Read Toxic (Better Than You) for Free Online

reach the hallway that leads to the bathroom. Feet cramping, I admit defeat and slip off the four inch heels. And then I laugh because they feel so much better already and I seriously hate wearing them. And dresses. I hate dresses.
                  I open two doors before I find the bathroom, even though I’ve been here a million times. The lights are off . I can’t find the switch. There it is . Shoes on the counter, don’t even have to pull my dress up to pee. Probably means it’s too short . Sitting down makes my head spin. The alcohol slams into me all of the sudden. How many shots have I had? I can’t even remember. It was probably too many .
                  Standing up, I situate myself and look into the mirror. Even though I’m drunk, really drunk, I have enough sense to wipe the mascara from under my eyes and fluff out my dark hair. Not bad . When I was younger, I would have given anything for light hair and skin like Melissa’s, but now I know that while she reminded people of the sun, I remind them of the dark and that’s perfectly okay with me. It’s better that way.
                  Before I even have the door open to leave the bathroom, I turn off the light. It’s so dark I can’t even see my hands but I stand there for a few seconds and breathe, let myself feel the alcohol taking over my senses. In this dark, it feels like I’m floating, or like I don’t exist outside of my own head. It’s a scary thing to think about, wondering if I even exist at all. When I throw open the door and rush out, I run straight into a warm body.
                  “Woah there,” a guy’s voice says as he grips my upper arms to steady me.
                  Those two words, that touch, it makes me tense up. Even in my drunken state, I hate that voice and I hate that touch. I have since kindergarten, when I was too young and naïve to understand that it’s better to stay away from boys like him.
                  “Lo? Is that you?” He grabs my chin harshly and thrusts my face up into the light of the hallway. “Well I’ll be damned.”
                  “Fuck off, Danny,” I say, trying desperately to keep my voice steady. But his hands are making me nervous and the alcohol is trying to come back up and it’s all I can do to stay upright. To him it probably seems like I’m leaning into him. To anyone else it looks intimate. But it’s not. It’s not! I want to yell at the couple down the hall, leaning against the wall. The guy sends smirk at Danny and the girls giggles into the smirking guy’s chest.
                  “How convenient is this?” Danny breathes into my ear.
                  I don’t know what girls see in him, in his cold, dark eyes or his evil smile. Yes, he’s good looking, with straight features, hair as dark as night and eyes to match, lips that always look freshly kissed. But he’s slimy and greedy and he’s looked at me like a piece of meat for as long as I can remember.
                  I try to push off of his chest, but he keeps me firm against him. “Sam will come looking for me.”
                  Danny laughs but it doesn’t sound anything like a laugh is supposed to. “Sam? You mean the slut out back with two guys? Yeah, she seemed kinda busy.”
                  Then he’s dragging me, to Vito’s parents’ room at the end of the hall, where no one will see us or hear us or know we exist. I make my body heavy, but he’s stronger and bigger and I’m not ready for this. There’s too much alcohol in my system. Too much liquid sloshing around in my stomach. Maybe I’ll turn to liquid. Maybe my heart will melt and then I’ll die and never find out what’s about to happen.
                  Danny stops dragging me and pulls me up against his body, his muscles straining against the sleeves of his shirt. “This will be a lot