Draven marched into his office the next day, exhausted since he had not slept the entire night. However, it was strange, since he was followed into the office with none other than Adelina Malcom.
She had approached him at his door in the morning, begging to talk to him, and he had simply ignored all her talk about, "Maybe we shouldn't divorce." They were good friends, but although he gave her the time of the day, he was not prepared to spend the rest of his life with her having a hold on his name.
Eric watched as she hurriedly followed behind him, and he opened the door, closing it behind both of them. A few eyes eyed them suspiciously, and Jason approached Eric's desk, whispering, "What's going on?"
"I don't know," Eric replied quietly, staring at the closed door.
Rebecca walked past Eric's desk, "Maybe they're back together—"
"Draven would never do that to me," Eric snarled back, narrowing his eyes in Rebecca's direction.
Jason shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, you two are on a break."
Eric gulped; it was true. And suddenly he felt uneasy.
The door opened once again, and Adelina exited, appearing surprisingly content. Draven followed behind her, and they disappeared in the elevator together.
Jason chuckled, "She seemed quite happy."
The entire day, all Eric could think about as he continued to edit the rest chapters of Cold Shoulder, was what Draven had been doing with Adelina. They were for sure not having any intimate relations, Draven would never do that to him. However, it was fair to think so since they were on a break, and were allowed to do whatever each of them wanted.
It was even worse, since Draven, other than greeting Eric, did not have a conversation nor glance in his direction. When Eric knocked on his door for help, he told him to ask the secretary to hand stuff in his office. He seemed tired, with dark circles under his eyes and he was not dressed formally, rather simply wearing a black sweater with the hood reaching his eyebrows.
The thought of Draven returning to Adelina pondered his mind over and over again, to the point that he jumped from his seat when Jason tapped him on the shoulder.
Jason raised an eyebrow, "It's past five; let's go get some drinks." As always, Rebecca was standing near him, waiting for them. However, Eric's entire body stiffened when Adelina returned to the floor, and marched towards Draven's office again.
"Lina," Draven said as he opened the door, "Why do you keep coming here?"
He closed the door before more of the conversation could be listened to, and Eric sighed, packing all his belongings. As he entered the elevator with Jason and Rebecca, it was at the same time Draven and Adelina exited his office, and made it on time before the elevator doors closed.
Adelina realized that Eric was there as well, and smirked, "Greetings to you."
Eric nodded his head stiffly, not glancing in her direction, "Hey."
"You are still working at my husband's work?"
"Ex-husband," Draven added impatiently in the corner.
Jason and Rebecca were standing in their middle, their tongue far down their throat as they remained quiet in uneasiness.
"The process has not been completed yet—"
"Let's talk about it at my condo, alright?"
"At your condo?" Eric repeated, frowning as he turned to Draven who frowned as well.
Adelina smiled suspiciously, "Yes, is there a problem?"
"Well yea—"
"No there isn't," Draven added, "we're on a break."
The elevator doors opened, and Adelina and Draven exited first, and it took a few seconds before Jason and Rebecca left as well. They exited the building on time to see Adelina enter Draven's vehicle, and they departed from the parking lot, drifting to the roads until their cars disappeared amongst the traffic.
"Such bullshit!" Eric cried as he down his ninth shot, slamming his fist against the table as he remembered what Draven had said.
Jason chuckled, but Rebecca was not liking the fact that he kept slamming the table, "People are looking over."
"I don't care," he hissed through gritted teeth, his eyes barely open as he raised his hand to catch the waiter's attention, "I need another three more shots."
"Eric Valence?" A few women from the other side of the bar approached him with a long smile, "I knew I recognized you, you're Draven's co-author."
Eric did not pay attention, ignored them as he said, "Waiter!"
The women did not appear pleased, and scoffed, turned away from their table and marched the opposite direction.
Jason slapped him on his shoulder, "Dude! You have to be careful, those are fans."
The waiter finally arrived at their table, and handed him three shots, to which he thanked him. He downed the shots faster than Jason and Rebecca could protest.
Rebecca and Jason ordered their own, and downed more shots as well, all three of them being drunk once again at the very spot they had been the last time they were. There was always a few of Jason's friends around, but Eric never paid attention to them, rather ranted his problems with Rebecca and Jason.
"He must have had sex with her by now," Eric sighed, his eyes swelling with tears as he folded his arms.
Jason, drunk to the core, shook his head sloppily and said, "Forget about him, he's not good enough for you."
"I agree with that," Rebecca chimed in, taking sips of her beer.
Eric began crying, "I love him though."
"Maybe you two weren't meant to be," Rebecca said, shrugging her shoulders, "you need to move on."
"Or," Jason narrowed his eyes in Rebecca's direction, "he could just go back to him. The only reason he's not with Draven is because he asked for a break, to think."
"I know I did, but I didn't expect him to just forget about me in that short period of time."
"What exactly did you need to think about?" Rebecca asked.
Eric shrugged his shoulders, "I had just been distrusted by Justin and Melissa, and hearing about Draven having a wife forced my guards back up. I want to be with him, and I do really love him, but I don't know, I guess I want to be ready for a relationship again. I don't want to rush back into it."
Rebecca shook her head, "He lied to you once already, why don't you find yourself something new?"
"Because I love him," he muffled.
"That's because he's the only guy you've been with after Justin," she smiled, wiggling her eyebrows, "Find yourself a guy here, have some fun. You're on a break anyways."
Eric lifted his head from the table, "And he's with Adelina anyways, so I should."
Rebecca turned to Jason, "Kiss him."
"What? No!" Jason exclaimed.
"Just to help our friend get a bit in the groove—" she reached for the back of each their heads and pushed them together, and surprisingly, neither of them resisted.
They soon considered it funny, and as jokes, Jason bit Eric's bottom lip and reach for the back of his head, to which Eric returned by his palm reaching for the top of Jason's belt buckle.
Rebecca was laughing hysterically, cheering them on and it reached the attention of a few eyes in the bar. Eric started being aggressive, causing Jason to yelp until Eric's lip bite became painful that he had to pull away, "That hurt!"
Eric laughed, reaching for Rebecca's beer and taking a swing, "Let's dance."
All three of them stood, and headed towards the dance floor, greeting fandoms and being belligerently drunk that neither even remembered how they arrived home the next.
However, they were not prepared for what awaited all three of them in the morning.