Look Closer

The street in front of Alex's house was lined with cars when Chelley and her friends arrived for her party, which was apparently already in full swing. She tried to act like she was excited about the celebration Jack had put together for her, but she had actually been dreading it since he gave her all the details. She didn't know why exactly and that bothered her as well.

Though she wasn't much into drinking and partying, she did enjoy them occasionally. So she tried to push all negative thoughts out her head as she pulled at the form fitting dress Bryanne had talked to her into wearing.

They walked into the house, not bothering to knock because they knew no one would hear. It had officially started less than an hour before but people were already clearly drunk. Chelley wasn't terribly surprised though, having been to parties before with Alex. She stopped only a few steps inside the house, her hesitation obvious. Meghan gave her a little push and she continued to move forward again when she felt someone push her again. She groaned as she collided with another body, a rather bony body at that.

"Excuse me," they both said and when they heard the voice of the other person, each fell silent momentarily.

Jack broke the silence first, with laughter. "You made it!" he exclaimed excitedly, pulling Chelley into a hug. She returned it and laughed as well.

"Well, it is my party, isn't it?" she asked.

He nodded, "It is. But it's been awhile since it started, I was afraid you'd changed your mind," he said, taking a step back and looking at her. "You look incredible," he said.

"Thank you," she said her cheeks tinting pink. Behind her, someone cleared their throat and Chelley jumped a little. "Oh, sorry. Jack, this is Meghan, Bryanne and Trish. Meghan, Bryanne, Trish, this is Jack," she said making introductions.

"Nice to meet you, ladies. Drinks are in the kitchen, feel free to help yourselves," he said and then looked at Chelley. "Can I get you anything?"

Chelley shook her head, "I'm alright for now, thanks," she said.

"You sure?" he asked and she nodded. "Alright, well if you change your mind, you can come find me, or you can just help yourself."

"Thanks Jack," she said as he turned to walk away.

Trish grabbed Chelley's arm and she turned. "So, he's not even going to hang out with you?" she asked in disbelief.

Chelley shook her head, "Nah. We're kind of in a weird place right now. He wants to be more than friends but I'm not quite ready for that," she explained.

As the night wore on, Chelley found herself a few drinks deep. Being a small girl who didn't drink often, she was a little past drunk. She pushed her way through the people she'd never met and into the kitchen in search of more.

The room was empty except for one other person. Her face lit up when she saw him. "Alex!" she exclaimed, not having seen him all night.

"Hey Chelle," he said. "Can I get you something?"

She nodded but didn't say anything. He looked at her expectantly but she just stared back for a minute. Then she began to move slowly toward him. His eyebrows raised as he watched each step she took. She stopped directly in front of him and then stood on her tip toes, raising her arms us. Thinking she was going for a hug, and being significantly taller than her, Alex leaned down and wrapped his arms around her. Her hands grabbed his face and she pressed her lips to his.

Being a little drunk himself, he did what anyone would in his position and kissed back. After a split second, he realized what was going on. He didn't have a chance to remove himself from the situation before heard an unmistakable voice entering the kitchen.

"Nah, I think I'm done for the night. I'm just looking for some water," she said. Upon seeing the two, she paused, "Whoops," she said, "Didn't mean to interrupt."

She turned to leave but another voice, unmistakable as well, spoke. "Alex?" she questioned. A chorus of confused "what's" followed.

Alex finally managed to push the small girl off of him, something one would think to be an easy feat due to the difference in their sizes, but in actuality was not. He straightened himself and looked at where the voices had come from to find Cassie, Angie, Rian and Jack all staring at him and Chelley.

"It's not what it looks like, I swear," Alex said. As soon as the words left his mouth, he realized just how stupid they sounded. Of course it was what it looked like. He had been caught kissing his ex.

Cassie nodded, "Okay," she said calmly. "Would either of you care to explain?" she asked.

"I kissed him," Chelley said bluntly.

Cassie nodded again, "Okay. And...?"

"He kissed back," she said, her intoxication becoming very apparent.

"Right," Cassie said, "I could see that. Are you drunk, Chelle?" she asked and Chelley nodded. "Okay. It looks like you two have some stuff that maybe you need to work out. So I'm going to leave you to it," she said and turned to walk out of the kitchen.

Rian and Jack grabbed her arm before she could get far. "Hold up," Jack said. "No way you can seriously be alright with this. Because I'm fucking pissed," he spat. Rian's face was turning red with anger as well.

Angie looked like she was about to lunge across the room. Whether it would be at Alex or Chelley, no one knew. Alex hung his head, guilt written across his face. And Cassie just shrugged. "It's fine," she said.

As she started to walk away again, Alex lifted his head, "Cassandra," he said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." He knew he sounded ridiculous but he hated the thought of hurting Cassie at all, let alone so soon after he'd gotten her back.

"I'm not mad, Alex," she said, "Really. I get it. Figure things out with her and then come find me." She disappeared out of the kitchen, leaving Alex with Chelley and three people who clearly wanted to rip his throat out.