Chapter 3: The Yoda T-Shirt

"Come on then!" Mona grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the throng of people.

I was immediately bombarded by the curious kids, just like I had hoped I wouldn't. I'm not a very shy person, but still I'm not a HUGE lover of attention.

"Annabel, this is Gary, Jesse, Amber and Sarah. Guys this is Annabel."

Mona was obviously enjoying all the fuss as I was introduced to countless names and faces.

I was in the kitchen with a drink that had somehow ended up in my hand, smiling politely and not really contributing much to the conversation when a guy that was obviously drunk as hell slammed straight into me, causing me to spill the vile smelling alcohol all over my shirt.

"Oh shit sorry darling! You right? " The dude slurred, and I swallowed my pride and said I was ok and wandered off to find a bathroom.

I had gotten up the stairs and down the hall when I bumped into a boy that was leaning against the threshold.

"Sorry." I muttered, but I suddenly felt a grip on my wrist, spinning me back towards the stranger.

He had a sly smirk on his face, his eyes hooded with what probably was beer and lust.

"Leaving so fast baby?" He grinned, not loosening his hold on me.

"Let me go." I demanded, tugging against him, feeling anger and a bit of fear building in my stomach.

"Aww don't be that way baby...I know something that would be fun we can do..."

He moved closer to me, hands snaking around my waist to grab my ass. I gasped and struggled in his tight lock, literally two seconds away from punching the asshole in the face when I heard someone call down the hall in an angry voice.

"Hey! I don't think she's interested."

We both turned to find a guy pacing up to us. He was tall and skinny with gangly limbs, shaggy brown hair, sharp cheekbones and dark blue eyes.

My harasser rolled his eyes, but let me go none the less.

"And I believe that you owe this girl an apology." The brown-haired kid crossed his arms, raising his eyebrows. 

"Sorry..." The guy mumbled and then disappeared down the stairs to rejoin the party.

We stood in silence for a moment, and I let out a deep breath that I didn't even know I was holding.

"Th-Thank you." I stammered, dropping my eyes to my shoes and brushing the hair out of my face.

"It's no problem. I'm sorry you had to deal with that asshole. Oh, I'm Mike by the way. Mike Dirnt."

"Annabel." I shook his hand and his eyes lit up with familiarity.

"Oh! You're the one everyone's talking about!"

I gave a small smile and shrugged, not really knowing what to say but:

"Do you know where the bathroom is? I got my drink spilt all over my shirt."

"Oh! Yeah it's just down this way." He beckoned me to follow him further down the hall until we came to a closed door. He gave me a sideways look and knocked.

"Occupied!'" Someone yelled from indoors, followed by what must have been the sounds of spewing.

He grimaced and gave me an apologetic look.

"Shit..." I muttered, looking down at my drenched shirt. Suddenly, he seemed to have been struck with an idea.

"Wait, hold on come this way." He grabbed my hand and pulled me into another room, a bedroom.

"Mike wha-" I began as he pulled open a cupboard and rummaged through it. Then he turned to me holding a big grey tee, which he threw onto the bed before he began to pull off his shirt.

"What are you doing?" I asked suspiciously,  slowly beginning to inch towards the door.

"I'm not going to molest you or something. I"m giving you my shirt."

"What?"

"Well I could give you one of Chuck's who's room this is, but I have a feeling that one of his might just eat you alive." He explained, gesturing to the grey article of clothing that could have easily been a dress on me.

"Oh. Wow, thank you." I smiled in sincere bewilderment, wondering why this guy was being so nice to me.

He smiled and pulled the shirt off over his head, revealing his broad shoulders and lean chest. Suddenly, he stopped, the material up and covering his face.

"Shit, it's caught on my piercings. Do you mind..."

I let out a light laugh and walked over to him, carefully unhooking the fabric from the numerous studs and pins in his ears. As soon as he pulled the rest of the shirt off I moved, kinda flustered, out of his personal space. He smirked and tossed it to me, waiting.

"Well turn around!"

"Fine..." He sighed dramatically, smirking and facing a corner of the room as I stripped off my Ramones tee and slipped on his shirt. I glanced down at it and realised it was printed with a picture of Yoda, triggering my inner fangirl.

"You're a Star Wars fan?!" I practically screeched, spinning to Mike who was busying himself with redressing in the big shirt that practically swamped him.

"Of course? I camped out overnight for Revenge of the Sith and I have a Darth Vader coffee mug. Do you...?"

"I went as Chewbacca for Halloween last year. And I have to admit, I never cried harder in a movie than in the scene that Darth Vader dies like oh my god, except the whole "Luke I am your father" was ruined for me because when I was learning German I found out "Vader" was German for father and it basically messed up the whole thing for me..." I interrupted, the words stumbling over each other in intense excitement.

His deep blue eyes had lit up, his huge grin matching the absolutely ridiculous one that was on my face.

"Really? I never even knew that! Star Wars is literally my favourite movie series I mean my birthday is on May 4th and I basically base all my religious beliefs on Star Wars so..."

It went on like that for quite a while. The two of us, slumped against a wall by the bed, having a full fan-flip-out about Star Wars.

"Hey, do you want another drink?" He asked at one point, looking at my nearly empty cup that I was now holding for no reason.

"No, I don't really like the stuff."

He took the cup from me and sniffed at the liquid suspiciously, before he made a disgusted face and got up to tip the rest of the contents out the window.

"No wonder. That shit's terrible. Try this."

He pulled a flask out of his jean pocket, giving me a grin before handing me it.

I didn't drink. I had never in my entire life. But hey, I trusted Mike, and you only live once right?

I took a swig from the flask and a burning sensation rushed down my throat and into my chest, causing me to cough and hand the flask back.

"God, what is it?" I spluttered.

"Bourbon. Ever tried it?"

I shook my head, scrunching my face in revulsion as he took a long drink.

"So, Annabel, how's Rodeo treating you?"

I sighed as he passed the flask back to me, which I surprised both of us by taking and having another swig from.

"I went to the diner in town, you know the one with live music? Yeah, it sucked. The music was terrible and the coffee was even worse."

He shook his head as he passed me the flask after swallowing the bourbon with surprising ease.

"No, you gotta go to Berkeley. You'd love Gilman, we play there sometimes. And the coffee in the shops around there is to DIE for..."

"You play in a band?"

I asked as I took another drink, feeling my head start to go fuzzy and light.

"Yeah, I play bass and do back up vocals."

"What's Gilman?"

"It's a punk club that bands who aren't on major labels can play at. I guessed from your shirt you like punk."

"I love it like I love breathing dude." I raised my eyebrows at him, passing the flask back.

"I should take you to Gilman one weekend. I think you'd like it..."

He said more to himself, blue eyes beginning to glaze over with alcohol.

"I'll keep you to that." I smiled. He smiled back.

"You're a cool girl." He stated, studying me with an approved expression on his face.

"You're cooler." I garbled. He laughed, but I didn't really know why.

"You're the coolest." He grinned.

"Nooooo, YOU'RE the coolest. You're the fucking coolest in the whole fucking world!"

I exclaimed, feeling this uncontrollable lightness in my head. I liked it. I grabbed for the flask and sculled down more of the bourbon, the buzz in my chest strangely pleasant. 

"Ok I think that's enough for you..." He took it out of my hand, putting it back in his pocket as I whined like a bratty little kid.

"You're no fun." I grumbled, crossing my arms and pouting. He laughed, and I really didn't know what I was doing that was so funny.

"You're drunk." He retorted.

"I'm...fine." I argued, standing up and wobbling towards the door.

"Annabel that's probably not the best idea..."

"You're not the boss of me!" I giggled, watching him get up slowly, features darkening with a look of concern.

"Annabel..."

"Thanks for the shirt Mike! It was so awesome meeting you!" And I  pulled him into a big hug before darting from the room. 

A/N And introducing Michael Ryan Pritchard. You know you who's left (or should I say "y'know" haha ok sorry I'm stopping with the excruciatingly terrible jokes). The next chapter's probably gonna be pretty long. Hope your mind is never as straight and narrow as the line that goes up Mike's nose. Yeah sorry I'll see myself out...