A Story to Tell Your Friends

Twenty.

“How’s it going?” Sam called when I finally found him and Anya sat down in a booth on the other side of the club.
“Terribly, but I’m determined not to ruin my own birthday!” I laughed back to him. “I told you this bar was a bad idea.”
“Who knew Jack Barakat came to his own club, huh?” I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm. It had been him and Tammy that had dragged me here, and he was acting like it had been my idea or something. “I take it you’ve seen him.”
“Yep. But enough about him. I told you, I’m not going to ruin my own birthday.” Andy (another guy from work) appeared with two drinks in his hand, passing one of them over to me and telling me he’d been looking for me.
“Follow the trail of the bleach blondes in tiny skirts and I won’t be too far away,” I told him, accepting the drink, while also finishing the one I already had. It was true. Jack was being less than subtle in following me around the club now, and those were the types of girls who tended to follow him around. Andy looked at me confused, but Sam told him he didn’t want to know. Also true. No one needed to know the shit storm that was becoming my birthday.
“How many have you had?” Sam laughed at me as I fell into the seat next to him, wobbling slightly and using the table to balance myself.
“I lost count around ten,” I laughed. As the guys had been replacing my drinks for me consistently and I was living in fear of Jack confronting me, I’d been drinking. A lot. Surprisingly, I was still quite coherent, though I knew I was having difficulty remaining upright for extended periods without some support. On the dancefloor, that had been Tammy. I glanced over, noticing her laughing at something Chris had said. I was glad she’d taken an interest in someone other than me finally. Tammy had always been the relationship type, so it made sense.
“You’re gonna hate yourself in the morning.”
“No, I’m going to hate all of you in the morning. You’re the ones who have been piling this shit on me. I bought one drink.”
“Either way, your apartment is going to be filled with untold hatred.” I nudged him playfully and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “I promise I won’t buy you anymore drinks tonight.”
“But it’s my birthday,” I pouted. He laughed at me as I felt my phone go off in my purse. I pulled it out clumsily, seeing a mention on Twitter from Alex. I rolled my eyes, ignoring the notification and switching my screen back off. Jack had probably pulled himself away from staring at me to text him what had happened. I scowled at the drink in front of me as I threw my phone back in my bag. He had no right to be ruining my night like this. I searched the room for him quickly, seeing him by the bar, talking to some guy and occasionally shooting an annoyed look in my direction. I realised Sam’s arm was around my shoulders still and shuffled out of his grip. I knew I shouldn’t care that Jack didn’t like it, but I did. His opinion still mattered to me, no matter how much I didn’t want to admit it.
“I think it’s about time we got you home,” Sam told me as I giggled to myself in the booth. Despite his assurance he wouldn’t be buying me anymore drinks, Sam and the others had continued to pass me drinks every time they’d gone to the bar and I was far beyond drunk.
“I’m fine,” I insisted.
“Well, you might be, but it’s 2:30, and I wanna go home,” Sam told me, helping me up from my seat as he made sure he’d grabbed everything he needed. I look at him as if to ask why that affected me. “I’m not leaving you here alone, Clara.”
“I’m not alone. Tammy is still with Chris,” I told him. “I’ll just go find her.”
“Are you sure you’ll be alright?” He asked, concern lacing his voice. I must have been drunk if he was worried.
“Positive,” I smiled. “Thank you for coming and helping me forget everything, and I’ll see you next week.” Sam frowned, though accepted the hug I offered him and told me to text him in the morning so he knew I was okay before leaving to go home. I grabbed my purse from the table, making my way to the bar first. I ordered another drink, taking a breath. I’d lost track of Jack around half an hour ago and I’d allowed myself to let go again now that he was gone. I leaned against the bar with my drink, searching the room for Tammy. I couldn’t see her, though I wasn’t concerned. She’d probably just gone to the toilet or to sit in the corner with Chris and actually talk.
I pushed myself off the bar, making a beeline for the bathrooms.
“Tammy?” I called, standing in the middle of the ladies’ room. The queue had dissipated and I could only imagine most of the girls had either gone home or to another bar. “Tammy!” I shouted again when I heard no response after a couple of minutes. I sighed in frustration, storming back out of the room and searching for her elsewhere. I checked the booths and the dancefloor next, taking my time and looking for her, but to no avail. I scowled, drinking the last of my drink and making my way outside. She wouldn’t have left without telling me. I checked the front of the club, not seeing her or Chris anywhere, nor anyone else I knew. I leaned against the wall a few feet away from the door and allowed myself to fall to the floor slowly. This had become a major disaster far quicker than I’d imagined.
I fumbled with the zip on my purse, finally fishing my phone out and squinting at the screen. I still had notifications from both Jack and Alex, as well as two other text messages.
Hey cutie! Where you at tonight? Wanna come say hi for your birthday!
I scowled at Jack’s text before going back to my other two messages.
Happy birthday for yesterday! I hope you’re having a fab time. Try not to let anything get to you my lovely xx
Lisa. Of course she and Alex had both seen my annoyed announcement and both contacted me. I expected nothing less.
Boo boo, I’m going home with Chris. I’ll see you in the morning – enjoy yourself and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. ;)
So, that’s where Tammy was. I was so drunk I could barely operate my phone and she’d gone home with some guy, on my birthday. I put my head in my hands. I didn’t want to be selfish, and I knew she hadn’t been with anyone since her boyfriend left her in February, but I was pissed. I was alone in LA, somewhere I still found myself lost in frequently, beyond drunk and with no one to help me home. I felt my eyes burning as tears started to fall. I knew I was being dramatic, but I couldn’t help myself. I suddenly felt so alone.
“Clara?” A voice asked softly from above me. I let out a small sob, ignoring whoever it was. “Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” I felt an arm wrap itself around my shoulders and sobbed once again, this time louder, sinking into the chest of the person next to me. A hand moved itself up and down my back, shushing me as I cried into their chest. How had I turned into such a fucking wreck? I was alone in LA, everyone had left me and all I wanted to do was go home. I let myself cry for a little while until I finally calmed down enough to pull away from whoever it was who had found me. I wiped my eyes on the back of my hand.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, still trying to make myself look reasonable. I had been so used to crying by myself for the last month, I hardly knew how to act when someone caught me.
“Don’t apologise, you know I’m always here for you.” The voice suddenly clicked in my head and I turned swiftly to see who it was.
Jack. Of course it was fucking Jack.
“What do you want?” I spat. Jack flinched visibly, obviously confused by my sudden mood swing. I didn’t care. He knew I was mad at him, he’d known that for a month, what did he think was all of a sudden different?
“N-nothing. You were upset and alone, I wanted to make sure you were okay.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Well, I’m perfectly fucking fine. You can go now.” I attempted to stand up, though lost my footing as I straightened my legs, falling into the wall. I scowled. Why had I gotten so drunk? Oh, yeah. Jack.
“You’re not okay, Clara. Let me call you a cab.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“Where’s Tammy?”
“She went home with Chris.” Jack looked at me puzzled. “Oh, please, I saw you staring at us. You saw who Chris was.” His mouth dropped, forming a little ‘o’ when he realised who I was talking about.
“What about Sam?” He sneered as he let Sam’s name out and I rolled my eyes. What right did he have to be annoyed that a friend had given me a hug? Like that was all he’d done in the last month.
“Sam went home too.”
“He left you?” Jack looked pissed and I rolled my eyes again. Again with the emotions he had no right to feel about me or my friends.
“Don’t give me that shit, Jack. If you’d cared about what had happened to me, you would have spoken to me in the last month. You didn’t. He left because I told him to leave, you left over literally nothing.” I folded my arms, glaring at him.
“I left because that’s what you wanted.”
“What I wanted? You were the one out checking out other girls within hours of speaking to me! Making sure everyone knew just how single you were!” My voice started to rise a little, my anger growing. He had no right to blame this on me. None whatsoever.
“Because you were off with other guys! I’d been gone less than a fucking week and you were already telling me you wanted to see other people!”
“I told you, I never once said that, Jack! I said you owed me nothing; that I didn’t care if you saw other people. Why would I want anyone else when I was head over heels for you?! I’d swanned about for a month, thinking I was so lucky you wanted me too, that maybe you might love me like I loved you! But, no, I was just an idiot girl who happened to be in the right place at the right time. I was just convenient.” Jack gaped at me and my eyes widened when I realised what I’d told him. I gulped quickly, closing my eyes briefly and taking a breath. “But what does that matter? It’s not like it’s true anymore: I hate you.”
“No, you don’t. Just like I don’t hate you.” Jack went to wrap his arms around me, but I pushed him back. He ignored me, moving toward me again. I went to hit him, annoyed that he felt like he had the right to touch me, but he grabbed my hand, using his other arm to pull me in via my waist.
“I hate you,” I repeated, much quieter than before, my heart racing. Jack shook his head, staring into my eyes. “I hate you.”
“No, Clara, I don’t think you do.”
His lips crashed onto mine. My hand dropped and he moved his to the back of my neck, pulling me in further. I melted at his touch, giving in and kissing him too.
♠ ♠ ♠
I actually quite like this chapter.
There's a few fun chapters coming up soon too. Promise.