Dear Stranger

Chapter 8

"Coffee time!" Lauren exclaims behind your door. You opened it so find her with two Starbucks in hands. She immediately handed one to you. "Your favorite" she smiled. "Thanks! I was craving it" you said.

You took the cup in your hands, the hot drink warming your fingertips. You let your friend enter and settled on the couch, snuggled against a blanket. "What's up?" Lauren asked before taking a sip of her coffee. "Nothing much" you quickly said and looked down at your coffee. "Sure about that?" she asked again. You could tell she was trying not to smile. Fuck, she knows.

"Who told you?" you looked at her. "Joey. Darren told him" she admitted. "I'm gonna kill him. Listen, don't get all excited okay? It was a mistake. A very big and stupid mistake. We talked about it. We both regret it. He has someone and I'm gonna have someone too I hope and we will move on with our lives. No biggie" you explained. "If you guys would stop being stubborn and actually pass the fact that you both acted like weird crazy people the day you met, maybe you could get along" she said. Why couldn't they all accept that Darren and you just cannot get along? They were the ones being stubborn to keep thinking you could have something together. "It's not about that. It's about our personalities. We're just way too different" you cleared up. This discussion was getting odd now. "I'm not so sure about that" Lauren said, almost in a whisper. "Well I am" you told her. She opened her mouth, like to say something. She looked at me with wide eyes but eventually sighed loudly. "You guys are annoying" she finally said. "You love us. We're fun" you smile. "Fuck you" she giggled.

You kept discussing everything and nothing, random and more serious things. "Oh! By the way, we have a party on Friday with everyone" Lauren announced. "You should come" she proposed. "Is Darren gonna be there?" you asked. It was kind of childish to demand that but you didn't want to make the party weird or awkward because of you two. "And you're telling me there is no biggie" she rolled her eyes "Anyway, I'm pretty positive he's not gonna be there" she answered slowly. You nodded and accepted to go. A night out with your friends will be fun.

Fortunately, it came quickly. After a week that couldn't be more awkward, some friends time was much required. The tension between Darren and you was so present that you could almost taste it. And it was bitter. Very fun to work with. The party was at Joe's and the ticking clock reminded you that you didn't have that much time to get ready. You fooled around your wardrobe and finally picked one of your favorite dresses. A short amount of time on your make up and you were finally ready. A car ride and a knock later, you were greeted by Joe at the door.

"Hey! How are you?" he said joyfully before he hugged you. "I'm good! And you?" you smiled. "Good yeah!" he responded. He moved away to let you enter and you became one more person in the crowd. A lot of people were there. The music was nice and not too loud. Some were sitting on the couch, some others were just chatting with a beer in their hands. And some guy were laughing loudly. You closed your eyes tight. "No, no, no" your mind kept saying. You slowly turned around, almost scared on what you will find behind you. And there he was. Maybe you should have been scared, but you were more mad at the moment. Lauren lied. Those little fuckers. You were sure they knew he was coming along. Even with his back turned to you, it was obviously his curls, obviously his butt, not that you watched it a lot, not at all.

Your madness calmed down a little when you reminded yourself of two things: first, there were a lot of alcohol at the party, and then, you both were adults. Or at least that's what you claimed to be. You decided you both could enjoy your night without having to make it all about your hardcore relationship or the sexual tension between you. You looked around in hope to find a drink you would actually like. But beer was not your thing and it seemed like that's all that was around. "There is more choices in the kitchen" Joe said as he walked pass you. You giggled. He knew you so well.

You went to the kitchen, only to get trapped in the middle of a conservation. "Wait, did you tell her?" you heard Joey ask away. "No, I thought we said we would wait" A voice that seemed to belong to Lauren answered. "Ok good, we stick to the plan. We can't tell her now" he whispered loudly. "What can't you tell to who?" you asked as you stepped into the kitchen. With a smile on your face, you walked to the fridge to get some juice. "To you but uhm...." he looked down at Lauren, who had wide stressed eyes. "I... I can't tell you" he added. "Ok" you nodded slowly. Their secrets were their secrets after all.

You started to pour some juice into your glass. "If it's about Darren being in that party even though a certain person-" you looked up at Lauren before your eyes caught your glass again "-affirmed to me that he wasn't going to be here, it's okay. I guess we can deal with it" you explained. Both of your friends looked at you weirdly. You put some vodka into your drink. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to forget the tension of my week" you said before holding up your drink. Joey almost giggled at your weird excitement and watched you walk away, your drink in hand, ready for whatever the night held.

You danced, drank, and laughed all night long. That put your mind out of typical thoughts of those days: the letter boy and your regrets. The music was making your heart beat faster in your chest, the alcohol was making you feel like you could do anything and even the eventual bumps into Darren did not bothered you anymore. You were just wandering around, feeling like the tipsy one among the drunks.

You were sitting on the back of the couch, your empty drink in your hand, just watching Darren and Joey having an arm-wrestle contest, which, of course, would lead to one of them getting even more drunk. You couldn't help the smile on your face when you saw your co-worker so concentrated on his task, as well as your bestfriend. Joey seemed to struggle a little at first, but being encouraged by some people shouting his name, he found the strength to put Darren's hand on the table before he could put his first. A large amount of people congratulated him by cheering even more. "Ah! I gotcha so fucking bad!" Joey pointed at Darren. "Now drink Iclemeyer!" he laughed and made a drink slide to his friend's side. Wait, what did he call him?

Your heart missed a beat, and just to be sure, you asked Meredith. "Oh he said Iclemeyer. It's one of Darren's surname, among a lot others we got him in the college like..." she kept talking but you couldn't hear her anymore. This could be some kind of joke. Or a mistake. Yeah it was a mistake. It couldn't be otherwise. Right?

"Drink, drink, drink, drink!" the crowd shouted at Darren. Your ears were filled with a shocking silence, who contrasted with the loud cheers of your surroundings. You could always hear your heart beating, slowly and stormly at the same time. It couldn't be him. You breathed in and out a couple time. When you looked around you, everything was blurry, and you couldn't quite tell if it was because of the alcohol or if tears were forming in your eyes. You got up and pushed away some people. "I gotta get out of here".