You're Still My Favorite Melody

That’s how I walk back into the party, soaking wet and on Pete’s back.

“Maybe we should get you a towel,” Pete mutters, lowering me to the ground.

“Hey, Ryan, where can we get some towels?” Pete asks, as the mousy boy walks by.

“Upstairs bathroom.” Pete grabs my hand and leads me upstairs and into the bathroom.

I grab a towel and start toweling off my damp hair, while Pete sits across from me on the bathtub.

“You never answered my question. Why are you still with that asshole?” he asks.

“I don’t know Pete,” I mutter.

“So right now. Break up with him.”

“Pete.”

“I’m serious. Call him right now and tell him it’s over,” he says, moving so that he’s sitting next to me.

I sigh, “I don’t want to.”

“Why not?”

“He’s not a bad guy. Most of the time he’s sweet and comforting and if I lose him...who do I have left?”

“Your friends-”

“What friends Pete?! Everyone in New York hates me!” I exclaim.

“They’ll come around and if not you have me,” Pete says, watching my face for a reaction.

“I don’t think I’ve ever owned someone before, but thanks” I laugh, pulling him into a hug.

We both go back downstairs and I spot Sisky and a girl whose name I think is Kate.

“I’ll catch up with you later,” I say, but Pete’s already running off in the direction of the keg.

“Hey Adam,” I say smiling nervously.

“Sabrina? I didn’t know you were coming!” he exclaims, pulling me into a hug.

“I thought you’d be mad,” I say slowly.

“I was at first. Then Kate told me to stop acting like such a baby. And then I realized that you left because you had too and not because you wanted to hurt me. Oh and uh, this is Kate my girlfriend.”

Kate was well gorgeous to say the least. She had medium length brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a simple blue dress that made me feel like a hillbilly.

“I’m Sabrina,” I say smiling brightly, extending my hand.

Instead of shaking my hand, Kate pulls me into a hug.

“I know how they can be. I just want you to know that I’m on your side,” she adds, noticing my confused expression.

“Thank you so much,”I say, pulling her into a hug.

I didn’t understand why she was being so nice to me, but quite frankly I didn’t care. Someone was offering their friendship and that was all that mattered.

“Me too. Just not right now. Kate promised to go swimming with me,” Sisky says, excitedly.

Kate smiles and lets him pull her away, waving goodbye. I laugh and turn around, looking for Pete’s head in the crowd.

“Looking for someone?” Gabe asks, grabbing my arm from behind.

“Where’s Faye?” I ask, feigning interest.

“It doesn’t matter. I wanted to talk to you,” he says, leading me toward one of the couches in the corner of the room.

I cross my arms and sit down next to Gabe. I am not letting my guard down.

“What’s going on with you and Pete?”

I roll my eyes, “that’s none of your business Gabe.”

“Just tell me.”

“Why does it matter to you? Could it be that the Gabe Saporta has a crush on little old me?” I ask, feigning shock.

“Forget it,” Gabe mutters, but I’m not willing to drop it yet.

“No Gabe, I don’t want to forget it. Stop playing games. Do you like me or not?”
“Define like,” he counters.

“I’m being serious.”

“So am I. The word like has a lot of definitions,” Gabe points out.

“Fine Gabe, when you decide to stop playing around, come find me,” I mutter, walking off in search of Pete.

“Hey Ryan have you seen Pete?” I ask, walking over to him.

“Is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” I mutter, avoiding Ryan’s unblinking gaze.

“You sure?” Ryan asks.

“Yeah, uh, I think I see Pete.”

I run over to Pete who’s talking to another guy and put an arm over his shoulders.

“Brendon this is Sabrina,” Pete says, putting his arm around my waist.

Brendon furrows his eyebrows, “are you guys together?”

I blush and drop my arms to my sides.

“No, um...friends,” I mumble uneasily.

“She’s off-limits,” Pete says protectively.

What the fuck does that mean?

Before I can ask Brendon points to a figure by the door.

“Is that William?” he asks and my head immediately turns in that direction.

William’s standing about 5 feet away from me, beer in hand, talking to Ryan.

“Shit,” I hiss, jumping away from Pete.

William’s walking over here and oh shit I can’t handle him right now.

“What’s-”

“I need to go now. William is-”

Fuck.

“Hey Sabrina,” William says, watching Pete closely.

I flinch and Pete narrows his eyes, playing protective older brother role.

“What do you want?” he hisses, pulling me closer to him.

“I want to talk to Sabrina,” William says pointedly.

“I’ll have to check her calender but-”

“Shut up Pete,” I hiss, punching his arm.

“Fine but I’ll be back in ten minutes!” Pete yells, pulling Brendon along with him.

“Look William there’s nothing to talk about. You made it very clear how you felt about me,” I mutter.

“No I didn’t. I just acted like an asshole and I’m sorry.”

I wanted to be mad, really I did. I wanted to tell William that he was an asshole, but I couldn’t. William didn’t deserve any shit from me.

“That doesn’t change things between us. You need time to think right?” I ask.

“Sabrina I’ve thought about it for months! What would I do if she came back? Would I tell her that I was afraid of losing her again and that I love her or would I let her go again? Every time it so much as crossed my mind the answer was almost always the same,” William says and there’s something in his eyes that I’ve never seen before.

“What was the answer?” I ask almost reluctantly. I am in no mood to play 100 ways to be rejected.

“I...”

Instead of finishing his sentence, William kisses me.

What the fuck?

“Um, you just...uh...good answer,” I answer breathlessly.

William brushes a stray strand of hair out my face and smiles.

“I’m really sorry about earlier...and last night. I was such-”

I push my lips against William’s and he immediately stops talking.

“Hey! No making out!” Pete shouts.

“That was hardly ten minutes,” William complains.

“Yeah, like I’d leave you alone with her for that long,” Pete scoffs.

“Hey I own you remember?” I laugh.

“I hate to be a cock-block but,” I snort and Pete ignores me, “Gabe’s been looking for you and he almost killed me because he thought we were together. I suggest you go fix that.”

“No, I’m tired of always fixing things with him. I just want to stay-”

Pete and William both point in the direction of Gabe. He’s standing on the other side of the room with his back turned to us.

“On second thought, I think now is the perfect time to leave,” I kiss William on the cheek, before running out of the house.

I couldn’t go home to Daniel but-

“You’re staying with me right?” Pete asks.

I hadn’t even realized he had been following me.

“Thanks Pete.”