There's No Place like Home [Vacation]

"Oh..." was all he could manage to say. He looked down at his shoes. 'Stupidstupidstupid' he thought. He should've known that Erin didn't see him in the same way he saw her. He didn't notice that she looked happy. Although he did perk up when she said that she would think about it. "That's all I ask." he said. The rest of the ride was fairly quiet, however, and Gabriel felt that he had made it extremely awkward. When they got off, Gabriel sighed. "Let's just go home. I think it's nearly 11 anyways." he said, sticking his hands in his pockets and leading Erin to his mother's car that was left at the first place they were at. It was a short drive home, and when they walked in, only Gabriel's father was awake. "Welcome home. There's some drinks in the fridge for you and Erin, but don't tell your mother." he said, obviously a little drunk. Nodding his thanks, he entered the fridge. He grabbed a few for himself and turned to Erin. "Would you like any?"

"Yeah," she said after he seemed to perk up a little bit. She could tell he seemed pretty down about it for a moment, but she couldn't help but give him a small smile before things fell quiet. As the rest of the ride continued, she decided to take advantage of it, looking around at the city before it finally came to a stop. She had definitely enjoyed it, even though when they got off, it seemed that Gabe was ready to get back. "Yeah, that might be a good idea." Somehow, though, even after everything that they had done today, Erin wasn't the least bit tired. She still felt like she could go for a few more hours, but she didn't want to push it. There seemed to be a lot of tension between the two, even as they climbed into the car, but Erin tried to make the best of it. As soon as they got back, though, she was in for a bit of a surprise. For whatever reason, she wasn't expecting his father to be drunk when they arrived home, but he looked happy at least, so that was a plus. She quietly followed Gabriel into the kitchen as he went after the drinks. She hadn't had any alcohol in quite some time, not counting the gulp from the truth or dare night. "Yeah, sure!" she said with a lighthearted grin. "A little bit can't hurt. It might help both of us relax."

Handing the girl a few, he walked back into his room, making sure Erin was following. Despite Erin's lighthearted approach to the situation, and the fact that she said that she'd think about it, he couldn't stop himself from feeling down. He twisted open one of the bottles and took a drink. It wasn't bad tasting, but it was slightly bitter. He sat down on his bed and sighed. He sat back, leaning on the wall on the other side of his bed. "So what did you think of today?" he asked her.

She took the drinks from Gabe and quickly followed him up to his room. Unlike him, she was feeling pretty good. As they got upstairs, she opened her own bottle and practically sucked it down. She managed to ignore the bitter taste that it had to it. Surprisingly, it wasn't that terrible. It was much better than that American crap that was given to her at the truth or dare party. By the time the bottle left her lips, half of it was already gone. She hadn't realized how thirsty walking around all day had made her. Sure, they had grabbed drinks while they were in town but she guessed it wasn't enough. With a content sigh, she took a seat on the floor, looking up at Gabriel as he asked her about the day. "It was so much fun!" she told him. "London is so much better than I was expecting it to be. We saw a lot, too! I didn't think we'd be able to see as much as we did. And I really did enjoy riding on the Eye." It was the truth. While it had become pretty awkward at the end of the day, she still made the best of it and really enjoyed her time. "Did you enjoy the day?"

Gabe nodded, finishing off his first bottle. "Yeah, for the most part. I'm glad you enjoyed London as much as you did. We still have one more day here, too." he responded. "What do you think we should do." he opened another bottle and took a small drink of it. He was hoping to get drunk tonight. Maybe it would help him loosen up and forget what had happened on the Eye. Probably not, but he had to try.

Erin shrugged as she finished the bottle in her hand. She was surprised she was able to finish it so quickly, but she simply set it down next to her and grabbed the next one. Opening it with a quick twist, she tried to think of ideas. They had already seen the city. She really didn't know what else they could do. "I'm not sure," she replied. "Is there anywhere we could go hiking maybe? How about a picnic?" It sounded like a good idea. There were plenty of places to sit and eat for lunch. She liked going to the restaurants and shops but there was nothing like a good time just to enjoy the sunlight and the people around them. She hadn't been on a picnic in so long. The last time was with Louis but that kind of turned awkward pretty quickly. With that thought, she opened up her new drink. She had no idea how many she was going to have tonight, but they were on vacation. It didn't really matter at this point. Glancing at Gabe, he seemed to be fairly intent on getting down as many as possible tonight. She giggled quietly at the thought.

"A picnic sounds nice. There's a park that I love to go to. It's so nice and full of trees. It's called Green Park. We can go there tomorrow if you'd like." he replied, drinking more. He was finally starting to feel the alcohol's effects after nearly three bottles gone. But it was only a slight warm feeling, nothing more. He sat there, thinking for a moment, wondering if he should change his hair and eye colors a little. His hair was still long and blond, with the streaks of blue and red in them. He decided that he should, and at the same time show off to Erin how good he's been getting at his gift. He shook his head back and forth and almost magically his hair began shrinking while turning a bright shade of pink. It became short, barely enough to ruffle. His eyes, however, changed from bright blue to a reddish-brown. He took another drink, finishing off his third bottle. The Summer took a deep breath, that had taken a bit of energy out of him. Now that his hair was shorter, it was revealed that he had a couple earrings that had been hidden by his mess of hair. "What do you think?" he asked. "I've been wanting to do something different for awhile now, but I wanted a chance to show you how well I've gotten at my gift."

OOC: Gabe's new fc for those that are reading and don't know

"That would be wonderful!" she said with a squeal of delight. Picnics were one of her favorite things to do. It made her happy that he was willing to go on one too. It was even better that he knew of a place to go. "This is so exciting! If we can go by the market, I can try to cook something up for it! Or sandwiches. Those work too." she giggled again, suddenly just as excited as she was before they left. Tipping back the second bottle, she drank it in silence, only putting it down when it was empty. Her stomach gurgled a little bit but she opened her next one without hesitation. She only stopped when she looked back over and saw Gabriel shaking out his head, watching his hair shorten and change color. She stared in awe as his features began to change, not just his hair but everything. It was strange and weird but she couldn't stop watching. When he was done, she smiled. "Your hair is pink," she giggled. "You look so different! But it looks pretty good. I don't know if I'll be able to pick you out of a crowd now." She quickly downed the next bottle, putting it down intermittently before setting it aside when it was empty. Already she could start feeling the effects of it by the tingling in her fingers. She was glad that it didn't seem to be affecting her mind just yet.

He shrugged, quickly downing the next beer. "Just look for the tall bloke with pink hair." he said, laughing. He noticed that Erin was downing the beers like nothing, so he stepped up his game and began drinking them faster. He had just got done drinking half of his fourth when he sighed. The drinks weren't doing their job fast enough, and he didn't want to just chug all of his.

Another giggle escaped her at the thought. "I'll remember that. Next time you get lost, I'm just going to shout 'tall bloke with the pink hair!'" It wasn't until after she said it that Erin realized that probably didn't make much sense. He said to look for him, not shout for him. Oh well. With a deep sigh, she leaned her head back on the wall, just staring into space before her eyes shifted to the boy gulping down yet another bottle. It was funny. For a second it looked like he was actively trying to finish it in one go. Was he trying to make sure that he stayed ahead of her in drinking? Two could play at that game. She felt like she had an advantage, though, being Irish. That high tolerance wasn't talked about around the world for nothing. With a smirk, she got her hands another yet another bottle, not even bothering to look at the collection she had to her left of empty bottles and caps lying about. Popping it open, she began to drink again but made it casual. "You might want to slow down a wee bit. You don't want to get sick this early in the game," she teased.

Gabe laughed at her telling him to slow down. "Trust me, I can hold my own." he said, shaking his head, still getting used to not having hair fly everywhere. "I've been drinking since before you were old enough to be in high school." What he didn't tell her was that he'd never been properly drunk before. He finished his fourth bottle and was starting to get slightly light-headed. That was about as far as he had gotten when he used to drink. He cracked open the next one and took a small gulp. Maybe he should start to slow down.

"Since before I was in high school?" she repeated in an act of slight disbelief but it faded into a laugh at how much thicker her accent was getting as she spoke. "That's big talk for someone who already looks like they're feeling it!" Granted, Erin didn't have too much room to talk. As she began sipping again on her fourth, she watched him down his own and pick up yet another. Honestly, she had no idea that they had brought this many drinks up here with them but she didn't mind it. After a few minutes, she finally dried up the fourth and picked up her fifth. At this point, the tingly sensation moved up her hands before things started to get numb and a little woozy, but she still felt like she could think properly so that was a plus. However, she glanced up with a couple of blinks and realized that she and Gabe were sitting pretty far away from each other. With a big sigh, she stood up with a bit of a stumble, catching her balance after knocking over a couple of her empty bottles with her feet. Her stomach protested a bit after ingesting so much liquid in such a short time but it wasn't going to stop her. With confidence, she walked over to where he was sitting on his bed with his back against the wall and plopped down next to him, leaning back so that they were sitting the same way. "I feel like that's a challenge. Are you trying to say that you can out-drink an Irish woman?" she looked at him with a playful yet competitive expression.

He laughed as she nearly fell onto his bed. "You seem to be feeling it too. You can hardly walk." he told her. "And no, I'd never be able to out-drink you. I'm just trying to keep up." His voice was starting to slur slightly, but he could still think for the most part. "Don't try to drink too much, don't want you getting sick before our big picnic." he added, winking.

Her challenging expression quickly melted into a grin and a silly giggle. "I don't know what you mean!" she said sarcastically while try to actually sound like she was okay. Normally, this amount wouldn't affect her but they had drunk so much in such a short amount of time. It was hard for her not to feel anything. "I lost my footing for a... for a second and you think that I need to slow down? You're over here sounding like you have a fat tongue!" she turned to him as she spoke, poking him hard on his chest with a goofy grin. There was no doubt the drinks were kicking in. She paused, though, when he mentioned the picnic. She smiled, her excitement ever growing about it. She was so pumped to go out and just have some time to enjoy the sunshine and spend some time together. "Heh, I don't get sick. You don't get sick. Both of us need to be feeling good tomorrow! I want to spend as much time with a healthy you as possible!"

Gabe nodded. "Same goes for you, you goofball." he responded. "And if we both want to be healthy tomorrow, we should probably stop drinking. Probably." They'd only had a few beers but they both had drank them in such a short amount of time that it was affecting them more than if they had spread the drinks out. It also didn't help that they hadn't eaten in a few hours. He set his bottle down and put his hands behind his head, getting into a more comfortable position. He was done drinking for the night. Or at least for now. He might pick up another drink later.