MESSED UP - completed!

13- Denial

13 Pregnant

Whoosh is celebrating the opening of the new department at a closed bar. Every manager and the new section's members are all here. Isla and two of her coworkers are here, too, since they'll work for both the filmmakers and the YouTubers. Everyone's laughing and having the best time. I'm sitting in a corner away from them.

"Wine?" Says James, standing next to me while shaking a glass in front of my face. I look at Smith, who's laughing with others in the distance, then at James.

"No, thanks."

He sits on a chair close to me. "Come on. Everyone's having a great time. Why aren't you?"

"I am having a great time."

"Here?" He touches my knee. "Alone?"

I slap his hand away. "Your boyfriend is looking at us!"

"I thought you liked me, Mia," he says, and a twitch of disgust fills my gut.

"Are you serious?!"

"He doesn't have to know," he refers to Smith. "We had a thing going on." He moves his hand on my knee once again. "We could arrange something. At your place or anywhere you want. For old times' sake. Just name it."

"Oh, my God." I rise from the chair. My mouth is wide open. "Unbelievable," I say louder so he can hear me. "Code red," my voice squeaks when I reach Isla.

She swallows the drink in her mouth, and her eyes zero. "You finally got your period?"

I shake my head. "No!" I point at James, who's talking to others now. "He touched my fucking knee!"

She looks at him with a half-opened mouth. "So the dream of yours, it could be true."

"Yes! It was him whom I slept with."

She puts her hand on her hip as she drinks more. "Poor Smith."

"God... how can I tell him...?" I drink from the mocktail and stand here waiting for time to pass faster so I can go home.

"My favorite ginger," says Jon as he appears in sight and kisses Isla's cheek instantly.

Isla smiles at him. "Jon! What are you doing here?"

"I came to congratulate my friend."

"Aww. Thank you!"

He notices me by Isla and smiles. "Hey, stranger."

"Hey, you." A big smile appears on my lips. I get closer to him but stop as he pulls someone closer to himself and kisses her hand.

"Liz!" Isla says. "Oh, my God! Are you guys back together?" Isla asks with round eyes.

"Yes. We are." He hugs Liz tight and kisses her cheek. Liz. The one he claimed was a cheater. The one who kept calling me a whore and then keyed my car. She moves her hand in front of Isla and shows her a ring she's wearing.

Isla slaps her mouth out of shock. "No! Are you—is this for real?!"

"We're engaged!" Liz says and holds his arm tighter.

"Oh, my God!" Isla suddenly remembers me. She has a pitying look on her face. I already told her that Jon and I slept together. She looks sad but does her best to hide her feeling. "Congratulations!" she says, looking back at Jon and Liz.

"Thank you!" Liz says. Jon looks down, avoiding eye contact with me.

I smile at them and slowly step backward. The air is getting too thick for me. My footsteps are clumsy, and my mind's not clear. I push the heavy door of the bar open and barely keep it like that so I can exit and get fresh air. After a few steps, everything fades away from my vision. It goes all black. A car's loud honking scares me. I trip and fall to the ground. My eyes still cannot see.