Maybe I've Had Just A Little Too Much

Bass reverberated off of Jem's head and he felt himself sway as he laughed at something the girl beside him had said. They had made out a bit, and he couldn't really hear what she was saying but the alcohol and whatever it was she had slipped him on her tongue was making the witch's face blur and swirl into some horribly hilarious form reminiscent of a Halloween mask. He looked to his friends sitting on the couch around him who were in similar states with glazed eyes, sloshing drinks and throaty laughter. Everything was funny when they were like this, everything was good and enjoyable and untinged by the promise of tomorrows repercussions simply because they were too messed up to care.

Jem was coming down though and part of him was saddened about it. He didn't always like being fucked up, and certainly always regretted the next morning, but it was always a welcome reprieve from the life he was currently leading. His life long battle with education, Semele, the recent heartbreak of his closest female friend finding love in another man, and his impending future. That scared Jem the most. In a few months he would be free yes, but also be expected to be an adult. A responsible, functioning adult. Jem didn't even know how to schedule a healer's appointment how was he supposed to be a grown. At seventeen, Jem still felt terribly ignorant of the world and was currently teetering dangerously high on the tight rope between child and adult.

Jem felt a tug at his hair, and he looked up trying to focus on his friend Samuel. A sloppy looking grin was plastered to the boy's face and he cocked his head slightly. 

"Jem, would you . . . Jem get some more scor-scor" Thomas slurred his words causing Jem to chuckle more. 

"Scorpion scotch?" the burly hufflepuff offered and Thomas nodded eagerly. Again Jem laughed and moved to get up.  He felt the girl he had been sitting next too reach out and tug his hand as if to stop him from leaving but by the time he looked back she was already swapping spit with Thomas. Jem just grinned and shook his head. Michele was fun, but she didn't really mean anything to Jem more than a friend. 

Jem stumbled forward and slowly worked his way through the crowd slowly but surely, people making way for him as most naturally occurred when  one was as big a Jem. The hufflepuff lumbered forward trying to focus his blurring vision on his surrounding to see if he could snag a bottle of his friend's favored drink being passed around. Jem then saw the distinct amber colored cap out of the corner of his eye all and upon turning to grab it collided with something far smaller than he. Jem looked down to have his dark eyes be met with large, blue ones staring straight back up. The girl giggled and Jem smiled his signature goofy grin at her, mildly recognizing her as another hufflepuff. She began to apologize and he chuckled too before stopping her.

"Sh, sh, sh," He laughed placing a finger to her lips, "It's okay, no harm done" he said warmly.

Jem could barely hear her ask what he was looking for but he just managed it. He leaned closer to the fellow hufflepuff witch so he could tell her, his cheek grazing hers. 

"Scorpion Scotch" Jem told her a large hand having come to rest gently on her arm so she didn't get swept away in the crowd like so many others were. "Happen to have seen any?' He asked moving so his dark eyes could meet her blue ones again. Jem then noticed the bottom in her hands and tilted it to examine the beetle berry firewhiskey. He mused a moment considering how messed up his friends already were and doubted that they would really notice a difference as long as it burned. Of course it was almost empty, so most likely they would have to get another one anyway. 

"Want to go on an adventure with me?" Jem asked having leaned again so she could hear him, the same silly smile only growing broader on his face, "I'm Jem by the way." he introduced with a laugh, having forgot to introduce himself properly before, "What about it blue eyes?" He asked her.

"Come on then Anabel." Jem said with his goofy smile, pulling her in the direction of the mantle where he could see several bottles resting atop it. Her skin was soft, Jem noted through the haze of his mind as he lead her away. The older hufflepuff tried to stay close to the girl not wanting her to get pushed around or swept away in the jumping, riving crowd. Students from all different houses were dancing wildly, hot sweaty bodies pulsing with a different type of magic than they were taught in school as they ground and pushed against one another like ivy twining in and out of itself on a graden wall.

" My friends might need to slow down with the alcohol" Jem said leaning in to tell the girl beside him. " Do you want to dance with me a bit first?" Jem asked, practically yelling into her ear now due to how close they had gotten to one of the speakers. Jem wasn't a great dancer, he would never claim to be, but seeing everyone else dance and being surrounded by the pulsating bodies made Jem want to. Admittedly, it didn't hurt he thought Anabel looked rather fit.

Jem grinned again and let the blond pull him through the crowd till they were in the heart of the dancing mass, bodies pressing and moving on all side of them. Jem moved against the girl, not near as graceful as her. Jem was to big, to clumsy to be as graceful as his partner but her happiness was infectious and instead of worrying about his slightly awkward dance moves, Jem could only laugh at himself and enjoy the company he was currently. 

"You're a really good dancer" He told her honestly, halting his head banging for a moment to let her know. She deserved it, in his opinion. It takes a lot of effort to make Jem look like a halfway average dancer but she seemed to be doing a good job. Admittedly it was a little hard to focus on what he was doing with her so close and her body moving in a way that almost seemed to keep time to the song.