“Jo?” I finally said after staring at her for a minute to make sure it was Jo. Her head instantly snapped up at the mention of her name, “D-Don’t bother me… I want to be alone. I d-don’t want pictures right now… I-I don’t look nice enough for them…”
Wait, does she think we’re paparazzi or something? Is she drunk?
He turned to look at Jo, “Hey, do you want a drink?” he asked her. She nodded, and Asher raised his eyebrow in a joking way, “Would that drink happen to be wine?” he added a chuckle at the end. Jo rolled her eyes, playfully pushing his shoulder, “You know I don’t drink, Asher.”
He grinned, “Of course I know,” he kissed her cheek and then walked away.
She doesn’t like alcohol; she’s against drinking it. What changed her mind? Why am I asking myself that? The answer is so obvious. It’s Asher.
I saw Emily glance at me nervously. I remember the words in her diary. She’s worried that if I see Jo, then I will fall back in love with her. But, I can’t just avoid Jo when she’s breaking inside. She needs help before anything bad happens to her.
I walked towards Jo, whose back was pressed against the brick wall behind her. Her hand tightly gripped the bottle of liquor, until her knuckles turned white. Her eyes were bloodshot and wide open. She was a wreck.
“Jo, are you okay?” I cautiously asked her. When people are drunk, you just don’t know how they will react.
“I-I’m fine,” she stuttered out, trying to move past us. I walked closer, blocking her path. Her eyes met mine and I could see the tears in her eyes, shining in the faint moonlight.
“Jo…?” I quietly asked. I was nervous now. She never had drunk before, and she might be really affected by the alcohol. Has she cried yet since she lost Asher? Possibly not…
I could feel Emily’s presence behind me, watching my every move. She was going to make sure that I didn’t even look at Jo in a certain way. She also was going to make sure that Jo didn’t try and steal me away from her.
“Jo, do you want me to take you home?” I suggested. She shook her head, “No, I’m fine,” her eyes fell to the ground, trying to avoid me. It was weird, she wasn’t acting odd. She was even being polite. Maybe she isn’t drunk…? No, I think she is, but her version of being drunk is different.
“I can take you home, since I assume you can’t drive right now,” I still was doubting whether she was actually drunk. Maybe she wasn’t. I saw Emily glance at me suspiciously.
“No, I can drive home,” she quietly said, pushing past me. She struggled to pull her keys out of her pocket. I noticed that her hand was trembling. I think she is really drunk.
I walked back over to her side, walking with her now, since she wouldn’t stop moving, “Jo, I need to take you back to your house, I think I can still remember where it is, so just come with me and Emily.”
“Is Emily that one girl I met at Zayn’s house?” Jo asked. I nodded, “Yeah, she’s my girlfriend, too.”
I kind of felt a stab of guilt when I told her that. I wonder if she knew that I used to like her. I think that telling Jo that was a way to prove to Emily that Jo isn’t going to get in the way.
“Oh,” Jo simply said. Oh? What does she mean by oh? Oh is that one word that can have a million meanings. One, please stop talking to me. Two, this is awkward. Three, I am mad or jealous.
“Jo, are you drunk?” I finally decided to ask her. She shrugged, “I don’t know, how many drinks require you to get drunk?”
“How many have you had?” I questioned back. Jo’s eyebrows furrowed together as she searched for the answer, “Um, I think around five and then this bottle.” She held up her bottle of liquor.
“I thought you didn’t drink.”
Jo frowned, “And, how would you know that?”
“When you came to the album release party. Asher tried to get you a drink, and you told him that you didn’t drink,” I explained. Jo frowned, “And you remembered all that? That’s creepy.”
I felt my cheeks turn bright red and my gaze faced the ground.
I could tell what kind of drunk Jo was. She was the sarcastic type, well, so far at least. She had a comeback for everything and seemed to be really good at embarrassing people. I’m starting to wonder if she actually knows my previous feelings for her. It seems highly likely.
“Let’s just take you home,” I said, finally looking up at Jo again. The hazy, unreadable look in her eyes was replaced by fear. She quickly shook my her head and grabbed my arm. I saw Emily quickly shoot a look at Jo when she placed her hand on my arm. Emily simply pushed away the look.
“Please don’t make me go home!” Jo begged. I frowned, “What’s wrong with your house?”
“I-I can’t be alone,” she said, her voice falling down to a whisper. Her eyes faced the ground, unable to look at me anymore.
“Niall… Niall…” I heard soft whispering waking me up from sleep. I opened my eyes and sat up, groggily rubbing my eyes. I squinted into the darkness and saw Jo standing right there, “N-Niall… c-can I stay with you tonight…?”
The faint memory replayed in my mind. I could remember my heart swelling up at those few words. I felt like the happiest man in the world, and at the same time, I was nervous. I was worried it would mess up something between us. I was excited to be so close to the girl I was absolutely in love with. In all, it became a good memory.
“You can come to my flat,” the words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them. I could feel Emily’s cold glare on me. I shouldn’t have said that, but it was too late to take my words back. Besides, the sorrow in Jo’s voice pushed me towards the decision to ask her to stay at my flat.
“Okay,” Jo said, without even trying to say that she didn’t have to. Emily nervously glanced at me, but I gave her a reassuring look in reply Emily let out a silent sigh and followed Jo and I to my car.
We all got in, Emily and I in the front, Jo in the back. Jo got in first, and I was about to go to the other side when Emily grabbed my arm, “Niall, how could you agree to have her stay?”
“Emily, she’s drunk and is scared to be all alone, can’t you be at least a little sympathetic. I’m not going to fall in love with her,” I said. Emily’s eyes widened at my last words, “What?”
Shit, why did I have to go and say that? What if Emily knows that I read her diary? She will be so pissed at me! And I knew it was bad, yet I did it anyways! How could I be so stupid?
“Niall, I’m not that jealous, God,” Emily muttered angrily, climbing into the car. Dammit, I’m really messing things up between us right now. I let out a sigh as Emily slammed the door. I trudged to the other side and got in.
“Thanks Niall,” Jo said. I saw Emily roll her eyes as I bit my lip to prevent a smile, “No problem,” I answered. I started up the car and drove to my flat with Emily and Jo.
