Beer, Spaghetti, and Pharmaceuticals ||COMPLETED||

Twenty

A/N: This is by far the most challenging thing I have EVER written, so I hope you guys enjoy it! Please let me know if there are any typos! I have a feeling there's going to be a lot eeeep. Also, it's super long. I was going to break it into two parts, but I'm not going to because there isn't really an appropriate place to cut it up without ruining the cool flow that's going on in it.

______________________

            This cannot be happening.

Everyone at the table remained paralyzed as they fearfully watched Simon looming over them, smacking his bubble gum as maliciously as one could. The coldness from his aura felt like it was radiating off his body because Alice felt goosebumps crawl up her spine, despite the beads of sweat trickling down her neck. Her heart hammered irregularly; for a few seconds, it would race as fast as a victim of cardiac arrest, next it would drop to the speed of a flat liner on their death bed.

Finally, after the ominous silence, Simon's smile cracked open wider.

"Hey, guys."

Besides a small whimper from Emily's throat, the two words were not enough to evoke a response from the table. Although, despite the pluralization of his words, the way Simon's dark eyes dug through Isaac made it obvious he was only addressing one person.

Isaac's jaw was glued shut as he stared back at Simon, gripping his pint glass so tight it was a miracle it hadn't shattered yet.

There was, however, one person at the table who wasn't experiencing the same state of distress.

Fiona's eyes shifted between Isaac and Simon with a raised brow, not even attempting to hide her confusion. Finally, she turned to Simon and raised her hand to give a half-hearted wave. "Umm...hi?"

Somehow, Fiona's words finally triggered Alice and before she knew it, she was storming towards Mark. Without taking a second to try to stifle her aggression, she grabbed the sleeve of his sweater, and harshly pulled him so she could venomously hiss in his ear, "Why the fuck did you bring Simon here?"

"I...he – I didn't," Mark stammered out, but it appeared he was too terrified by Alice's flaming eyes to formulate a proper sentence.

"Relax, sis," Simon interjected coldly, smacking Alice's back harder than a friendly sibling would do. She glared at him with contempt and stepped away from him as he continued speaking, "Mark simply told me about this fantastic high school reunion, and I figured it was about time I met up with an old peer."

Once again, his eyes fell on Isaac.

"Simon," Alice said between gritted teeth. "You need to leave right now."

"Don't you tell me what to do," he said stepping closer to Alice, shoving his finger in front of her face. Shoving her hands in her back pockets was the only thing to stop her from breaking Simon's nose.

At some point, Blaise had jumped off his chair and rushed over to Simon and Alice. He mustered up a peaceful smile, and gently rested his hand on Simon's back. "Hey, mate, why don't we discuss everything outside? It's loud and busy, people are trying to have a good time, and – "

Simon slapped Blaise's hand off his back. "Don't touch me, you fuckin' British twat."

Blaise raised his hands in the air and backed away back to his chair, muttering, "Yeah, okay, fuck you too..."

"This is happening," Simon said and pulled out Alice's former seat so he was sitting directly across from Isaac. "Right here. Right now."

Alice gave Mark one last look of disgust before begrudgingly taking a seat next to Simon. Much to her displeasure, Mark followed to the seat next to her. He gave her a silent, pleading look, and a gentle, apologetic tap on her thigh.