Sage

41

Gale's party was exactly how I expected it. Loud pop music boomed from colorful speakers that showed around his large house, bodies swarmed around, all dressed in slacks and dress shirts, and blouses or dresses for the women. It was casual for the most part, but I still felt out of place (as I always did around these events). The nude-colored satin dress began to stick to my thighs as sweat formed, causing me to tug it down but it came to be no use. Before we even got through the french doors, I accepted that the dress would rest an inch or two below my ass regardless of how many times I tried to adjust it. The bump in my belly wasn't of any help, either.

Harry only stuck to my side for five minutes before disappearing to grab himself a drink. He was gone for two hours, leaving me at a confused Gale's side. This wasn't too awkward considering Gale and I knew each other pretty well. I still couldn't help but feel like I trailed him like a lost puppy, and I hated that feeling. No matter how much he tried to fill me in on inside jokes and offer me sparkling water, my eyes still flitted across the jumpy house in hopes that I'd meet a certain pair of green eyes who'd essentially left me stranded.

I had plenty of things to tell Harry when I finally saw him again, but they all fell from my tongue when I finally spotted him coming down the grand marble stairs. His hair was a mess as he ran his hand through it, and his features were set in a hard tight frown. I was just noticing the wrinkles on his untucked shirt when a dark-haired woman came following behind him. Her injection-filled lips were plump from what I could only assume was a blow job, considering the dried cum stain on the side of her mouth.

At that moment, I had nothing to say to him.

There was nothing I could say. It's what I wanted, right? I wanted him to live his life and this was him doing just that. My face had no right to heat up the way it did, and my chest had no right to tighten in its place at the sight of him. I asked for this.

Harry materialized himself at my side soon after, reeking of weed and alcohol. He said nothing to me, only sarcastically thanking a pissed-off Gale who immediately stormed after the girl Harry'd been with.

The party around us had reached its peak, shouts of excitement were heard along with the sounds of glass clinking as everyone headed outside for the fireworks. A couple of inches between Harry and I, however, were nothing short of dark and cold. The tension felt like quicksand around us, pulling us deeper and deeper until we couldn't breathe.

It was this way when he washed my hair, and when he stayed behind me a second too long after tying my hair up. But that'd quickly changed when he abruptly left. Since then, he'd been distant from me and while I so desperately wanted to talk him out of it, I found myself growing annoyed. He had no reason to punish me for wanting to leave when he never asked me to stay. All he did was make excuses as to why I couldn't go home. I hated feeling like a burden and that's exactly how I felt living with him. No matter how hard he tried to work around it, I was always the girl from the south side that he invited to stay a few weeks out of pity.

Nothing more.

And him hooking up with that girl before I even had the chance to get my shit out of his home only proved that.

We stayed for the better part of an hour, and it was spent with me watching Harry down whatever liquor or beer he could find until he was no longer able to stand on his own two feet and instead, had to lean on me so nobody would notice exactly how intoxicated he'd gotten himself.

It was then that I grew tired and decided to call it a night. It was nearing eleven at night and my eyes stung with exhaustion. Also, Harry was a lot heavier than he looked, and people were beginning to notice how drunk he'd become, engaging in conversation just to provoke idiotic responses out of him for laughs. His face was flushed and coated in preparation as he spoke loudly, the dimples on his face never left. He looked happy as opposed to how he did when we first arrived, and even when he came out of the restroom with that girl he seemed upset. It only took all of the alcohol in the house to elicit a smile from him.