Mirrors

As the music in the place was blaring, the song had changed to Daft Punk's new one with Pharrell, and almost immediately Gemma and Ginny got excited. "We have to go dance, c'mon!" Gemma grinned, dragging practically us out onto the already packed dance floor, pushing a few people out of the way to make more room. She didn't care, she was bold like that.

Almost two hours spent here, we danced and fooled around on the dance floor, they had drinks and more shots, and we were put through the agony of listening to bad karaoke. I cringed and quietly mocked one of my colleagues who screeched into the mic. In the middle of a conversation with my friends, we were interrupted by Christian.

"That's some karaoke, huh?" He took a seat and smiled, looking past Hudson at me.

I sheepishly smiled, "Oh, yeah. I guess people like to humiliate themselves in front of as many people as possible.

"Are you gonna sing?"

I blushed and laughed, "Thanks to Gemma, she signed me up, so yes."

He laughed, "You'll be great." I just smiled.

"You look really good tonight." He spoke, eyeing me.

I swallowed and felt a pang of uneasiness. I looked down at my dress then back to him, "Thank you."

He eyed me for a moment before turning to Hudson, he extended his arm to shake hands. "Hudson, it's been awhile, how you doing?" Not returning the shake, Hudson turned to our small party, "Do you hear that? It sort of sounds like bullshit." Everyone awkwardly looked down or away, sipping at their drinks just so they had something to do.

Christian smirked, "Ah, how original."

Hudson glared at him, "Christian, no one invited you to our private booth, so why don't you f-" He was interrupted by Jann's booming voice that startled the rest of us.

"Hey kids, how're you enjoying yourselves?" He slurred, breaking into a short fit of laughter. Unsteady, he leaned against the back of Christian's single seat, threatening to spill his gin and tonic on the floor.

I breathed an audible sigh of relief, "Fine, just fine." Everyone seemed to visibly relax now.

"Great! Hey, why aren't you up there singin'? It's a karaoke bar after all." He raised his hands and ended up spilling half his drink on the floor, he laughed again. Gemma stifled her laughter.

"Uh, I'm up after him." I pointed at the awkward guy on the stage.

"Great, hey, whatcha gonna sing?" He blinked as if he had something in his eye.

"I'm gonna sing Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey." I cleared my throat.

"You did a review on her not too long ago, way to go kid." He started to laugh again. None of us understood what was so funny. "How 'bout you other kids?"

Everyone else quickly shook their heads and made up excuses. Jann patted Hudson's shoulder, "That's okay. You know, 't's a shame you're takin' Avery away. What's in London anyway?" He slurred.

I could feel my heart ceasing for a moment and the colour draining from my face. Everyone except for Jules, looked at Hudson and I with expressions of shock, "What? You're moving to London?"

Jann covered his mouth, "Whoops. Sorry Ave, forgot I wasn't s'pposed to tell anyone. I'll just leave now." He stumbled away while my friends stared at us. Hudson rolled his eyes and was fuming, trying to contain his anger.

"You're moving to London?" Christian broke the silence and stared hard at me.

"Yes, we're moving to London." I sighed, closing my eyes.

"Wh...Wh-" Gemma struggled to find the right word to say, "When?"

"Beginning of May." I replied.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Christian spoke.

"She doesn't need to tell you anything." Hudson growled, glaring at him. I placed my hand on his arm.

Christian ignored him and looked at me, "I wanna talk to you later." He stood up and left.

I sighed and looked down.

"Is this for the restaurant?" Kennedy asked.

I nodded, "Yes. We had planned on telling you over lunch or something. Something more formal at least. We didn't want you to find our like this."

Still tense, Hudson balled his hand up into a fist, "Yeah, if it weren't for that drunken ass that told you all."

"Guys, I'm sorry. We wanted to tell you sooner, but can we make a date? We'll tell you more, here is just not the place to talk about this." I bit my lip.

They all offered comforting smiles, Kennedy reached out his hand and held mine. "Of course. You know what, let's just pretend we didn't hear any of that tonight. Let's just keep on partying, keep on doing what we do best. Drinking and dancing."

I smiled, "Sounds good. But I think I'm up now." Not even a second after I said that, I was called to the stage.

I got up and stopped in front of Hudson and leaned down, kissing him slowly. "Ignore him, please. He's just trying to get a rise out of you. I'm your girl, always. Now watch me sing."

I glared at Gemma, "I'm gonna kill you."

She broke into a fit of laughter as I awkwardly made my way through the crowd to the front. Being helped onto the stage I approached the mic and gazed at the crowded room, seeing Christian watching me. He smiled. I took a breath, "Hi, everyone. I'm Avery, and I'm gonna be serenading y'all with one of my favourites. Summertime Sadness by Lana Del Rey." After a short applause, the karaoke track began and I silently prayed that I wouldn't mess it up.

"That was amazing! See, now you don't have to kill me!" Gemma grinned as I practically jumped back into the booth. They all cheered and clapped for me.

"I'm still shaking like a leaf!" I laughed, being held tightly by Hudson.

"Darling, that was excellent. I didn't know you had lungs like that."

I laughed, "Ugh, I'm so glad it's over. See, that's why I only sing in the shower, 'cause if I screw up it's no big deal."

"I hear you. I think you've got a lovely voice." He smiled, kissing me chastely.

"Let's order some champagne or something, to celebrate." Ken grinned, just using that as an excuse to drink some more.

"You sound like an angel when you sing." Christian took a seat again with us. Hudson rolled his eyes and was fuming.

"Oh, uh, thank you." I sheepishly smiled. I could feel Hudson's grip on my hip tighten, I made a face and nudged him. He didn't realize he was doing it that tightly.

"We should do a duet, since I'm professionally trained and you obviously sound amazing." His lips slowly formed a smile. Hudson exhaled and gnawed at the inside of his cheek. I shrugged my shoulders, "Um, maybe later. I'm kind of still in that stage fright mode right now."

"I'll be waiting." He smirked, getting up and leaving.

Turning to my friends, "Order that champagne. I'm just gonna go to the ladies room, I'll be back." I kissed Hudson's cheek, whispering in his ear, "Ignore him." I referred to Christian.

I got up and left.

Hudson sighed loudly, "I'm gonna go get another drink." He abruptly stood up and left to the bar. While he waited there and the song Anyone But Him by Mr. Hudson was blaring, Christian came over.

While I washed my hands, I couldn't help but notice the voices of two ladies arguing. One voice sounded like Amelia's. After drying off my hands, I tossed the paper towel away and walked to the other side of the stalls and saw that Amelia and Brandy were arguing.

"He's coming home with me, just watch." Brandy hissed.

"He came here with me." Amelia gritted her teeth. "You whore, all night you've been practically undressing him with your eyes. Back off bitch, he's mine."

Brandy gasped and made a face, "You slut!" She shoved Amelia back into the wall.

"Don't you dare touch her!" I walked up to Brandy.

"Oh go away you whore. No one asked you." She pushed me too, so I shoved her back. Again she looked appalled and instead of pushing me back, she slapped me. I gasped and held my face.

"What do you want, Christian?" Hudson refused to look at him. He sipped at his bourbon on the rocks. Christian smirked and leaned against the bar next to Hudson, "She sure can sing. And she looks really great too."

Hudson bit the inside of his cheek. He turned to Christian, "You're sure audacious, aren't you?"

"That's what she likes about me." He smirked.

"Why can't you let her go? She's with me, you wouldn't ever have a chance with her. You're old. That's a little sick, don't you think? Twisted. An old man preying on a young woman." He stared at him.

Christian smiled, "Oh, but I think she likes that. She likes it when I take control."

"You're sick. You're a sick son of a bitch. She's married, and yet you continue to pursue her. Why?"

"I'm sure it's the same reason why you're still holding onto her. Because you love her. Well so do I, but I can see that she's wasting away with you. You're keeping her in a cage. I'm trying to liberate her, and believe me, I have." He smirked.

"She wants to be with me, because I give her everything. I satisfy her every need. You just lure her to your place and attack her."

"She comes willingly." Christian's smirk curved into an impish grin, "Actually, she came about 2, 3 times with me. In one go."

Hudson slammed his glass on the bar, shattering it beneath his hand. "That's it! You bastard!" He grabbed Christian.

"Get off me you psycho!" I screamed, being attacked by Brandy. Amelia lunged at her and knocked her off, starting to hit her back. "Don't touch her!" Amelia shouted. Her hair was grabbed quickly she was pinned to the ground, Brandy had taken off her high heel and was about to hit her but I grabbed her hair and dragged her off of Amelia.

My legs were grabbed and I tripped, thudding on the floor. "How do you like having your hair pulled?!" She screamed at me, yanking my hair. I winced in pain as I struggled against her.

Then she groaned in pain after being kicked in the side by Amelia, she rolled onto her side. Amelia quickly helped me to my feet, "Quick go, find a security guard or someone." I hesitated, not wanting to leave her on her own but I ran out and found someone close to the bathroom. I quickly explained what was happening and he came into the bathroom, grabbing Brandy and manhandled her out of the bathroom. We could hear her cursing and screaming in the distance.

Panting, I sat down on a couch and looked up at Amelia. "Are you okay?"

"I think so. You?" She rubbed her head.

"I think I'm okay." Subtly I placed my hand on my stomach, luckily that psycho didn't hit my stomach.

She panted, "Thanks. For doing that."

I looked at her and half-smiled, "No problem."

"How's my makeup?" She lightly laughed.

I smiled, "Still looking good. How's mine? That bitch sure can slap." We both started to laugh.

"You look good. We should go out there now, I think we've spent more than enough time in here." She smiled. As soon as we walked out, the room was facing the bar and I could barely make out what was going on. I made my way though the crowd to the front and gasped when I saw that Hudson and Christian were fighting.

"Hudson!" I gasped, I ran and pushed through the crowd, putting myself in between them. "Stop!"

They both were a mess, they had blood on them and were shouting profanities at each other. Kennedy and Jules ran over, grabbing onto Hudson and holding him back. "What are you doing?!" I shouted at my husband and Christian.

"He's crossed the line!" Hudson yelled, his eyes ablaze as he stared at Christian. The same security guard came over and grabbed Christian, "That's it, all of you, out." He looked at me, "I don't know what kind of friends you have, little girl, but I won't have none of your fighting here. Get out!" We were all kicked outside in the rain where Hudson and Christian still tried to fight each other, Christian grappled Hudson and slammed him down on the pavement.

"Stop it!" I cried, dropping to Hudson's side. He was winded and coughed, trying to regain his breath. His hand was bleeding. I turned to Christian, "Why would you do that?!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, "You said you wouldn't do anything. You lied. Why?!"

"You're making a big mistake, Avery. Why are you with him?" Christian stared hard at me.

"He's my husband!"

My friends as well as strangers outside the club were around us.

Hudson struggled to sit up, "Why? Why?! Why can't you just leave her alone? Why can't you just let go!?"

"Because I love her!" Christian shouted.

He struggled to stand, but when Hudson got to his feet, he shook his head and covered his face with his better hand. "You wanna know why we're moving to London? You wanna know why, Christian? To get away from you."

"You don't actually want to go. You don't want to leave. Your future is here, Avery." Christian watched me, hoping for me to give into him. But I covered my face and shook my head, "No, it's not."

"Yes it is Avery, believe me. I can make you happy." Christian reached out to touch me. "Choose me."

I shook my head, fighting back the tears. "No. No."

He stared at me looking lost, he whispered, "Why?" He held my shoulders, "Please Avery."

I cried in pain, "Please, just let me go. Please."

"I can't." He wrapped his arms around me. I fought against him and stepped back. He closed his eyes, "Just tell me why."

I threw my arms around myself as I jerked away from him, "Because I'm pregnant!" I sobbed. There was an audible gasp from my friends and a few others around us. He stared at me and was speechless.

He looked down at the ground and blinked, "You are?...Is it...mine?"

Hudson protectively stood in front of me and glared at him, "No. The child is mine."

Christian looked at me, "Is that true?"

I couldn't speak, my throat burned and I nodded my head even though I didn't know the truth. Still he watched me, "Look me in the eye and tell me it isn't mine."

Even though the tears were blinding me, I faced him and struggled to tell him something that could possibly be a lie. "It's not yours." He furrowed his brow and looked down.

"Now that should be enough for you to finally leave her alone." Hudson gritted his teeth, his arm around my waist and pulling me closer to his side. My friends and Amelia all stared silently in shock at us, and soon Jann came storming out. "What the hell is going on?!" He shouted.

"I'm sorry Jann." I quietly spoke, wiping away the tears.

"What is with you two?! Constantly. Especially you, Avery. This is unacceptable. The two of you, in my office tomorrow morning at 10 sharp. I am sick and tired of this." He shouted.

"It's done. I'm sorry, Jann." Christian shook his head.

"It better be." Jann growled before going back in. As I watched Jann go back in, I turned to Christian, but he had already turned and left. And I watched him disappear in the crowd and the rain. I was speechless as I looked down at my feet and blinked.

"Let's go." Hudson murmured into my ear. Still in shock, I nodded and looked at my friends, mouthing the words "I'm sorry." Before Hudson hailed a cab and we left.

After the brief time spent in the emergency room that led to Hudson's eight stitches, we went back home. And I couldn't talk, I was overcome with the feelings from tonight and I felt lost. I crawled into bed still stunned from all that went on, and he laid down next to me, wrapping his arm around me.

"Are you alright?" He whispered.

No.

"Yes. I just need to sleep right now." I whispered back.