K.

Chapter 9- Matt's birthday

I was at the penthouse where Matt's birthday party was being held.

It was this huge place, with a pool facing the LA skyline. The whole deal looked like something out of a movie. The sun was beginning to set too, making the view look even more magnificent.

As I walked in, I looked around. My eyes searched for a certain someone, a familiar face in the crowd. A face I longed to see, so so badly.

Alex Turner.

Loving him felt like suffering from a chronic illness. No matter what, it always came back to him. Even after he argued with me for no reason and proceeded to abandon me, which I should hate him for (and spent weeks convincing myself I did), he was still the only thing on my mind.

"There you are!" Matt said joyfully as he opened his arms to hug me.

"A very happy birthday," I said cheerfully as I hugged him.

"Lovely place you got here," I said, pointing at the large glass doors that lead to the pool.

"Oh, well it's not mine," Matt said hesitantly.

"Alex... he bought it some... 2 weeks ago?" He said, awkwardly, realising I had no idea about it.

"He didn't tell you...?" He sounded almost too scared to ask.

"He did not," I said, and he gave a faint, disappointed smile and nodded. I was sure that by now, he could tell that things weren't exactly rainbows and sunshine between Alex and me. Actually,  it was far from that. The exact opposite I'd say.

I was happy for Alex though. Genuinely happy for him that he'd bought a new house. At least one of us seemed happier without the other.

"What are you guys talking about?" Jamie asked as he walked over to us with Nick.

"Nothing, we were just admiring Alex's new place," I said, jumping in.

Alex. Although, this word was something that popped up in my head like a thousand times, this was the first time I had actually said it out loud since the past one month. The immediate realization of it felt weird.

"Yeah, isn't it beautiful?" Matt asked.

Nick raised his brows and looked at us oddly. He could tell that we were acting strange and trying to change the topic but he kept his mouth shut. But Jamie on the other hand did not suspect a thing. Good old innocent Jamie. He was like a child, so easy and gullible, which is what made Jamie, well...Jamie. He was just way too pure.

"Oh yeah, no doubt about that" Jamie agreed.

"Anyway, who's this guy here?" Matt asked, pointing at the guy that had his arm wrapped around my shoulder, quickly changing the topic once again.

"Oh yeah. Josh, this is Matt, Jamie and Nick. Guys, this is Josh." I introduced them to each other.

Josh was my date for tonight.

The topic of Matt's birthday party somehow came up at work and when I joked about not having anyone to take with me, Josh volunteered to be my date for the night, and he assured me we were going only as friends and so I agreed to it.

"I'm a colleague of Kristen's" Josh introduced himself.

"and a failed first date" he added.

I found the fact that he had to add that piece of information strange and completely unnecessary. But I let it go, hoping he was joking.

"Oh, it was long ago" I added, as u awkwardly laughed.

"Nice to meet you, Josh," Matt said with a smile as he shook hands with Josh.