Miss Cleopatra: In Love I Fall

4

"Something tells me you two shouldn't drive home tonight." Sarah's sarcasm was the only thing that seemed to cut through my drunken haze. I turned my head to Kayla who giggled in agreement.

"I can't even stand up, let alone drive a car." I snorted. The engagement party had ended over an hour ago, and most of Marco and Sarah's guests had left. But now, the after party was in full swing. And by after party I meant all of our friends and a half empty bottle of Ciroc.

"Can we sleep over?" Kayla was no doubt asking Sarah and Marco, but was addressing a lamp in the corner.

"Obviously." Sarah laughed.

"Sleepover in our one bedroom apartment. Yay." Despite his monotone droning, I could tell Marco was excited to have the gang back together.

"Heeyyyy what about me?" Riley was propped up against the couch, slurring worse than any of us.

"Yep, you too." Sarah sighed, probably trying to figure out where she was going to fit everyone in her flat.

"Are you sure you guys are okay to drive home?" Marco was talking to Wesley and Keaton now. In my opinion, they both looked fine. But then again, my perception of reality at the moment was anything but trustworthy.

"Yep, all good. Keaton hasn't had anything to drink since the toast, so he's going to drive all of us home."

"All of us?" I swear Sarah and I shared the same brain most of the time because she took the words right out of my mouth.

"Yeah, the guys are giving me a ride." His voice sobered me up real quick.

"Isn't Huntington a little out of the way?" The sarcasm passed through my lips along with a bunch of clumsy breaths that I managed to exhale. I was attempting to string together coherent sentences while also keeping calm, and I found out that I could only manage one or the other.

"It's cool, we offered. Plus we wanted to have the time to catch up." Keaton was staring at me now; wide eyed as if to say: we're getting him out of your hair, what are you doing? Thankfully I got the hint and shut up so he wouldn't offer to stay.

"That sounds nice." Sarah told the boys, adding some class into the sloppy conversation.

"Well, thank you for your hospitality."  Wes wrapped Sarah into a hug, kissing her lightly on the cheek before moving on to clap her fiancé on the back. The boys started to make their rounds, saying goodbye to the people who were still here. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Drew saying goodbye to Kayla before moving on to Riley. Slowly, he was making his way closer to me, and I could feel my heart clench in my chest. Out of habit I scooched closer to James, who cupped my shoulder and pulled me into a brief side hug.

"Good to see you man." He was standing right over me now, and my stomach was burning with a mixture of hatred and desire. The words leaving his mouth were meant for James, but I could tell where his true attention was focused.

"You two bro." James was entirely professional, reaching out to shake Drew's hand despite his personal prejudices against him. The two hands fell from their union, and that's when reality set in that I was the next person in his line of goodbyes. My eyes were slightly glazed over from all the alcohol, but in the moment I was able to look him in the eye without wavering.

Drew's mouth fell open slightly like he wanted to speak, but nothing came out. The only thing linking us together was our eye contact, but even that was becoming too much to bear. I wanted to prove to him that I was stronger than the girl he used to know; that I was better off without him. But in reality, I couldn't even look at him without all the pain seeping back into my heart.