"𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙚."
-
𝙅𝙖𝙣𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙮 1𝙨𝙩.
"Happy new year!" Everyone shouted as the commencement of the new year began, I let out a soft sigh wondering why did I even agree to come?
People were cheering, talking and some were so wasted they didn't even know it was now the commencement of the new year. With so many people around me, I still somehow manage to not recognize any of them, most of the party I sat looking over my drunk friend who was half-conscious and laid on the couch completely and utterly wasted. These college parties... A crazy place I never bothered to attend; with the exception of tonight, you could say since Audrey, the drunk friend of mine half passed out, refused to let me stay at home.
Wry smile and drink in hand, I watched the people around me lazily, scanning my eyes across the sea of people barely in their twenties having a good time without a care in the world. My eyes went back to the nonsense blabbing girl at my side, she was the only reason I hadn't left yet, trying to get ahold of her boyfriend was difficult. Especially since he was probably just as black-out drunk as her at another party across campus, I wasn't about to carry her to the car either, knowing I couldn't manage that at all.
So here I sat, eagerly waiting for her to wake up so we can go, or at least until I could call Jaden, her boyfriend, or one of his buddies I hoped would be sober enough to drop by and help out.
My eyes glossed over everyone in the room again, their unfamiliar faces not really interesting me as I slyly took another sip of my drink. It's all I've been doing for the past half an hour, nothing really else to do. I may have looked like a prude but that would be the opinion of someone that didn't matter to me. None of these people would remember any of this the morning after anyways.
The pungent whiff of deodorant caught my attention for all the wrong reasons, the man it had decided to take a seat beside me. I gave him a glance just to se who I was dealing with; bleached blonde hair that looked most certainly damaged, warm tanned skin with a tinge of orange that lead me to believe it was fake. And to top it all off? Huss fashion sense... It was Displeasing, like if a tourist in Hawaii was colourblind and didn't know how to match properly... To put it lightly. He gave a smug look as his flimsy plastic sunglasses were practically falling off his nose.
"Hey baby girl, what's your name?"
The smile he gave me unsettled me, it couldn't even be described as a smile but rather a large grin. His voice was trying it's absolute best to be as deep as possible, though it was apparent it was a ruse of some kind and it wasn't fooling anybody.
I gave him a side glare as I paid him no mind, sipping away at my beverage. I looked over to Audrey, I swear to god I wasn't going to let her take me to another party again if I had to deal with people like this. Oh wait, I have in the past and I still let her boss me around sometimes. I loved her and I knew she only looked out for me but it was really a pain to go though with.
"Common, how about we leave this party and take this over to my place." He reached over and took hold of my wrist, to which I attempted to break free of to no avail. The situation was growing more uncomfortable and although I looked over to see if my friend had even slightly gained mild consciousness but not a single sign of life came from her.
"Let go of me." I used the firmest voice I could but trying to assertive when the music was so blaring was difficult, and to top it off his grin growing wider as he seemed to only enjoy watching me struggle. "Baby common..." He was moving uncomfortably close to me, I tried breaking free of his grip but it was no use. The smug look on his face disgusting me, the sick bastard was getting enjoyment out of this. I continued to try and thrash away but my efforts were in vain as he didn't even budge.
He was moving closer as I could only think of one other option to try and save myself.
I splashed the drink in his face, and apparently, I caught him off guard just quick enough that he didn't even react fast enough to close his eyes; allowing alcohol to sting them.
He cried out as he let go of my wrist. I took the opportunity to get up and try and pick up Audrey. Unfortunately, I guess the holidays made her gain a couple of pounds or I seriously got weaker. Probably the latter since I had spent my holiday watching movies by myself trying to cope with the fact my family was too busy to even let me know if I could come or not; that usually meaning no.
"Okay I tried to be nice you little bitch—" I looked up as he was ready to take a swing at me, it as if life was in slow motion as his fist was getting closer to my face. I just watched in horror as it played out.
I closed my eyes ready to have my ass handed to me. But impact never came, instead I heard grunting and people falling to the floor.
I reopened my eyes as the asshole was on the ground, as some lanky dude was talking down to him.
"Get out of here." My mysterious saviour spat, as the guy left in a hurry not wanting to be beaten up again. Everyone had eyes on us, but I glared at them to continue their own business. And so they did, surprisingly really damn quickly.
"Hey, are you alright?" He asked, but the minute he spoke numerous memories passed me by. What kind of god would but me through the embarrassment of having to see his face again. Who was it? None other than Alex, my longtime neighbour, best friend and... Ex.
I looked up to meet his eyes, it seemed he just realized it too. Our looks of disbelief morphed into smiles as we pulled each other into a hug. "Alex! How long has it been?" "Too long, Y/n. How are you?" We pulled away as our faces showed excitement, I was grateful that we ended things on fairly good terms even if we ended up drifting. I never did completely forget him but just seeing him here evoked so many sealed away memories.
Alex was my highschool sweetheart, I had moved over the beginning of my eighth grade, which was the middle of junior high. As a kid I moved around a lot but I managed to stay a good four years in Mexico to meet, befriend, care for, love and eventually date Alex.
Long-distance wasn't our thing as we didn't want to hold each other down, but that was years ago. I wondered what brought Alex to The States?
"I'm doing wonderful now that I finally get to see you again." "You never returned my calls." "Dropped my phone into the ocean during a cruise, and I honestly forgot your number."
We laughed at my stupidity. It was nice to see Alex and so far it didn't seem like he changed all that much.
"Oh, you have to meet my girlfriend!" He dipped into the crowd and quickly came back with... A really pretty looking girl. I was skeptical of all women Alex had ever gotten romantically involved with, he wasn't a good picker... Although he did choose me which I will say I give him props for.
She had warm auburn hair, curled as it hugged the sides of her face. Light freckles and a smile with profound dimples. Her skin tone was really light as it really complimented her bright blue eyes. It was the classic girl next door type look, but behind those doe eyes of hers I could've sworn I saw the devil flash them.
Her figure, a little less than Greek but great overall. Her mouth, a little weak. And I wondered if she opened it to speak, would it be smart?
She held her hand to her hips, confidence radiating off of her. And for a second I could've sworn I saw that smug look on her face come about again as she was around Alex's hight, meaning she towered over me.
I'm happy he found someone who really loved him. Maybe I should go back into the dating scene? Nonsense. I had school to worry about instead of paying attention to someone else.
"Y/n, meet Anabel. Anabel, this is the girl I talked about before, my old best friend." Her face went from happily innocent, to smug, to not caring.
"It's nice to meet you, Anabel." I smiled at her trying to be nice, but it was growing irritating as she just kept quiet.
"I'm gonna go get another drink babe." She went... And in front of me passionately began making out with Alex for a good couple of seconds. I stood there, trying to take my eyes off of them as right now I was most definitely third-wheeling.
She eventually left as Alex was dazed, eyes like they were filled with stars as he was in awe. He really liked her, so much so that he didn't even care that she didn't even tell me hello. I guess... People do crazy things when they're in love? Ha, look at me, an intellectual quoting Hercules.
"Isn't she something else?" "Uh-huh... Totally." Thankfully, in a snap, Alex returned to normal. For now...
"Y/n... Can you get me another drink...?" Audrey's half-asleep voice caught my attention. She tugged on my top as she looked as if she was going to vomit all over me, but I thanked my lucky stars she final gained enough consciousness to even slur out words.
"Oh, Audrey. Common, let's get you home." I went to her side and put one of her arms over my shoulders, she seemed like she was conscious enough to walk as I helped her stand.
"Uh, Y/n?" Alex tried to speak up, but remembering the little thing with Anabel, in spite I gave him a little taste of his own medicine.
"Audrey, what is Jaden going to think when I drop you off?" I laugh, she swayed side to side "he'll still kiss me right...?" I laughed a little. "Of course he will, he loves you."
I looked over to Alex who stood there awkwardly. "Alex." He jumped up as he looked at me. "It was nice seeing you but I got to go." "Yeah I got it, of course, see you around. Can I have your number?" I looked at him skeptically, after all I was still his Ex and I wasn't sure how kindly his girlfriend would take to that. "We're no longer together, and you were the closest best friend I ever had. For old times sake?" The way he could make his eyes wide with always some sort of shine was beyond me, he knew it was something I couldn't say no to.
He dug into his pocket and handed me his phone. His smile, reminded me of all the years that's passed. I didn't realize how much I missed it.
"Of course."
-
𝙅𝙖𝙣𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙮 6𝙩𝙝
I took a breath as I continued vigorously typing away at my computer. The bakery like café aroma relaxing me as the music in the air was a nice addition to the atmosphere.
I was working on one of my university essays when my phone went off, I quickly checked it and I didn't recognize the number.
I considered not answering, but what's the most that can go wrong? The area code looked familiar so I didn't care too much.
I answered and immediately a familiar voice was heard. "Sup epic gamer, how's it going? Unless you're a random stranger and Y/n gave me the wrong number." I laughed at his silly antics, "I'm sorry I don't know who this is." I spoke between laughs.
Our laughter died down and an actual conversion began. "So, you free today? I don't know what's up with Anabel... She said she would be gone for a couple of hours last night but she still hasn't come home."
I checked the time, it was almost noon and she left last night? Yeah, I have a pretty good idea of what's going on. Also considering the kind of women Alex loved to attract, at least to me the answer was pretty clear. She was playing him just as he let women do to his heart so many years before.
"Yeah I'm free, how about we talk about this over a cup of coffee? I'm at a coffee shop right now if you'd like to join me." "Yeah, that'd be nice, text me the location alright?" "Alright, see you."
"Bye."
-
"Y/n." I could hear the smile in his voice as he called out to me, I looked up and smiled at him. "Alex, hi. So about... Andrea?" "Anabel." He corrected. "Right, about her. Did you know where she left to?"
"Yeah... Sort of, there's a church that's open around the clock near to where we live. She said she was going to stay there a little while, she likes visiting there quite often actually to get her 'alone time'. But last night she didn't come back. I got worried and went there. But they said she only went down for a short while before leaving hours earlier... I considered filing a missing person's report until she texting me saying she's fine and having a girl's night out."
That... Was a lot to unload in one continuous go. What was it, a monologue? But, I understood him in the sense he was blind to the situation. She was cheating no doubt. But, I had a sneaking suspicion if I told him he'd defend her.
Alex was a really loyal guy, I appreciated that. But extremely trusting, shown to me through numerous instances of seeing the good in people when no such thing happened to exist.
Alex, what was I to do with you?
But more importantly, what was I to say? I wasn't about to lose my best friend twice. He didn't take kindly to talking badly about those he cared about, even if the ones he loved sometimes didn't always love him back.
So I acted dumb.
"Hmm, wonder what she could be doing, hopefully you didn't do something wrong to make her not want to talk anymore..." I added a tone of sarcasm in my voice to try and get him to realize it on his own... But it just didn't work for him. He noticed the tone of voice but didn't get where I was going with it. "I wonder too... She does this sometimes and it worries me but I'm just thankful she comes back safe. She says as long as I treat her like she deserves she'll come back..." "And that's how?" "Like a queen, as said in her own words." I cringed slightly at that but held back my desire to vomit. My immediate thought was just to change the subject and hope it just went away.
"Oh, did you order by the way?" I asked sipping from my cup. "Yeah, I did."
Our atmosphere became rather awkward and tense, I missed way back when we used to chat and talk for hours on end with practically no pauses between. We had some sort of rhythm in the past, that we barley have now. I kinda regret giving it up and losing contact.
But seriously that boat story was true.
"We've lost something haven't we?" I look down into my cup as I was honestly just talking aloud.
"I know, I've noticed it too. I miss our long chats about, well anything. Those really got me so some tough times."
"You know it, remember when you dated Juliana in ninth grade? You dated her for like two days and you cried a full month. You tried being all edgy, attempting to not eat anything. That didn't even last an hour." I giggled a little remembering when dinner time rolled around and all it took was his mother threats and he was back to normal. For the time being. That girl was a mess and Alex really believed that she was something special, I admired his naïveté in the goodness of people and though it hurt him a lit, it was a golden feature of his.
"Ven aca, te voy a dar algo para que llores de a de veras, was what she said to me. She didn't understand I was really hurt! But, I wasn't about to defy her."
[ Come here, I'll give you something to cry about for real. ]
She really was a scary woman.
We both smiled, reminiscing of times long past. "How is she by the way?" "She's doing really well, actually we talked about you before during the holidays. I had brought my girlfriend for her to meet and she said she wasn't anything like you and I was an idiot. She said we shouldn't be together and find a girl with more respect and a better attitude. I haven't spoken to her since."
He twirled his thumbs as he looked down into his lap. "I don't get why she doesn't like her." I sighed, his oblivion was that comparative to a child.
"Why don't you just say sorry to her?" "Because I have to stand up for my girl, I love her."
It's worse then I thought, I guess the saying is true. People do crazy things when they're in love. And Alex was more than just in love, he was hopelessly devoted to this girl and completely and utterly infatuated.
Alex was going to get smacked at then end of this.
"You owe me one Alex, pass your phone." He raised his brow. "I'm going to help you out. Do you want to mend your relationship with your mom or not?"
He looked at me, but then reluctantly handed it over. "I trust you." I gave him a wink as I searched through his contacts, in the meantime, he had been called to the counter to pick up the drink he ordered.
I had found her and pressed the call button, placing the phone over my ear as I waited for her to pick up.
"Alexis, ¿por fin has entrado en razón?" An all to familiar voice was heard.
[ Alexis, have you finally come to your senses? ]
"Mamá soy yo, Y/N. Alex está siendo terco." She had always insisted I call her mother, as she always considered my family. I appreciated it especially when my parents were always at work and family wasn't something I really had.
[ Mom it's me, Y/n. Alex is being stubborn. ]
"¡¿Y/n?! Es maravilloso escuchar de nuevo de ti. Por favor dime que tú y Alexis estáis juntos." I smiled at what she said, it was nice knowing she approved of me and him. But, I guess he lost feelings. Could I say I lost feelings too? It was a difficult question but all I could really respond with was that: I was happy for him being happy. I didn't want to complicate his life and neither mine.
[ Y/n?! It's wonderful to hear from you again. Please tell me you and Alexis are together. ]
"No mamá, Alex sigue con Anabel." She scoffed, "Ese chico necesita romper con ella." "Dime algo que no sepa." I laughed a little. At least we both agreed, that girl was no good.
[ No mom, Alex is still with Anabel. / That boy needs to break up with her. / Tell me something I don't know. ]
At this point Alex had returned to his seat opposite to mine, interested in how things are going.
"¿Puedes por favor perdonarlo mamá? ¿Sólo esta vez para mí?" I practically begged her, I painfully awaited her response. Hoping she did, because if so... I have a favour I could collect.
[ Please forgive him, mom? Just this once for me? ]
"Hmm, bien. pero mantenlo alejado de cualquier problema que esa chica pueda traer."
[ Hmm, alright. But keep him out of trouble that girl might bring. ]
"Planeando hacer eso de todos modos, adiós mamá. Tengo que ir. Gracias por hablar."
[ Planning on doing that anyway, goodbye mom. Have to go. Thanks for talking. ]
"Gracias querida, hablamos pronto."
[ Thank you, dear, talk to you soon. ]
And like that, our call had ended. I had missed her. Her home-cooked meals and how much she cared for the both of us were some of the things that made me appreciate her so much.
"So?" "You're off the hook."
I smiled as he had his own mini celebration, "but she said I had to make sure she wouldn't get you into any trouble."
He grinned, "easy peasy."
He reached out, motioning for me to hand over the phone. But I kept it for a little while, he wondered why I wasn't handing it over until he saw me pull out mine and saved her number into my phone.
"Just in case." I winked over to him as I slid the phone back over to him.
And so it began. The slow year long journey to loving someone I had previously lost so many years prior.
-
𝙅𝙖𝙣𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙮 22𝙣𝙙
Life was slow, as I gave out a sigh and closed my door behind me. Audrey was probably staying in her boyfriend's dorm again, as she has been for about three months. She used to be my dorm mate, that's honestly how we became friends... Until she got with her crush, Jaden.
Leaving me alone... Even during the holidays when everyone left to see family, guess who was in their dorm rewatching Nightmare Before Christmas for probably what felt like the hundredth time. My family wasn't exactly like others, being the leaders of future tech and needing to run an international wide company was no easy feat. That essentially means time with me was out of the picture, and always dejecting the idea of running the company, not like I was going to get it anyways, I was the black sheep of the family. I guess times like that was when I missed Alex and the family the most, they were my family when my real one didn't even care enough to call me and tell me merry Christmas.
I had thought about what to do, of course since I had too much time on my hands with no friends I had finished my assignments early. My life was just work, even if my parents didn't really care too much about my mental well being they sure as hell cared about my work at school. Obsessively calling my professors and making sure every last day ran smoothly. Meaning I had nothing really to do after lectures since the assigned work was already done and I didn't find what I was learning too difficult so excess study hours weren't necessary.
Bummer, sometimes I wished I had more to do. Boredom had become my best friend and at times I'd be forced to listen to the sound of the pitter patter of rain trying to make sense of the depressing life I lead.
I had thought about calling up Alex, he was nice to talk to... But the thought of him bringing his girlfriend along was enough to warrant me to stay away. Though we have been frequently texting. That was nice. It gave some sort of... Purpose.
And then out of nowhere my phone goes off, bringing me back into reality and out of my thoughts.
I walked over to our small coffee table, [ our meaning Audrey and I ] and set my things down. Such as my computer and textbooks, and then promptly accepted the call. Not even bothering tower who it was.
"Y/n! Are you free in February?" Alex's perky voice immediately recognizable.
"Hmm? Why?"
"Well, long story short I got mad at Anabel for being out so much and in tern, she got mad at me for talking with you. So for the next four-ish weeks, she's in Detroit to visit family."
I wanted to facepalm so badly, she got mad at him for being friends with me. What a perfectly valid reason when he gets mad for something actually valid. The difference between the two is that he's always there for her when she's not. I can use out all my fingers and toes counting how many times we've been stopped mid-conversation because she wants attention.
And then he'll end the call with me only to complain to me ten minutes later that she's not paying attention to him. The cycle continues. I'm going to have to tell him one of these days, I hate seeing him used like this.
But I wasn't about to lose him. No, not after there was finally some sort of spice to my bland existence. He was the colour I needed to fill my monochromatic life.
"Ok, what does this have to do with me being free for February?" "Well, one of my cousins is having a quinceañera and I'm apart of the Corte de Honor."
The memory of a quinceañera he and I attended made me smile, it was our neighbour's daughter and I remember waltzing around the room with him. Good times.
"Yeah so? Don't they pre-pick dancers? Forteen boys, Forteen girls right?" "Traditionally yeah, but for whatever reason there's only going to be ten pairs. But I told them I have a girlfriend and she was supposed to fill in as one of the dancers, but as you know she's in Detroit."
"Ok? Why can't you get another one of your cousins? You have a huge family and may I add a lot of cousins, it shouldn't be hard to find someone."
"But, I wanted to dance with you again."
That sentence made my heart skip a beat. Though innocent when you get the full picture, hearing it on its own like that made me blush. I knew Alex wasn't purposefully playing with my feelings, he was too much of an idiot to realize of something that complex was happening.
"Like at our neighbour's daughter quinceañera?" I could practically hear him smile.
"Yeah. Just like that."
--
𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣. 𝙒𝙤𝙬, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙖 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪.
𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙨𝙤 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢 𝙢𝙚! シ
𝙎𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙛 𝙌𝙪𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙧!
𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜!
[ 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙮 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙪𝙥𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 ]
Re-edited - 09/07/21 (DD/MM/YY) - 4:11 AM AST