Half Hearted

Chapter Three

| Teresa |

I left our small town the next day, driving yet another two hours back to the city. Although Ash still popped in my head every once in a while, I decided to ignore his mishap and only focused on the fact that I even saw him there. My first public celebrity siting. Would I tell Oria? If I did, would she blabber off, spreading news to every person she saw? Deciding to keep it to myself, I pulled up at the back of the apartment building, and parked in my usual spot.

I was alone when I got in our apartment, so I decided to have a little party to myself. Grabbing the closest bag of chips we had, I binge-watched American Horror Story until my phone rang. It was Oria.

"Teresa!" She screamed, making me wince and pull my phone slightly away from my ear. The background noise was loud, and the bass was tearing its way through my phone. "Are you back yet?"

"Yeah, just got here about two hours ago," I replied, half screaming so she would be able to hear me.

"Awesome sauce, now get your ass over at this party because woohoo!" Her giggles were heard, and suddenly I heard more laughs erupting from within the phone.

"Oria, where are you?" I asked, wondering which party she'd gone to.

"I'm at Steven's," she answered, her slurs and hiccups making her very hard to understand. She hung up without a chance for me to say that I'd be heading her way.

Huffing, I cleaned up the chip crumbs on the couch, grabbed my coat, and started my car again to head her way. She was always getting herself intoxicated. Even though her grades were higher than mine, she'd be worse off than I was when it came to parties.

Since it was almost midnight, the street was hardly filled, so it took me less time to get to Steven's place.

Steven was our school friend, the one with the worst grades from our clique of four. The other, Claire, had the highest, but she never usually hung out with us because her studies were her priorities. Of course, that didn't stop her from having the casual drink once in a while - which she never told her typical strict Asian parents about.

Once I got a clean parking space, I locked my car and headed inside Steven's house. From a mile away the bass could be heard, as well as the screams of multiple non-sober girls. I caught sight of Oria once I heard her wails. Steven saw me and offered me a red cup but I refused. "Come on, Oria, I gotta get you home."

"But... Randy," she sobbed, her makeup had already started to run down her face. I put an arm around her shoulder and tried to stand her up but she forced herself down on the couch. "No. Party for me. Party for you. Party for everyone!"

I sighed, rolling my eyes as she sunk into the couch and smiled at the trouble she was planning to cause. She always seemed to have the mindset of Oprah when she was inebriated.

When someone tapped on my shoulder I turned around and faced Steven again, him still holding a red cup for me to hold. Defeated, I grabbed the cup - with him grinning like a fool - but held off on the drinking.

I was planning not to drink the whole night until Oria started throwing more fits about her ex. Here goes nothing, I thought, bringing the fruity liquor to my lips and satisfying the cravings I didn't know I had.

The night rolled by like any other night would have gone in a party. Oria was drunk, I got drunk. Steven had to stay sober to drive everyone home, but drank once it was only us three at his house. Claire was at the National Music Championship playing the cello, so she became the role model out of all of us that night.

When I woke up the headaches came back to me, and I found myself uttering the same words - as I did before, when I got shit-faced drunk - I'm never going to drink that much again.

I stood up from the couch and saw that Oria was already awake, and she was preparing herself a glass of orange juice. Seeing me, she grabbed another glass from the cupboard and poured me some as well. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to drag you into this again."

I shook my head, wincing at the bright kitchen light. "Tough night with Randy?"

Oria sighed and took a seat on the high chair, "yeah. I saw him at Starbucks with this other girl - he said her name was Lacy or whatever. They started hanging out a month ago. A month. Can you believe that? She was probably the reason we broke up."

I pressed my lips into a thin line and tried to empathize with her, "was she pretty?"

"Drop dead gorgeous."

"Don't beat yourself up about it," I tried reassuring her. "You'll find someone soon enough."

"Speaking of finding someone," Steven interrupted, walking down the stairs wearing only a pair of plaid boxers. "You want to tell us something Teresa? While you're actually sober?"

Curious, I raised an eyebrow at him, and he mouthed a one syllable word. Crap. I must've blabbered about Ash when I didn't mean to. "Teresa, what's he talking about?"

I grunted, putting my face in my hands. The smell of the bourbon was still present on my fingers. "Who else did I tell last night?"

"Not much: just me and the whole street, you know, the usual," Steven chuckled, grabbing himself a glass of water.

"I'm dead," I stated, not satisfying Oria's curiosity.

"What are you two going on about?" She asked again. If there was anything else she loved more than Randy, it was the need to know.

"Teresa saw the model Ash Stymest in Helvetica," Steve spilled, a smirk played on his lips. I tilted my head at him, giving him the blankest look I could muster. "And she tried giving him her number but he rejected her."

"No way, really?"

"Stop," I begged them, cringing at my own actions. "I met him when I was jogging, and then he ran away from me so I followed him, and then I let him in my aunt's shop for a drink. He looked like he was in trouble, alright? So I offered to help him, but he's actually a piss off. He's as mean as he looks."

"He was nice to me," Oria muttered, shrugging and looking down at her glass.

"Yeah well when I told him he knew you, he didn't even remember your name. He said his management made him talk to you or something. Anyways, the guy's a jerk. Can't believe I even offered to help," I commented, finishing my orange juice. "Did I really tell everyone about him last night?"

Steven shook his head, "everyone was either drunk or passed out anyways. You're fine. But do we really have to keep this a secret?"

I nodded, "I think he was trying to hide from his managers, so yes, keep it a secret please. Even though it'll probably be on the news tomorrow - thanks to Oria."

"Hey, I do not spill secrets like that," she tried defending herself. Steven and I shared a look and chuckled to ourselves. It was a warm feeling - being with my friends again.

The happiness made me paranoid that it wouldn't last.