The Best Of Me

Chapter 1

Harmony

My whole life I was the good girl. Straight A's, teacher's pet, did everything I was told at home and at school. I never snuck out or snuck anyone in, never went to a party that wasn't adult chaperoned. I never had a friend or boyfriend my parents didn't approve of. Most good girls have a little bit of a wild side but if I had one I hadn't found it yet.

Today was my 21st birthday and my older sister, who was my exact opposite, was refusing to just let me sit at home and have a nice meal with my family or a small party with close friends. "Harmony" she said "You need to get out there and live a little or one day when you're old and gray sitting on your front porch in your rocking chair you're going to look back and wonder 'what if?' You don't have to go crazy you just have to learn to have a little fun" and she was right. I just hated admitting it. Melody was 2 years older than me and as wild as they come. Sometimes I think I was this was because I saw what Melody put my parents through and I wanted to help by not adding to their problems.

"There is no way I'm wearing this out of the house, Melody. I don't feel comfortable." "You have to wear it. Please? It looks so good on you better than it ever has on me" "Fine, but I'm taking an extra pair of clothes in case I want to change" "Whatever" Melody rolled her eyes at me. I stood in front of the full length mirror in my sister's bedroom and studied myself. I would never admit it to her but I actually liked the way I looked. It was daring, it was everything I wasn't, and Melody was right. I had to live a little.

The black dress had looked simple enough when I agreed to try it on. It looked a little short and maybe a little low cut at the top but it wasn't too crazy or out there. Just a simple black dress. Now that I saw it on I couldn't believe how wrong I was. The skin tight dress accentuated curves I never even knew I had. The plunging neckline showed just enough cleavage to be sexy without revealing everything. The material hugged every curve straight down to my mid thigh. I had to look way I couldn't let Melody see that I was actually enjoying this. I was nervous about going in public like this but I felt good about it, too. Until Melody pulled out the red lipstick. "Um, no" "Um, yes" and of course she won. She usually did. The 5 times I ever got into trouble growing up was because of her.

I don't remember the name of the bar, it slipped my mind as soon as I walked in the door. I do remember that it was a small bar outside of Athens, GA that often had local bands playing. I'd never been inside but I'd drove past many times. It wasn't usually too crowded but it wasn't exactly empty either. Melody thought it would be the perfect bar "for me" whatever that means. As soon as we walked in the door Melody introduced me to a friend of hers. James. James was pretty good looking. Tall, Blonde, blue eyes, beautiful smile. He was also already drunk, and it was only 9 pm. The three of us walked over to the bar and James ordered for us all. I didn't hear what he ordered but I didn't want to be rude so I put it to my lips to take a sip. The second the warm liquid touched my tongue I wanted to spit it out but instead I choked it down. And because I didn't want to waste it I finished the whole thing, In like two seconds. How could something with ice in it burn so dang bad. Instantly I regretted my decision to down the drink as my head started swimming and my stomach started rumbling. I was afraid that I was going to throw up and decided that I would slowly sip my next drink for the rest of the night.

Whiskey wasn't so bad once you got used to it and by the time the band came on stage at 10 I was halfway through my second drink. Even though Melody had told me the name of the band I couldn't remember it for anything of course that wasn't really surprising everything was a bit hazy at this point. The lead singer was really good looking. He definitely had that bad boy vibe going. Normally the bad boy thing didn't really catch my attention. Most "bad boys" were just little boys acting tough. This guy though, he felt like the real thing. That both scared and excited me. He looked at me more than once while he was singing and every time he did my heart raced.

The band took a break and the singer stepped off stage where a pretty girl handed him a drink that he downed without a pause. She had this sexy confidence about her that made me wish I was her. She took the empty glass from the singer and leaned in to kiss him. After he kissed her he turned my direction. He couldn't be looking at me, could he? Our eyes met and held only for a second. But that was long enough for me to heat up in all the right places. I was suddenly so hot I needed some fresh air and it wasn't the whiskey or the now crowded bar that did it.

"Hey Harmony are you okay" I turned to my sister. she had a concerned look on her face. "Yeah, I was just getting hot and needed fresh air, you can go back in I'll be in in a minute" "That's alright I don't mind standing out here for a few" My sister may have been wild and out of control growing up, and she may have gotten me into a bit of trouble a time or two but she always had my back. When kids picked on me and pushed me around because I was a goody goody and they wanted to see how far they could push me before I pushed back, Melody was always there to fight them off. Even if it meant another suspension.

James wasn't at the table when we got back and part of me was hoping that he had left. The more he drank the more of a creep he became. Just when I was feeling optimistic he came and sat back down. "I was starting to think you bitches just left me. Where the hell were you?" I started to say something when the band started playing again. Melody took my hand and we went and danced. A waitress came by and I grabbed another drink. Melody tried to warn me to slow down but for the first time in 21 years I didn't care. I didn't care what anyone thought about me. I didn't worry that my parents would be disappointed. I didn't care I just wanted to have fun. So I danced with my sister. And when a good looking guy asked to buy me a drink I accepted and followed him to the bar and then back onto the dance floor. Melody and I ignored James for the remainder of the night. At some point some drunk screamed out for the band to play free bird and so they did.

Around 1 a.m. I had completely lost track of how many drinks I'd drank or how many guys had bought them for me. And for a moment I lost my sister. Suddenly in a drunken panic I was confused and lost. I started to look for Melody and ran into James instead. James wanted to dance and wouldn't listen when I told him I had to find my sister. He was a lot drunker than he had been when I last saw him and the look in his eye scared the crap out of me. When I tried to pull away he grabbed me and looked raised his other hand to hit me. I closed me eyes, scared. The room started spinning. I could hear Melody screaming for James to let me go. The singer jumped off the stage and grabbed James and just started wailing on him. There was blood everywhere. I heard the girl he was with calling his name and telling him to stop but he wouldn't. The last thing I remembered was Melody helping me into the back of a cab.

I opened my eyes and pulled the blanket over my face, Holy Hell the sun was bright. Melody handed me a glass of water and a couple aspirins. I quickly downed the glass of ice cold water. It felt so good. Until I felt like I was going to be sick. I barely made it to the bathroom. Melody followed me in and held my hair for me while I threw up. Something I had done for her many times. "I told you not to drink so much. Have you ever even had a drink of any alcohol before" "No, and don't tell me you told me not to drink, you're the one that drug me out of the house and put a drink in my hand in the first place" "True, but you had fun didn't you?" I started to tell her that yes I did but before I could I was throwing up again. "I'm never drinking again" "That's what they all say" "Yeah, well I mean it" "we'll see"

This time when I opened my eyes the sun wasn't so bright and the room wasn't spinning. I tried to remember more from the night before but for the life of me I couldn't remember much. I remembered green eyes looking straight into mine from across a crowded room but not who they belonged to. On the night stand next to the bed was a glass of water and two more aspirin. I grabbed and downed them and lay back down. Maybe I'd feel more back to my normal self in the morning. But did I really want that? Last night I'd had more fun than I had in 21 years.

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