Time spent with family was great. I got to spend time with my nephews, partook in our towns festival but had to say good bye a week later. We then had an awesome couple of days away at a country spa and headed back to the city, 5 days left before we went back to work. It was a very relaxed atmosphere the day after we got back to the city and we were just watching some TV when Marzia's phone rang.
"Hey, Monty, what's up?... Uh-huh...Yeah...OK, let me ask!" She muted the call and turned to me. "Kevin is inviting us to his 25th birthday in O'Sheas on Friday, wanna go?" She smiled and batted her eyelids pleadingly. I sighed.
"If he behaves himself, maybe." I said dryly and munched on a Pringle. Marzia unmuted Monty and spoke with him again.
"Yeah we'll go...", I looked at her with annoyance making some less than nice air signals at her, "...8 at O'Sheas, see you then!" She hung up her phone and looked at my annoyed face. "What?" She asked innocently.
"Are you kidding me?! He will obviously not behave so no, I don't wanna go!" She just laughed at me.
"It'll be fine! We'll go in stunning outfits, have a few drinks and you can hit on other guys at the bar! You don't have to stay with him the whole night." She shot me a look that said, "shut up, we're going!" I sighed, exasperated at her complete lack of understanding, and glared at the TV. After a few moments of silence, I shot her a look and said, "Shopping tomorrow then?" and we both laughed. She was still my best friend after all.
Friday night was here and for some reason I felt nervous. I smoothed a hand over my sleek straight hair and looked around O'Sheas for our party. It was packed out and very lively. Hipsters were everywhere, metallers glared at everyone not metal and everyone else looked to be having fun. I spotted our group on the roof top bar and led Marzia to them. We got a lot of glares when we gave our names to the bouncer and were let in. A lot of people we worked with were there and a few people I didn't know either. Kevin spotted us and came straight over.
"Hey guys! Welcome to my birthday party!" He looked intently at me and smiled. I tried to play it off cool and nodded at him. I just felt like a knot was in my stomach, what the Hell?
"Wait, did you book the entire roof top bar out tonight?" Marzia sounded shocked and he nodded his head. Marzia whistled and nodded awe.
"Nice." She sounded impressed.
"That would explain why we were glared at by the hipsters. But, fuck those guys." I added trying not to act impressed. I looked at him, handed him a card and said happy birthday before swiftly going to the bar. The knot in my stomach still didn't ease and I couldn't seem to shake it.
I ordered my drink and went over to where Marzia was sitting with Monty, Kevin and 2 guys I didn't recognise. I put my drink down and took my coat off and for some reason, Kevin choked on his drink. Clearly my dress wasn't a bad purchase. Figure hugging and showing just enough cleavage, my short deep red dress coupled with black pumps, no jewellery, smokey eyes and dark red lipstick clearly had an effect on him. I somehow felt proud of that fact and sat beside Marzia. Kevin looked a little flushed and stared at me for a few minutes, one of his hands covered his mouth. He then realised where he was and snapped out of it.
One of the guys I didn't know, the younger one, looked at Kevin and then turned to me.
"Don't mind him, he hasn't had much social interaction with women in a while and has forgotten his manners." He cheekily grinned and winked. I smiled back and crossed my arms leaning on the table.
"Oh, don't worry. This is the first time he's seen me out of work so I'm not worried." I smiled back in a cocky way. The guy laughed and stuck his hand out.
"Stephen. Kevins younger brother."
"Briana. Kevins co-worker." I said and shook his hand.
"This is John, my older brother." He tapped the guy behind him and he also stuck out his hand. I took it and introduced myself again and introduced Marzia to them both.
We got along with his brothers quite well and we met John's girlfriend, Chloe, as well. She and John were such a cute couple and it made me smile to see them together. She was small and had such a bubbly personality which complemented John's calm demeanour. Stephen was single but wasn't looking for love, much like myself, but he was a bit too young for me. Although he was quite cute and he had the same colour eyes as his brother but they seemed more mischievous.
After a while, I excused myself to use the bathrooms. After doing my business and checking myself out, I walked back to our table to see many of our party dancing. Kevin, Marzia and Monty were the only ones left and Kevin and Marzia looked suspicious.
"OK, I'm getting a round of drinks in. Monty, we're doing shots." Kevin announced and stared hard at his friend. Monty didn't take any notice as he was too busy making puppy eyes at Marzia. Clearly he still liked her but was starting to get a little bit drunk. She noticed and whispered something in his ear, that made him get up like he was sitting on hot coals. I sat down and gave her a suspicious look.
"What the Hell was that about?" I arched an eyebrow and glared at her. She had a guilty look on her face and turned to me with a fake smile.
"Briana..." She stopped when she seen my face.
"Oh my God he got to you!" I smacked the table out of frustration.
"I'm sorry! He Obe Wan-ed me!" Her look said sorry. (This means he said 'help me Obe Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope' and Marzia caved.) Chloe and John sat down.
"Who Obe Wan-ed who?" Chloe asked and sipped her drink. John put his arm around her shoulders and sat back.
"Kevin did to Marzia." I said with an annoyed tone.
"Wait...You're the one!" Chloe exclaimed and looked excited.
"I'm sorry what?" I was perplexed.
"You're the one that Kevin has been talking about for months on end!" She squealed and clapped her hands. "Please go out with him! You two would make such a cute couple!" Her eyes went soft and she smiled. Marzia looked the same way. I looked at the both of them dryly.
"No." I said bluntly and downed my drink. "I'm going for a smoke." I got up and went to the smoking area, I needed to chill out, I was getting jumped from each angle emotionally. When I came back, everyone but Kevin was up dancing. There was a drink on the table for me and I sat on the opposite end of the table, pissed at him because he roped my best friend into asking me out. I looked up to see he had slid near me and I glared at him.
"Don't even think about it!" I snapped at him and took a drink.
"Can you really blame me? I needed help." He said calmly and moved beside me. I was majorly pissed and wanted to slap him.
"Look, you're persistent, I'll give you that. But give up on me, I'm a lost cause." I drank again.
"No, you're not. You're worth everything." I felt him looking at me and my face started to heat up.
"Why can't you take a hint? I'm. Not. Interested!" I shouted, the music started getting louder.
"And why can't you?" He shouted, taking me by my shoulders. I looked down at his hands, wide eyed and back into his face. His eyes were a bit bleary, but they were fiery. My heart started beating hard.
"I like you, so much. I just want one chance to prove that you're totally worth it!" He roared over the music and he was breathing hard, his eyes flickering from my eyes to my lips. All I could do was stare in his eyes: frustration, anger and embarrassment were in mine and I finally pushed away from him, my hands on his chest, that felt strong and broad. I ignored that thought and went into cold mode.
"No. I'm done." The music had went down in volume and he heard my cold tone. I dropped my hands, grabbed my coat and bag and walked away. I spotted Marzia and told her I was going home. She wanted to stay so I waved at her and left. I took out my phone and called Dr. Dick for some stress releaving. My heart was beating hard the entire time and I bit my lip out of frustration...or so I told myself.
