#LOOK AT THISSSS!!! POINTS VERY LOUDLY!!

[grimlyink-but-creative]

OUUGHHH I LOVE HOW YOU DRAW THEM ALL I STG!!!💕💕💕😭🌈EEEEE!!

Pillar family❤️

Latter 🦋💜💜

[firensoulfire]

Modern: CommodoreCliche’s 30 Day Writing Challenge, Day 21

Hi guys, so I know it’s not October anymore, but I saw this and was hit by a sudden rush of inspiration. And, of course, my lazy ass can’t do all thirty days (I don’t have enough brain power), so I just decided to do day 21; “Um...did you have that tattoo yesterday?”

I also stole the line “Do. Not. Drink. The. Eggnog.” from someone on here from a different writing challenge prompt, but I cannot for the life of me remember who it was, or find it again. Whoever you are, thanks.

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Romeo and Juliet.

I had a lot of fun writing this and I really, really hope that you guys like it.

~Lily

Modern

Lilium Aura

“Um...did you have that tattoo yesterday?” Rose asked critically as her clearly hung-over best friend, Juliet, sat down across from her in the booth. Juliet looked like she had just rolled out of bed, with half of her dark locks plastered to the side of her neck and only wearing one sock. To be fair, Rose didn’t look or feel much better, having also drunk her fair share of the eggnog the night before, but at least she had remembered both socks. Juliet didn’t respond to her question at first, just slumped over with a groan onto the cushion, something the blonde was seriously considering.

“What tattoo?” Juliet asked after a moment, seeming to remember the question, and sounding genuinely confused. Rose pointed to Juliet’s bicep, where a large heart with the name “Don” was tattooed, still looking fresh. Juliet swiveled her head to follow Rose’s finger, and when she saw the tattoo, yelped rather loudly and attempted to swat it off her arm. This made Rose laugh, but it was short lived as laughing proved to be too much for her still alcohol-laden brain. She collapsed next to Juliet on the seat, clutching her temples and groaning.

That was how Stephanie found them a few minutes later, lying down on the booth’s seats and clutching their hands over their heads. She hadn't drunk very much of the poisonous eggnog (seriously, were the bodies passed out in the corner not warning enough?), so she was relatively fine this morning. And by relatively fine, she meant that she had put on a decent outfit and had tied her long, auburn hair into a bun. She still felt like hell.

It took a lot of coaxing and gentle nudging to get them both to sit up again. When they did, she ordered three coffees from the lady behind the counter, hoping it would help them a bit.

The night before, the three of them had attended the annual holiday party at their friend Ben’s place, which they had gone to every year since they had moved into the neighborhood. Stephanie wouldn’t admit it, but she had had a crush on Ben ever since she had met him (a subject of much teasing from her friends). So, like normal, the three friends had donned their most sparkly outfits and driven over there in high spirits. The moment they were inside, Stephanie was off to find Ben, leaving Juliet and Rose to fend for themselves. They just rolled their eyes and laughed, walking off themselves to find the eggnog everyone always praised so much.

They didn’t realize their mistake until they were about three cups in and already fairly drunk, but by then they were too far gone to care.

“I thhhiinnkkk thissss stuff hasss allllcohol,” Juliet slurred, holding her cup of eggnog high in the air and swaying to the 80’s music that filled the air. Rose was a bit more sober, but as she was going for her fourth cup, she wasn’t going to be soon.

“I wanna find Mark,” Rose exclaimed suddenly, spreading her arms wide like she was announcing a proclamation. “I-I wanna tell him I lllooooovvvveeee him.” She giggled like this was the funniest thing in the world and downed more eggnog.

Mark was a friend of Ben’s who always came to the party, even though he didn’t live in the neighborhood. He and Rose had talked a few times, but it had never progressed beyond that. It was likely that it was simply the first name to pop into her head, Stephanie thought from a few feet away, laughing a bit at her friend’s antics.

Stephanie had found Ben earlier, and the two had been chatting for a while. After spotting someone pass her with a cup of eggnog, she made to go get one herself, but an extremely drunk middle-aged guy had grabbed her arm and shaken his head hard.

“Do. Not. Drink. The. Eggnog,” he said, almost panicking. Stephanie had quickly nodded, and the man let go, wandering off as if nothing had happened. She and Ben looked at each other, and for the first time since the party had really gotten going, went into the living room where everything was really taking place.

Apparently, the eggnog wasn’t supposed to have alcohol, but it was also clear that most of the guests hadn’t cared. Many of them were incredibly drunk, and Stephanie had the pleasure of seeing her boss, Ty, in his underwear and a bowler hat, dancing wildly on the table. She wasn’t even quite sure why he was there, as it wasn’t a work gathering.

Once she got over that sight (something that could never be unseen), Stephanie immediately went to go find Rose and Juliet, making her way best she could through the crowd. Ben had already left her side, muttering darkly about “Mark”.

It was amazing how fast the party had gone from an eloquent social work gathering to more like a streetside nightclub.

She found them both just in time to hear Rose’s declaration of love for Mark, and then spent the next twenty minutes keeping her from doing something she would regret the next day (mainly, telling mark). Then Rose shifted her focus from Mark to her.

“You!” she exclaimed, like she just realized who she was talking to. “You…” she slurred, and what could only be described as an evil smirk spread across her face. “Ben!” she suddenly screamed, and Stephanie jumped at the sudden sound, loud enough to be heard over the music. “Ben! Ben! Ben!”

He was there before she got a chance to shut Rose up, looking mildly intoxicated and clutching two drinks. Her concern level went from about 1 to 10 in the span of a few seconds, but it was for herself; who knows what Rose would say?

“Ben,” Rose started, putting on her best drunk serious face, “Stephanie is...Stephanie…” She stopped, struggling to form the right words, but it was just enough time for Stephanie to push her aside. Rose fell into a group of several dancing guys and forgot all about Stephanie within thirty seconds.

“Nothing!” Stephanie screamed, effectively getting his attention away from Rose and onto her. “Nothing, it’s nothing.” He looked confused, but he just shrugged after a few seconds and downed half of the cup in his right hand.

“You okay? You seem kinda tense,” he said once he had swallowed. She let out a long breath, realizing that he was right. She was tense. She groaned, and rubbed her temples. This was not how she wanted her night to go.

After a moment’s contemplation, she grabbed one of his drinks and downed it in one gulp.

The rest of the night went a little like this:

Juliet, who had wandered away from a preoccupied Stephanie and drunken Rose pretty early on (to no one’s notice), ended up on the dance floor, dancing like her life depended on it. Her wild moves were attracting a lot of stares, but less than the group of half-naked people who had decided to join her boss on top of the tables. Still, it only took about five minutes for someone to approach her, sweeping her into a slow dance during a fast song. Both of them were too drunk to notice.

“Good day my fine lady,” the man said, his thick british accent seeming to roll over her in waves. His light brown hair was wild and sticking up on his head, and his handsome face was adorned with brilliant blue eyes that Juliet couldn’t look away from. “What brings you here?”

“Stephanie,” Juliet replied honestly.

“Well then, point her out so that I may thank this woman who has unknowingly just made my dark night a whole lot brighter,” he said charmingly, flashing Juliet a bright white smile. Juliet was too awed to move. “What’s your name, my lady?” the man asked after a moment, and Juliet hesitantly cleared her very dry throat.

“Juliet,” she said after a moment. The man’s face broke into a wide grin.

“‘But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun,’” he quoted. On a normal day she would be impressed with the man’s ability to quote Shakespeare while drunk, but Juliet’s brain was too muddled to even place the famous reference.

“What’s your name?” she asked instead, but the man’s grin didn’t falter.

“Don,” he replied, and Juliet couldn’t think of anything witty for that one.

They danced for close to two hours, never once breaking their stride, no matter the tune of the song. At the end of those two hours, they were still very drunk, both of them were beyond convinced that they were soulmates, and Don was getting ready to propose.

Then things started to go downhill.

Juliet’s boss (the original half naked guy on the table) spotted them in the crowd, dancing together, and immediately recognized Don as his biggest competitor’s (Monte Fashions) son. Somewhere in his brain he must have recognized Juliet as well, because he immediately marched over there and separated the two, shouting obscenities at Don while also threatening to fire Juliet from Cap’s Inc. on the spot. When they finally realized what he was saying, they looked at one another in shock and horror, not being able to believe they came from competing companies. They both were greatly saddened by the fact, and, completely ignoring the angry proclamations of Juliet’s drunk boss, decided that they didn’t care. Their love would last for eternity.

Despite that, there was still the prospect of being fired, which Juliet, even drunk, was pretty sure she didn’t want to happen. Don agreed--he would get hell from his father-- so they decided that even though they loved each other, they could never be together.

That’s when Don had suggested that they each get tattoos of the other’s name, so as to always be reminded of their love. The two had walked out of the party, found their way to a local tattoo parlor, gotten tattoos, parted ways, and passed out almost immediately upon arriving to their respective homes.

Meanwhile, Stephanie had managed to drink the last of the eggnog, but she, maybe fortunately, couldn’t really hold her alcohol. After about a cup and a half she was passed out in the corner. Ben, who was much more sober at the time, carried her upstairs and stuck her in his guest bed, where she slept like the dead for the rest of the night.

Rose drank about six and a half cups total that night, but after about four started to feel queasy. She was really feeling it during cup #6, and she couldn’t quite help it when she turned and threw up everything onto the person beside her. It was probably a good thing that after her sixth cup, Rose couldn’t even remember her own name, much less remember that the person she threw up on was Mark.

Rose and Mark both ended up passing out at Ben’s house as well, but they were just left on the floor, along with her boss (who never did manage to find his clothes). This led to some incredibly awkward conversations the next morning.

And that concluded Ben’s annual holiday party.

Back in the present, Stephanie happily took the coffee she was being offered back to her friends. After they had drunk about half of it, they seemed a bit better, and Stephanie decided it was a good time to delve into the events of the previous night.

“So...how much do you guys remember of last night?”

Neither one of them answered right away, Juliet looking like she didn’t want to remember and Rose looking like she was trying but couldn’t.

Rose was eventually the first one to speak, and it was with a grimace. “Ty dancing naked on a table,” she said, and they all shuddered at the memory of their boss. “God, I’m not sure I want to remember any more.”

“Me neither,” Juliet mumbled, taking a sip. “Last night wasn’t a night for good decisions.”

“Here, here,” Stephanie mumbled, raising her cup and remembering how she had ungracefully passed out after having drunk only two cups of eggnog.

“Tell you what,” Rose said suddenly. “Let’s just agree to never speak of last night and whatever horrors it may or may not have held ever again, agreed?”

Juliet and Stephanie looked at each other. “Agreed,” they said simultaneously.

Across town, in a cafe very similar to the one that the girls were in, Ben sat up to greet his best friends, who appeared to be severely hungover. Don and Mark slid into the booth beside him and both immediately put their heads down, groaning. Ben was hung over himself, but it wasn’t nearly that bad.

As the waitress came by to ask them what they wanted, Don shifted his head to the side, and his hair fell forward to reveal his neck. Ben frowned, quickly ordering for them all before tentatively breaching the subject.

“Hey Don?”

“Ya?”

“Did...did you have that tattoo yesterday?”

Hope you enjoyed!