Falling for a Felstead

On a break?

"You look gorgeous." Alex complimented as we walked in.

"You're pretty dashing yourself." I smiled and gave him a small kiss.

Everyone was dancing and having a great time as soon as they walked in. For a minute, everyone kind of forgot about all of the shit and were just having the best time together.

After a little while, I ended up stood off the dance floor, talking to Stephanie.

Then Jess walked over. "Hi, how are you?"

"Good."

"How's things?"

"Good, we're just talking about ending this terrible year." Steph told her.

"It's been emotional. It's been really intense." Jess agreed and then looked at me. "So me and Steph were boxing the other day."

"Yeah." I nodded kind of knowing what she was about to say.

"Alex sort of came up to us and I found it quite weird, 'cause he came up to me to address... that he wasn't allowed to talk to me so I was like oh..."

"I can promise you I didn't tell him to walk up to you and say that. Like, ask him..."

"He absolutely made it out that you've been, you've told him to, like, completely stay away from me and me and him aren't friends. We're not friends enough for him to even say that. So I was a bit like..."

"That's why I don't know why he felt the need to approach you." I thought aloud.

"Shit, like I can't stand next to you." She said in a voice kind of imitating Alex. "Are you joking? It's pathetic."

"I don't really know what to say to you, like..."

"I don't understand why you want to be friends with me again. Like, I'm actually a bit weirded out."

Before I could respond, Alex walked over. "Hello. Hi, how you doing?"

"Hey." Stephanie awkwardly smiled.

"Hello."

"What's up? I need to de-mask, it's so hot with these one." He took his mask off.

"So we were just talking about you." Jess said with no warning.

"I get the impression that you freaked out." I told him.

"The situation yesterday, I felt that you were kind of pathetic." Jess reiterated what she had just told us. "I do, I think you have no backbone."

"Sorry?" He leaned over to her slightly.

"When you came up and you were like: I can't talk to you. I didn't, I felt..."

He pointed at me with his mask. "That's something you need to take up with Bella, 'cause she vehemently said: don't speak to Jess. It's her issue. So now you're turning it around saying it's not."

"I never turned it... sorry, no I didn't..." I corrected.

"You get incredibly annoyed about it, if I even speak to her it's an issue."

"I'm not calling you pathetic."

"It's all bullshit, you guys sleep in the same bed, you sleep in my bed together, then I can't fucking speak to her, it's so bizarre."

"You're actually exaggerating this. You are. You are exaggerating."

"I'm not exaggerating." He argued. "This has been going on for months now and it's been doing my fucking head in. Okay, so..."

Stephanie and Jess somewhat awkwardly walked away.

"I think it's so stupid how you suddenly turn around and go: oh it's all fine, when it hasn't been fine for months, and every time she's even come near me it's, like, a huge thing. I've got to a stage where I can't take any more. I just... I don't want to live like that."

"You think I do? She was supposed to be a close friend of mine and she went behind my back. Of course I don't want you near her. I hate feeling like this all the time." I lifted my mask and wiped the stay tears away.

"I think you're trying so hard to stop us becoming toxic that you're making it toxic." He said sympathetically. "I don't want to use your past but it's obviously a factor here. I don't think Jess is, like, the only issue that we have."

"Yeah."

"Like, the other day when you kicked off about the Jess thing, honestly, it just makes me literally want to finish it."

"Right. I honestly don't know what to say to you. Obviously this whole thing has been extremely shit for both of us but..." I half shrugged.

"I think we just need to spend some time apart for quite a bit."

"So you wanna be on your own for a while, from today?"

"Well, it's not working, Bella."

"Ok."

"It isn't.

"This is obviously something you want to do so I'm not gonna beg you not to do this." I did have to hold back tears but I kept my voice steady. "I don't want to do this. I don't really want to go on a break."

"Well that's the way it's gonna be then."

"I'm sorry it got to this point." I waited for a second before walking away.

I didn't want to leave the party so I stayed around for a little longer dancing with Binky and the others.

I ended up going home before the fireworks and, to my surprise, Sam showed up at my doorstep about an hour later. He told Tiff about the fact he kissed someone else ages ago.

Not how either of us wanted the party to go.