know my lightning rampaged a little!'

For some reason, he took my small hand into his big grasp, and although I tried to remove it, with my strength he wouldn't budge. Maybe he was too drunk to even feel my pitiful attempts at recovering my hand. He leaned forward a bit over the table and looked deeply into my eyes.

"Miren, even if you are physically weak, that doesn't mean that you are weak. You are probably stronger than any of us, and you have your insane speed."

'I know he is just drunkenly acting like a friend, but man you, are too close! And why do you have to hold my hand while talking about this?!'

"Miren, you are special. Even if others don't see it, I do. I will be by your side, you can trust me!"

At his final words, I couldn't take it anymore. Turning my head to the side in an attempt to escape from his weirdly passionate gaze, red from embarrassment, I met the reaper of my reputation.

Sarah was standing right there. Giggling like a madman, drooling and equipped with the most intense eyes I had ever seen. Worst of all was the object in her hands. She had her camera out with a red light, most likely showing that it was recording...

"Sarah... How long have you been standing there?!"