December 31 2013

The past few weeks had gone by in a drug and alcohol induced blur. The party's had become more frequent since school had broken up for the Christmas holidays and I was slowly starting to feel the effects of the constant bingeing and lack of sleep. Today was New Year's eve and the girls along with Ricky were all discussing how wild the party that we'd all been invited to tonight was going to be.

"I'm hoping that I'll be locking lips with a big hunk of a man at midnight." Ricky laughs

"How romantic." Poppy sighs "I've always wanted a midnight kiss on New Year's eve."

"Poppy , sweetie. What do you know about romance?" Kiara laughs "the closest thing you've gotten to a romantic encounter was having your underwear brought back to you after you left them at a boys house."

"At least he brought them back." Poppy huffed "he could've been a creep and kept them. At least I wasn't caught having sex with some boy by his parents , in their car!"

"Touché" Kiara laughed " I have no doubt that we'll all be much too drunk to even know it's midnight." We all murmured in agreement.

"It's a miracle that we were even invited tonight , Tate Simmonds parties are legendary. You'll have to thank Hayden for getting us all an invite." Poppy says from across the room

"What and massage the boy's giant ego even more? I don't think so , I'm surprise his head still fits through his front door." I grumble

"I know something of his you'd like to massage , from what I've heard it's..."

"Ricky!" I screeched as I launched a pillow at his head in an effort to shut him up

"You know I'm right , sweetie." He laughs , shooting me a wink.

"We've got precisely 2 hours before we need to be at this party." Kiara states , breaking up mine and Ricky's play fight "I don't know about you but I feel like getting the party started a little early."

"I couldn't agree more. Rick there's a bottle of vodka downstairs , it's stashed behind the bleach under the sink."

"I'm on it." He replies , jumping off the bed and heading downstairs to the kitchen

"Don't forget the lemonade." Kiara shouts out. "Are you coming in the taxi with us tonight , Luce?" She asks turning to face me

"Of course I am , Hayden offered to take me but I didn't fancy third wheeling in the car with him and Brittany." I tried my best to not pull a face as the girls name left my lips.

"Oh , Luce . I heard she was sleeping with some guy who works at a bar in town. I doubt he'll keep her around much longer." Poppy murmurs as she pulls me in for a hug.

"It's okay , he can do who and what he wants. It doesn't bother me what so ever." I say but looking at my two friends they don't seem convinced and deep down I don't think I was either.

Thankfully Ricky had returned with the drinks so all talks of Hayden and his not so brief fling were cast a side. I sat there and silently made a vow to myself I would not let Hayden Williams ruin my night , tonight I was going to have fun and to hell with the consequences.

An hour and a half later and a little more tipsy than expected we were all ready. "I'll call the taxi , meet you all downstairs." He calls out as he leaves the room with Poppy close behind him. "Luce will you come here a second." Kiara shouts from the bathroom

"Coming." I reply "is everything okay?"

"Fancy a little party favour?" She asks , pulling a small bag filled with white powder from her clutch. " I didn't want to ask when Poppy and Ricky were in the room , you know what they're like." She was referring to the first time we'd ever tried the stuff a few months ago , we were at a party and somehow we'd walked in on a few boys doing lines in the toilet they offered us some but Poppy freaked out and ran out of the room , me and Kiara had stayed and joined in. In hind sight I don't think the lecture we'd both gotten from Ricky was worth the buzz , he didn't speak to either of us for a week.

"How did you get hold of that?" I ask

"From the same guy that Hayden goes to, I asked him for the guys number and I went to get it before I came here. You want some?" I watched as she tipped some of the power onto the counter top and divided it up into 3 neat little lines. "Sure , why not." what's the worst that could happen?

It was fair to say that Tate Simmonds knew how to throw a party. We'd been to some good parties before but this one was by far the best , we realised soon after arriving that there was enough alcohol to drown a small country. "What can I get you ladies?" Ricky asked as we made our way over to the makeshift bar set up in the kitchen.

"Something strong." I reply

"The same for me , rick."

"I'll have whatever the other two are having." Poppy said.

As we were waiting for Ricky to work his magic my gaze shifted to the people filtering in and out of the kitchen , I knew I shouldn't be looking for him but I couldn't help it we'd been here almost an hour and I hadn't seen him yet. "He's fine , sweetie. Stop worrying , you're going to give yourself wrinkles." The sound of Ricky's voice broke me out of my little day dream "He hasn't even come to say hi." I murmured , taking a sip from the plastic cup "do I mean that little to him?"

"Sweetie , he probably doesn't even know what his own name is at the moment. You know what he's like at parties better than anyone , don't let him ruin your night." He caught hold of my hand and led me towards what I guessed was the make shift dance floor , getting drunk and dancing the night away seemed like the best solution for my Hayden shaped problem.

The alcohol , dancing and boy's had slowly started to make me forget and that was what made me keep coming back for more. No matter how bad the come downs and the hangovers got because I knew for a few hours that I'd be able to forget about everything and let go completely.

I had no idea what time it was but by now the party was in full swing , me and Ricky had been dancing for what seemed like hours. "I'm going to get us some more drinks." He shouted over the music , I gave him a quick nod and went to sit down on one of the chairs that had been placed around the room. From where I was sitting I could see Poppy dancing with a boy I'd never seen before and I couldn't help but smile , she deserved a nice boy. I felt bad for her sometimes , getting caught up in what me and Kiara got up to at parties I knew it scared her more than she let on. She was the type of girl that'd rather stay home with a good book than get drunk and pop pills every weekend but here she was hanging around with the likes of me and Kiara.

A few minutes had passed and Ricky still hadn't returned with the drinks , must've found some hunky man to play tonsil tennis withI thought to myself. The music in the living room was starting to make my head pound so I made my way out to the garden to get a little peace and quiet for a few minutes before I threw myself back into the party. The air outside was cool and refreshing compared to the warm and humid atmosphere back inside the house. I stood there for a while letting the cool air wash over me but god I felt drunk , the fresh air did that to you.

When I walked back towards the house , something felt different. There was no music playing and the house was no longer dark , all the lights on the lower floor had been turned on. Fuck I hope it's not the policeI say to myself as I get closer and closer to the back door , I had managed to avoid getting carted home in a police car for underage drinking so far and I didn't plan on getting caught anytime soon. I quietly slid back in through the door and slowly made my way towards the kitchen.

I could hear Ricky screaming before I even made my way into the room and I felt sorry for the poor bastard he was talking too. "I don't give a Fuck , someone needs to find her. She needs to know." He was still shouting but his voice was much more frantic and it was starting to make me panic , pushing past the last few people I walked over to where my best friend was stood. "Rick , what's wrong?" I asked pulling him in for a hug.

"Where the hell have you been!" He screamed holding me at arm's length "we've been looking for you everywhere." As he was shouting at me Kiara and Poppy appeared in the kitchen , their makeup was smudged and their eyes were bloodshot , like they'd both recently been crying.

"Is someone going to tell me what's going on or are you just going to shout at me for the rest of the night?" I ask. As soon and the two girls hear my voice Poppy runs over to me and pulls me in for a hug. "were you all really that worried about me?" I laugh "I was only outside in the garden cooling off. You were taking too long with the drinks."

"Luce you need to come with me , quickly." He says.

"Why , what's wrong?" I had never been good with stressful situations and right now I could feel strong waves of anxiety rolling over me.

I followed him to the front of the house , I could see Britany sat on the stairs with her head in her hands. As we walked past she looks up and our eyes met , god you look like shitI chuckle to myself. Just before we got to the front door Ricky stops and turns to face me. "Before I let you go out there you've got to promise me you won't lose it."

"why , what's out there?" I ask

"Sweetie , there's no easy way to say this but Hayden's out there and he's overdosed , the ambulance is on its way but it's bad , Luce."

It was like my body was running on auto pilot , I pushed past Ricky and ran through the door. I could see a few of his friends huddled around something on the floor , I wanted this to be a joke a sick sick joke and that in reality he was going to be okay but the closer I got I realised that this was real. "What the fuck happened." I screamed , his best friend Kyle was the one to turn around first when he realised who was screaming. "I'm so sorry Luce." He whispered "he just wouldn't stop , we tried to get him to slow down but he just wouldn't listen. We brought him out here to get him some air because he looked like shit but as soon as we got him outside his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed."

"I-is he alive?" I stammered

"yeah , he's still alive but he needs to get to the hospital. The ambulance is on its way."

"I'm going with him , he can't go to the hospital on his own. He hates them." I say through sobs. "I need to see him."

"Are you sure?" Kyle asks "He looks like shit , Luce." My only response is a nod. I slowly make my way around the group of boys and that's when I see him. The body led at my feet doesn't look like my Hayden.

I drop to my knees beside him , not caring that the gravel on the drive way was cutting into my skin. I grab hold of his hand and his skin feels like an inferno , his whole body was covered in a thin layer of sweat. Silent sobs wrack my body , I should've gone to find him , I could've stopped this from happening. This is all my fault. We were sat there in silence for what felt like an eternity , never taking my eyes of his chest in fear that he could stop breathing at any time.

The blue flashing lights from the ambulance brought me out of my daze like state , the two men from the ambulance came rushing out and immediately started asking Hayden's friends what seemed like hundreds of different questions. One of the men began talking on a phone "Young male , 19 years old. suspected cocaine overdose. ETA 5 minutes." The two of them then began to load Hayden onto the stretcher.

"Darling , we need you to let go. We need to get him to the hospital."

"I-I need to c-come with you." I sob as they begin loading Hayden into the vehicle.

"Not unless you're related darling." Replies the paramedic

"I'm his sister , please." He looks at me for a few seconds and motions for me to get in the back of the ambulance. Moments later the doors close and the vehicle begins speeding towards the hospital.

As soon as we reached St James's hospital I was ushered into a waiting room while the doctors and nurses rushed Hayden away. I curled up in the chair and all I could do was cry , the pain of knowing that Hayden could possible die was too much. I must have dropped off because I was woken up sometime later by my mum. "Lucia , wake up this instant." She hissed as she shook my shoulder. "m-mum , what are you doing here?" I murmured

"I'm here to bring you home. Look at the state of you smell like the floor of a brewery."

"I'm not leaving until I know Hayden's okay , how did you even know I was here?" I ask slightly confused.

"Hayden's father called us. After he got here and found his 'daughter' asleep in the waiting room. You've got a lot of explaining to do young lady , now move." I tried to put up a fight and insist that I needed to wait for Hayden to wake up but she refused to budge and all but dragged me from the hospital. As I sat in the back of the car on the way home I knew that regardless of what happens , nothing will ever be the same again.

A/N

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I'm sorry it's so late it was a very hard one to right and I wanted to make sure it was done properly ! The next chapter should be up in a week !❤️