One That Got Away

Before it all ends

I look over my shoulders at the sound of a laugh. A particular laugh to be honest. A laugh that I can recognize anywhere even if I were deaf. As if I sent some telepathic brainwave to him his eyes meet mine. And suddenly the loud noise of the background seemed to fade away. Almost like a buzzing sound the broken cassette player my grandfather had used to make. He moves his attention to me ignoring the pretty brunette in front of him. We're doing nothing vulgar really. But for some reason it feels intimate. More intimate than any kisses I've had with my exes. Maybe because they weren't him. No one can ever compare to him.

"Della." he says my name like a lovers soft caress. I burst out of my stupor quick enough to notice that he is now in front of me. Shit, I must've been staring.

"Hey, Oscar." I offer him a drink from the bar, he takes it. "Where's Auntie Augusta ?"

"She'll be here soon I think. You look beautiful by the way." he raises his glass and clinks it with mine. His gaze languorously travels over my whole body and fuck why is it so hot here? "Thank you." I say with a smile. "You should go back to your date though she's been eyeing me for awhile, I wouldn't want to get murdered on our graduation party you know?"

"Aww no need to be jealous, Del. She's not my date." He ruffles my hair with a grin and makes his way back to her. I huff at his retreating back.

I have known Oscar since I was born. Our parents have been bestfriends since high school, after they got married they decided that they wanted to live next to each other and so they did. Auntie Augusta and Uncle Frank had Oscar in February and I was born in December the same year.

"Della, darling. Congratulations!" Auntie Augusta said, as she pulled me into a hug. "Thank you so so much." I grin at her. Just then Uncle Frank comes and pulls me into a bear hug. "Our kids have grown up so much." I hear my father say from behind him. Soon I'm pulled into another bone crushing hug by my parents. They've already hugged me and Oscar once while we were at the graduation ceremony but we're used to this loving attention and this is what we've grown up with. When we were kids whenever we did some mischief our parents used to blackmail us by saying that they'll get us siblings and we used to get so scared as that would mean dividing our parent's love and we didn't want that. I wish I could go back in time. There's so many things I wanna relive.

The party is being held at Harley's, the entire bar cum restaurant has been rented for the night by our parents. All of our family friends and our class mates have been invited along with their families. Overall it's great. But how can I enjoy this when there's a guillotine looming over my head? It's May. I don't think I'll make it till my 19th birthday.