(5) bottom's up !

"So, Zoey mentioned that you two went to the same school as Ren?" Marie says in that curious tone as if she was a reporter who just found a scoop, "she doesn't look like she wanted to talk about it when I asked earlier though."

Airi forces a smile, "it's because we are constantly being asked that same question," she reasons with an awkward smile, "it gets tiring, to be honest."

"I get what you mean," she agrees, laughing.

"And the girls at school were so vicious when it comes to Ren," she says all the while thinking of herself. She was the most vicious of them after all. "I wouldn't want to be on their bad side. And I transferred in our second year so..." she trailed off, hoping Marie would take the hint and not ask further.

Marie quietly nods, embarrassed since she is also guilty of taking things too far, being a fan girl and all. She shares that it was the same at her school as well, "I swear if Ren goes to our school instead, there will be war!"

She seemed gung-ho about knowing about Ren, Airi notices as Marie throws questions one after the other, confirming whether it was true that Ren really did this and that. She was careful to answer everything correctly as it may arouse suspicion so at most, she just answered what she thought a reasonable classmate would know about him, at least, she thinks so.

Marie was about to ask another when a friend calls her over, it seemed important, so she excused herself, "we will continue this when I get back!” She declares as she runs towards her friends. Airi says sure and waves bye. She hopes she would not ask anything complicated.

Airi took this time to look around, everyone seemed to be having fun, and it is the first time she actually sees Zoey go all out. She was not used to going to parties, the only recent party she went to was with her mom on a cousin's 7th birthday party. The food was good, and her mom enjoyed chatting with her friends so it was also fun, in a way.

The people at the other table seemed cool too, as they mind their own business and chatting on normally, enjoying themselves in their own way. She appreciates that the music is not loud enough to block their conversations, although she supposes the noises from the conversations were just louder. If there weren’t a lot of people and this was just a quiet bar, she could actually imagine herself coming here every day.

She notices someone sits beside her, taking Marie's place. It was Neil. "Although this place seems peaceful now, once the show down there starts though, this place tends to be rowdy," he starts, his head tilting to the stage below, "at that point, you guys are free to go, since even I don't know what could happen."

Airi smiles and says she will keep that in mind as she drinks, "thanks,"

"You don't drink much do you?" Neil notices looking down at her half-full drink, "you barely finish your bottle while Zoey's down to her third one."

"Yeah well, Zoey has good tolerance, meanwhile I really don't drink very much." she reasons awkwardly. Whenever she drinks she couldn’t help but think of her dad. Although he is cool with her drinking, it still bothers him whenever she does drink, remembering their conversation on the phone earlier. It was clear her dad did not want her to go out and drink on the first day of school but reluctantly agreed anyway. Her dad has always been lenient with her, unlike her mom, so the least she could do to ease his worry is to promise him she wouldn't drink so much.

Neil snorts, "I highly doubt that Zoey has high tolerance, she just drinks a lot fast," he eyes Zoey beside Airi, laughing her heart out. "Anyway, that's not why I'm here," he stares at Airi, inquisitive, "I don't think you've thanked me yet."

Airi feels herself get nervous, she has an idea what he means but decides to pretend otherwise. She raises a brow, shifts in her seat, uneasy, "thanked you for what?"

"Oh, I don't know," Neil looks up, feigning innocence as he sways his bottle gently back and forth, "for covering you when Ren showed up."

Neil sees her tense up a bit, but regains her composure, it tells him that she probably thought it was a coincidence, and that she just does not want to bring it up. At the time, he thought it was a coincidence, her moving to the side as if hiding herself. But when he saw her the face she was making: anxious and somewhat agitated, coupled with Zoey's displeasure then gave him an inkling of what was wrong.

"So you noticed that, huh," Airi sighs, giving up. It was not like she was hiding it though, it just surprised her that he was able to perceive it was Ren she was hiding from. Airi drinks, finally finishing her first bottle, thinking if she should tell him everything. Neil quickly gets her a new one, opens it, and hands it over to her.

She takes it from him with a thanks, "I was just surprised seeing him there since as far as I know, he's gonna go to a known university in another city," which was true in a way. Never in her life did she think that she and Ren would go to the same university.

He was skeptical. That doesn't seem like a surprised face though, he thought recalling her frightened face then.

"It's still pretty awkward to see him, so thanks for covering for me," she says, awkwardly smiling. At this point, the music starts to get louder.

Neil settles with smiling back and lightly knocks his bottle with hers, "anything for a bro." He says before drinking. It was barely audible with the music but it was enough for Airi to understand. She smiles and follows suit.

Something likely happened between them, the three of them at least, Neil thought. But he is not one to press on the issue, that's such a girl thing to do, he thought, not to mention it is none of his business. He has dealt with girls liking Ren and being crazy about him (like Marie) that honestly, he is not about to take on another. No matter how unusual she reacts to him.

The lights on the stage grew brighter and flicker on and off more frequently, indicating that the show is about to start. The crowd grew louder as the music changed genre from techno to disco rock. A Deejay enters the stage and the crowd started cheering louder.

"I guess the show has officially started," Neil says as he watches the crowd stand up and gather at the center, putting their hands up and dancing to the beat. Some people from their group stand up and go down the staircase, including Zoey.

"Hey, Airi!" Zoey calls her, "come on! Let's dance!" she looks wasted. It is the first time she has seen Zoey so drunk like this, Airi looks over her with concern.

"You better look after her, she had five bottles, as far as I counted." Airi turns to the voice and sees Liam, scratching the back of his head, exhausted like she just took care of a kid. "I told her not to drink so much..." he says, sighing.

"She also has a tendency to start fights," Noah adds. Airi is speechless, she knew she should have stopped her then.

" AIRIIII...!" She yells, walking dangerously to the stage, waving her hands up so she could see her. And as everyone feared, she bumps into a stranger, making her stop calling abruptly. She turns to the woman, pissed, "hey! Watch where yer goin'! Can't you see I'm walking here!"

Airi pales, panic-stricken. She stands up immediately and runs to Zoey, “Zo-Zoey! No, wait!" Before she starts to have a screaming match with the girl she bumped into.

It is the first day of school, and this happens, Airi curses, not to mention they still have classes tomorrow! It was wrong of her to come, to assume everything will be okay. Oh God, she should have told Zoey beforehand not to drink too much. She knew Zoey drank a lot, but she did not know it was to this extent. She grabs Zoey's hand, "c'mon, let's go home, okay?" she tells her friend, giving her a pleading smile, "please."

Zoey stops and turns to her friend, narrows her brows, troubled by Airi's expression. She then smiles lovingly, warmly like the usual her, and cuddles her friend.

"It's okay, it’s okay, it was because this bitch bumped into me. I didn't even do anything, it was her fault so all is good!” she says this as if trying to reassure Airi but caused the opposite. Airi immediately felt her soul leave her body. Liam and Neil face-palmed.

“Hah? You’re the one who was clearly not looking where you were going!” She girl spats, clearly irritated already. Airi could only mouth a regretful sorry for her friend. She tells Zoey that it was an accident and that she should apologize for calling a stranger that.

"Zoey, it was clearly your fault, so go ap--"

"Shut up, jerk face." Zoey harshly cuts Liam. Airi apologizes to him on her friend's behalf, all the while wondering how will she ever get through tonight.