Sour Sweet Love

Chapter Six

                THE first thing I saw upon entering the restaurant was a string of flashing neon lights. Then everything else followed: the hormonal boys and sweaty teenagers, as I had anticipated, and Molly's promise of plates upon plates of delectable Japanese cuisine and a seemingly unending abundance of vodka. It made the prospect of sneaking out and facing possible expulsion if we were caught a little more tolerable. 

As Molly, Joey and I stepped inside the platform of the party, the music intensified. I felt feverish, like the drumming was in accordance with my heartbeat. Whenever the beat dropped, so did my heart to my dismay.

I was beginning to enjoy the scenery when a guy bumped into me in a drunken stupor, spilling his drink over my dress. I yelped as he mumbled an incoherent "Sorry" before breezing through the crowd. 

Resisting a sigh, I gripped my wet dress. Molly offered a sympathetic look while Joey laughed. "Of course some nut would crash into you," she commented. "You're like the fucking epitome of a klutz, Avery."

I glowered at her, not yet having developed the ability to laugh at myself. "Whatever, Joe."

"Don't call me Joe," she retorted.

"Joe," I repeated, biting my lip.

"Ooh, look there!" Molly digressed, pointing towards the other end of the room. "Looks like the new kid if I'm not hallucinating again."

A wave of annoyance coursed through me.

It was Joey who dragged me over to where Declan was. Molly trailed behind us, enthusiastic about a potential encounter with a boy who could mean absolutely everything to her but was beginning to serve as nothing but a nuisance to me.

"Declan," she began. "Hi."

I realized then that I wanted to be more like her: more enthusiastic to meet others and less dismissive of strangers that I knew virtually nothing about.

When I saw Declan's face behind the myriad of people in between us, I felt myself grimace. A combination of this chaotic atmosphere and the intoxication in the air did little to ease my hammering heart that craved to see Liam there instead of him.

"Hey beautiful," he said, winking at Molly.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a tint of scarlet coat Molly's cheeks.

"Guys, I'm going to get a drink," I said. The statement went ignored by Molly who was already submersing herself in Declan, and by Joey, who was now nowhere to be found. The song in the background became starkly illuminated in my journey to the bar.

What's somebody like you, doing in a place like this?

 Did you come alone, or did you bring all your friends? 

"...Say what's your name, what 'cha drinking, think I know what 'cha thinking..." 

I snapped out of my mirage as that voice slurred the lyrics to the song.

"...I'll never be the same," he sang sporadically. "If we ever meet again. Won't let you get away, if we ever meet again..." He continued to sing, his eyes fixating on my stumbling figure. At first glance, my body gathered immeasurable warmth. As the stranger's familiar strands of blonde hair registered, and as I had the opportunity to fully outline his devilishly handsome features, it dawned on me that this boy was the long lost token of my past.

"Liam?" I questioned, leaning into him.

It was then that Declan came between the two of us. "Liam," he said. "There you are."

"Avery," Liam deadpanned, brushing Declan aide.

Declan's eyes deflected between the two of us. "You two know each other?"

"How do you know him?" I asked Declan, referring to Liam.

"He's my brother," he explained. Then he eyed me wearily. "How do you know him?"

"She's an old friend," Liam explained, biting his lower lip. With that gesture, our history could have been forgotten. And in the moment that he transfixed me with his gaze, I swore it was. "Nothing more than an old friend," he continued. "Right Avery?"

"Yeah, right," I answered nonchalantly, but all I could think in the back of my mind was that this explained everything between Declan and I. It explained our rotten start and the even more discouraging encounters that followed. It was because Declan physically embodied everything that I yearned to forget. He carried a part of Liam in his own presence, and Liam was cold: a heartbreaker even in his best days. We had been over before our relationship could breathe.

And here I was: stifling my relationship with Declan before our relationship could breathe.