And That's How That Went

1

I pushed the door open, the loud music and the stench of alcohol hitting my nose.
A few guys wearing weird sunglasses and matching shirts passed by, their scream too loud for me to handle.
I almost turned around right then and there, rethinking my decision to come to the party.

But suddenly, I heard a voice.

"HEY GEN! YOU CAME!"

I turned around, a stiff smile on my face. Alice walked towards me, her arms spread out and a big, goofy smile on her face.

Every other Saturday night, Alice threw a huge party. All the LGBTQ+ were invited.
'Celebrating being Gay' she called it.

She jumped on me, enveloping me in a hug. I couldn't resist hugging back.

She took a step back and gave me a once-over.
"And you look so hot! I bet the girls will be falling all over you."

I cringed at the statement.

"I told you, I am not interested in any of that at the moment. I just want to get this job thing sorted out."

Alice rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Job and what-not. Let's not talk about grown-up stuff today. The whole point of this party is to relax and you bring your job here too?" she frowned.

"Alright I am sorry. Now where is the bar?" I asked, inciting a grin from her.

"Now we're talking." She said, dragging me to the kitchen where the countertop was the makeshift bar. Alice had a pretty big house, and on a regular day it seemed really bright and airy.
But this Saturday night, it smelled like drunk people and sweat. Not something I was fond of.

I walked to the bar, as Alice left to socialize with some other people. I sat at the barstool near the counter. Antonio was manning the bar today, as usual.

"How's my favorite lesbian?" He asked loudly, and his eyes widened as he received a few glares in return.

"Antonio. I told you never to say that around the others." I whispered harshly.

"Sorry! I keep forgetting" he whined.
He looked so cute doing that.

"It's alright. Your favorite lesbian forgives you." I said, to which he grinned.

"So, how's it going?" I asked.

"Ugh, same old. Alan is being all weird again. It's like he doesn't want to work it out." He said, groaning.

"Maybe he is scared?" I basically asked, to which Antonio shrugged.
"I doubt that, but okay." He said. "How is everything with you?" He asked, his eyes full of concern.

"Not so good. My boss is such a pain!" I exclaimed, throwing my head back.

"You know what that ass did today? I was sitting at my desk, editing a manuscript and he came up to me-" I paused as something, or someone caught my eye.

She had choppy hair and sharp features. She wore a leather jacket and had the sleeves rolled up, to expose her forearms. Her eyes were cool and her face expressionless. And the main thing? She was looking right at me.

"Uh babe? You kinda trailed off." Antonio said.

I snapped my head back to him, only to see him staring back at me with a knowing look on his face.

"Was it that obvious?" I asked.

"Yes. Very." He replied, a small smile making it to his lips.

"Oh my god, I probably looked like a creep." I whined.

"Eh not so much." Antonio said, his attention now on some other people who were asking for drinks.

I turned back to look at her, but she was not looking at me. She had a glass of what looked like whiskey and she was staring at the liquid. She had a few rings on her fingers, which were really long, I noticed.
She was really good-looking. She stood out to me from the crowd of people.
She probably felt my gaze on her and looked up. Our eyes met for a brief second, before I averted my eyes. My face felt hot as I could feel her gaze burning my back.
I almost wanted to look back, so that our gazes could meet again, but my weak brain wouldn't let me.

Antonio made the drinks and walked over to me.

"Where were we? Oh yeah you were drooling over that girl over there."

"When you say it like that, it makes me feel like a creep." I said, banging my head to the countertop. Antonio patted my head.

I felt like a dog.

"Oh by the way, she has looked at you, like, five times already. You wanna go talk to her?" He asked.

I looked up at him.

"Should I? Won't it be too weird?" I asked him.

"I personally don't think so...but maybe i just like you too much to think you are a creep." He said.

"Ugh nevermind. I won't go." I said. "Wait where is Alice?" I asked him

He shrugged his shoulders.
"You know her," he said. "Never stays in one place."

I decided to go look for her as I saw a bunch of guys flocking towards the bar. Antonio would be busy for some time now.

I picked up my glass of vodka and walked around the room, trying to find my friend.
I looked for quite some time, but couldn't find her.

I turned around to go back to the bar when I bumped into someone. Hard

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