{DENIAL}

• ten •

Dave was sitting at the bar, waiting for the drink he had just ordered. He'd gone here almost every night since the talk with Chris, out of pure anxiety. Chances were that he would get rejected and that made it hard for him to stay optimistic about the entire situation. He was pulled from his thoughts when the bartender said, "Sir?" and nudged his drink towards him.

"Thank you." He replied as he faced the opposite direction and watched the people in the club dance.

He noticed a group of girls walking past him, choosing to listen in on their conversation out of curiosity.

"Oh, you know what we didn't do? Invite Courtney."

"We don't talk about that bitch here."

"She's your friend!"

"Clearly, not anymore Sophia!"

He could see that they were surrounding another woman, but he could barely see her between all the people in the crowd. They started to approach him, so he quickly turned around so that they wouldn't realize that he was being nosey.

"Here, sit right here, okay? Don't move. We will be right back." One of the women said, before they all left whoever they had been babysitting.

Dave questioned whether he should turn and see who it was, but eventually he glanced.

"Wait...it's you. Are you okay?"

She looked up immediately and gave a drunken smile, "No, I'm Lizzo."

"Right..." He sighed heavily and turned his entire body towards her, "Look, I don't even know if you'll remember this in the morning but I want you to know that I'm genuinely sorry for everything I put you through. I hope you find the love that you deserve."

"Cheese called, they want their adjective back!" She laughed ridiculously hard at her joke, then straight-faced, "Sounded funnier in my head."

"You're a mess." He chuckled.

"You know, I really loved you."

He nodded his head and gripped his drink tighter, "Yeah, I know."

"And you know, you didn't break me. Don't ever give yourself that much credit. I am perfectly fine without you."

He attempted to lighten up the conversation, "You're the only person I know that can get wasted as fuck and still make perfect sense most of the time."

"Oh, shit." She stated.

"What?"

"I'm feeling a lil' sick."

"Well, come on then." He wrapped his hand around her forearm and guided her outside, "Just in case you have to throw up or something. You don't want to go in the bathrooms, they're disgusting."

She took a seat on the curb and put her head against her knees. Dave didn't think anything of it until he faintly discerned the sound of her sniffing.

"Are you..." he reached over and pulled her arm a little bit so that he could see her face, "Crying?"

She nodded as she wiped away her tears. He wrapped his arms around her and she buried her face in his chest.

"Lizzo, is that you?"

Dave turned around and met Sophia's eyes, "Yeah, she's right here."

She giggled, "Is she knocked out or something?"

"No." He whispered, quiet enough for Lizzo not to hear, "She's upset."

Melissa lifted up her head and rubbed her face. "I'm fine. When I get really drunk, I always cry. And that's normalll..."

"You better get her home. She's completely out of it."

"You're right about that. Can you keep an eye on her while I go grab the others?" Sophia asked.

He simply nodded in agreement as Sophia ran off.

Lizzo pressed her head back against him and he immediately looked down at her. He moved her hair out of her face. The more he looked at her, the more he realized just how much he fucked up.

She grinned, her tears gone at that point, "Why are you staring at me?"

Without any hesitation whatsoever, he pressed his lips against hers. All of the feelings came rushing back between them both, each lost in their own worlds.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Shelby interrupted.

They pulled away from each other as fast as possible, Lizzo moving a significant distance away from him.

Lexo stepped in front of Shelby, signaling her to calm down. "I'm sorry. What she means is, what the FUCK are you doing? She's intoxicated, you can't take advantage of her and her feelings like that."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry." Dave raised his hands and started to walk away, "It won't happen again. Have a nice night."

Lizzo watched him walk away and she felt a deep sadness. Not because they had parted, but because she knew just how unrealistic her thoughts had been when he kissed her. It was as if all the alcohol and romance clouded her ability to see the difference between reality and fantasy. 

Fantasy was just easier to cope with.

Or maybe that's just how she was.

The kind of person that purposely got involved in other people's lives and emotions to avoid her own. To put herself in situations that made her forget what she was dealing with.

To deny.

~~~