Don't Give Up on Us

I started to loosen up a little bit after we’d met Max for lunch. I began to get excited for going out that night. It’d been so long since I’d been in any type of bar, let alone one in the nightlife hub of America.

“He’s not going to be there,” Alex reassured me. He leaned down to tie the laces of his black hightops. “And if for some weird reason he was, just forget about it. I’m there and we’re going to have a good time. This is why we’re up here, yeah?” he lifted his head up and looked me in the eye.

“I wasn’t even thinking about him,” I lied. “Why would I be?” I laughed it off. Truthfully, I had been thinking about him all day. Alex and I went to get ice cream - I thought of Josh. Alex and I went to the movies - I thought of Josh. Alex kissed me - I thought of Josh.

I threw on the most ‘going out’ clothes I had brought with me, grabbed Alex’s hand and we walked in silence to the bar. “I love you,” Alex whispered slyly into my ear just before we walked in the door. Upon entrance I immediately noticed my brother’s bushy head behind a seat. I gulped audibly when I saw another head next to him which earned my hand a tight squeeze from Alex. “We’re not leaving because of him,” he focused his eyes into the distance. “We’re going to have a good night.”

I took a breath and let Alex lead me over to where they were sitting. Max got out of his seat straight away and pulled us both into a hug. “Hello!” he grinned enthusiastically. “Sit, sit,” he ushered us into the seats next to him. Out of the corner of my eye I looked over to where Josh was sipping his drink. There was someone beside him who I hadn’t noticed before. “This is…um…” Max gestured to the woman beside Josh.

“Savannah,” Josh helped him. His voice sent a shiver down my spine.

“Yeah,” Max continued. “She’s Josh’s uh…friend.” Max clearly didn’t know who she was. She clearly didn’t care who anyone was. I watched as she roughly took Josh’s hand in hers, chewing her gum with an open mouth. She pressed her lips against his and he eagerly responded. PDA much?

After a while of small talk between Max, Alex and I, I noticed they had finally stopped groping each other. I also noticed Josh was chewing gum that he didn’t have ten minutes before.

“Josh,” Alex said in an attempt to break the awkward that was surrounding us. “How’s writing for the new album going? I’m kind of on a block myself.” I found it sweet how Alex was bringing up subjects that he knew Josh would talk normally about. I always found it weird how guys could hate each other one minute and then carry on like best friends the next, but this was what was happening now.

“Oh, you know,” Josh looked over. “The entire album kind of has a theme running through it and I’m finding it easy to write about.”

“Sounds awesome! What’s the theme?” Alex inquired.

“Heartbreak. Jealousy. Backstabbers.”

“I’m going to go to the restroom,” I said quietly to Alex. He nodded and went back to the conversation with Josh.

I was sick of running to the bathroom when conversation got weird. I didn’t have time to think for myself this time around though, because as soon as I entered the bathroom there were footsteps behind me. I turned around to find Savannah. In the dark of the bar I hadn’t realised how…tacky she looked.

“Stay away from him,” she glared at me. She spoke with a strong American accent. I smirked. She was new then. “Don’t laugh at me! You totally just came in and acted like you were his.” I didn’t actually know what she was talking about. I hadn’t said a single word to Josh since the night had begun. “Don’t act dumb,” she kept going, “I see the way he looks at you. I read the blogs. Stay away.”

“No problem, sergeant,” I mock saluted her. The build up of anger on her face was priceless and I burst into laughter. “Calm down, Sav,” I playfully threw an arm around her shoulder. “Can I call you that? Believe me when I say I am staying well away from him. My boyfriend is out there. I don’t know if you noticed we were together though, because I don’t need to stick my tongue down his throat every five minutes to show him that I am very much in love with him,” I gave her a pat on the shoulder and exited the bathroom. As if that just happened? Who did she think she was?

I laughed again to myself and returned to the group where I noticed there were now two trays of shots in front of us. “You up for it, sis?” Max raised his eyebrows at me.

“Definitely,” I picked up a shot and threw it into the back of my throat, leaving the familiar liquid sting my mouth.

After an undisclosed number of shots, we all ended up on the ridiculously sized dance floor. I’d lost Alex in a blur of vodka some time ago. I didn’t really know or care what I was doing. All I knew was that I was actually having a good time and when someone began grinding their hips against me to the beat I had absolutely no problem with it. Nor did I have a problem with turning around and slinging my arms around his neck for the remainder of the night.