Stuck Between Two Walls

Thirty minutes and twenty-seven seconds later, I am already on the couch, trapped between a drunk guy whose smell overpowered the sandwich I am currently holding, and another drunk person who happened to have drank too much alcohol that he's using me as a pillow.

And yes, they're both complete strangers. And yes, I also did count the passing minutes.

The party is on full blast. Well, the music is. It's crowded, yes. An unusual place for someone like me. A few corners are packed with couple shoving their tongues into each other's throats. I did shudder when I said that. The floor looked like a wasteland from all the chips and soda cans and beer cans and other stuff. The smell is weird, it's a combination of strong perfume, strong beer, and strong sweat. People are mostly at the center of the room, drunkenly dancing and in case you're wondering, it looked an awful lot like the dance Candace did in the "I got squirrels in my pants" thing. Yeah, I do watch Phineas and Ferb. Why not? I have nothing else entertaining to do at home. I have no friends, remember?

Wait. I do have one.

You might all be wondering where in this galactic universe Ethan could be, right? Well, let's just say he's trapped into a blackhole.

I lifted my eyes to scanned the crowd and grinned at the sight they landed on. He is already giving me a look that screamed 'HELP!' in massive letters as Jane's claws wrapped around his neck. Trapped. That must suck. Blackholes.

Shaking my head, I pointed at the guy drooling on my shoulder. Ugh.

Then a certain figure from the crowd distracted me from the present. My whole system went into a halt. Standing not three feet away from me is the girl that has claimed to be Aphrodite's prettiest daughter. Her already smooth skin glowed flawlessly against the bright dancing colors of the disco ball. Her slender figure showed all the curves women would die for with that pretty fuchsia cocktail dress. Her smile seemed to sparkle everything in sight. Her eyes seemed like a real diamonds as she glanced at everyone around her and sent that person drooling. She is a girl with radiant beauty. In fact, too beautiful that it made my heart ache.

This is a girl I'm emotionally competing with? The girl who likes Damian? The girl Damian likes?

Ignoring the jab into my ribs, I shook the thought away. I'm just hurting myself. Stop it.

My attention then snapped back to the guy who was slumping lifelessly on my side as he suddenly snorted. Disgusted, I've figured I've played the Nice Guy image more than enough so I shoved him away.

His warm brown eyes suddenly appeared in front of me with a fierce glare. "What the hell was that for?" he hissed, rubbing a lazy hand on the spot he was hit.

"You were drooling on my shoulder." I told him simply. Arguing with a drunk person will only hurt my dignity.

He groaned and buried his face into his hands. "Was I?" he asked me in a tired voice, peeking beneath his fingers.

I nodded slowly.

He sighed hoarsely. "Sorry."

I gave him shrug. "Whatever."

He groaned again and straightened up, rubbing his forehead with much force than usual. "My head fucking hurts."

"I can get you some Tylenol?" I offered, looking at his pained image.

A chuckle surprisingly escaped his lips as he brought his attention back at me. "That's very sweet of you but no thanks. That stuff don't work. On me, at least."

Another shrug from me.

He squinted his eyes, scanning my face. "Say, you look familiar. Have I talked to you before?"

I snapped my eyes at him. What did he just say? I cocked my head to the side as I studied his features. Weird. He don't look that familiar.

Then a small dimple formed on his cheek as he stared at my face. "You look funny when you frown." He commented, nodding.

I scowled as his smile widened.

The light bulb was lit as I saw that. He did look familiar. Stupid Leslie and her bad memory. How can I even forget?

"James Harrison?" I asked in low whisper, not believing my words.

"It's quite a surprise you remembered my name." He told me, grinning. "Leah, right?"

I rolled my eyes at his attempt of remembering mine. "Leslie."

Another grin made its way to the one he was already wearing. "I was just messing with you. Leslie Diaz. You never really talk to me again after I asked you to join our club."

"Sorry. Kinda busy." I told him honestly- I did say kinda- and was a little taken aback from the recognition.

He gave me a small nod, dimples on his cheek. It's weird I can only recognise him through his smiles. The king of smiles.

"I didn't know you'll come to parties like this?" he asked after a minute of comfortable silence.

I pointed at Ethan who was already giving us a desperate look of pleading.

"Ah, him. He's weird." James told me, biting his lower lip in amusement.

"That he is." I agreed, chuckling.

"I think he really need to get out of that tight embrace." James took notice of Ethan and Jane's position. "He looked quite pale."

Glancing at Ethan, I found him suffocating. With a grin I said "Well, I don't want him to die, especially that way."

James chuckled and said, "That is an obvious fact."

Standing up, I gave him a small nod. "Time for a rescue mission."

He stood up as well, his body towering beside me "Good luck with that. I also have to go now." He squeezed me in a one-arm hug. With one final signature smile, he then walked away leaving me with warm cheeks.

And he has the willpower to call Ethan weird.

Speaking of...

"Leslie!" someone called. "Leslie!"

It took me a moment to see that Ethan is standing a foot in front of me. He grasped both sides of my shoulder as he dropped his head, breathing for air. How he managed to escape, I had no idea.

"I... almost... died." He panted, looking at me with a weary expression.

Chuckling, I shook my head at him. "You should have known better not to fall into her wrath."

He then stood up, making a face at me. With his nose wrinkled and eyes widened. "Listen here, woman. She was the one who immediately grabbed me when I first climbed out of the car."

"Alas, you didn't resist."

"I tried to!"

"But you didn't."

"Shut up, Les." He muttered, putting both of his hands on his pocket. I scowled at what he called me but he just smirked. Glancing around, he snorted. I looked up to meet his eyes, frowning to what was wrong. He rolled his eyes with a disgusted face. "Wasted people."

I looked around as well and mirrored his expression. There's nothing to smile about when about half of the population here are grinding their hips against each other and another half is sucking mouths. Well, mouths of a beer bottle that is.

"I see what Damian meant by this is not a Safe Haven for me." I muttered, shaking my head at the scene.

Ethan suddenly raised an eyebrow, a teasing expression painted on his face. But his eyes were blank. "Actually, I was meaning to ask you that."

I glanced up at him innocently. "The Safe Haven thing?"

"No, the whole Dam-."

"Hey, I know you." a voice interrupted our conversation. A voice filled with melody.

I felt Ethan stiffened by my side as he took in the look of the girl in front of us. Any second now, I bet he would drool.

"Yo-ou do?" I managed to speak out as I bit my lower lip. How can she possibly know who I was?

Mellissa just chuckled. God, even her laugh was attractive. She then nodded, giving me a tiny dimpled smile. "Yeah, of course. You're Leslie, right?"

I can only nod.

"Well, Damian told me a lot about you." She informed me with a cheerful expression but her words felt forced. Fake.

Whoa. Wait. Hold up. What did she just say? "H-he did?"

She nodded. "Apparently, he's a very concerned friend." Her voice emphasized the last part.

"He is?" I felt my eyes widening. My inside felt gooey. I felt like I was floating. Sober up, Leslie.

"Yes, of course. Why is that so much of a shock for you? Aren't you guys friends?" she questioned, giving me a delicate raise of an eyebrow.

Unfortunately, we are. "Yes, we are."

"I also heard you live with him now, hm?" her expression shifted to something foreign. Her eyes showed a slight possessiveness.

"Um, yeah. Kinda like that."

"That's cool." She said with a smile, but it doesn't reach her eyes. "I can tell we're going to be great friends."

I don't think you're even interested. "Sure." I told her, giving her a smile.

"Well, I have to go now. It was nice meeting you." She said in a sweet voice, giving me a wink.

After she was gone, I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding. Her whole body language explained jealousy, I can tell. I may not be an expert when it comes to human behaviour but I'm pretty sure that was jealousy.

"She's hot, huh?" Ethan told me, giving me a wink.

I rolled my eyes. I don't need a Y chromosome to know that. "Yeah, she is."

Ethan grinned at me, his eyes glowing brightly. "So, tell me all the details."

I stared blankly at him. What was this person talking about. "Are you sober?"

He laughed, shaking his head in amusement. A perfect indication that he was not. "It's funny how you asked me if I'm sober. Most people would ask if I'm drunk."

"Isn't that almost the same thing?"

"Yeah, but majority of the people would ask me the second one."

"You're weird."

"I just told you the difference between you and the majority of the people and you think I'm weird?" he asked, giving me a funny look.

"Forget it." I rolled my eyes, bringing the uneaten sandwich to my lips. Suddenly, he leaned forward and took a big bite from it. His face was mere centimetres away from mine.

I watched him as he chew, leaning back casually as if what he did was completely normal. All the blood rose to my cheek.

"Why are you so red?" he asked, frowning.

I blinked a few times before answering, "What? Maybe it's the sandwich." My voice is shaky.

"That wasn't even spicy." He smirked, putting both of his hands inside his pockets.

"I don't know."

"You look pretty with that dress, by the way." He commented, cocking his head to the side.

"Um, thanks." My face felt a lot hotter. Then I found my old self beneath all the compliments and said, "You look funny with what you're wearing."

His teasing expression vanished and was replaced by a scowling one. "I made this outfit."

That made me widened my eyes and I can say that I'm impressed but my mouth was not connected to my brain so I said, "Clearly, you did."

"I'm not exactly sure if you mean that as a compliment but thanks." He said, still with a small scowl. "You also have thirty seconds to explain to me everything."

I looked up at his eyes in confusion. "Everything?"

He then proceeded to walk toward the couch, the seat I was then sitting with James, and patted the seat next to him. I immediately sat down, my eyes not leaving his. He gave me a nod. "Everything."