༉˚*ೃ ᵒ⁴. 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆!
( warning ig ?? descriptive details of drinking alcohol )

"𝐍𝐎, 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 Fears is not better than The Cure, are you kidding me?" debated Robin, hands placed firmly on the counter. "You'd rather take Mad World over A Forest?" Her eyes were wide, lips parted in an incredulous expression as her Ahoy hat slipped down her hair a little. It was what they'd been arguing about for the past hour—the two girls had driven Steve Harrington borderline insane. He'd taken to serving the customers, since it seemed pretty clear that Rain and Robin weren't going to help them out in that department: with Robin's legs splayed across one of the tables and a mildly playful irritation written across both girls' pretty features.

          "You did not strike me as a The Cure gal," Rain said, leaning on her palm, "And hell yeah, I would choose Mad World, because it's a musical piece of art." She raised her delicate fingers in the air to accentuate her point, eyebrows raising meticulously.

          "Bullshit!" laughed Robin, shaking her head, "You're insane!" She was curling the chord of Rain's Walkman around her fingers, which was stretched out between them. Her grin just made Rainbow want to laugh too.

          Rain bit lightly on her own knuckle and looked over at Robin with her mouth dropped open in faux shock. "Hey! I am not!" Rain pushed Robin's shoulder lightly with a laugh, "I'm the one with the good music taste here."

          "What are you talking about? Tears For Fears are awful!"  exclaimed Robin in laughter, her eyebrows raised high in disbelief.

          "Oh, nah-ah-ah-ah," argued Rain while raising an offended finger. She leaned back on one of her lean arms. "I completely disagree." Rain brought one of her knees up against her chest, to prop her chin up onto. "And Tears For Fears and The Cure have the same kind of sound!" exclaimed Rain lightly, cheeks aching from smiling so hard. Their argument seemed pointless—it was such a small thing to fight about—but both girls were thoroughly enjoying it. Plus, it was important. Their music reputations were at stake. And everyone knew Robin prided herself in her superior music taste.

          "No they don't!" exclaimed Robin highly, mouth fallen open. "You take that back! The Cure is so much better!" While it seemed like she was getting genuinely worked up—that's how it was with musicians—Rain was just along for the ride. "You're into preppy pop music, I can't believe you." Robs seemed genuinely offended, and hid her face behind her fingers. "God. Tears For Fears... I can't stand that." Through the headphones hooked around Rain's neck, Robin could even hear the jingle of Everybody Wants To Rule The World playing.

          Letting out another high, pretty laugh—Robin loved it when Rain laughed like that, she barely laughed that way for anyone else—Rain pointed an accusing finger at her. Her fingernails were painted a sweet shade of pink, which Robs could only assume was Rain's favourite colour at the moment. "You're a music snob, Robin Buckley!" Her eyes were bright and illuminated with joy.

          "I am not!" argued Robin back, her features scrunching up together until she looked borderline wounded. "I just have impeccable taste!"

          Rainbow snorted in an undignified fashion, before covering her mouth and nose and dissolving into giggles. It was the kind of fit of laughter you could only fall into when speaking to your best friend or a crush of some kind. The type that was carefree and genuine and was always set off by something that wasn't too funny but was better because the other person was around. "You're like Jonathan Byers." She snorted again and tried to cover it up.

           The sound made Robin laugh too, until she was doubled over with her head tucked against her knees. "I am not!" They'd both had a few classes with Byers during school—and of course Rain knew him with her former crush being on Nancy Wheeler. "Byers is a way bigger music snob than me."

           "He is not—!" squealed Rain in belly-laughter again.

          The sound of clanging metal brought them out of their laughing fit. "Oi, assholes!" came Steve Harrington's voice. In his hand was one of the ice-cream scoopers that he was currently hitting against a metal tub. "Are you gonna help me serve or what?" His annoyed expression only made Robin and Rain both double over once again. Rain laughed so hard at how pissed off he looked that she nearly fell off the table and had to cling on for leverage. It was one of those moments when absolutely everything was so hilarious that nothing could be serious.

          "You've got it, Harrington," said Robin while blinking away tears of laughter, once she'd slightly sobered up from their giggling fit. "It's just ice cream. And girls who don't want to flirt with you." The joy on her face was infectious. She had her teeth bitten down on her lower lip as she tried to conceal more laughter; her eyes were bright and dewy and alight; she had her hands planted in her lap while her crossed legs were slightly raised. It was like she was so gleeful, she didn't quite know what to do with herself. Like she'd just heard the best news in the world, or had the best moment of her life.

           While Steve didn't seem to find it quite as funny, Rain glowed at the expression on Robin's face. She would have done everything to see someone look like that every moment of her life. "Yeah, Harrington," jeered Rain as she peeled some loose, curly hair away from where it stuck to her lower lip with an index finger. One day, they were going to get in trouble for constantly sitting on the counters. "What, teaching you how to pick up gals isn't enough? You need us to take over your job too?" She and Robin very much enjoyed riling Steve up. Just maybe it was a little bit of light-hearted punishment from the way he'd acted in high school.

          "It's your job too—!" hissed Steve, but it was cut under his breath and hidden with a wide smile as another girl walked through the parlour's entrance with one of her friends. It was Anna Jacobi, who'd sat two seats in front of Rain for their Psych classes. Rain had never had a conversation with the girl in her life, but she was undoubtedly beautiful. This store just seemed to attract pretty girls—they could say it was because of Steve all day long, but Rain liked to pride herself that it was because of her. She could think that to herself anyway. Steve seemed a bit thrown off by Anna's presence as he served her.

          "Alrighty, one scoop of chocolate. That's a buck twenty-five," he said cheerily as he handed over Anna's ice cream. It was all fine until Anna pulled the cash out of her purse to hand it to Steve. "Ooh, Purdue," he commented, glancing at her blue and yellow university shirt. "Fancy."

          "Oh, here he goes," hissed Rain, preparing for the train-wreck. She dropped her head on Robin's shoulder, throwing her legs over the taller girl's as they watched. Rain had her own Ahoy! hat in her fingers and was picking away at a few of the loose threads.

          Anna nodded to him, glancing down towards her t-shirt with a pretty smile. "Yeah, I'm excited." She grinned as Steve rung up the register.

          "Yeah, you know, I considered it," added Steve, which Rain knew he did not, "Purdue, but then I was like, you know what? I— I really think I need some real-life experience, you know, before I hit college, see what it feels like." The two girls were glancing back and forth with each other now, trying to figure out how small-talk with a former classmate had become a full-on rant about college choices.

          "Jesus Christ," breathed Rain—something which her father and mother would both probably gasp at, but look at her, Rain was a little rebel—and shoved her face into her hands in embarrassment. "Steve, what on earth are you doing?" How had he not taken a single ounce of their dating advice? The sound was muffled by her palms. Beside her, Robin snickered. God, poor Steve.

          He shrugged to himself and continued rambling as he searched for change. "Kinda like, uh, I don't know, see what it's like to earn a working-man's wage, you know? And, uh..." The register beeped as he pressed the wrong button and Robin tried her very best to conceal a snort.

          Rain shoved Robin a little, "Hey, don't be mean! He's trying!" Though she was trying her very best to hold back a laugh, and it was hard to keep talking quiet enough for the other girls to hear. She whacked Robin a few times on the thigh with her sailor's hat. "Stop laughing, you'll make me laugh!"

          When Steve got the register working, he continued, "I think that's like, really important."

          "Yeah, totally," responded Anna with her eyebrows raised high, trying to be nice but clearly just wanting to get the hell out of there.

           "Yeah, anyways, this was like, so fun," breathed Steve, and now it was Rain who was internally groaning. "We should kind of like, you know, I don't know, maybe hang out this weekend—" He then tossed the coins at Anna and they promptly rolled everywhere, "oh, sorry about that..." at which Robin absolutely lost it and began to laugh loudly. It was incredibly difficult to be pretending not to be watching the entire ordeal, now. Rainbow just grimaced and gritted her teeth together. Oh my God, Steve. She clasped a hand over Robin's mouth—pretended like her stomach didn't do a flip at that—and grimaced even harder at the scene. Robin's laughing was the last straw for Steve, as everything seemed to come crumbling down. He glanced towards her in panic and then back towards Anna and her snickering friend. "Uh... I don't know, maybe next weekend, or..."

          Anna seemed like she was trying a little hard not to laugh. "Yeah, um, I'm busy." She smiled at him and finished putting the change in her purse.

          "Oh, um, that's cool, I'm working here next weekend, so..." he gestured out, trying desperately to save himself, "the following weekend's better for... me..." He glanced downwards and flattened his lips, defeated.

          "Uh, no," replied Anna with a slight grimace as she started to back away with her friend. "I'm sorry, I can't." She gave an uncomfortable chuckle. "Okay. Thanks." She and her friend were gone before Steve could convince them otherwise.

          Rain dissolved into small, muffled giggles as he stumbled for words. "I... This is... my first day here," he settled with, but they were already out of the parlour. Once they were completely out of his sight, he let out a loud sigh and turned around to look at the two girls sat up on the back counter. "Could you guys stop laughing at me?" he groaned, exasperated. "It's really hard to get in the zone when I have a constant audience who judges everything that I do." He gave them a tight-lipped smile, which just told Rain and Robin he really wanted to murder them.

          "Flirting isn't that hard, Harrington!" exclaimed Rainbow with her eyebrows raised. "You're really just overthinking it." She hopped down off the counter—immediately realising the height difference between her and Steve, which was always embarrassing—and grinned. "See—here." Rain turned to Robin and gave her the best flirtatious eyes she could, while simultaneously trying to calm her heart because oh God this was dumb. "Hey there, I'm Rain." When she held out a hand for Robin, the other girl took it and slotted their fingers together. "I just thought you're really beautiful." For Rain, it was always the tone and body language that made it work. Her head was dropped a little to the side, lips half-lifted in a flirty smile. She swallowed to fix her quickly drying throat. Robin just went a little wide-eyed. If Rainbow didn't know any better, she'd describe it as a little starstruck or lovestruck, Robin's lips parted ever so slightly. God, she looked so kissable—no! Stop it Rain! Stop thinking like that! "Can I get you a drink or something?" When Robin nodded dumbly, Rain took that as a sign of achievement. She spun back around so that Robin's arm slung across both of her shoulders, her fingers brushing Rain's neck. "Easy, right?" she said, and tried to hide the little waver in her voice, or how her fingers seemed to slot in with Robin's so perfectly.

          "But that doesn't count!" countered Steve, waving a hand at them. "You're just playing around!"

          "Yeah, of course," said Rainbow and missed the disappointed look that passed through Robin's eyes, "but I can still do it better than you!" She quickly withdrew her fingers from where they were holding Robin's. Geez, she hoped she wasn't being to obvious. Just the thought of it made her sick. She needed to stop doing shit like that. Rain didn't, however, slide out from where Robin's arm was curled over her shoulders.

          Two girls that had been in Rain and Steve's class walked up towards the counter, chatting excitedly and loudly about something to do with Madonna. It was Kacey Stevens and Jennifer Cowan—who had always been so sweet during high school. Steve was just watching them with a sigh.

          "Take a break, Harrington," Rain said, tapping him on the shoulder with her sailor's hat. Though he looked mildly irritated, he rolled his eyes defeatedly and stepped away in a sign of surrender. "Hey girls," said Rain as she approached the counter, putting her Ahoy! cap back on and giving them a sweet smile, "what can I get for ya?" She smiled like caramel and honey and sunshine all at once—a pretty kind of smile that could make guys and girls swoon all at once. It was that type of smile that made people want to be her friend, or otherwise kiss her. She tapped her pristine fingernails against the counter. That was one thing that was different to Robin—Robin's nails were always bitten or covered in chipping black nail polish, while Rainbow's were always nice and perfect. It was a bit of a reflection of how the two girls were themselves.

          Kacey Stevens smiled back, recognising Rain immediately. They'd sat next to each other in Advanced English Literature, had often helped each other out during text studies or poetry analyses, when one or the other had a question. That was something else that stood out about Rain: she could always make friends so easily. Even if none of them stuck, people always seemed to like her.

          "Oh, hey, Rain!" Kacey said exclaimed. She was always kind to Rain in their classes—had gotten almost as high a score as Rainbow in their finals. "I'll have, uh, two scoops of the berry, thanks!"

          Rain hopped on the balls of her feet as she went to prepare that order. At least ice-cream made Rainbow happy—she would die if she had to work in any other form of retail. "I love the berry flavour," Rain said in her usual gushing tone. Talking was always better than silence. It was a deep rich red colour that she adored. "What can I get you, Jen?" Her dark honey eyes flickered up to the other girl, who had always been incredibly pretty all throughout high school and now had her dark hair done in hundreds of gorgeous curls that spilled over her shoulders and throat.

          "Ah, can I try the peanut butter?" asked Jennifer softly, pointing through the glass at the ice cream flavour. Rain hummed in response and nodded.

          As she passed Jen the testing spoon and prepared Kacey's ice cream, Kacey shot a smile and a questioning glance at Rain, "You coming to Cherry's party tonight? I heard you were invited as well." Beside her, Jennifer Cowan sucked on her testing spoon, glancing over at Rain with those large mossy eyes and flushed, rounded lips.

          Rain handed Kacey her double Berry Sails ice-cream cone, pressing her hands against the counter as the other girl rummaged for cash in her wallet. "Yeah, totally. It's nine, right? I can't wait, have an outfit planned out and everything." Kacey passed over exact change, letting Rainbow drop the money into the register.

          "That's great—Jen and I actually just went shopping for our own outfits for tonight." She held up a plastic bag from one of the expensive stores filled with the latest fashion trends. Rainbow caught a glimpse of a colourfully-splattered dress that Rain just knew Kacey would look amazing in. "Right, Jen?" Kacey asked her friend, who was a bit preoccupied looking at Rain.

          Her pretty green eyes slid up to Rainbow's face as she nodded. "Yeah, of course." She tapped her neatly clipped nails against her shopping bag before running her fingers through her hair. "But it's a surprise." The smile she gave Rain was one that Rain knew all too well—pretty and sweet and a little coy. "And, oh yeah, I'll have a cone of the peanut butter please." Rain grinned back and happily obliged.

          "Party?" Robin asked when the girls had walked away, leaning against the wall with her elbows propped on either side of her waist and her hair tucked back behind her ears—which really shouldn't have made Rain feel the way that she was feeling.

          Rain crossed one of her legs over the other and slid the ice-cream display shut. "Mhmm. Cherry's parents are away on a business trip, so she's throwing a post-school bash. Most of my grade is going." She narrowed her eyes a little, fluttering her long lashes. "Actually, I don't think Harrington is going." Parties were never much of Rainbow's thing when she was back in school—studying had taken up most of her time—but she'd always had a great time when she'd managed to sneak out at midnight past her parents. Come to think of it, getting absolutely smashed some weekends was the only way she'd graduated without absolutely losing her mind. She shrugged at Robin, pointing a spoon at her. "You can come if you'd like. I could sure use the company." She tucked a curly strand of hair behind her ear, looking at Robin with her pretty, pretty face. "It starts at nine. I think Cherry's supplying drinks."

          Rainbow glanced at Robin hopefully with large caramel eyes. The girl thought about it for a minute, lowering her eyebrows. "Oh, uh... nah," said Robs eventually as she shrugged her shoulders—though she looked a little conflicted about the final decision.

          "You're sure?" Rain double-checked, eyebrows pulled together. Her mouth was pursed prettily, eyes glowing pits of night. "I'm sure I would have much more fun if you were with me." Rainbow's request was genuine.

          Robin glanced away, crossing her long legs on the table. "It's not really my scene. Plus, I'm in the grade below, I don't graduate for another year." She tousled her hair with her hand. It left some strands of light hair across her face and pressed against her round lips that Rainbow desperately wanted to brush away.

          Instead, Rain just pressed her own pretty mouth together and glanced up at Robs through her long lashes. Her hip was bent up against the counter. "Well, it's summer holidays, so you don't need to worry about that. Anyway, I'm ninety percent sure Thomas and Lorie from your grade are coming along. I heard them talking about it a few days ago. Also, I'm only like three months older than you. You'd fit right in."

          Robin did look as if she was mulling the offer over, but seemed to think the better of it. "I think I'll give it a miss, Bow." That was something that Robin had that all Rain's other classmates never would—the privilege of knowing her first name. It made Rainbow a little sweet inside. Had it been anyone else knowing it, she wouldn't have enjoyed it one bit, but with Robin, she never minded.

           Still, that answer did send a small point of disappointment sticking into her heart. It really shouldn't have upset her at all—she'd only been working here a few weeks. Rainbow gave Robin a playful pout. "Fine, I'll go alone then. I'll be missing you." She kind of wished Robin could see her in the new dress she'd brought. It was bright pink and short, and she decided she was going to wear it over her long-sleeved rainbow-striped shirt, because it had looked super cute in the mirror. Plus it fitted her secret name.

          "I'm sure you will, Princess. Be the life of the party for me," said Robin with a small smile, cradling her chin with the knuckles of her hand. She looked pretty like that—she always looked pretty.

          Rainbow grinned at that, tossing her head back to look up at the ceiling. "Oh, I will!"

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𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐘 right that she wouldn't have liked the party, she sure wouldn't have appreciated the music choice very much. Four Tears For Fears songs had played already—and at this point, Rain was requesting them just to spite a Robin who wasn't there. She'd downed a few drinks and was at the stage where her body was just beginning to feel warm and carefree. She could dance the whole night away!

          She kind of wished Robin was here, though.

          The music was loud and overbearing, thudding through Rainbow's system as she hung around the kitchen area. She'd already caught up with all the people that had been in her classes, most of whom she'd lost contact with already. Rain had always been great at making friends—but holding onto them was the problem for her. She'd always been so caught up in her studies that she'd found it difficult.

          The party was decent, but it wasn't the best she'd been to. Rainbow's favourite party moment would always be at Hayley's bash, when Tommy H had slipped in the living room and taken down Michelle Adams and Billy Hargrove, who had been making out at the time, with him. God, Rain had gotten a good laugh over that. Since Steve Harrington wasn't here—as the Keg King, he always livened the parties up—it was a little dull. It meant Billy Hargrove was free to roam around and do whatever the hell he want, which usually meant hitting on way too many girls and taking off his shirt. Pretty gross, if Rain thought so herself.

          "Do you wanna dance?" someone yelled through the blaring music as Rain swayed back and forth by herself to the beat of a song with a drink in her hand. It was a bit of a more alternative choice—with some guitars and a strange harmonica-sounding tune in the background. Rain was trying very hard to identify what the song was.

          She turned towards the boy who'd spoken. He was a good enough looking guy, with blonde floppy hair like he'd been trying to copy Harrington, and pretty brown eyes. Not exactly Rain's type, though. "Hmm?" she asked, not quite hearing what he'd said over the loudness of the music blasting from the speakers around them. Rainbow took another sip of her drink, continuing to sway gently.

          The boy—Harry Andrews, Rain thought, from Mathematics—just raised his eyebrows. "Do you wanna dance?" he exclaimed again. He'd shuffled close enough so that Rain could make out his words and the shape his lips were forming. Rock You Up by The Romantics was the song, she realised as the chorus began to play. Something she'd probably listen to in her own spare time, while working on some pieces of writing.

         "I wanna rock you up,

          Rock you up

          Rock you up

          Rock you up!"

          Rain looked blearily back up towards the guy. "Ah, no thank you," she apologised with only the slightest slur in her tone. She tapped her nails against the red plastic cup she was holding. "Sorry." Only girls for her. He looked a little miffed.

          "Are you serious?" he asked her, eyebrows drawn inwards. God, Rain didn't expect him to get this annoyed. He must be used to being a total chick magnet, or something. When Rainbow just nodded and moved towards the living room—where Cherry herself had gotten up onto the coffee table to take some shots and Coca Cola—Harry thought it would be smart to follow after her. He was quite obviously in the same tipsy-drunk stage as Rainbow. "Not even one chance?" She hummed in response and made her way into the living room, squeezing through some people who were chatting tipsily in the doorway. "Hey, come on, just one dance?" he argued again, sounding even more irritated now.

          His hand darted out and grasped around her wrist before she could fully escape into the crowd of people. It made Rain stop in her tracks and turn towards him with something like anger in her expression. "Yeah, no thanks," replied Rain rather curtly. She stared down at where the guy had taken her wrist and pointedly snatched it back, her eyes irritated and firm even through the haze of alcohol. "Don't touch me again." He scoffed at her, and Rainbow clutched her drink tighter, fully ready to throw it down drunk if it came to that.

          "Rain, come join me!" exclaimed Cherry from where she was standing on the table—likely seeing the predicament Rain was in, despite being absolutely drunk out of her mind—and stretched a hand towards the short girl. Just to get out of the uncomfortable situation, Rainbow did just that. She took Cherry's hand and let the drunker girl help her up onto the coffee table. Harry seemed to take it as a miss and went elsewhere. "Rain Simmons, everyone!" shouted Cherry as she raised Rain's hand into the air with her own. Cherry was in that stage of blissful, cheery drunkenness where everything seemed like sunshine and rainbows. Well, Rain may as well be in that stage too. She took the bottle of Smirnoff off Cherry's hand and downed a shot with a measuring cup they had, followed by some Coke because ew that was disgusting—and Rain was never going to repeat that one time she accidentally sprayed Smirnoff out of her nose 'cause oh that had hurt so much.

          "Yeah!" Kacey Stevens cheered as she held up her own solo cup. Other people in the room whooped and hooted and raised their drinks too, clearly just as drunk as each other. Rainbow held up the bottle of vodka and shouted along with them. She felt invincible. Even just for a little while.

          Rain cheered when Tears For Fears' Sowing The Seeds Of Love came on, again, lifting a new bottle of alcohol up to the ceiling. Someone else cheered too, much to Rainbow's glee. "Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love, sowing the seeds. Sowing the seeds of love, seeds of love, sowing the seeds!" she sang along drunkenly, between more sips of a drink she'd grabbed from the fridge. It was some kind of sweet-tasting alcohol that made her head blur pleasantly. Probably a type of cider. At some point she'd gotten down off the coffee table—Cherry had gotten Amanda and Kacey and Janey up on there and it had promptly broken under them—and was wandering back around the household.

          She came upon Jennifer Cowan out by the front room, who was wearing a tighter purple dress that hugged her pretty figure, and had her hair blown out around her sharp-angled face. Rain made her way over to the other girl, who had already eyed her across the room. "Hey," said Jennifer in a low tone when Rain got near. Some strands of her curly hair fell in front of her face. She also had some kind of drink in her hand, but Rainbow probably couldn't have read the label even if she tried.

          "Hi," said Rain back with a grin as she took another sip of her own drink. She was glancing at Jennifer in the same way. Rain had known Jennifer Cowan since the ninth grade—and though the two had never really been friends, they knew some very specific things about each other.

          Jennifer was one of the prettiest girls Rain had ever known. She had those rounded, pretty green eyes that models in magazines sported, curly ringlets of dark hair that was always tied up in some kind of high hairstyle with scrunchies. There was an ocean of freckles splattered all over her face, so many that it looked like an entire constellation from her blushed cheeks to across her nose and chin and forehead. And she had those round-shaped lips that every boy swooned over. Her nose was pointed and slightly upturned, that pressed against Rain's cheek whenever they kissed.

          The summer's air outside was cold, and the sky was void of clouds, so only the moon shone down upon them. Out here around the side of the house was also void of people—fortunately convenient. Rain pressed Jennifer against the wall as Jennifer grabbed her face and kissed her hard. Jen had always been a good kisser. Bow had known that since the tenth grade, when she'd been kissed by her beneath the bleachers on the footy oval. Now it was the same, except that Rain and Jen had been doing this casually for years now.

          The music beat faintly from indoors, able to be heard even all the way out here. Rainbow kept her heels steady in the grass, her kisses a little messy with her drunkenness—but that was okay, because Jen was the same. She smelt of lavender and rose perfume, and tasted a little like whatever kind of apple cider she'd been drinking. Her hands were always gentle when they held onto Rain's waist. She was short too, so her body was almost completely covered from sight by Rain's figure. Jennifer hummed a little against Rainbow's mouth, eyes lazily fluttered closed. Rain bit on her lower lip a little.

          From their left came a shuffling noise that sounded a little like footsteps. A lot actually. Rain drunkenly turned her head towards where the noise had come from, towards the outer corner of the house, but only the empty night gazed back at her. She probably should have been concerned, but the alcohol was numbing all of her senses except the feeling of Jennifer's hands pulling on her hips. So, Rainbow turned back to the task at hand, curling one of her hands into Jen's long hair.

          She lost herself in the sound of the music blaring inside and Jennifer's mouth against hers.

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐔𝐍𝐊 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 stumbled home hours after midnight—a sober person from the party had kindly dropped her off—nearly falling on her way to the front door. She'd lost her jacket somewhere during the night and now swayed in only a tank top and her skirt. Now came the hard part. Rain tried her very best to just lift her hands to the door to unlock it. It was much harder focusing drunk than she'd anticipated, and her fingers kept missing the lock.

          "Damn," she giggled, bracing herself against it. "Just let me innnn." She somehow managed to get the door open and tripped over the doorframe, immediately hitting the ground not even a step inside. Rain dropped her head to the wood floor and laughed to herself, groaning simultaneously. She lay on her face for a few moments, hoping she didn't wake her parents and waiting to see if they'd come downstairs to get angry at their very obviously drunk daughter. After a few minutes of Rain laying face-down—which drunk her had decided was the most efficient way to wait for a talking to—the house was still only filled with silence.

          Rain staggered to her feet and shut the door as quietly as she could. As she walked, Rain hopped to take off her heels, nearly faceplanting again as she made her way up the carpeted stairs. "Hello," she whispered a little too loudly, and chuckled. "Helloooo." Her parents were fast asleep as Rain ducked past their room and skipped down the hall. It was difficult to keep moving in a straight line, and the girl kept straying off the rug in the centre of the corridor.

          She tried very hard to close her door quietly. It clicked shut a little louder than Rain had hoped for, but there was no noise from outside to indicate that she'd been caught out by her parents. She was starting to feel sick from all the drinking already. Hiding it from her parents tomorrow was going to be such a pain. Rainbow groaned and stripped down to her underwear before chucking herself into her bed, burying herself beneath piles of duvets and blankets.

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prepare for all of these chapters to just be robin & rain being oblivious lesbians with heart-eyes bc that's how i look at robin

(rain's experience with smirnoff is literally my own bc yes i did once have smirnoff come out of my nose because i breathed it in instead of swallowing it & then coughed it up and oh jesus it burnt like hell. i also texted like twenty people 'woohoo big summer blowout' but horribly misspelt that night. also the fact that i found out that the book IT in another language was 'OHO' and i laughed about it for like ten minutes)

happy valentines day everyone!

word count: 5,510

14.02.2020