New Ways

SEVEN

Amery

Usually, the living room of my penthouse offers a panoramic view of most of New York City's tallest buildings, including the Empire State building. But this evening, I could barely see anything. Still, I stood in front of my floor-to-ceiling window, taking slow sips from the glass of white wine I had in my hand, absorbing the view of the massive downpour in Manhattan. I found this view strangely comforting tonight, given the fact that I had quite an eventful afternoon at school just now.

God, I sighed, why must this happen to me?

Earlier on before I got my butler to pour me a drink I had put on Sam Smith's record. I'm Not The Only One was now playing on the pink Crosley turntable which I got for my 18th birthday a few years back. I found myself singing along with Sam Smith during the chorus.

You say I'm crazy

'Cause you don't think I know what you've done

But when you call me baby

I know I'm not the only one

As soon as the chorus passed, I chugged down the remaining wine from the glass and let my thoughts stray. I wonder how it feels like to not be the only one? Heck, I actually wonder how it feels like to be the only one? I've never really been in relationships before. You must be wondering how and why, a girl as sought after in Parmont as me hasn't had any luck in her love life yet. It's not like I haven't found a potential candidate myself either, in fact there's this boy in school that I like.

But there's one thing that was still holding me back.

The doorbell rang. I continued filling my glass with more white wine as my butler, Gerard rushed to open the door and welcomed the guests inside.

"Getting drunk before dinner, I see?" Jean-Pierre sneered. He was clad in a pair of black skinny jeans and leather biker jacket. Underneath the jacket he wore a plain white tee. His dark brown hair was slightly tousled, different from his slicked back school hairstyle.

On his arm was Gwen, surprisingly she had the exact same attire on with Jean-Pierre. Except that she had a leather skirt on instead of black skinny jeans. She also wore a teasing smirk, one that hinted how much fun I had missed out on.

"Seriously? Did you guys just come back from an Alesana concert or something?" I plopped on the one-seater grey leather sofa in the living room and they followed suit on the larger sofa diagonally from me.

Gwen folded her arms and peered over to me. "Oh come on, Am, it couldn't be that bad, right?"

"Of course it is!" I jolted upright on my seat and widened my eyes at her. "I don't trust her at all!"

"You don't trust anybody, Amery," Jean-Pierre rolled his eyes and started to scroll through his phone. "It's not her. Or anybody. It's you, and you know it."

I opened my mouth to say something, but stopped and only closed my mouth back after a few seconds. What Jean-Pierre just said was true, though only to a certain extent. I leaned back against the sofa, thinking of ways I could get rid of Sigrid. I mean, I'd rather work on my own than have to work with someone who has zero knowledge in my area of expertise.

"Am!!!"

"What?!" I snapped back to reality when Gwen practically yelled in my face.

"I said, what should I do with my douchebag of a boyf-" she paused halfway and shook her head. "Okay forget it. Gosh, you know what, Am, you should really learn to listen to people when they speak."

My heart sank for a moment at the sarcasm, but I shoved the guilt away when I realised that whatever Gwen was saying to me bore zero significance compared to what I will have to go through starting on Thursday.