Life According To Amber Lynn Haner

*Amber's POV*

Tonight there's some sort of "social gathering" as Dad put it, but that's just a polite way of saying we're all going out tonight and won't be home until the early hours of the next morning. "Social gathering" is sugar coating it. It's not so much a gathering, more like Dad and I, along with the guys and their wives out at a club on a Saturday night, drinking like there's no tomorrow. Except I don't drink, I sit in the corner like a sober little child.

We do this regularly, as I'm old enough to get into a club under adult supervision. This time, however, after a good bit of begging and huffing on my part, Dad said Ash could come to keep me company, so as I'm not the only under eighteen person there. I'm not complaining though, as I haven't seen Ash in a while, what with all of my grieving and such. He's called me, but he kept his distance and gave me space. Also, he's scared of Dad, so he's never usually over.

Since it was a sorta special occasion, I decided to dress up a bit more than I usually do. I'd decided on a red pencil skirt (it was kinda short (halfway down my thighs) but anyhow), my black cropped "Hakuna Matata" top and the shoes that Michelle bought me. Having done my false tan and all that shit, I was ready to go, grabbing my phone and my purse and going downstairs.

"Where's the rest of your skirt?" Dad commented when I made it to the bottom of the stairs. Fucking typical.

"This's it, and shut up, this is longer than what most girls my age wear these days." I replied, fixing my hair in all it's red glory.

"It's still on the short side, but I won't bother arguing because I know you're stubborn and you won't listen to me. You're exactly like your mother was." 'Was.' I could feel a lump forming in my throat, but let it slide.

"No, I'm not going to listen because I'm fine with my skirt the way that it is." Just then, the doorbell rang and Ash was here, so Dad grabbed his house keys and the three of us headed off, walking to Grover's bar that was only ten minutes away.

-----

We were the last ones to arrive, and found everybody else down the very back in the booths where we always sat. After about five minutes of everybody saying that I looked so much older with the way I was dressed, Arin took charge of going up to order the first shots of tequila for the night. And there would be plenty. Trust me. Ash followed him up to the bar, and got me a can of RedBull, and himself a can of BPM. Since we're not going to be drunk, we may as well be hyper, right?

By midnight, the guys were in a pretty drunken state, while all of us girls were still pretty much sober, and able to speak without slurring. Zacky was the worst affected, followed by Johnny, Arin, Dad and Matt in that order, and I'm pretty sure Ash was a bit tipsy, because I think he had a bottle or two of Coors on the sly. I don't know who's bar tab we were all on, but they were going to freak out when they get the bill.

Of course, being the good girl that I was, I was still the only person who was completely sober, but that was going to change. Zacky, Dad and Johnny went outside to smoke, so I saw the opportunity to sneak a good bit of Dad's bottle of Blue WKD, because he was too drunk to notice any of it was gone. I could literally drink bottles of that stuff, but I would limit myself tonight. Having drank nearly the whole bottle, I was done, and felt a bit better.

"You guys saw nothin', alright?" I stated casually, glaring at Val, Michelle, Kimberly, Meaghan, Lacey, Ash and Matt, giving Matt a death glare for snitching on me last time. "Especially you, Matt. You snitched on me last time."

"Ok, ok. I'll say nothing this time. Do it again, however, and I'm telling Brian." He replied, and I nodded. He won't catch me again, I'll just do it on the sly.

Zacky, Johnny and Dad came back inside just after, and Dad looked a bit confused at the fact tha he had no drink left, it shook it off and went up to order the next round of drinks. This was about the five millionth time somebody from our group had gone up to the bar to order, and the barman must've thought we were all a bunch of alcoholics.

-----

At 2am, we were all still going strong, and Ash and I went outside to cool down a bit, because we were short of passing out from the heat. He, however, went up to the bar and got himself a bottle of blue WKD, whereas I got nothing. I was too tired to order anything, be it alcoholic or not.

"You look great tonight, Amber. Seriously, your ass looks great in that skirt, you should wear it more often." Ash slurred slightly, and I put my hand over my face.

"Shut up, Ash. You're drunk, go home." I hissed, slapping his arm.

"Pfft, I'm not drunk, I'm just slightly tipsy. I'm sober enough to think you look great, that much is true."

"Well if my dad catches you in this state he'll literally kill you, so I'd sober up quick if I were you." I lightly slapped his face and took the rest of his drink off him, and then drinking it in one go. We went back inside then, and retook our seats, quickly catching up on some story that Zacky was trying to tell, but he couldn't even speak properly. It was pretty hilarious.

-----

We made it home at five in the morning, and Ash stayed over and crashed on the living room sofa. I stumbled up the stairs in a laughing mess, and passed out on my bedroom carpet, still completely dressed in tonight's outfit. I don't even knowledge if Dad made it upstairs, because I was first into the house, and made a hazy beeline for my room.

He's so going to kill me tomorrow for the state that I'm in.

Notes

I spent my whole Saturday putting up and rearranging posters, so now every square inch of my room is filled with posters of my favourite bands (literally the whole too is full, I'm not even kidding)

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