In The Mirror

-Current Year-

Iris pulled down the dress that Love asked her to wear. She had no idea what had happened with the talk between her and Calixto. Just that Calixto asked her to stay with Love because he had to be somewhere.

And since Love showed her dislike towards her, she did not expect her to bring her to this party. Not only did she bring her to the party, but she also gave her a makeover. Although she was unhappy with the outfit that she had given her, she was enjoying the party.

It was her first time attending this kind of party. She had seen it online and heard stories but never experienced it until tonight.

The pulsating music and lights, the people dancing like they were one with the beat of the music, and the colorful drinks that were being served in quirky glasses.

"Do you want to drink?"

Love asked Iris when she noticed her chasing the server with her widened gaze.

"They are alcoholic drinks?" She asked, shouting for the music was too loud for a normal conversation.

"Of course! But some of them are non-alcoholic." She called the server and she returned with trays of the colorful drinks that caught Iris's attention.

"Choose one," she urged her. She saw the hesitation in Iris's eyes, thus, she chose one for her. "Here. It wasn't strong at all. Just a cocktail."

Iris accepted the slim glass with green and blue drinks. She looked at the glass with fascination. She stopped herself from pulling her phone and taking a photo. She didn't want to act like an ignorant fool if she would take a photo of everything new to her in this place.

That was why she took a small sip of her drink instead of taking a picture of it. A smile curved on her lips when she had a taste of her colorful drink. It was sweet with a bit of tangy aftertaste. She had no idea what kind of drink it was or what it was called but she liked how it tasted. Before she knew it, she had finished the whole glass and Love asked for another glass for her.

She was enjoying her second glass when Love left her because someone asked her to dance. She just bobbed her head when Love asked if she would be fine on her own.

She didn't really care if Love would leave her at their table. She was having a good time observing what was happening around her and the drinks she was drinking were delicious. Thus, when she finished her glass, she asked for another glass when the server passed by their table.

Love may not care if she got another glass. I mean, if she complained that she ordered expensive drinks then she could just ask Calixto to pay for what she spent on her tonight.

She just finished her third glass and shaking her booty on her seat when Love came back, sweating from dancing on the dance floor.

"You no longer have a drink?" She looked around and called for the server and got Iris another glass.

"Do you want to dance?" She asked, grinning. The young girl was clearly enjoying herself and she was already a bit tipsy.

"No one is asking me to dance," she said, pouting.

"You don't need anyone to dance with you to dance on the dance floor, you—"

"I can dance without a partner?" She asked in puzzlement.

"Yes," she chuckled.

"Okay!" She said, giving Love an okay sign before standing from her seat and heading to the dancefloor, shaking her behind. Her consciousness over the dress that barely covered her thighs were long forgotten. The alcohol hit her system and she threw her hands up in the air, dancing up and down in the middle of the dancefloor.

The lights and the beat of music fueled the alcohol in her system and Iris forgot everything and just let her body do the thinking.

She was shouting at the top of her lungs when she felt a pair of arms snaking around her waist and started grinding her behind. In normal circumstances, she would cower and feel scared that a stranger was holding her. But that night, she was so intoxicated that her brain did not work the way it normally does.

She swayed with the beat of the music inside the arms of the stranger on the dance floor. She didn't know how long she was dancing with the man before she felt the ground under her feet shake in a way that had nothing to do with the loud beat of the music that had been playing.

She grabbed the arms that were holding her and pushed them away. Her eyes darted for a path to escape because she could feel her throat opening up to give way to the food that she had eaten before she drank.

"Hey, beautiful, where are you going?"

Iris heard the question of her dance partner but she was too focused to find the bathroom to answer his question. She dashed to the far end of the room when in her dizziness remembered that she and Love used the bathroom before they were ushered to their table.

Her knees were shaking and her body was cold from the sweat that covered her body when she entered the bathroom. She went directly to the lavatory and bent down on one of the sinks, letting go of the vomit that had been threatening to come out of her throat since she felt dizzy.

When she successfully vomited, she felt better right away. But the sweat continued to roll on her temples so she decided to splash water on her face to feel relief. The makeup that Love had painstakingly put on her face was washed out.

But Iris did not care. She grabbed a bunch of tissue and wiped her face dry. She looked at her reflection on the mirror and screamed.