Lorenzo never came back to her apartment again that day. He brought back her car personally. He asked Aaron to come to the parking lot, only for the poor guy to bring Andrea the keys back before he left with his boss. Lorenzo didn't call or messaged her again and for many reasons, it bothered her. She liked him – there was no longer any doubt about it in her mind. One of the prominent reasons was the fact that he never came back up to see how she was doing. It bothered her that he didn't tell her how he will make sure that Martin doesn't come after her or her family. It bothered her that she didn't get to talk to him about Aaron – Andrea doesn't want that poor fellow to lose his job only because she asked him to stay for a cup of coffee and he agreed. And, it certainly bothered her that Lorenzo never drank the tea he asked for.
After Lorenzo left, Andrea didn't throw the cup of tea away – she let it sit on the dingy counter and let it get cold. She made Aaron the coffee she promised him and engaged with him in a small conversation – all this time glancing towards the cold cup of tea. But when Lorenzo called Aaron at the parking lot before sending him up to give her the car keys, she knew Lorenzo Vigorito will not be setting his foot again in her apartment – at least not for the day. That is when Andrea finally threw the tea away.
She thought a lot during the other hours of the day. She doesn't want to stay silent. She wanted to file a complaint against Martin for assaulting her. She knows what the consequences can be. She knows that there are chances that no one will believe her. She knows that there will be people who would try to call it an affair instead of an assault, but when she recalls all the vile words that came out of Martin's mouth – she shivers in disgust and anger. She made herself believe that it will be worth it – that she is willing to go through all the pain to make sure that Martin gets punished for getting his hands on her.
Andrea hasn't spoken about it to anyone yet – but she will do it – maybe not tonight, but tomorrow – she will be talking about it to her sister. Tonight, she is willing to forget everything and for that, she decided to come to the club with her friends like it was planned.
The loud music was blaring within the club. Normally she hates the idea of crowded places, loud music, scintillating lights, drunken people dancing, sweating, throwing up, or possibly having sex in some corner, but for the night – she didn't mind them. For tonight, these were her distractions – like right now, Andrea was sitting in one of the tiny booths leaning against the cold leather behind her, while Caleb, Erin, and Quinn were dancing on the floor. Erin was dancing with Caleb while Quinn, who was initially dancing alone was now swinging her hips in sync with a very good-looking stranger. Caleb laughed about something Erin said to him before his twinkling eyes fell on her. He waved his hand to ask Andrea to come and join them, but like before she softly smiled at him and shook her head.
Andrea was on her second drink and she was already feeling a bit tipsy – she doesn't plan on drinking more. She didn't want to get drunk – Andrea was an ugly drunk. She blew her cheeks out as she roamed around the club when she felt the couch dip as someone sat beside her. Andrea lazily turned her head to see Rose sophisticatedly sitting beside her with a smirk on her face. Andrea completely forgot she will be coming as well. Andrea groaned and rolled her eyes, "Urgh, Not today, Rose – I am not in the mood," She told her off before Rose even said or did anything.
"Oh, what caused Andrea's mood to go so sour?" Rose spoke, her voice held a hint of mockery in it. Andrea wasn't in the mood to get into bickering so she simply rolled her eyes and completely ignored her. Her eyes went everywhere but to the girl sitting beside her. She let out a loud groan when she felt a finger poking her side.
"I don't want to talk about it," She grumpily replied while she kept her eyes off Rose.
Rose huffed, "Fine,"
Andrea stole a glance at Rose. Rose was dressed in a purple or maybe navy blue fitted dress – Andrea couldn't tell as the twinkling light was making it harder for her to properly see. She had her hair tied up in a very neat and high ponytail. Andrea wished she could achieve this look effortlessly as well. Rose's lips were painted in a dark shade, a single glance couldn't catch the color of it.
Andrea was looking at her friends dancing on the floor when Rose heaved a sigh, "Will you at least come with me to the bar so I could get myself a drink?" She asked.
Andrea looked at Rose, "I am sure that task doesn't require my presence." She replied – she was in a very sickly mood.
Rose kept her impassive eyes on Andrea before she rolled her eyes, "Fine." She scoffed before she got on her feet and marched towards the crowded bar. Andrea didn't feel bad for acting so rude to her, recalling how awful Rose was to her before.
Andrea sighed and sit straight before she hunched forward and grab the glass of her drink from the table and gulped it down her throat in a single go. She flinched at the strong beverage and wrinkled her nose at the vivid aftertaste. She exhaled loudly and squinted her eyes as she looked at the dancefloor to see her friends gone – she glanced around for a while before she let it go and rested back on the couch. The loud music was already giving her a headache. She blew her cheeks out and eyed her cellphone that was placed beside the empty glass. She poked her inner cheek with her tongue before she lunged forward and held it in her hand.
She didn't have any important messages or missed calls on her phone. She only had one message from Rose – that too was received about an hour ago, in which she was asking where they were. Andrea evidently didn't have to answer since Rose had found them. A thought passed her mind of asking Lorenzo why didn't he come to drink tea with her. The thought of her texting or calling him while being tipsy sent shivers down her spine. She let out of her phone and placed it back on the table – the matter what happens, she will have to stop her from calling or texting Lorenzo.
"Oh, God. Oh, God." Andrea whipped her head to look at Rose, who had an uneasy expression on her face as she hurriedly sat beside Andrea once again – her breathing was a little out.
Andrea couldn't help but squint her eyes, "What?" She asked.
Rose was very stiff. She had her back towards the bar while she nervously gulped and looked at Andrea. Rose placed her hand on Andrea's arm, "I want you to tell me something," She asked. Andrea only bewildered nodded her head – letting Rose resume. "Okay, is the bartender looking at me?" She hushedly asked.
Andrea effortlessly looked behind Rose's shoulder to see a very handsome bartender pouring drinks in glasses while keeping his eyes on Rose with a soft smirk playing on his lips.
Maybe it was alcohol or maybe her inner hoe made her say the next words, "Wow, he is yummy." Andrea mumbled – not removing her eyes off the bartender.
Rose glared at Andrea, "That was not the question." She gritted her teeth.
Andrea finally averted her eyes off the bartender and looked at Rose, "Yes," she sighed. "He is – " she paused and glanced behind Rose to see that the bartender now had his attention at one of the patrons. "Actually – no, he is no longer looking at you." She replied and sat straight. "Who is he? Do you know him? Why is he so hot?" Andrea asked – not taking her eyes off him. Sober Andrea would have never been so daring.
Rose groaned and fell against the couch carelessly, "I can't believe I am seeing him after so fucking long?! And why did he have to recognize me? I didn't even recognize him until he told me who he was!" She babbled.
Andrea narrowed her eyes, "You are not making any sense," She pointed out.
Rose groaned again and with a closed fist she smacked her head while Andrea stared at her weirdly. Rose looked at her and traced her tongue to her lower lip, "Okay, I might have done something very cruel to him back when we were younger," She spoke slowly.
Andrea scoffed, "Why am I not surprised?"
Rose only glared at her. "Because I am slightly drunk and a hell lot of curious, what did you do, exactly?" She couldn't help but ask.
"I can't say," Rose sounded embarrassed.
"Right, you can loudly ask about my virginity in front of so many people, but this you can't tell," Andrea spoke sarcastically. She rolled her eyes and collected her hand-clutch and her phone from the table and stood on her feet – almost losing her balance in the process. "I need to use the washroom," She mumbled more to herself before she walked away from Rose, who still seemed highly strung.
Sober Andrea was taken over by drunken Andrea. She was no completely wasted. She was just drunk enough to do something stupid. After peeing, she came out of the stall and washed her hands – looking at her reflection in the mirror. Her hands started to shake se she recalled the event from earlier the day – that as well occurred in the washroom. She gulped and with wet hands, she held her phone and her clutch before she sprints out of the washroom – getting pushed on her way out by some other drunk girl. She didn't care as she kept on walking away from the washroom.
She was itching to call him and talk to him. She stopped herself, but she couldn't hold her drunken self for long. It wasn't long before she had walked out of the club and sat on the cold sidewalk before she dialed his number. The patrons coming out and going in kept looking at her, but she didn't care. She had her phone to her ear as she heard the bell ring. For a second she freaked out – almost ending the call, but then her drunken self took over again and she waited. It wasn't until the very end that Lorenzo answered.
"Hello?" He was panting.
Andrea narrowed her eyes and pulled her phone away from her ear to look at the time on her phone to see that it was past midnight. She put the phone back to her ear, "Why are you out of breath? Were you busy? Did I interrupt something? Were you having sex?" She asked series of questions urgently – without even giving them a little thought. The thought of him having sex with another woman gave her a bitter taste in her mouth.
There was a small pause before he replied, "I wouldn't have stopped and answered your call if I was having sex," He sounded slightly annoyed.
"Oh."
There was a pause. She doesn't even know why, but there was that Lorenzo eventually broke, "Why are you calling me so late at night, Miss Hebert?" He asked.
Andrea groaned. There it was again – he was once again calling her Miss Hebert. "Urgh, first of all, stop calling me 'Miss Hebert' – I hate it when you call me that! Just call me by my first name, is it too much to ask?!" She spoke agitatedly.
Lorenzo took a long pause before he replied, "Okay."
Andrea rolled her eyes. She didn't even call him for any purpose. She called him because she is drunk and because she likes him and she was looking for a chance to talk to him, but the way he was being distant with her – she didn't want to continue this conversation.
"I must have dialed your number by mistake – sorry," She mumbled and before he could say anything – she hung up the call.
She knows it was a stupid excuse – even when she is drunk, but she didn't feel like talking to him anymore. The more she hears his voice – the more she realizes how one-sided her feelings are for him.
A few minutes passed while she sat on the sidewalk, she planned to get up and walked back in when her phone started to ring. She looked at the screen to see that it was Lorenzo calling her. She answered the call and heaved a sigh, "What?" She was irritated by the fact that her feelings weren't reciprocated.
"Are you drunk, Andrea?"
She felt ticklish in her stomach as she heard him call her name so softly. She idiotically giggled, "You know what? Call me Miss Hebert," she told him.
"Why?"
"I feel butterflies in my stomach when you call me Andrea," She told him. At that moment she knew that she will remember this conversation tomorrow and she will bang her head against the wall at her stupidity. She will also remember how stupid she thought she was being while she talking to him still she didn't stop herself.
Tomorrow will be a whole new day for self-loathing.
She should have stopped there and then, but of course, she didn't. "And since I am trying to get over you, your calling out my name doesn't help much." She paused and hiccupped. "Don't worry though, I am drunk. I am in a club – well, at the moment I am out but I will be going back in. And the bartender here is so hot! Rose knows him." She paused and giggled again. "Did I tell you he is hot? Like wow! Rose told me she was once mean to him and it made me wonder how could someone be mean to that face and that body?" Andrea spoke – her voice didn't slur – not for a second – even she was drunk.
She realized she was babbling so she waved her hand dismissively – as he could see her, "Anyway, I will ask him to have mindless sex with me after his shift in the storeroom." She once again paused and frowned, "I would have asked him to do it in a washroom, but public washrooms scare me now," she added softly.
Lorenzo didn't say a word. Andrea for a second believed that she had lost him but when she checked – he was still on call. She wondered if he was even breathing since she couldn't hear anything from the other side.
"Anyway, I only told you this to let you know that I am moving on – I am over you, Mr. Vigorito." She lied through her teeth. "So, go back to whatever you were doing. I am going to go and have sex," She told him. "Bye," she added before she hung up.
She didn't spend another minute on the sidewalk. She stood up and walked back into the club. She almost groaned at the loud music, but she didn't care. She was going to have fun and take her mind off everything. She walked to the bar with the determination to flirt with the bartender, who seemed very busy – but before she could make it to the bar, someone held her by the arm.
She clicked her tongue and turned to look a very amused-looking Rose. "What?" Andrea asked her irritatedly.
Rose waved her phone at Andrea's face. She could see a text bubble on the screen but she couldn't read it as Rose was waving it side to side.
"Why is Lorenzo asking me to not let you have sex with the bartender?" She asked.