the art of letting go

twenty - destiny *

the art of destiny

- - -

Despite knowing Shaylah since I was fourteen, she always failed to grasp my hatred of social interactions. So, once again, I was stuck at a wanna-be Frat party this time, surrounded by football boys off their face on God knows what.

It's safe to say that I don't enjoy the atmosphere. Especially when Kady dragged Shaylah off before I even managed to get through the door.

After searching the entire house twice, I eventually run across a beer pong table, where as usual Shaylah is winning the tournament. Brayden is next to her, cheering himself on. I don't try to distract them, knowing from past experience that Shaylah wouldn't respond well but if Brayden's here...Kady was cheering him on from the sidelines, grin fond as she watched Brayden's face light up like a Christmas tree.

I should've known they'd drift here eventually.

"Hey," She turned to me, grin still wide, as I asked. "Have you seen Nico?"

"Disappeared about ten minutes ago. C'mon, Bray!" She shouted before turning back around, clapping her hands in support. "I didn't think you were coming."

"I wasn't," I shrugged. Kady's long black hair was tied up into a ponytail, doing nothing more than accentuating all the features that highlighted her natural beauty.

"At least you're doing something other than studying, boo." She hummed in what I assumed was approval, and then- "Bray!"

Brayden grabbed her waist, spinning her around before tucking her into his side. He's very obviously drunk, grip sloppy as he pressed a kiss to her cheek.

She turned to kiss him properly, visibly sinking into his embrace.

"You okay?" Brayden mumbled against her lips. Once they pulled away, he ran his gaze along her as if checking for himself. Once he'd found whatever he was searching for, his eyes flicked to me, face twisting a little in surprise. "Kezz!"

"Please tell me you didn't lose," I chuckled at his wide-eyed expression, "Shaylah would never forgive you."

"Nope, Frankie won ten bucks though. He thought you'd bail on us again." He nodded, seemingly sobering up. "I always win at beer pong. It's like my sport."

That's a lie.

"Frankie did wha-"

"Jason!" Brayden shouted loud over the music, making me wince. His arm wrapped around a guy walking past us, "Have you met Jason, Kezz?"

I eyed him up and down, unimpressed. Where the fuck is Nico? "No."

The guy seemed to blanch under the assessment.

"He started boxing at the gym," Brayden let go of Kady to give the boy a shoulder pat, turning his attention to him. "This is Kezz."

The boy started eyeing me up and down, carrying out his own assessment with a flicker of interest in his gaze. He had a small smile and a nice body, t-shirt tight against his muscles. Yet I was getting a weird vibe from him, one that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Kady laughed as someone missed the cup on the table before dragging Brayden closer towards it, leaving me and Jack alone.

He grinned, a confident swagger in his step as he moved closer. "So, how do you know Brayden?"

"Known him since I was young," I said bluntly, not even attempting to make polite conversation.

"Oh," His eyebrows furrowed, "You want to dance?"