725 Days

Day 1

The first drink was fine. It was a trick, a trap that I had played into carelessly. If anything it tasted watered down with minimal alcohol, but still I sipped it slowly while Annie downed three more in the time it took for me to finish the first one.

I stood awkwardly on the sidelines of their pool game and watched as Pete "taught" Annie how to play.

She flirtatiously arched her back and pushed her backside into his crotch. She tossed her hair back as she looked over her shoulder with doe eyes eager to look seductive. She was into him and there was little I could do to coax her away. She was like this with every guy she met and it always caused it to end hard and quick.

Brent.

Then Luke.

Then Kyle.

After him it was Dave.

And then most recently Craig wrapped up her love interests of this past year. None lasted more than a couple of months and I'm sure this Pete would undoubtedly fare the same fate.

I sighed and checked my phone. Only 12:31, there's no way Annie would want to leave yet and I definitely wasn't feeling drunk enough to want to stay, but there was no way I could leave her here by herself.

I finished my drink and set it on the bar table beside me as Pete left to go to the bar to get more drinks. Annie came skipping towards me soon after. Her smile was beaming, even though her eyes were hazed over.

"Hey," she slurred gripping onto my forearms to keep from falling.

"Hey there," I replied holding on to her to keep her stable.

"I'm going to run to the restroom. Keep him safe," she says a bit too loud, loud enough that he hears as he walks back to us with drinks in hand and smirks. She gives me a wink before she begins to saunter away towards the restroom.

"Annie, I'll come with," I call out to her and begin to take a step forward when a hand grips my elbow.

"Let's have a little fun," Pete whispered in my ear as his body pushed up against the back of mine as I watched Annie drunkenly sway to the bathroom without me.

I gasped scurried forward before turning to face him.

He chuckled. "I didn't mean to scare you," he laughs as people squeeze past him to head to the bar. "Sorry, it's a bit crowded in here," he adds and he inches back a bit.

"No worries," I reply but maintain my distance. For as hot as he is he gives me the creeps. Something about him seems off. Why do we never trust our guy instincts I still ask myself to this day?

It wasn't that he just seemed off when him and Annie were playing pool, though it wasn't hard to notice that each time he stood behind Annie, when he wasn't speaking to her he was staring at me with bright eyes. I tried to play it off that he was looking somewhere behind me or next to me, but it surely wasn't the case. I knew he was looking at me. It was that I was being cocky or confident or full of myself even. The way he looked at me was a lion stalking its prey, waiting for the opportune moment to pounce. Each time he passed me as he made his way round the table he always managed to brush against me, even if there was clearly enough room. His whole energy he put out into the universe was off, it felt dark and menacing.

"Take one," he says and continued to hold a drink from the tray he placed on the table beside us out to me instantly breaking me from my thoughts of him. The way he says it though sounds more like a demand than an offer.

"I'm fine," I reply and look towards the restrooms to see Annie standing in a long line of girls waiting to use the restroom.

"Loosen up Alanna," he says with a chuckle and downs his drink while still holding out the one he's offered to me.  My name sounds sweet and sugary in his mouth as if it is the last bite of his favorite sweet he is savoring and draws out each syllable.