Rules Of Love

“Here,” Leanne fell back into her seat beside me and handed me a small piece of card. I’d been working here three weeks now and I’d gotten used to the fact that it was rare Leanne ever began one of our conversations with ‘hi’.

I looked up at her, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “What’s this?”

She rolled her eyes at me, “There’d be no point me giving you the invitation if you weren’t supposed to read it,”

I lightly shook my head at her and read the invitation, “What’s the party for?”

“Some friends of mine have been away from a while, they’re back on Thursday and Lyss decided she should have a party in my house to celebrate it,” She shrugged.

I chuckled lightly, “Why didn’t she throw it in hers?”

“Because all the alcohol’s in my house,” She replied nonchalantly, “It’s going to be fun; you should come,”

“Is anyone I know going?”

“Me?” She offered.

“Aside from you,”

“Am I not enough for you?” She pouted, almost offended.

“You’re the host, you have to be a social butterfly for the evening,” I defended.

“So? You can be a social butterfly too and make some new friends,” She clapped excitedly, “Come on Maddie, it’ll be fun I promise,”

I was hesitant when I looked at her, “The last time you told me to do something because it was fun I ended up in a bush hiding from a masochistic squirrel,”

Leanne laughed at the memory of daring me to try to pick up a squirrel (which, being drunk, I thought I was some kind of squirrel whisperer). The rabid thing then tried to bite me and ran at me so I was forced to hide in a bush.

Bastard.

“That was hilarious though,” She defended.

“For you maybe,” I replied, shaking my head.

She chuckled, “So are you going to come?”

I groaned slightly, “I don’t know,”

“Oh come on,” She pouted, “You know me, there’s going to be plenty of alcohol, loads of lovely people and some really cute boys- You can’t say that doesn’t sound good,” She raised her eyebrows, knowing she was tempting me, “Lyss will be there, you know her too... I can introduce you to my boyfriend finally,”

I must’ve still looked hesitant.

“Okay... I’ll give you half the day off so you can go find yourself a brand new outfit?” She enticed.

I laughed, “You really want me to come to this thing don’t you?”

She nodded, sending me those puppy-dog eyes.

I sighed in defeat, “I’m guessing you use that same look on Kennedy to get whatever you want,”

A smile crossed her face, “Definitely but he has one too so we’re square,” She shrugged, “Does that mean you’ll come?” Hope was etched into every feature.

“Yes I’ll come,” I agreed, “But I want my half a day,”

She scoffed, “Psh sure, like I was ever going to give you that,”

:::::

“I’m so excited!” Leanne bounced up and down as she, Alyssa and I left the building that Friday afternoon.

“Me too but I probably shouldn’t have given you all those Skittles...” Alyssa winced as she pressed a hand on her friend’s shoulder to keep her on her feet.

I laughed lightly, “You probably shouldn’t have but if you’re seeing your boyfriends after six months or so then I’m sure she has reason enough to be excited,”

“Yeah but you don’t have to see her until at least nine tonight. I have to put up with this for the rest of the day,” She complained.

“Excuse me; you do not have to ‘put up with me’. Saying that makes it seem like you don’t enjoy it, when in fact seeing me is the most exciting part of your day and you know it,” Leanne interjected.

“Mhm, yeah, totally,” Alyssa snorted.

“Shut your face or I’m not letting you come to my party,” She glared playfully.

“Guys!” An unfamiliar voice came from behind us and I turned my head to see what can only be described as a Greek God in work clothes with a satchel running to catch up with us.

You know when you look at someone and the first thought that pops into your head is ‘I want to have your children’? Well, this guy was one of those people.

“Hey Caleb,” Alyssa smiled as we came to a halt and Mr. Beautiful stood in front of us.

I was practically speechless. My mind was running away with itself but oddly enough with only one word in it- ‘Wow’.

“Hey,” Oh, his voice was just perfect too, “I just finished with my work for the weekend but your department’s articles wouldn’t open in the e-mail you sent me. You’re going to have to resend it before I can do the layouts,”

Alyssa groaned, “But I just left the demon building!”

“Well I’ll accompany you back into the fires of hell. It’ll be fast, I promise,” He stated.

“I wouldn’t brag about that- It’s not something a girl likes to hear,” Leanne giggled.

I laughed... And then I snorted.

I’ve never snorted before in my life.

Then, my body chooses to betray me at the one point when the love of my life is standing in front of me.

His smouldering blue eyes were looking at me and an amused smile was playing on his lips, “I don’t think we’ve met,”

I cleared my throat, trying to smooth over the embarrassing snorting moment (which Leanne and Alyssa were still chuckling at), “I’m Maddie, Leanne’s intern,” I stuck out my hand.

“Caleb, Alyssa’s graphic designer,” He shook my hand firmly, “Nice to meet you,”

“You too,” I squeaked. Yes, I squeaked. I swear to God, he must’ve thought I was some kind of freak.

“Okay, so Lyss, can we just run back inside? We’ll be ten minutes max, I swear,” He paused briefly, “I don’t even know why I’m trying to convince you here, in all fairness if you don’t send me them then you won’t meet your deadline and it’ll be your fault,” He grinned innocently at her.

Alyssa sent him a vicious glare, “I hate you sometimes,”

“Come on, the longer you stand there complaining about it, the longer it’ll take you to get home,”

She sighed, “Fine. Lea, I’ll be at yours in half an hour to help you set up,”

“Okay, I’ll see you later sweetie,” Leanne greeted, “See you later Caleb,”

We exchanged goodbyes and Leanne looked over at me as we walked to our cars.

“So... I didn’t know you were a snorter,” She smirked.

I rolled my eyes, “I can’t believe I did that. I’ve never ever done that before,” I whined.

She laughed, “You’re nervous when it comes to hot guys, it’s understandable,”

“He’s not just hot though... That man is an Adonis,” I responded, “He is gorgeous... And I choose the day I meet Mr. Perfect to become a snorter,”

Another chuckle came from her, “I know what you’re going through. The first proper conversation that I had with Kennedy, I drank too many fizzy drinks to stop my throat from drying up with nerves and then burped like a man in his face,”

“Seriously?” I giggled.

She nodded, “Yep and here we are six years later, stronger than ever even though that happened... You never know, the burp may have been the key to our whole relationship,”

“Or not,” I replied, “I figure the fact that you two sound so perfect for each other it should be illegal that you’re still going strong six years later,”

“Or that,”

“I suppose a burp is worse than a snort though...” I mused.

She nodded, “Exactly and you can reassert yourself as a non-snorting weirdo tonight at the party because he’s going to be there. I can set you up if you like; he’s single,”

“Oh... No, no. Thanks but it’s fine. I make it a habit not to let anyone match-make for me. I uh... I have a pretty specific type,” I explained.

“Hot isn’t your type?” Leanne’s eyebrow rose at me.

I chuckled awkwardly, “Well yeah but... I don’t know. I’ll just say hi tonight and see what happens,”

“Fair enough. Alright then well I’ll see you tonight,” She hugged me briefly before bouncing on the balls of her feet again, “I’m so excited,”

I laughed, “I know. I’ll see you later,”

:::::

“Mhm, yeah, ‘weren’t that drunk’- Maddie you were hiding in a bush from a squirrel,” Alyssa said knowingly before taking a gulp of her beer. It was ten pm and the party was just getting started. Leanne, Alyssa and I were in a small group from work and we were exchanging drunken stories... Apparently.

“The little bitch tried to bite me!” I huffed, “It’s Leanne’s fault anyway. If she didn’t encourage me to do stupid things when I’m drunk then there’d be no stories about my encounters with woodland creatures to tell,”

“At least the few drunken stories about Maddie don’t involve her straddling people while they’re sleeping,” Leanne mentioned swiftly, innocently looking away and taking an almost triumphant sip of her drink.

Alyssa glared at her, “One time! That was one time,”

“And I wasn’t complaining,” A new voice jokingly jumped into the conversation.

Everyone in the group’s heads spun around to see the owner of the voice. I didn’t recognise him.

“Jared! Finally, God, you were supposed to be here at the beginning to get the party started,” Leanne threw her arms around the ginger boy and hugged him tightly, “And you may not have been complaining but John wasn’t too thrilled after having to watch his girlfriend put on a break-dancing show and then climb into bed with his best mate... And then proceeded to mount him...”

Alyssa threw out her hand and slapped Leanne’s arm, “That’s a bit of an exaggeration,”

“I’d say she was pretty dead on,” A new voice, one that was accompanied by a smirking face.

“I’d be happy to see you if you were backing me up on this, John,” Alyssa folded her arms across her chest and shook her head disappointedly at him.

“Aw, baby, I love you but I’m not going to lie,” He laughed.

“Well, I think we all know who’s sleeping on the couch tonight then,” She beamed at him.

“Why? Is there someone else in your bed for you to straddle?” Leanne smirked.

“I should hope not,” John frowned, “The only person she should ever be straddling is me,”

“John!” Alyssa squeaked in embarrassment, holding her hands over her face.

“What? It’s true,” He shrugged.

“Why are we talking about John and Lyss’s sex life?” Another new voice came in. It was one of those voices you could listen to for hours, you know? Really soft and gentle but with a delicate huskiness behind it...

I have a thing about voices...

He came to stand beside Leanne and the second I saw them standing together I knew it was Kennedy. They just looked like they should be together even if they weren’t.

“Because we were swapping drunken stories about Maddie getting bullied by a squirrel and Lyss straddling Jared,” Leanne explained.

“Oh right...” He murmured, kissing her forehead in a sweet greeting gesture, “Has the story been told about you stealing the microphone from a band in the middle of their set to announce that you were a little teapot... And then half-translate it into French?”

She looked up at him with an unimpressed gaze, “No... But thanks for that,”

The group began laughing and Leanne looked over at me.

“Stop laughing or I’ll dock your pay,” She threatened.

I gasped, “What’re you victimising me for?”

“You’re the only one I have any control over here,”

I chuckled and gestured to Kennedy, “He was the one who told the story- Take away his bedroom privileges or something,”

“That’s a good point,” Leanne mused, glancing up at him.

“Hey, hey, whoa, now!” Kennedy stumbled, “She was laughing!” He pointed at me, “Fire her!”

I started laughing, “What the hell...”

“Lea, look what you’ve started,” Alyssa sighed, “I’ll do the introductions shall I? Maddie, this is Jared, John- my boyfriend- and the guy you’re arguing with is Kennedy. Where are Garrett and Pat?”

I vaguely remembered hearing these names mentioned before.

“Right here,” A light brown haired boy joined our small circle with lots of beer bottles and began handing them out. He looked at me and paused for a second as if he was staring. He was now empty handed except for his own beer, “Sorry, I thought it was just going to be the seven of us,”

I smiled at him, “It’s fine,”

“Here, have mine, I’ll get a new one,” He offered.

I was about to reach out and take it but then I cast my eyes behind him and saw the blonde beauty Caleb from earlier that day wander into the room. I saw my chance to break away from the group to talk to him and make sure he knew I wasn’t a freak.

“Oh, thanks but it’s okay. I’ll go get one,” I shrugged.

“What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn’t go for you?” He said. Then he seemed as though he was surprised he’d even said that.

I tucked some hair behind my ear and smiled at him, “Honestly, it’s fine. I didn’t want beer anyway,” I reassured before I slipped past him and headed for the kitchen where I’d seen Caleb heading moments earlier.

.....

When Maddie had gone, everyone looked at Garrett oddly.

“What kind of gentleman would you be if you didn’t go for her?” Alyssa’s eyebrows rose at him.

“What?” He frowned, red blush tinting his cheeks.

She shook her head at him.

“Personally I thought you were better at flirting than that,” Pat mentioned.

“I wasn’t flirting,” Garrett scoffed.

“You were a bit, dude,” John added.

“A lot,” Jared corrected.

“Aww, leave him alone,” Leanne swung her arm around Garrett’s shoulders and pulled him into her side.

“Thank you Lea,”

“He’s got a little crush and it’s adorable,” She cooed.

He glared at her, “Premature gratitude there,” He mumbled.

“Do you want me to set you two up?” She grinned.

“Oh God, here we go,” Kennedy groaned.

“No I don’t. I was only being nice to her, Jesus, next time I won’t offer anyone anything,” He crossed his arms and huffed.

“That’s a bit dramatic. Maybe next time you just shouldn’t use lines that start with ‘what kind of gentleman would I be...’ and then we won’t bully you,” Alyssa smirked.

“You always bully me,” He pouted.

“That’s not tr...“ She cut herself off, “... Okay maybe we do,”

“Actually... I couldn’t set you two up,” Leanne mused aloud.

“Not that I care,” Which he did, “But why?” Garrett asked.

“Because I offered to set her up with Caleb this afternoon, ‘cause apparently he’s the most beautiful man she’s ever seen in her life, but she doesn’t like getting match made,” She replied.

“Thank God,” Kennedy muttered under his breath.

“She said she has a really specific type,”

Garrett frowned lightly, “Everyone has a type,”

“Yeah but the way she said it was like they were really particular things that she wants... I’m going to find out what they are,” She decided, “Then I’ll decide if I’m going to play Cupid,”

“Lea, no,” Garrett huffed.

“The girl said she doesn’t want to get match-made,” Kennedy was almost pleading with her. He hated when she tried to play Cupid. It plagued her mind until she saw people happy together. It was even worse when she was adamant that her victims were meant to be together.

“She’s twenty-one years old, she has no idea what she wants,” Leanne waved her hand dismissively.

“You’re insane,” Garrett stated.

“Don’t worry Gary,” She playfully punched his arm, “I’ll get you a date, I promise,”

"I'm beginning to think you're not listening to me," He rolled his eyes.

Alyssa chuckled, "You know as well as I do that when she gets an idea in her head it'll take a stampede of elephants to stop her,"

Garrett looked at Leanne, who was deep in thought, and sighed, "I think I need to pay a visit to Africa..."

:::::

'Stupid Cupid, Stop Picking On Me'

Connie Francis