Twenty One:

A couple days later:

 

“Cole, where are you? My birthday party started twenty-five minutes ago,” my friend, Lailya shouted over the phone, the sound of music blaring and people talking were very apparent in the background.

“I’m coming, I’m coming. I'm just about to put on my shoes… have you ever heard of being fashionably late?” I joked.

“Whatever, just get here soon,” she said with a laugh before hanging up.

I slipped my feet into my metallic silver heels, grabbed my cell phone and my purse, and then headed out to my car.

I pulled up to the club ten minutes later, and confidently stepped through the door. I noticed a big table in the back stocked with familiar faces. I headed that way.

“Cole!” Lailya shouted, before standing up, running over to me, and enveloping me in a hug.

“Happy Birthday, bitch,” I joked, while handing her a card.

“Thanks. You look cute,” she commented.

“Oh, thank you,” I replied while looking down at my apparel. To go along with my pin straight hair, a loosely fitted halter style dress hung from my body, cutting off right above my knee, while a metallic silver belt was wrapped around my waist to match my heels.

“Well, take a seat… everyone here had been asking where the hell you were,” she said before ushering me into a seat.

I took in the faces around me; the majority of them were very familiar. People gave me their greetings and I kindly returned them.

After we devoured the food that was served, we headed over to the bar for drinks, and after three or four shots, I was on the dance floor. I pulled Lailya over to me and we began grinding to the music.

“Oh my God, look who’s here!” Lailya shouted, pointing over to the entrance of the club.

I whipped my head around and saw my brother stepping through the doorway, Jon by his side. I rolled my eyes. “Oh God,” I mumbled.

“I haven’t seen your brother in ages, God damn, he looks fine as hell. Oh, not to mention, Jonny looks pretty good as well. Let’s go say hi!” She grabbed me by the hand and pulled me through the packs of people over to my brother.

My brother noticed us almost immediately. “Hey Lailya, how have you been?” he asked, wrapping her in a hug.

“Great, it’s my twenty-first birthday tonight, you so owe me a dance,” she replied.

“That, I do.”

“Who’s this?” Jon asked with an arched eyebrow, acting like I wasn’t even standing there.

“Hi, I’m Lailya,” she replied with a giggle while he wrapped his arm around her.

“Nice to meet you,” he replied.

I cleared my throat loudly, “Come on Lailya, lets get back on the dance floor.”

“Okay, I’ll meet up with you guys later,” she said, “don’t forget… you owe me a dance, Patty.”

“Yup,” he replied with a wink.

I pulled her back on the dance floor and we began dancing once more, as the drinks kept flowing.

“You know, that Jon and I are dating,” I informed her.

“No way!” she slurred, she had consumed more alcohol than I had thought.

“Yeah,” I replied, a slight blush forming on my cheeks.

“Aw, that’s too cute,” she replied.

A few songs later, Jon and my brother had met us on the dance floor and Lailya had begun dancing with my brother, grinding all over him. She then grabbed Jon and began grinding on him as well. I knew that she had a lot to drink, but I couldn’t help but be a little annoyed. I had just told her that I was with him. But, the thing that made me even more annoyed was that Jon wasn't stopping her or walking away.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed one of Lailya’s friends, Brent, and began dancing with him. I mean, I wasn’t about to watch Jon grinding all over one of my best friends. My glass had soon become empty so Brent and I headed to the bar, I made sure to shove past Jon on my way.

I sat down and handed my glass to the bartender who immediately began refilling it. I looked out into the crowd, watching Jon and Lailya, who were still dancing and laughing with eachother. I turned my head away, absolutely furious, and began talking to Brent.

Throughout our conversation, I kept shooting glances over at them, noticing that they were still laughing, talking, hugging, and dancing.

Then my phone began vibrating in my hand.

One new text message.

From Jon.

I opened it.

Hey are you pissed at me?

I rolled my eyes, was he fucking kidding me? He hadn’t even acknowledged me all fucking night, and this is what he was going to say to me.

What do you think?

He replied quickly, I think we need to talk

Fuck yeah we need to talk

Meet me at the entrance of the bar

“Hey, I’ll be back a little later, okay?” I said to Brent before wrapping him in a hug. “Call me sometime.” I slowly and reluctantly stood up and made my way through the hundreds of bodies to the entrance of the club. He stood there waiting for me. I walked up to him and he grabbed my hand, leading me outside as the cold air nipped at my exposed skin.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked me.

“Are you kidding me, Jon?” I paused while shaking my head, “you seriously didn’t acknowledge me all fucking night. And you have the nerve to be all over one of my best friend’s right in front of my face? Seriously, you think that’s okay?”

“I danced with her for like two seconds, Cole. That’s it.”

“Yeah, okay… I’m sure; you guys were all over each other all fucking night,” I replied angrily.

“I barley even know her! If I had feelings for her, I’d be in there talking to her, getting her number. Do I have her number, Cole? Am I in there, talking to her, trying to get with her? No, I’m out here, trying to make things okay with you.”

“Whatever Jon, I don’t need this right now. I’ll see you at home.” I pushed past him and headed back inside. I wasn’t about to let him ruin my night.