All The Odds

Ten

//Now I'm walking again, to the beat of a drum and I'm counting the steps to the door of your heart..// -Lolo

"What was that about?" Derrick asked as he came to stand beside Bella, her wide eyes still glued to the spot Daniel and Iverson stood with few other guys that had gone to intervene though neither of them looked inclined to throw another punch. Iverson for his part looked too shocked to even close his mouth.

"I, I'm not sure." She replied distractedly, Daniel had never been prone to violence and the fact that he hit Iverson of all people had sobered her up immediately.

"Where the hell did you know Daniel Campbell from?" She felt Derrick gently pulling her back to the bar, she didn't hear what, but Iverson said something and the guys with them began to move back too.

"His name is Daniel Jacobs." She corrected, getting back onto the stool in the bar, she watched Daniel intently going off about something at Iverson in a hush voice, right there in the middle of the room. "We live together."

"Right, I forgot his whole name changing thing. Wait, doesn't that make Iverson your housemate too? I heard he stays with Daniel now."

She nodded with a frown, Daniel didn't do any name changing but the string of cusses Derrick muttered under his breath distracted her from pointing that out.

"Why?" She asked instead.

"Someone just hopefully did a permanent damage on that idiot's face and it wasn't me, do you have any idea how that make me feel?" Derrick said, sounding really begrudged. She giggled in spite of herself.

"I'm glad you find it funny." Cynthia interrupted before she could ask why Derrick despised Iverson that much.

"Sometimes I get confused as to which of us Daniel is really dating." Cynthia continued as she came to stand outside the counter, directly opposite Bella.

"He forced me to this lame party because he claimed Big is his friend, and then he punch a guy I know for a fact that he's friends with just because he was holding you? The humour here is lost on me."

"Great," Derrick slowly turned to face another person he just wasn't looking forward to see but his glare was directed at his brother that walked back to the bar from Daniel and Iverson. "I thought this was Claire's birthday party, not some goddamn group reunion?"

Biggie shrugged as he strolled into the bar to further cramp the little space Bella and Derrick already filled. "Unfortunately, I didn't get to separate the sheep from the wolves when I invited everyone." He said.

Bella didn't quite get the whole 'group' thing going on and the nice floaty feeling she had from the alcohol was fast slipping away, so she set about retrieving her cup and pouring an unhealthy amount of grey goose, not bothering with diluting this time since the grape juice was farther from her reach and she didn't want to disturb their banter.

"How about that?" Derrick was saying sulkily, his arms folded on his chest. "I don't see Jay and Lola anywhere, do you?"

A guilty look briefly passed Biggie's face, he opened his mouth to speak but Cynthia beat him to it.

"Take a piss Der, everyone has moved on, even your brother have a whale for a girlfriend now."

Bella narrowly escaped choking again as she gaped at Cynthia who was acting out of character, fat shaming someone even if they were her ex's girlfriend wasn't something Bella would attribute to her, she sounded bitter and it made her think back to what Daniel said about her still possibly hung up on Biggie.

"You know," Derrick started calmly. "I was this close to forgetting why I can't stand you." He said, opening his arms as wide as the space left in the bar so the sarcasm wasn't lost on anyone. "Really close, but you had to open your mouth didn't you?"