To Capture a Heart ✔️

Chapter 26

I look around the landing, hoping to catch sight of some familiar faces. Feeling thirsty, I drag my body towards the kitchen. My eyes land on a bottle of alcohol on the counter and I feel my feet pull me towards it. Before I can drink it, a young adult grabs the bottle off the counter and opens it. Seeing that I was going to get it, he passed it to me.

'You're the birthday girl, right?' He asks as his eyes linger for a beat too long.

I swear I recognize the deep blue of his eyes and it suddenly hits me.

'Micheal? What are you doing here?'

'I'm a plus- one.' He answers, giving me a small smile.

'Well, thank you for being here! And yes, I am the birthday girl.' I shout over the ruckus.

'Have a drink.' He says whilst passing me a plastic cup filled with alcohol.

Hesitantly, I take the cup from him and bring it to my mouth. The satisfying burn that soothed my throat travelled through my body, setting fire to every wound.

'So, I never caught your name.' Micheal says, bringing me back to reality.

'Kaylee.' I answer.

'Kaylee. That's a nice name.' He says before smiling at me brightly.

'So Micheal, why do you work at an Italian restaurant?' I ask, half of my drink already gone. The memory of that day flashes through my mind, filling my head with HIS face.

'Well, I completely failed college and I need money.' He admits, embarrassment filling his face.

I refill my cup to the top and take a huge gulp, swallowing the poison.

'What about you? Do you... go to college?' He sweetly asks, smiling brightly at me.

'I do. I study history.' I don't even know why I said that last part. I think the alcohol is finally taking over.

By my fourth cup, my and Micheal are in tears of laughter as we hold our knees and scream. By the time we have both calmed down, I realized that all the laughing had taken a toll on me and that my bladder was screaming to be relieved.

'I need to use the bathroom.' I quickly blurt out before running up the long spiral stairs and trying the door handle that wouldn't budge.

'Helloooo?' I clamour, still trying the door handle.

The door flies open as a boy stands on the other side and a sharp intake of breath is taken by me. Or him, probably him.

'Happy birthday. You okay?' Ferris asks while I just stand there, staring into his amazing, dark eyes.

'Ferris!' I squeal, before pushing him back into the bathroom and closing the door behind us.

'What are you doing?' He asks as I uncomfortably stand at the doorway of the bathroom.

'I just... I wanted to...' I start.

'Can we talk, please?' He interrupts, taking a step towards me.

'We can talk when I'm sober.' I say, before a huge burp leaves my mouth.

'You're drunk?' He asks.

'Yeah... I was drinking with that person downstairs.' I momentarily forget Micheal's name as I talk to Ferris.

'Okay. We can talk later then.' He takes another step forward, moving me from the doorway and opening the door.

'Bye.' He says before turning towards the door. On instinct, I grab his arm and he spins around, shock clear on his face.

'What?' He asks, his face filled with concern.

I know I can't do this. It's wrong in so many ways. Drunk me knows better than sober me.

'Nothing...' I say as I slowly let go of his arm. 'Bye.'

Ferris shifts on his feet as he slowly nods his head and walks away. A sting of pain shoots through me as I watch him walk away from me, his hands stuffed into his pockets. Sighing, I lock the door. I can't watch this and I definitely cannot talk to him later. Not if I want to run back just to fall flat on my face.