Pieces

Chapter 1

Hey everyone!! Before I get started, I wanted to warn you again, there will explicit sexual content, vulgar language and moderate use of alcohol in this short story. Please use discretion when reading this.

I appreciate you taking the time to read my first published story and welcome any comments or suggestions, but please keep it respectful.

Thank you and happy reading!!

......

I sat at my favourite bar, sipping on my vodkatini and looked around; it's my 24th birthday tomorrow, but it fell on a Sunday, so my friends decided to celebrate tonight. If I had it my way, we wouldn't celebrate at all.

I was in a funk and didn't feel like partying tonight. I like this place though, I spend an embarrassing amount of time here; it's small and everyone knows each other's business, but it feels like home.

I'm good friends with the bar owner, so it surprised me when she suggested we go somewhere else. She said it would do me some good to get a change of scenery. I just think she wants me to get laid, but not with any of her patrons. She hates the drama. I don't understand why she owns a bar in the first place; that's where drama goes for dinner.

I checked the clock and still, no friends. They're late, the bastards. I waited another 20 minutes, whilst chatting with an acquaintance that sat next to me, until they finally showed.

My best friend, Meghan, was the first to approach me, "Have you been here long?"

I play-punched her in the arm, "I've been here forever, you asshole. Where were you guys?"

She pointed at our already intoxicated group of friends that were giggling and walking toward us, "Picking up these drunkasses. You're welcome."

I laughed and linked my arm with hers, "Lead the way then, bestie."

We wound up at a different gay bar across town. I have only been here a few times and generally avoid this place, especially at night, when they ruin all your favourite songs by booty mixing them into techno dance music. We all got a drink, then found a table that could hold the 4 of us, I requested just a night with my close friends, because I really didn't want to entertain a bunch of people.

We were playing "Never Have I Ever" and I had just downed my third shot, when I heard it: Her voice. My Rebecca.

It must be her new song, because I've never heard it, or this booty mixed version. Then again, I tend to avoid all things Rebecca: her music, her interviews, award shows, everything that has her face or voice; I block it out. Well, I try to, it's getting harder as she's becoming more famous every day it seems.

We grew up together and she was my best friend. She was also my first love, my first kiss, my first everything. The girl that everyone wants - used to be mine.

It has been nearly three years since that painful, rainy day when I drove away, leaving the only girl I've ever loved and our life behind. Nobody knows about us, except for our families and a handful of close friends from our past. Even when she became famous, we managed to keep our relationship hidden, which is close to impossible with paparazzi and social media. She's the biggest secret I keep.

For the first time in forever it seems, I sat there and let her voice consume me. I reached up and grasped the gold ring that hung on a chain around my neck and twisted it around in my fingers, then closed my eyes and let my mind drift back to her..

I remember the first time I ever laid eyes on her. My mother and I had just moved from Miami in Florida, to Birmingham in England, the place she was born and raised. She had adopted me a year before and because I was an American and she was not, it took a long time to cut through the red tape regarding both England and the U.S. to take me back to her hometown.