Six Years Later

A Night to Remember

I sit at the bar with Calum watching all the twenty something's dance together. "Having fun yet?" Calum asks.

I chuckle. "The fun I have in Seattle is so different than I the fun I ever had here." I sigh, sipping on my whiskey. "Carson seems to be having fun though." I say nodding my head towards my ex who's swapping spit with some blond twat on the dance floor

"You didn't expect him to wait forever for you did you?" Calum asks and I can feel his eyes on me.

I look at him. "What are you talking about? I never wanted him to wait." I tell him.

"Mhm. Who's your boyfriend?"

"Who?" Calum smirks. I shake my head. "Kyle. I mean Kyle." I clear my throat, ignoring his obnoxious smirk. "I feel nothing for Carson other than irritation. And I'll prove it." I smirk at
him as a hot blond guy with blue eyes walks up.

Calum laughs as I walk off to the dance floor with said blond. "So what's your name?" Blondie asks, yelling over the music.

I turn around in his arms and shake my head. "No talking." I say, pulling his head down to mine and crashing my lips to his, making sure Carson saw.

Blondie smiles and as he does, I pull away, smirking at Carson. He walks over to the two of us. "Mind if I step in? Bestfriend's little sister. I want to talk some sense into the dummy." He lies. Blondie shrugs and disappears into the crowd. "What are you doing?" He whispers in my ear, placing his hands on my hips.

I shrug, looking up at him. "You showed me how to play the game. That's what I'm doing."

"No, you're being a bitch."

I laugh and shake my head. "We lived together once and you acted the same way. I'm just returning the favor."

"And what about Kyle? Your boyfriend?"

I stop. "Just because you stopped keeping up with me doesn't mean I stopped keeping up with you. I know who you're dating and he seems like the kind of guy who genuinely cares about you. Why would you wanna screw that up?"

I look anywhere but his eyes. "Have you even called him?" He asks.

"You don't get to do that, Carson." I snarl. He looks at me confused. "You were the one who pushed me out of your life. I have spent so many nights over the last few years wondering how you're doing, wondering if any of it was real."

"All of it was real, Dani. That's why I don't want you here. It was so real that when you didn't come back after that party or returned any of my phone calls, it nearly killed me. I was in love with you. Nothing was fake. I cared about you."

I clear my throat. "And now?"

"And now I still care about. That won't change. No matter how much time passes."

I nod at his words before I shut my heart off to him. "Then stay out of my relationship."

"Kind of hard to do so when Kyle is outside."

I widen my eyes and push away from him, storming outside into the cool early summer night air. "Ky, what are you doing here?" I ask when see him leaning against his car.

"Your note said that you were coming to see if Carson was alright."

"Yeah, that's true." I tell him, lost in confusion.

He nods. "Then why are you in club? Since when do you even go to clubs?" He asks.

I glare at Carson over my shoulder taking a deep breath. "I was a different girl here than I am in Seattle. I guess part of her snuck back in." I shrug.

He nods. "Well I don't like the California version of you. Get in the car. We're going home." He snaps, holding the door open for me.

I cross my arms over my chest. "That's not your call, Kyle." I tell him, attitude leaking from my voice.

"You don't belong here, Dani!"

"And what? I belong in Seattle? The place I ran to to escape from my problems for six years? Seattle is a safe place and I am so tired of playing it safe."

He nods. "So you're gonna stay here with the walking std and throw away everything we have?"

My jaw drops at his cold words. "First of all, I know you've been screwing your daddy's secretary at the law firm and that's why you don't ever come home till 3 in the morning. Second of all, don't you dare talk about Carson like that. You don't even know him."

"It seems like I don't even know you!" He screams.

I laugh. "No, you really don't. You know what I've told you and it's nowhere near the truth because you wouldn't be able to handle it."

"For God's sake, Daniela. You sound crazy, just get in the damn car." He groans in aggravation.

I roll my eyes, spinning in my heels and walking up to Carson. Before he can even get a word out, I smash my lips to his. I can feel his arms wrap around my least pulling me closer to him.

I tank myself away from him and turn back to face Kyle. "Maybe I am crazy. But I'd rather be crazy here, the place I call home, than crazy in Seattle with an overbearing cheating asshole. Go home, Kyle. We're through." He shakes his head, getting in the car and speeding off.

"Well that just happened. Are you okay?" Carson sighs, looking down at me.

I look at him like he's crazy. "Carson,
that kiss meant nothing. I did that so he would take the hint. I've been trying to break up with him for months." I tell him.

"Dani." Calum mutters.

I roll my eyes. "The night's ruined. Let's go home." I sigh, taking my heels off and walking towards the truck.

The whole way home, I couldn't stop thinking about how great it felt to kiss Carson again. The tingles were still on my lips. I shake the thought away and look at him in the rearview mirror, seeing he was staring out the window

And then I realized something. He didn't call me Daniela. No, he had called me Dani.