Lights flashing.
Phone cameras clicking.
Music blaring.
Sweaty bodies meshed against each other in an inconceivable sea of youth and fame.
What was she doing there? Why did she let her friends drag her along to this den of...supposed 'celebration'? For the fifth night in a row.
"Okay, okay- all together now!" She giggled drunkenly. "Another shot, on three!"
Cheers erupted, some guy snaked his hand around her waist.
"One...two...three!" The taste of alcohol engulfed her senses. First stinging her tongue, then blurring her sight and finally, warming her skin- where her otherwise empty heart lay beneath.
Even more cheers, more clapping. The arm around her squeezed tighter.
"Dude, he's into you." Soobin, a friend, tittered into her ear slurringly, "Kiss him or something!"
Or she said something like that, as her words were left unfathomable with the deafening sound of Trap Hip-hop in the air.
So Minji did just that. Because Minji did what she was told. Guaranteed. Their tongues mingled, while they caressed each other. She decided to ignore his overwhelming waft of Clive Christian No. 1 Pure Perfume (she knew her fragrances), and even his irritating grabbing of her behind. Once he pulled away, she slipped on a smile...even managing a giggle.
Lights flashing.
Glasses clinking.
More cheers sourced elsewhere at the party.
Her ears were ringing from the music playing. Still, she felt her body swaying side to side under all their gazes. Just for their gazes. There was some nearby mumbling. The stranger's other hand made its way to her behind once again and Minji soon realized he was speaking to her.
"Huh?"
His smirk faltered, eyebrows furrowing. "I said, you wanna take this somewhere more...private?"
Someone in the distance laughed. Minji caught a waiter approaching, so she snatched up two shots from his tray. Their contents were soon emptied and the chandelier above suddenly seemed more vividly intense.
"You gonna go or what, Minnie?" a friend of hers whooped, taking a break from knocking back more vodka.
"Go get some!" Another rolled his eyes, when he didn't have them glued to the glaring screen in his hand. "He's totally into you,"
Minji was currently inarticulate, so she settled for yet another giggle. When in doubt, act nonchalant. She felt the stranger leaning in again and an urge to recoil emerged.
"Sure." Minji finally replied, catching him off guard by placing a finger over his lips. "Let's go."
Anything to put off their trading of spit, just a little longer.
"Omg, you're really going to do it! Holy shit, you total slut!" a different friend laughed teasingly. Yet there was an edge to her tone.
Minji shrugged and laughed along with them, even wiggling her eyebrows in a comical fashion. Her chest felt tight.
"Minnie, before you go- two shots for good luck?" Soobin snapped her perfectly manicured fingers at a waiter lurking at the side, before she could even answer. Christ, it seemed like they were endless in supply that night.
Subsequently, they all had a glass cozy in each hand. "On three?" Soobin smirked, eyes glittering.
So their group chanted a countdown before downing their cups. It bewildered Minji why most of them were on their University's committee again, including herself. But then again, why wouldn't they be? Wealthy, famous, good-looking, and intelligent; they ticked all those boxes. They were perfect. That's right, absolutely untouchable. Just so perfect.
"Babe, you coming or what?" Mr. 'Butt-grabber' slung his arm over her shoulder, liquor strong on his breath. "Let's go, it'll be alright." Some random girl bumped into her as she reached for another shot on a table. Her stalling was apparently reaching its limits, but her mind was focused on fighting down genuine laughter at him nicknaming her 'Babe'.
She could turn him down. But it would look bad to her friends. It always looked bad. Ungraceful...no fun...bitchy.
"Babe," she pulled his face toward hers though her sight was totally blurry. "Just give me five minutes, I think that lady over there has bloody marys. I freaking love bloody marys!"
Minji slipped out of his grip right as he called for her. "What the hell? What are you talking about...hey come back?" She was already gone; on to the next opportunity to get utterly wasted.
Lights flashing.
Phone cameras clicking.
Music blaring.
Some other guy queasily stumbled into her path, a hand clamped over his mouth. Another complimented her body-con Moschino dress. She tittered in response, her nerves rising. Where the hell was the familiar face of a waiter with alcohol when you needed them? Finally, a bartender was spotted in the distance.
"Thank god," Minji slipped into a plush bar seat and grinned at the pink-haired woman behind the bar table.
"What can I get you, sweetie-" She busied herself, shaking a metal flask. When she looked up at her, she arched an eyebrow. "I take back what I said. You look like you've had enough, you good sweetie?"
"Nah, I've only had one drink- pinky promise." Minji let out a chuckle. And instantly regretted how forced it sounded. Her arm stretched out for a bottle of gin in the corner just before the bartender snatched it out of her grip.
"Whoa, hold on! Nope, I really think you've had enough,"
Minji pouted, feeling defeated while her nerves were starting to wreck.
"Fuck." She could already feel her boozed out high fading away... into the dreaded aftermath.
Her stomach was churning. Her vision was now solely jumbled up colors.
Trap Hip-hop blared even louder. So many sweaty bodies everywhere she turned, under the dim lighting.
Chattering. Imminent mumbling and chattering. It just never ended. Someone laughed- soon, a cheer erupted somewhere. Minji's chest felt tighter and tighter.
"I'm perfect, this is p-perfect...we're all p-perfect-" she slurred, stumbling around.
A hand landed on her shoulder. "Hey, there you are!" It was Mr. Butt-graber. "I was looking for you."
"Hey Mr.Butt-grabber," she giggled uncontrollably.
His eyebrows furrowed deeply. "Excuse me?"
There was a bang in the corner, and a blood-curdling scream escaped her lips before she could stop it.
"What was that? W-what was it, w-what-"
"C-calm down, someone popped a bottle. It's just a bottle, Jesus Christ!" Mr. Butt-grabber grew antsy.
It was suddenly more silent than before. More eyes on her. Minji couldn't move; her tongue weighed a ton and her limbs were stone.
"Say something. What's up with you-" he shook her.
That was when she threw up all over his shirt.