I was silent for almost the entire journey to the bar Danny had taken us too. I couldn't stop thinking about the look on Chris' face. Texting or calling wasn't an option because I had stupidly let my phone die and now I was stuck at a table, eating dinner with a man I had no interest in, just to keep this secret of mine from my brother.
I wasn't feeling particularly chatty through the meal, luckily this didn't pose too much of an issue as Danny would not stop talking for a second. Honestly, this man was so much more self absorbed than I'd realised years ago. He proceeded to talk me through the entire time line of his career and boasted regularly about how he barely had to put in an effort to get to where he was today.
Every now and again he would stop to ask me a question, only to interrupt me during my reply to tell me about another "funny" story of his. I swear to god my right pinkie had more comedy in it than his stories did. I kept spacing out as he spoke, thinking about how I was going to have to move, when I was finally getting comfortable. Thinking about how Chris had watched me leave with another man, but I hoped he would have known I had no choice.
As we finished our food, Danny excused himself to go to the bathroom, finally leaving me to take a sigh of relief. Not long and I would be free.
"Y/N!" A voice screeched excitedly from the direction of the bar. I turned towards the noise to be greeted my the two comforting arms of my best friend reaching out for me and engulfing me in a hug.
"Oh my god, Soph!" I squealed in return.
"I've missed you! What are you doing here? Are you on a date?" Sophie excitedly reeled off as she released me from her embrace.
"Kind of. It's awful. Please save me." I begged with a small smile.
"One condition." Sophie replied with a devilish smirk.
"Whatever it is, I'll do it." I quickly responded as I saw Danny across the room, heading back in our direction. "He's coming."
As Danny approached the table, he flicked his gaze between Sophie and I, before pulling out his chair to sit down.
"Everything okay?" He asked curiously.
"No...I...." I began, stuttering as I tried to come up with an excuse.
"Sorry, I'm Y/N's best friend." Sophie quickly intervened, sounding incredibly upset. "My boyfriend just broke up with me, I saw Y/N through the window. I'm so sorry to interrupt you're evening."
It was incredible, she even managed to squeeze a few stray tears from her eyes. I quickly joined in on the rouse, needing no further prompting.
"No, it's okay Soph." I replied sincerely, "I'm so sorry Danny, I'm going to have to take her home and look after her."
"Oh, right, okay." Danny responded, "Can we finish this another time?"
"Erm, yeah sure, maybe." I quickly muttered as I pushed myself out of my seat and collected my things.
"Thanks for a really fun evening." I said, trying to sound as genuine as I could, even though it was laced with hidden sarcasm. As quickly as possible, I gripped onto Sophie's arm and together we quickly exited the bar and made our way down the street, out of sight.
"Thank you so much Soph. I owe you one." I said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Yes you do." She said confidently, with a devilish grin on her face.
"What?" I asked suspiciously.
"We're going drinking." She said excitedly.
I eyed her up and down, searching her face to see how serious she was about this, wanting nothing more than to go home to Chris.
"Don't look at me like that." She said sternly, "You said you'd agree to any condition AND we haven't seen each other in weeks. Please Y/N."
Sophie dropped her face instantly, pulling those puppy dog eyes she knows I'm incapable of saying no too. Maybe this was exactly what I needed to destress, a night out with my best friend blowing off steam. Chris couldn't be that mad with me, could he?
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As the evening moved on, Sophie and I spent time catching up on each others lives, I even told her about Chris. Honestly, it felt nice to talk to someone about it and she was supportive as always. We spent some time dancing with each other, completely ignoring everyone else on the dancefloor. It was just me and my best friend against the world.
It had been a few hours, bouncing from bar to bar, downing drink after drink and tossing shot after shot down our throats before we decided to attempt the walk home. Sophie and I were very drunk, Sophie even more so than me. Trying to get that girl to stay on her feet was proving to be a very difficult job and the giggle fits kept taking over for the pair of us. I offered for her to stay with me, as there was no way she was in any fit state to be left alone.
We jumped in a cab and made our way hazily back to Chris' place. Panic set in at every bump as Sophie looked more and more like she was going to throw up with every passing minute.
We finally pulled up to the house after a few minutes and I quickly helped Sophie out, just in time as she swiftly vomited on the sidewalk.
"Oh god Y/N. I'm so sorry." Sophie said shyly, as she wiped a stray dribble from the corner of her mouth.
"Don't be silly. Let's just get you into my room and into bed." I replied calmly, wiping her hair out of her face before gripping onto her arm and leading her into the house.
All of the lights were off downstairs when we finally breached the threshold. Chris was probably in bed, it was around 3am after all. I continued guiding Sophie through the house and up the stairs, being careful to keep my own footing with the alcohol coursing through my own system.
As we entered my bedroom, Sophie lost her footing and fell straight onto the floor, pulling me with her and causing me to erupt into laughter.
"Jeez, you could have got me into bed before you pulled me on top." I joked, causing Sophie to let out a small giggle.
It took all of my strength to pull her from the floor and get her over to the bed, where she finally flopped down fully clothed and almost immediately fell asleep. I admired her as I tucked her under the blanket, thinking just how lucky I was to be surrounded by so many amazing people.
"I'll get you some water." I whispered, pressing a small kiss onto her forehead and then stumbling quietly out of the room, pulling the door closed behind me.
I made my way around the kitchen island, carefully collecting a glass from a nearby cupboard and then filling it up with water from the faucet. I slowly turned around, aware that I may be a little clumsy and didn't want to drop it, when a figure appeared in front of me and I almost lost the glass completely.
"Shit." I panted, as I put the glass onto the island and steadied myself. "You scared the shit out of me."
Chris didn't speak, or even make a sound. He just glared at me from the other side of the island, making me feel a little uneasy.
"Everything okay?" I asked nervously as I recollected the glass and began to make my way around the counter.
I don't know what happened, my mind went completely blank. All those things I'd wanted to say to him earlier had fizzled into non-existence and all I could do was stop in front of him and pray he'd speak.
"So you're moving out." He finally spat, breaking the silence between us.
"Yeah I guess, but its not..." I muttered, before I was swiftly interrupted.
"So let's just run over things so I'm clear on what's going on here." Chris said angrily, "I tell you I love you and the next day you decide not only are you going to move out, but you're also going to go on a date with another guy."
My whole body tensed up, my throat and my brain unable to work together to get out what I needed to say.
"It wasn't....I didn't..." I stuttered, closing my eyes tightly while I tried to compose myself.
"You didn't what Y/N? You didn't go on a date?" He shouted, getting louder than before.
"No..I did...but it's not what you think.." I continued, avoiding eye contact with him completely now, afraid to see the disappointment in his eyes.
"It's not what I think?" He almost screamed, "You brought the bastard home with you!"
"What?" I replied, finally bringing myself to look at him. "No, it's not like that."
"Get me into bed before you pull me on top of you." He replied mockingly. "I didn't just hear you say that, no?"
My head was spinning, I could feel panic taking over me. How could he think I would do that?
"I did say that...but Chris listen...just let me explain." I pleaded.
"There's nothing to explain Y/N. I love you and this is how you repay that. By cheating on me, by moving out without even talking to me first. I knew you were fucked up but this is just unbelievable."
Tears began flooding down my face upon hearing his harsh words. Suddenly, the words returned, only they weren't the ones I wanted to say, the anger, the alcohol were speaking for me.
"You asshole." I spat quietly.
"What?" He questioned angrily.
"I said, you asshole." I spat louder than before, gritting my teeth as I looked at him. "You've got no fucking idea what you are talking about. I can't even believe what's happening right now. Fuck this and fuck you!"
Without another word, I stumbled up the stairs, slamming the bedroom door behind me and locking it immediately, before climbing into the bed next to Sophie and crying into her shoulder as she slept.