Nobody Don't Dance No More (Mandee/Mark)

It was strange for Evie to be so against proms. As a former Queen of France there was always some kind of party to attend. Perhaps from living in the colourful and luxurious French Court she had been born into this life with a strong dislike towards any sort of formal event. After years and years of being expected to behave at all times as Marie Antoinette and eventually rebelling against it all, Evie was still living in the frame of mind of never letting anyone or anything tell her how to live her life. Perhaps this was what was the main influence to all of Evie's problems. Damn you reincarnation!

The crying had turned into full on sobbing as Mark approached the slumped figure of the girl. She was about to get up and leave but noticed somebody standing by her side. The sobs quickly ceased, although her chest still spazzed every couple of seconds as a few tears brimmed over the edge of her eyes. She pulled her sunglasses onto the top of her head and looked up at who was now accompanying her. She recognised his voice before she saw his face and scooted over a little incase Mark had come to sit down. Usually she would have wanted to be left alone but it was a rare time that Evie needed someone to sit with her. Usually Chelsea was the designated back rubber...this time it would have to be Mark. It showed just how low she felt about herself right now...anytime else she would have already have told Mark to keep walking

Mark was quick to notice the little bottles that were now littering her feet. She shrugged a bit only a small smile playing at the corner of her mouth."Yeah...sure" She passed a bottle over not really sure if he would actually drink it. She was just being polite. "Having a good time?"Again, more out of politeness than anything.

She knew Mark pretty well. He was the brother of her roommate and also someone that she had had a couple of flings with whilst a little worse for wear. They got on pretty well, had similar personality traits...why not? Evie wasn't sure what she thought of Mark romantically. She saw him as a good looking guy, but was unsure on whether she fancied him or whether she just saw him as attractive. She knew that he would make a good boyfriend for someone but she also saw a lot of herself in him. She wasn't into the whole commitment thing, and neither was he from what she knew. All in all, the only thing Evie saw happening tonight was just another casual hook up with him.

Luckily by now, the sobs had ceased a little now that she was in the company of Mark, but there was still a few tears running down her face every so often. It was an annoyance to feel so open and vulnerable like this. Crying in front of someone she was close to such as Chelsea was hard enough, but sobbing in front of a casual friend and a hook up was extremely awkward. It was perhaps a positive and negative trait of Evie's personality. There was always the fact she it made appear that she was a lot stronger and feisty than it appeared, but on the other end of the spectrum it made it harder for Evie to open up to people and let any frustrations out. Sure enough she always made her opinions known if she was having a tantrum but when it came to things upsetting her, she was quite a tough shell to crack. Mark was perhaps the only person besides her closest friends to have seen her cry.

She was a little surprised that after her sobs had dispersed a little, he didnt just up and leave now that she become somewhat stable again. Instead he took the seat that she had made by scooting over a little. Evie was a little touched at this. She had always known that he could be a nice guy when he wanted to be...here was the proof.

Perhaps he wasn't the player that people made him out to be.

After answering her question quickly he returned it back to her. Without a word, she pulled out the note that had been left for her and handed it to him. It was now transparent enough for Evie to know that she had been tricked. A little hiccup of a sob quickly made its way up as Evie struggled to hold it together at this thought. As Mark read it, she traced a small pattern on her hand waiting for him to hand it back to her. "I am just sick to death of everybody laughing at my expense all day...everyday. Like...who does that?!" She pointed at the note and then having enough of having a look at it, proceeds to rip it up into small pieces and chuck them on the floor at her feet.

Mark was correct in his assumptions of her understanding what he meant when he said 'talk some sense into them'. She also knew him well enough that he would get a few friends together and go through it. Just this thought alone suddenly lifted her mood a little. She was fed up of people talking about her and the crazy rumours that were going around. She'd had enough of that as Marie Antoinette. It was a shame that such pettiness had to follow her through to this life. It would do the idiot good to have a beating.

Evie's mood was lifted just enough for her to accept his offer to dance. And why shouldn't she go and enjoy herself? The person/people who had sent the note were obviously a bunch of jerks. Why should they be the ones that made her feel so low about herself? It wasn't like Evie at all. Evie actually quite liked herself. She was certainly a lot different to the annoying All American Sweethearts that were wandering the halls and there was no doubt that she would not change herself to fit such a stereotype. Addictions aside, she had a good head on her shoulders. It wasn't often than you found an eighteen year old that was happy in their own skin. Now if only if she could control said addictions.

She stood up, placing the sunglasses back onto her face to cover her eyes. She had had a heavy night and was still feeling the effects. The lights wern't making it much better either. Plus their was no one else wearing sunglasses at the prom...and no one quite like Evie attending the prom either. Whilst most girls wore long gowns and had their hair all curled and neat, Evie's dress was just long enough to cover her decency and her hair was in the style that she normally wore it - down and wavy. As they were walking down to where everybody else was dancing she quickly stopped and quickly gave Mark a hug. "Thanks for sitting with me." She smiled and then carried on wading through the crowd. Finding a spot she started to dance, albeit a little swkwardly from not knowing what the song even was. She realised that Mark would have come with some other people and that he had not seen them for a while and frowned. "Where are your friends? Don't you want to hang out with them?" Evie didn't mind if he did. Her spirits were raised enough that she wouldn't suddenly break down crying again on the spot. Besides if he wanted to go back to his friends, she would take off and see what was happening party wise tonight.

*Mark was correct in what he was saying. Just because some idiots had decided to have a laugh at Evie's expense, it shouldn't mean that she should show that she was upset about it. In fact, she knew that it would drive them nuts to see that she was actually having a great time than wallowing away in the corner, drinking herself into a state again. After this thought, the old Evie seemed to emerge and a grin spread on her face. "Fuck them!" She plunges her hand back into her bag and pulls out another couple of bottles of whiskey and hands one to Mark. Honestly, she didn't care if there were any teachers about who would see. All she wanted was a good time and after the numerous bottles she had sunk before she had gotten here and whilst here she was already on her way to drunktown. "Cheers!" She clinks the bottom of her bottle to his and then downs it one, and chucks the empty bottle onto the floor, hitting one girl in the foot with it and earning a look of disgust.

The music changed to a different song, one that Evie personally didn't recognise very well although she had heard it a couple of times whilst flicking through a radio, but everyone else seemed to know pretty well. Evie personally didn't like this music but she had to admit that it had a pretty good beat to it, so she found it quite easy, albeit a little dirty to it. She banged into the same girl that had given her a disapproving look only a few moments again and earned herself another glare. Evie shrugged at her. "Liven up love!" She shouted to her over the music, causing the girl to lose her rag a little and shout something back at her that Evie didn't quite hear. She wandered back to where Mark was dancing. The song had become a bit boring to her, the beat sounding repetitive, that in the end she was dancing in a more take the piss fashion than any of the others on the dancefloor.

She was about to suggest leaving when the music changed again to a slow lovey dovey song. Evie looked at Mark grinning and held her hands out. Might as well whilst they were enjoying themselves.

Evie instantly recognised the song as it came on, just by the first few seconds of the record being played. It was definitely a golden oldies song, but it was one that was not as popular as say...Come On Eileen or Never Gonna Give You Up. Evie preferred this song a lot better to any of them. As the first few notes started a memory came from the back of her mind, one that she had not thought of in years. Sitting in the car at six years old with her dad, who was a music junkie, and singing along to it with him. It was a memory that filled her with happiness, and the smile on her face as it came on showed that she was the happiest she had been all night.

Evie was surprised when Mark put his arm around her to slow dance. She had never really danced like this with a guy before. In fact the last time she could recall was back in the 1700's when she, as Marie Antoinette, had danced with the Dauphin of France, Louis on the wedding night. Although it had not been a slow dance by traditional standings, it had probably been the only other time that she had danced with somebody in a purely serious way.

To be fair, his arm around her felt nice. She felt secure in every sense of the word. Secure in an odd sort of way. With Mark holding her, even though they were only dancing, it felt as though things were starting to click into place for her. She had never seen Mark as more than just a friend before. He was Chelsea's older brother, a guy she went to when she fancied a one night stand and couldn't get it anywhere else. It was weird that one song could make someone look at another person in a completely different light. She found that she didn't want this song to end, otherwise they would have to stop...at least until the next slow song came on for them to dance to again.

Yes, Evie had had a drink. Yes, she was pretty sloshed. But how many times had she met a guy whilst on the alcohol or some other substance and saw them in this light? Never. Lust yes...that was a common symptom in drinking. She couldn't quite put this down to just lust though. Perhaps it was because she knew him pretty well. Then was this just a phase? Or an actual crush?

Being a pretty feisty girl anyway and being drunk Evie decided it was safe to take a gamble. If she kissed him and he pulled away she could blame it on having too much of a good time. If he responded in a positive way, which was most likely considering the two had gotten to know each other rather well in the bedroom department, then that was good news too. And even if he did respond but it was just due to drink as well then they would still have a good night together, with the intention behind kissing him forgotten about.

With all of these justifications cleared up in her mind she, quite literally took the bull by the horns and leaned in planting a kiss on his lips, testing the waters.

It wasn't just alcohol that Evie now depended on...yes depended on. She was so used to abusing it on a daily basis that if she went more than a day at a time without even a sip, her hands trembled and she felt sickly all day. One could assume that if she left it any longer her body would probably end up going into shock causing the seventeen year old to become extremely ill as her body went through the process of 'cold turkey'. That wasn't something Evie wanted to experience. Gambling was another problem that Evie was battling with. It had been a hobby of hers as Marie Antoinette but it had also been the hobby of a rich Queen. Nowadays it wasn't something that a high school student could afford but the rush of winning and the memories of France and of Louis that it bought back made her carry on. Drugs was also something that Evie was mixed up in, but luckily she didn't seem to abuse these as much as alcohol. Drugs was a relatively new thing for Evie. She was sure that Chelsea knew of her alcohol problem - to be fair the whole school knew - but she didn't know what her younger dormmate would do and say if she found out about this new path of self destruction.

If the whole school knew of some of her problems, then Mark was definitely bound to know. But here he was, dancing with her with no judgements, treating her just as he would treat any other girl or friend. This thought made her feeling of self worth suddenly rise a little but it also dampened her spirit a tad. Why would someone nice enough like Mark want to have anything to do with, lets face it, an alcoholic?

It seemed as though Mark didn't agree to what she was thinking. As she leaned back from planting a kiss on his lips she instantly regretted it, thinking that he would make his excuses quickly and wander off. However, he smiled. And not a 'what the hell are you doing?' smile but a genuine smile that indicated that he wanted to kiss her too. And he did. This time she let his kiss last a bit longer before pulling back a mixture of confusion and happiness on her face. "This is different." It was an obvious indicator to their hook ups. Usually they're kisses were passionate and lustful - this one was more genuine and sweet.

She was bored of dancing and took one of his hands and started to pull him back through the crowds. this time heading in the direction of one of the empty tables. She took a seat and looked at him, a light blush on her cheeks. It had suddenly gotten awkward but in a good way...it was now obvious that something was there. She decided to question it. "So what was that about?!"