A tale of a girl, an ex, and dirty martinis.

The Work Party.

***completely raw and unedited. I've published the chapter on the off chance someone might read it, but not gonna lie; it needs work!***
I held onto Luke's arm as we walked up the steps of the hotel hosting some celebratory cocktail party for the company he works for. I like parties, but I wasn't so keen on work do's. You know the type; the colleagues all know each other and try to include partners in conversations by finding common ground, but eventually they all just talk about what's happening in the office, I didn't expect tonight to be any different.
"I'm really looking forward to introducing you to Jess", Luke said, breaking my thoughts.

Ah Jess, I thought. Jess was the new colleague, who started working with Luke a month or so ago. They apparently shared the same vision and Luke was really excited to have someone working with him, rather than against him. I really didn't know much about the woman other than he seemed to spend a lot of time with her at work. If I were the jealous type I'd probably be a bit concerned, but I was far from insecure, especially when it came to my relationship with Luke.

We'd met six years ago when we were working for the same company. We were in very different departments, but our paths crossed often and it wasn't long before we found ourselves chatting over a wine at Friday night drinks, which led to dates, a real relationship and recently, an engagement. I remember all the women being in awe when I started dating Luke. He was one of the eligible bachelors and well, I guess they thought I was too plain to catch his attention, let along his heart.

I caught our reflections in the mirror as we entered the foyer. Luke cut a dashing figure in his charcoal suit. His blond hair has just the right amount of flop and he has amazing grey eyes. On his arm was me in a black cocktail dress, my auburn hair swept up into a complicated hair style that to be honest, I didn't love, but my best friend is a hair stylist and insisted. I peered at myself through smokey eyes and my red lips lifted into a smile. We made quite an attractive pair. Plain my ass, I thought in reference to those women six years ago.

We entered the party and immediately Luke was surrounded by colleagues. I sighed and headed off to find us drinks; a pale ale for him, and Merlot for me. I hung around the bar sipping my drink and looked around. As usual the colleagues were mixing while their partners stood around awkwardly or made small talk with people they didn't really know.

"Hi, it's Alexandra, isn't it?"
I turned to see a guy in his 30's standing next to me. I remember making small talk with him at the Christmas party. "Yes, yes call me Alex. It's Anthony yes?"
After establishing what to call each other we stood having an awkward conversation. When it became apparent that we weren't going to find common ground while we were both sober, I excused myself to find Luke.

I spotted him over by the window talking animatedly to a slim blond woman with her back to me. Sensing that this was Jess, I grabbed a fresh merlot, Luke's slightly warm beer and headed over.
"Alex, you're back," Luke smiled happily and slipped his arm round my waist, "I'd like you to meet my colleague, Jess, you guys are going to get along so well!"
I looked up at Jess ready to greet her with enthusiasm and froze, standing in front of me was my past.
My fucking past.