Never Ever Ever

“I’ll have another, my good sir.,” said Alicia to the bartender, as we were approaching another round of drinks. It was safe to say that I was tip toeing the line between slightly buzzed and completely intoxicated. Alicia had done a backflip across that line just before when she accepted a challenge from a fellow partygoer to see who could do more shots. It was safe to say Alicia had won.

“Well, well,” said a voice from behind us. “Look who it is,”

I turned around, and suddenly found myself face to face with Grimmy.

“It’s the birthday boy!” I giggled, throwing my arms around his neck. “Happy birthday Nick!”

“Having a good time?” he laughed, giving my drink a look.

“Oh, the best! You really know how to throw a party,” I replied.

“Thanks, babe.” He smiled, as if I was amusing him. “So you’ve seen Harry yet?”

“Who?” I smiled, taking a sip of my drink.

“I saw him about an hour ago. Said he was going to try to find you.”

“Well,” I laughed, shrugging. “He hasn’t.”

“Alright, well I have to go find some other people, but have a good time, yeah?” he laughed again.

“Alrighty, happy birthday again!” I cheered. He thanked me, before walking off into another corner of the party. I turned to Alicia, to find her talking to a cute brunette at the bar. I decided to let them be, and continued through the party to see if I knew anyone else.

I was in the middle of a conversation with a friend of mine from school when I first saw him from across the room. My friend continued on about our teacher’s grading curve, but I became partially paralyzed. I stared at him as he laughed at something the guy next to him said. It was definitively odd seeing him again after all this time. I went from having him apart of my life everyday to seeing him only on the television.

His eyes flicked up, searching the room. Our eyes met for the quickest of seconds, before I turned back to my friend. When I looked up ten seconds later, he was gone. Breathe, I told myself. In a way this is closure. You saw him across the room, and didn’t start crying or jump him. This is good. You must be finally over him, I thought to myself.

I felt a tap of the shoulder, and swiftly turned around. Sure enough, he was standing right behind me. My heart stopped, and the room tilted a little. I wasn’t sure if it was because of his presence or the alcohol I had previously consumed.

“Hey,” he rasped. I almost fainted on the spot. I immediately got goosebumps, head to toe.

So much for closure, I thought to myself.

“Hi,” I replied, in a small voice. I took a bigger gulp of my drink.

“You good?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “You?”

There was an awkward pause, and I craned my head around to see if I could find Alicia. He coughed uncomfortably.

“So, this is weird right?”

“Immensely,” I nodded.

“It’s probably not helping that you’re drunk too,” he smirked.

“I’m not drunk,” I replied, offended.

“Please,” he shook his head. “We dated for two years. I’ve seen you drunk plenty of times.”

“I’m not drunk,” I repeated, to both him and myself.

“Ok,” he laughed. “Anyways, you look good,”

“Oh please,” I shook my head. “No flattery.”

“I’m just saying, you look hot.”

“Well, thanks.” I rolled my eyes. This was typical Harry. Normally, he’d just throw a few compliments around and I’d melt like putty in his hands.

“How about you come back to mine and we can talk?” he tried again.

“I think we both know that’s not a good idea.” I shook my head at him.

“Why’s that?”

“Hm…let’s see, because last time I heard from you, you were trying to deny the fact that you had a blonde’s tongue down your throat in Australia.” I snapped.

“And you never even gave me a chance to explain that!” he groaned, frustrated.

“You had seven months to explain that,”

“You never answered my calls,” he defended himself.

“You like ten minutes away! I never saw you showing up at my front door with an explanation.”

“Like you would’ve given me a chance to explain anyways.”

“Listen, I just-“ I was interrupted by my name being called out. We both turned to the source of the interruption.

I wasn’t sure if his timing was awful or impeccable, but nonetheless, there stood Cullen. He smiled at me, and I avoided eye contact with Harry.

“Hey,” I said, voice slurring a little. “I thought you weren’t going to make it.”

“I figured I’d surprise you,” he smiled.

“Well, I’m surprised,” cut in Harry. I finally allowed myself to look at him. He’s eyes shone with a very familiar anger. He was jealous. We’d had enough moments while we were dating when he’d accuse me of cheating on him or flirting with another guy. Needless to say, I was familiar with that look.

Cullen was stunned a moment, before reaching his arm out to Harry.

“I’m Cullen McMahon.” He said, always the epitome of politeness.

“Your boyfriend?” He asked me, ignoring Cullen’s outstretched handshake.

“Yes,” Cullen answered for me, suddenly taking on a tone of possessiveness. He stepped in front of me a little, something that bugged me a little in the back of my mind. “And you are?”

Harry just shook his head, before walking off angrily. I watched him fade into the crowd, and I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“I take it that was the ex –boyfriend,” Cullen finally said.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “That’s him.”