"Are you ready to show your sexy new outfit off to Nathan?" Brandon asked as he wiggled his eyebrows over dramatically.
I let out a breath of a laugh and looked down at my short black playsuit and heels. "Have you forgotten a small little detail? Like I don't know how he hates me with every fibre of his soul? I highly doubt he'll give two shits about my outfit," I scoffed.
Brandon snickered and continued climbing up the stairs alongside me. One of Brandon's friends was hosting a party in his fifth-floor flat and because of my ever-present fear of elevators, we were going through the torturous process of climbing up a mountain of stairs.
Brandon shot me a glance. "Yeah, well, I'm not too convinced. Someone who 'hates you with every fibre of their soul' wouldn't stick his tongue down your throat in the library now, would they?" he commented slyly.
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, well, like I told you he didn't do that to be romantic. He did it because he wanted me to feel like some kind of cheap worthless whore," I muttered bitterly as we ascended up the last few steps.
"Hmm, sounds like he was looking for an excuse to kiss you to me," Brandon sang.
"Yeah, well, he wasn't," I said flatly.
Once we reached the correct level, we followed the vigorous thumping sound of the music to the appropriate door.
As Brandon pressed the doorbell, I turned to him. "Do you reckon he would have actually come?" I asked nervously.
The minute the words left my mouth, Brandon's lips pricked up into a smirk, and he rather poorly tried to stifle a laugh. "Trust me, he's going to come," he chuckled.
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "Why do you sound so confident?"
"Because I sent a very interesting message to Nathan, and there's no way in hell he's going to ignore it," he snorted while sending a mischievous wink my way.
Before I could ask him what the hell he was on about or how he managed to get his number, the door swung open.
A rather drunk, brown-skinned boy with sleek black hair greeted us with a bright warm grin. "Brandon, you made it," he cheered out with a laugh. He quickly embraced Brandon in a hug and gave him a rather enthusiastic double thump on the back.
"Yeah, good, to see you man," Brandon chuckled as he pulled away. "This is Sophie; she's my best friend slash roommate," he said as he nodded his head over to me.
The drunk guy dozily turned his attention to me. "Oh, she's pretty, isn't she?" he said as he gave me a rather poor attempt at a wink. I snorted, amused by his weird drunk behavior.
"Well, Brandon, Sophie, Come on in. Let's get you a drink," he laughed as he pushed the door wider for us.
The music grew louder as we passed through the door, and the space opened up into a decently sized living area. There were a fair number of people all spread out through the apartment. Some people were carelessly dancing around to the music while others stood around mingling and laughing, and a fair few were dotted around the sofa's smoking, drinking, and taking shots.
The drunk guy quickly led us over to the food table and clumsily picked up two cans of beer before shoving them into each of our hands. "Enjoy, just shout if you need anything," he called out before wandering off to talk with some other party-goers.
As I turned back to face Brandon, some random dude wearing a sombrero grabbed his arm.
Don't ask me why he was wearing a sombrero...
"Hey, Brandon, I want to show you something," the guy said. Brandon nodded his head and started to head off, but he suddenly looked back over his shoulder, remembering that I was still here.
"Find Nathan, now, okay," he called out with a wink before turning to leave.
Again the look he gave me yielded a weird kind of suspicion inside my stomach. What had Brandon told Nathan...
The thought could barely linger in my mind for a second before I felt a hand grip my waist and swing me around to face them. Immediately, I came face to face with a visibly stressed Nathan, those bright eyes of his darting between mine in panic.
"Nathan? What's wrong? Is-"
"Come on, we need to talk," he said as he suddenly grabbed hold of my elbow before steering me away.
After worming through crowds of people, he finally pulled me into a quiet bedroom at the back of the flat. My ears relaxed under the silence of the air as the door closed behind us, and muffled the energetic beats of the speakers.
I stood by the bed in confusion and watched as Nathan ran a stressed hand through his hair several times while pacing around the room like a certified mad man. It was like he had completely lost the plot.
"Er...what is going on?" I sang awkwardly, not sure whether to find his behavior scary or amusing.
He snapped his head over to me, ran a hand over his head again, and was about to say something but then paused. "Wait a second, you're drinking?" he questioned, his eyes drawing to the can of beer in my hands.
"Erm...yes. Is that a problem?" I snorted, confused why he was acting this way. My words barely rested in the air for a second, before he came over to me and slapped the drink out of my hand.
I gasped as the drink splashed all over the floor, causing little droplets to splash all over my legs. "Dude, what the hell?" I yelled out in shock.
Nathan let out an exasperated sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well, I'm sorry, but you know someone that is in your situation shouldn't be drinking," he scoffed, looking up at me as though I was insane.
"You have a problem with me drinking?" I laughed. "What the hell Nathan? You drink a shit ton more than I ever could?" I cried, hardly able to believe the hypocritical words that were coming out of his mouth.
"Well, my drinking habits only affect me, don't they," he snapped.
I stared at him with a tilted head, so confused by everything he was saying. He was acting like he was on drugs.
"Nathan, have you been smoking anything weird?" I asked slowly, eyeing him in the same demeanor as one might a mental patient.
"What? No!" he explained quickly. "Look, this is getting off-topic; we need to talk about this, Sophie, okay," he said, his voice coming out shaky.
"Well, it would help if I knew what you were talking about...," I snickered.
He rolled his eyes. "Sophie, I know, okay! Brandon told me everything! He told me you've been feeling sick in the morning, and..and that you've missed your, you know...," he said as he nodded his head down below my waistline. "I can't understand why you wouldn't tell me. Yes, I'm mad at you, but that doesn't mean I would abandon you. What kind of guy do you take me for?"
I stared at him blankly, getting more and more concerned for his sanity by the second. Then suddenly, realization hit me like a thud to the head. I knew what Brandon had said. He had told Nathan that I was pregnant with his baby.
"Brandon," I hissed lowly under my breath.
I was going to fucking kill him...
I widened my eyes and held up a steady hand. "Look, Nathan, you're very confused right now and-"
"How the hell did it even happen?" he questioned, cutting me off. "I mean, we used protection, didn't we? I mean, I know you weren't on the pill but...but we used condoms and they're supposed to work. Aren't they supposed to be like 98 percent effective or something? So, what are we those unlucky bastards who are in the two percentile or something," he scoffed.
I shook my head frantically and attempted to speak again, but Nathan quickly cut me off once more.
"Wait, are you even keeping it? I don't mind if you do...or if you don't because you know your body, your choice, and all that, but whatever your decision is, you've got to tell me," he explained quickly.
"And..and though it scares the shit out of me being a father, I would never leave you two alone. This is our problem, Sophie, not yours," he explained adamantly, his eyes blazing into mine.
At this point, my mouth was undoubtedly hung open. I didn't know whether to focus on my rage at what Brandon had done or instead focus on how incredibly cute it was that Nathan was being so supportive over it.
Finally, I let out a heavy sigh in preparation, to tell the truth. "Look, Nathan, I'm not sure exactly what Brandon told you, but whatever it was, it was a lie. I'm not pregnant."
The lines on Nathan's forehead fell away, and his eyes danced back and forth between mine. "What?" he whispered.
I sighed once more. "Brandon made up that lie to get you here. He was trying to help me out. But I swear, I didn't know about it. Trust me, I am so done lying to you," I explained quickly.
Nathan's gaze slowly fell from mine as he slowly processed my words. His posture slightly slackened as though disappointed by my words.
Weird...
Once he was ready, he looked up at me with narrowed eyes. "Why would your ex-boyfriend do that?"
I drew my gaze to the floor as I remembered that Nathan still didn't know about that particular lie, and once again, my heart twisted in fear of his reaction.
I cleared my throat. "That's another thing I need to tell you, Nathan," I mumbled as I looked back up at him.
"Tell me what," Nathan asked warily.
I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly. "Well, you see, I might have maybe made it up when I told you that Brandon was my boyfriend," I explained slowly. "He never was, he's my best friend, and he's well... never been attracted to me, or I him," I trailed off. When all he did was stare at me, I shuffled in place nervously.
Finally, having broken free from his weird trance, Nathan let out a bitter laugh and ran a hand down his face. "I can't believe this," he laughed. "Not only did you lie to me about your intentions, but you lied about this shit too! Do you know how fucking jeal- how annoying it was for me to think he was your ex this entire time?" he cried.
I let out a sound of frustration. "Yeah, I know, it was so fucked up. And...and really really dumb. I'm just...I'm just sorry, okay and-"
"You know what, I don't want to hear it. I'm done hearing your apologies and all your stupid lies. Don't you dare fucking talk to me for the rest of the night, okay?" he snapped. Then with a tightened jaw and eyes armoured with anger, he rudely stormed past me and barged his way out the door.
And once again, I was deafened by the still silence of the room.
I stood in silence for a couple of minutes and tried my best to suppress the urge to cry. I wiped my newly budding tears with the back of my sleeve and took two deep breaths to calm myself. It was alright. He just needed more time, and then I would try again.
Trying my best to hold that mentality together as best as I could, I marched out of the room with a fakely confident stride.
The sound of the music and the cheers of people instantly immersed me, and I surveyed the room for any sign of Brandon. I needed to talk to him, so I could slap the shit out of him for pretending I was pregnant. I mean, yeah, it was with good intent, but it was beyond dumb.
As I weaved my way in between the crowds, my eyes suddenly caught onto something that made me stop almost immediately. It was Nathan. He was leaned up against the kitchen island, but he wasn't alone. Some dark-haired, thick-locked beautiful model of a woman was brushed up right by his side, and she was boldly whispering something into his ear as she rather boldly ran a hand up and down his arm.
The sickness I felt came on so suddenly, and so violently that I could scarcely feel like I could breathe. Then it got worse when he looked at me. Those striking eyes, the very eyes I had fallen in love with looked right through me as though he couldn't even see me. As though I was nothing.
And then, like that, he looked away and smiled at her before wrapping an arm around her waist.
That absolutely did it for me, and I couldn't even think straight. I felt like every negative emotion I ever had was soaring through me all at once, burning me, crushing me, holding me so tight that I couldn't breathe.
Not being able to stomach the sight of them together for any longer, I turned away and headed for the drink's table. I snatched up a bottle of beer and aggressively popped the lid open against the edge of the table. Then I wasted no time before tilting my head back, and pouring it carelessly down my throat, barely stopping for breath. Once it was empty, I threw it thoughtlessly down into the bin under the table before reaching for another.
Just for one night, I didn't want to feel the guilt or the shame or the hurt. I wanted to forget.
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Author's note:
Double update, scroll for more :)