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𝘞𝘙𝘌𝘕 𝘑𝘈𝘔𝘌𝘚
I HATE MEN. THEY’RE BIG, sweaty, slobbery animals who don’t know personal space. They think everyone wants them and that they can have everyone. It’s a laughable thought.
Me and Lex got to ‘Breakers’, the club, about an hour ago and we’ve been squashed in between college kids for the majorette of the time.
I feel gross by association, all sticky and damp. Everyone jumping up and down to the music, the lights that are flashing in every direction. It’s chaos, but one that I used to get caught up in.
Lex and I finish our travel through the ocean of people and find a place to sit at the bar. I sit down on the plush seats as Lex orders our drinks. Then when she’s about to sit down, a man with clean cut blonde hair, cuts in front of her and waves down the bartender.
“Excuse me.” Surprisingly Lex is the one to open her mouth before me. But she doesn’t say much after the man looks over at her.
I can practically see the hearts forming in her eyes, and I see the same star-struck look on the blondes’ face. They stare at each other for a few seconds before the man smiles. It’s a very attractive smile, one I think he uses rarely.
Sensing the tension between them I grab my drink from the bartender and slip away from the two. I only look back for a second to see Lex smiling while the guy starts saying something.
As I make my way through the crowd for the second time, I sense the feeling of eyes trailing me. I ignore the feeling and finish my hike to an open seat. But just as I go to sit down, another guy falls into the seat. I cross my arms and clench my fingers around my glass.
“Excuse me. I was just about to sit there before you pushed past me.” I keep my voice level and my eyes narrowed.
“Oh. My fault sweetheart,” Ew. “You’re welcome to sit on my lap if you’re in need of a place to rest your feet.” His smile is slimy and wobbly. He reeks of whiskey and barf.
I’d rather kill myself. I spin around but a hand on my wrist halts my movements.
I grind my molars together before turning around to find the greasy haired man’s hand wrapped around my wrist. His smile is still stuck on his ugly face while his friends-i’m assuming-whoop behind him.
I crane my head down, so I can speak to the man. I lower my voice so only he can hear me. “Remove your hand from me before I cut it off, wipe the floor with it and shove it down your oddly wide throat.”
Immediately his grip falls from my wrist and he swallows thickly. The stupid grin is wiped off his face and he rests his back against the chair. His buddies look towards him and then me. I don’t hide the disgust present on my face and resume walking into the crowd. Again.
I take a sip out of my glass and feel the music thrumming through the floor. It’s all too much, and i’m taken back to a couple years ago. When I used to come here every night, dancing and drinking. And more drinking.
Suddenly my drink tastes sour and I lower it from my mouth. I don’t drink often anymore, I never want to go back to the days where alcohol was my lifeline, to the point where I was willing to give up the rest of my life for another taste.
I was so…burnt out. I didn’t know what else to turn to.
Sure I had Lex but I never talk to her about stuff like that. And plus it only lasted a few months, not like I was struggling for a long time like others. It was a couple months and that’s all. Other people had it worse.
I didn’t even realize I was dancing until a different song came on and I was breathing heavier. My head started to spin when I felt those eyes on me again. This time they were hard to ignore; like they were burning through my skin.
I lifted my eyes from the floor and almost immediately they connected with intense gray ones. A familiar pair of gray ones. Their color in between stormy clouds and ice.
Rhys was leaning back on one of the bar stools. His legs spread and a drink in one of his hands. His head was tilted to the side and an unreadable look was plastered onto his face. He was wearing a dark blue crew neck, plain jeans and somehow his hair was messier. He looked normal.
And then the thought dawned on me. I’d never seen him in regular clothes. It was always strictly suits or dress shirts.
His eyes didn’t stray from mine for a few moments until heat engulfed my whole body and my head started pounding. I want to leave. Now.
Breaking Rhys’s eye contact, I moved to the other side of the bar where Lex had been a few minutes before.
__________
Lex hadn’t been at the bar, so i’m still on the hunt for her. Weaving in and out of the dance floor, in and out of the bathrooms. I constantly checked my phone to see if she had texted me, but there was no new messages. Nothing.
I was about to give up as I approached the bathrooms, once again. As I went to push open the woman’s bathroom door, it’s pulled open.
Lex and the blonde man stand in front of me. Lips: pink and swollen. Hair: teased and frizzy. Clothes: wrinkled and buttons ripped. Eyes: wide and glazed over.
“Um.” The blonde cleared his throat and rubs the back of his neck. My eyes follow his movement and brought my attention to a fresh purple bruise, just beneath his ear.
My mouth hung wide as Lex situated her bra beneath her dress. The blonde wrapped an arm around my best friends waist and ushered her out of the bathroom doorway.
I awkwardly back up and look towards Lex. She smiles just as awkwardly. A throat was cleared again and I look up at the man holding Lex. He smiles and reaches his free hand out towards me.
“Maxon.” He introduces himself.
I grab his firm hand and shake it. “Wren.”
That seemed to snap Lex out of her daydream. “Uh. This is my best friend I was telling you about.” Her gaze was lifted to Maxon.
He nods and smiles.
Lex’s head turns to me and she smiles happily at me. “We-I was going to catch a ride with Max to his place. That is unless you want me to go back with you. And if you do that’s totally fine i’ll just have to-“
“No. It’s fine. I can get a cab myself. It’ll probably only run me a few dollars.” I play with the hem of my dress.
“Oh. Okay, i’m sorry we didn’t get to hang out that much today. We’ll plan something for next weekend, okay?” Lex wraps her arms around me and squeezes.
I hug her back and she pulled away to kiss my cheek. I nodded at her and then looked towards Maxon. I met his eyes and silently said ‘hurt her and i’ll kill you’. He nodded and Lex grabbed his hand; making their way out of the bar.
I was alone. In the one place I shouldn’t be alone in.
Deciding it was best that I left before I was caught up with something else; I walk to the exit.
The cold night air hit me like a bus. I forced the door closed when the wind blew it open again. Situating my dress, I took out my phone and ordered a taxi.
Ten minutes. My taxi would be here in ten minutes.
I leaned against the freezing brick wall and shivered at the feeling. I rummage through my bag until my finger ran across just what I needed.
When I pulled out the cigarette, I fumbled in my bag for a-
“Lighter?” A deep, low voice asked from beside me. My head snapped to the person.
Rhys.
Of course. Of course it had to be him. Of all the men inside the bar, he had to be the one to be outside. I was left all alone and didn’t feel like arguing.
After my silence, he waved a lighter in between his long fingers. I looked back up at him and he tilts his head.
“Well it’s a good thing i’m here then. Can’t leave a lady unsatisfied. Especially when it looks like she’s in desperate need to…relax.” He tossed the lighter at me and I held it out in front of me.
A chocked sound came from beside me. Was that supposed to be a scoff? “It’s not poisoned.”
I narrowed my eyes at him before bringing the cigarette to my lips. When I placed the lighter to it, I bumped it too hard and the cigarette tumbled to the ground.
Fuck my life.
An agitated sigh left my mouth as I rested my head on the wall. I closed my eyes to regain my composure. I did really need a smoke, but it was my spare one. I had no more.
Rhys shuffled beside me, but I didn’t reopen my eyes.
I felt my lips being parted and then the paper of a cigarette between them. I opened my eyes to see Rhys putting a pack of cigarettes back into his pocket. A stick also hanging out of his mouth.
“It’s a filthy habit, but it’s one i can’t rid of.” Without looking at my face, he took the lighter from my hands. His cold knuckles brushed against mine and more shivers ran up the center of my spine.
I was in a daze as he lit his cigarette; watching the way his jaw flexed as he held it between his teeth. All of my thoughts failed me when he turned to me and gripped my chin.
He stared at my mouth intently. His eyes tracing the curve of my cupid’s bow, then following the bump of my bottom lip. He seemed to regain whatever he’d lost and brought the lighter to my cigarette, his eyes still lingering on my lips the entire time.
When his hand dropped from my chin, I inhaled, greedily, and breathed it out; trying to shake off the weird feeling in my gut.
“Are you waiting for a ride?” I grit my teeth as I desperately try to make the tension between us fade away. It was like waving away a thick cloud of fog.
Yet, it only grew when I looked over at him.
His head tilted back, lips parted; jaw strained. His long and veiny hand held the cigarette a little away from his face. His eyes were closed when he answered my question.
“No. I drove my friend and I here, but he got a cab with another woman.” He brings the cigarette back to his lips.
I open my mouth to speak but my taxi drives up to the curb. I put out my cigarette on the pavement, using my foot to press out the ashes. I lean off the wall and look toward Rhys.
“Are you going to be leaving now?” I adjust my bag.
“Not yet. I have one thing i need to take care of.” He puts out his cigarette and turns to the door of the bar. Hesitates, then turns his head to me.
“Goodnight Miss James.” He’s never called me by my first name, ever. It’s always ‘James’ or ‘Miss James’.
“Night.” I get into the taxi and give the driver my address.
When I look back out the slightly foggy window, Rhys is gone. No longer standing at the door; the tension finally broken.
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