Everything We Would've Been

Chapter Two: Emilia

Throwing up for an hour is the worst way to start your morning.

I got up in the middle of the night and since I was starving, I decided to make myself a sandwich. Never thought my midnight snack would turn into a disaster in the morning.

"Okay," Candace said as she was rubbing my back. "You're sure you're not pregnant or something?"

I let go of my hair to flip her off, again.

"Okay, sorry," she said, gathering my hair behind me. "It's just you've never been this violently sick before."

"I've never drunk so much while on the brink of an anxiety attack before," I said as I pulled back slightly. "And on top of that, I had to kiss Connor."

"How was it?"

Before I could answer, my head was back in the toilet and I was dry-heaving.

I had to take three metoclopramide pills until one of them stayed down. By the time I stopped throwing up, I was exhausted and back in my bed again.

Diamante, Andre's nightclub was packed with people as always. I didn't expect Connor to want to celebrate his twenty-first birthday like this, close friends only and in a club. But I guess my twenty-first birthday charmed him more than enough. I was only the five of us, here at Diamante. We didn't even get a booth. Connor blew out his birthday candles at home before we left. Now, he's dancing with Xander in the middle of the dancefloor with not a care in the world.

I said I wouldn't drink tonight but after seeing them, I needed way more than a drink to get me through the night. Since I said I wouldn't drink, my friends knew I wouldn't get violently sick again so they left me be. Opal and Nick are somewhere dancing or making out. And Candace was boy shopping until a few minutes ago and now she's disappeared. And I was on my own drowning my pain in amber liquid.

"You know, if you keep staring at them, they might catch on fire," I heard his unmistakable voice and sweet Italian accent before I saw him.

I chuckled as I got up to hug him.

"Hey. I didn't know you'd be here tonight."

"Well, I was bored. Thought I crash your little celebration," he said as he signaled to the bartender for a martini.

"Aw, you missed me?" I said teasing him as I finished my scotch.

"I might have."

He wore his little cocky smirk as always. I just chuckled and ordered another drink.

"You're drinking scotch and neat," he said more to himself than to me as my drink arrived. "What's wrong?"

The smirk disappeared and the look on his face turned serious and worried in the blink of an eye. He might look like a fuck boy but he has a heart of gold only a select few has ever seen it.

"Ugh, I hate you," I said and downed my drink in a few sips before I told him what happened last night.

"Fuck," he whispered under his breath, running his fingers through his hair. "Are you okay?"

He's been holding my hand since I told him I had to kiss Connor last night and he hasn't let go yet. It was nice, knowing he was here for me. He always is.

"Yeah, I just need some time away from everything."

For the next two hours, Andre did his best to keep my mind and my eyes away from Connor. And it was working perfectly until I saw them standing in the middle of the dancefloor, making out. It felt like death by a thousand cuts and worse. I couldn't peel my eyes off of them until Andre stepped in front of me. I grabbed my newly arrived drink and drained it in one go before getting up.