Liquid Courage

"Five minutes, Dan!" I yelled down the hall to Dan's room as I straightened my blue tie and fixed a mismatched button on my black button-up. I picked the gift bag up from off my bed and carried it to the kitchen.

"Yeah one sec!" I heard the voice come from the bathroom, where Dan was surely flattening his Hobbit hair before we left. Ten minutes later, Dan emerged in a charcoal gray shirt and a silver and black tie. "You clean up well, Phil!" He said with his glowing smile.

"And you as well, Dan!" I couldn't help but smile at him.

We were on or way to the surprise birthday bash that PJ was throwing for Chris, and it was at a formal London venue near our flat with a DJ, an open bar, and everything a party would need. I couldn't help but think about how over the top it may be, which made me less and less excited to go, but I knew that Dan had been looking forward to it for a while now. We had just gone through a long stretch of work for Radio 1, and I foresaw Dan drinking and partying all the stress away. In my four years living with Dan, I have probably seen him really go hard about 10 times, and he stumbles into our flat wasted off his arse on a lot of the weekends. I'm not much of a partier myself, but sometimes I attend these bacchanalia with Dan so that I can sleep at night knowing I looked after him and kept him safe. "The life of the party, hm..." I said to myself as I stuffed the striped bag with tissue paper and stuck our card in.

When we arrived at the party (fashionably late of course) the music was already blaring and I could feel the bass rippling through my dress shoes. The night club setting was slightly discomforting to me, but Dan's face lit up as if this club scene was his second home. After leaving the gift in the designated present room, we entered the party and met up with our tight group of YouTube friends. It was really great to catch up with everyone, but I regretted getting caught up in the conversation when I noticed that Dan was gone!

"You okay, Phil?" PJ asked me with a concerned look. My face must be more expressive that I thought.

"Yeah it's just, I lost Dan..." I looked around the room quickly, like a meerkat, but the lights were dim and I couldn't really see anything, despite my height advantage.

"He's a big boy, he can handle himself!" PJ chuckled and lightly punched my arm. Even though he has totally right, I shouldn't be worrying, I still had this anxiety hanging over my head until I could find Dan.

The bass was pumping through my ear drums as I made my way over to the bar. I ordered a ginger ale as if I was the designated driver, even though we just took a fifteen minute walk trough the city to get here and neither of us would be driving.

"I want that one!" A fake blonde, fake tanned barbie whisper-shouted to her equally plastic friend about a foot from me. These scantily clad women were holding drinks and pointing with their overly long and decorated nails to none other than Daniel Howell. He was dancing with a glass of vodka in his hand, and people gravitated and surrounded him from all angles.

"Yeah he is totally cute, you should hit that," the second barbie replied to the first.

"Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope. That one is off limits you can't have him," I blurted to them without thinking.

"... What the fuck?" The first barbie looked pissed, but I could tell was too drunk to have any real, coherent thoughts.

"Neither of you lovely ladies will be getting with Dan tonight. Sorry to disappoint you," I said it as politely as could be, but the words themselves didn't match my manners. The girls looked at each other and walked off, fuming.

"It's the remix to ignition, hot and fresh out the kitchen, the way you rollin that body got every man in here wishin!" Dan's slurred drunk voice sang along to the DJ's choice while other intoxicated boys and girls crowded him, danced, and oversexualized themselves on the dance floor. I left the bar and headed towards this outdoor balcony, swirling my ginger ale in small circles over the ledge. I spent about a half hour thinking until I was finally approached.

"Hellooo Philly!" It was Dan, and he was suddenly holding my arm and feeling the fabric of the shirt while he struggled to support himself. His pink cheeks and cloudy eyes told me he'd taken the fast route and got drunk in the hard stuff right away.

"Hey Dan, how's it going?" I held on to his little shoulders and stood him up straight.

"I'm greaaat, but you are not! Having! Fun!" He booped my nose with each of the last three words. "Why are you outside all by yourself Philly?"

"Oh you know, just getting some fresh air."

"What's in there?"

"Ginger ale."

"Nooo Phillip!" He wrapped his arms around my neck and stared up at me with those toxic brown eyes. All I could do is sigh. "Phillip I don't feel so good." He was falling over again.

"Okay Dan, I'll walk you in and I'll take you to the bathroom, okay?"

Before a minute passed Dan was hurling profusely over a toilet while I held his hair back. Just the sounds made me feel sick, but I had to hold it together. Dan kept on expelling the poison while I kept his perfect bangs out of his face, while his eyes watered. He flushed the toilet. "Ew that was bloody disgusting."

"Tell me about it," I forced a laugh and smile. I didn't want Dan to see how grossed out I was by his vomiting because I needed him to be comfortable with me and take this as a bonding experience, even though it was disgusting and awful.

"Can we take a break, Philly?" The music still polluted the air around us and I could tell it was making Dan more and more woozy.

"Yes, of course we can, Daniel."

I ordered a glass of water for the drunken boy and I helped him over to the present room, near the entrance. We entered and noticed that we were alone with all of Chris's gifts, and it was quiet and peaceful. I sat Dan down on the floor and gave him the water, knowing he would need it after his puke fest.

"There were some girls looking for you earlier, but I told them they weren't allowed to hook up with you," I admitted to Dan. If I was going to be a clock block I should at least be honest about it. "I'm sorry. I just got a bad feeling around them and I didn't want to see my best friend get taken advantage of." We were sitting criss-cross facing each other, just like we sat anytime we would have a serious talk at our flat.

"Good, Phillip." Dan slurred. I loved when he used my full name. "I don't want to get with any of those sluts anyway."

Hearing Dan say that made me really happy, probably happier than I should have been. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "You're always looking out for me, Philly."

"Of course Dan. I will always have your back, no matter what."

He giggled and sighed, which in itself, was intoxicating. I didn't need a drink in my hand to see stars tonight.

"Wanna know the only slut I actually wanted to get with?" He raised his eyebrows cheekily. What a little tart.

"Sure why not."

"... You." When he said it he cocked his head to one side like a baby owl.

"Very funny Dan. That's the alcohol talking." Even though he wasn't consciously saying these things, I couldn't help but wonder if he really meant them.

"I loooooove you Phillyyy..." He drew it out as long as he could and then laid his head on my shoulder. His ruffled hair tickled my jaw as he cuddled on me and held on to my arm like a koala bear.

"You're not going to remember this tomorrow, are you?" He didn't process my question. He just spoke.

"They don't call it liquid courage for nothin', Phillip." I could barely make out what he had said before he passed out on me.