Look Closer

Cassie had only been out of the kitchen for a few moments before Chelley's face started to turn red with anger. She grabbed Alex's arm and she pushed past the three who remained, following the direction the older girl had gone. Rian smacked his friend upside the head and Alex groaned.

He didn't know where Chelley's sudden strength had come from. It was possible she had always possessed it and was only using it now because she was obviously heated. But either way, she dragged him through the sea of people until it thinned.

When they were close enough, Chelley reached out and grabbed Cassie's arm, yanking her back toward them. Being a little on the drunk side, on top of generally not liking being grabbed, Cassie was on the defensive. As she spun around, her open hand came flying through the air.

Demonstrating incredible reflexes, Alex caught Cassie's arm before she struck Chelley. "You probably don't really want to do that," he said as he dropped her arm.

Upon realizing the situation, Cassie nodded, yanking her other arm out of the vice grip the smaller girl had on it. Her eyes traveled to faces behind the two directly in front of her. Rian, Angie and Jack and been joined by Zack, Matt, Peter and Nick. Whatever was about to happen was going to have an audience.

"You can't just walk away from this," Chelley yelled at her.

Cassie raised and eyebrow. "I don't see how it really involves me," she said. "You're drunk and you kissed my boyfriend, your ex, who is also drunk and he kissed back, which is to be expected. I'm not sure why I'm needed for whatever it is that you two need to discuss."

"He cheated on you," she stated plainly.

"Hmm. Funny. I don't really see it that way," Cassie countered. "I mean, by definition, I suppose he did. And while I don't approve of him kissing you, or anyone else who isn't me, I'm taking all factors into consideration."

Everyone stared at her in disbelief. She was very obviously under reacting to the situation at hand. And that something all her friends seemed to agree on.

"Look, Chelle, you're drunk. And you're trying to cause drama. I'm past that. Whatever issue you have, it isn't with me," Cassie said. "Or maybe it is, but you're going about addressing it in the wrong way entirely. If you have a problem, spit it out so we can squash it."

The color of Chelley's face deepened and she opened her mouth to scream at Cassie once again. "You took him away from me."

Cassie sighed loudly. "Oh boy. Alright. I guess I did, in a way. But you said yourself that the chemistry just wasn't there between you and Alex. I'm sure the whole thing still hurt. And I am truly sorry that shit went down the way it did. But what you're doing right now, Chelley, is called projecting. You're not in love with Alex. You don't want him back. You're scared of the feelings that you're harboring for Jack. And without reason. Jack is an incredibly sweet guy. And he just wants to be with you. But you won't even give him a chance, probably because you think that because he and Alex are best friends that he is going to do the same thing to you that Alex did. Am I right so far?" she asked.

Chelley just stared at Cassie. In her drunken state she tried hard to make sense of what the girl standing in front of her had said. And by now, because of the volume the two had reached, a larger crowd had gathered.

"I," she began, "I don't know."

"Jack isn't going to hurt you. I understand what it's like to be scared of your feelings. And I also understand what it's like to try to find any and every reason possible to not be with a person. But you have no reason to be afraid of Jack. Maybe this marriage you're in isn't right, but that doesn't mean that you should dismiss the option of being with him completely. But that's something you'll need to realize on your own. I could repeat myself until I'm blue in the face but until you look closely at every aspect of this, you're never going to get over that fear," Cassie said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go use the bathroom."

Without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel, leaving Chelley standing there with whatever she could make of her jumbled thoughts and the group of people who had gathered around them. Try as she might, she couldn't make sense of what Cassie had just said.

She looked around her, at Alex, at Jack, at the people she had recently made friends with through both of them and through the girl she had been cheated on with. None of it was how she had seen her life playing out at almost twenty years old. Over the past couple of weeks she had become more bold.

She had tried to stand up for herself but always to the wrong people. Though they were all very different from her, they were trying to show her something. Cassie and Angie especially. They were examples of being able to have structure without extensive plans. Being able to find order among chaos. Being able to lead successful lives on terms that seemed so unusual and abnormal to her.

Her cheeks grew hot and she pushed past the crowd gathered around her. Back in the kitchen, she grabbed a bottle from the counter, not caring was it was. She unscrewed the cap and brought it to her lips, taking a large drink and allowing the golden liquid to burn her throat as it slid down. She took another, and then another and sank to floor, her back against the cabinets. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes before taking another drink.

The burn became less intense with each swallow. She had no idea why she was so upset. Maybe it was because Cassie had laid out everything she had been trying so hard to suppress for everyone, people she knew and people she didn't, to see. Or maybe because she just wanted to forget what was going on around her and inside of her.

Before she knew it, the bottle was empty. She set it on the floor next to her and put her head down on her knees. She could feel that she was slowly slipping away from herself, further into drunkenness. The room seemed to spin around her.

A hand grabbed her arm gently and she jumped. After a moment, she lifted her head and was met by brown eyes. The person to whom they belonged was familiar, but her vision had blurred and she couldn't figure out who it was.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

She couldn't place the voice either. "Drunk," she said. The slurred word was barely understandable. He raised an eyebrow at her but didn't say anything. "I don't know what I'm doing," she confessed.

To Jon, it sounded more like, "Idnn nnnw wime dng." He sighed as his eyes fell on the empty bottle next to her. "Did you drink this whole thing?" he asked and she nodded. "You need some water and bread," he said and stood, turning toward the refrigerator.

When he turned back around, he had a bottle of water in his hand that he opened and handed to her. After going through some cabinets, he found something for her to eat and then sat next to her while she slowly consumed the items he had given her. When she finished, she turned her head to him and tried to force a smile.

"Let's get you to a bed," Jon offered. He stood and offered Chelley a hand which she accepted.

Once she was on her feet, she looked up at him and squinted her eyes, trying to get him to come into focus. Her attempt failed and she let out a loud sigh. "Do I know you?" she asked. It was slurred, but not as much as before.

"We've met," he said with a quiet chuckle. "I'm Jon." He slid his arm around the petite girl to support her as he led her from the kitchen.

They hadn't gotten very far when they suddenly stopped. Chelley looked around to see what had caused the abrupt halt that almost made her stumble and saw Jack with his hand on Jon's chest and an angry look on his face.

"The fuck are you doing?" he demanded.

Jon held up the hand that wasn't supporting Chelley defensively. "Calm down, bro. She downed a bottle of tequila and could hardly speak. I got her some food and water and now I'm just helping her upstairs so she can get some sleep," he explained.

"I got it," Jack said, his tone harsh.

Chelley felt another arm wrap around her from the other side. Once Jack had her, Jon's arm dropped and Jack led her toward the stairs.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" he questioned.