New Girl - The Creatures

Chapter 22

I had no idea where Jordan was taking us. All I knew was that our walk there took forever, and I was semi-distracted from the cold by everyone cracking jokes here and there. Seamus seemed to be perturbed by the fact that I didn't go apeshit on him or Ash, and kept looking over his shoulder, apparently expecting me to snap and charge.

Truth be told, I felt a little too numb to do much. I would feel anger now and then but it was the pains of rejection and disbelief that eventually lead to me just feeling sort of empty. I was looking forward to getting drunk and laughing, doing anything to distract me from it. Ash was really sweet and pretty, and it stung, even more, seeing all of the things about her he liked more than me. I wish she had been an asshole so I could have channeled my anger into two sources, but she probably had no clue as to who I was or how I had almost kissed her new boyfriend just a week or two ago, or how he apparently was talking to both of us at the same time.

We eventually made it to a restaurant named jmCurley, which seemed to serve a lot of sandwiches and warm food with a pretty large selection of beers and mixed drinks. Homegirl was gonna have a good night. We were seated fairly quickly, considering we were a group of nine. A bubbly waitress came over and took our drink orders, and everyone was surprised when I ordered a cocktail called 'Western Medicine' since it was whiskey and not my go-to sweet red wine.

"Are you sure you can handle that?" Seamus snorted. I flipped my hair over the shoulder and looked at him. "There's nothing like the drinking of a woman scorned," I said back, knowing this was going to get me plastered. Everyone laughed, not aware of the context, but James and Seamus shared a knowing look.

"If you collapse, I'll carry you back to the hotel room," James muttered to me, grinning. "So you don't look like a total fool." I laughed, feeling somewhat relieved that I'd have some backup tonight. I looked around at everyone huddled at the table; to my right was James, followed by Dan, Jordan, Max, Seamus, Ash, Aleks, and, to my left, Sly. Despite any extenuating circumstances, I was glad to be here with my friends.

After a few minutes, the waitress came back with our various drinks. I hadn't heard what she got, but Ash apparently decided to get a rather sweet red wine and took nervous sips to fill in the silence on her part. I smirked to myself that there was yet a-fucking-nother similarity between us, and grabbed a hold of my drink as the waitress made the rounds for food orders.

I took a pretty admirable chug, and felt a tingling surge from the whiskey but a breath of fresh air from the ginger and lemon in the drink. It was absolutely delicious, and I was halfway through it before ordering some bomb ass mac and cheese.

James and I kept up a constant charade of teasing and stealing each other's drinks, pretending that neither of us had anything to do with the fairly low glasses on the table. I was so glad that he was there to keep me from becoming a sad drunk and to occasionally touch my arm (though I knew it was from a place of anger with Seamus) and pat me on the back. The mac and cheese was, indeed, bomb ass, and I devoured it quickly.

"Oh god, please don't seat them over here..." Jordan muttered suddenly, glancing up to see a waitress about to start guiding a group of teenagers through the restaurant. I saw that one of them was wearing a black shirt with The Creatures logo on it, and got nervous. It was the first time I'd ever seen a fan in person, and I was not too excited about that fact that I'd been downing whiskey like it was nothing.

Jordan looked around at the table and his eyes landed on Ash. "You're the only one they won't recognize. Can you grab that waitress and ask her if they can be seated anywhere not near us?" he pleaded with her. She looked nervous but seemed to want to prove her worth. She rose from the table and power walked to the waitress and I could see them engaging in conversation. "Thank god you brought her, Seamus," Jordan sighed.

"You're telling me. She's something else," Seamus smiled. I couldn't help it. The alcohol was making me petty. "Gee, that sounds real familiar hun," I said quickly, smiling as well. Everyone went quiet. I made sure to see if Ash was coming back to the table, and to my relief, she was heading to the bathroom. "Excuse me?" he said, all traces of a smile or admiration gone. "Oh, sorry if I stuttered or something. I just think it's sweet that she's the second girl in a month you've said that about," I retorted, stirring my new coffee-based drink with a straw.

Jordan, who was seemingly oblivious to anything that transpired between Seamus and me, raised his eyebrows. "Seamus..." he started, but said nothing when Seamus shot him a look. I glared at him, almost feeling a crackle of electricity and danger between the two of us. "You don't know what the fuck you're talking about," he said, his voice low.

"Oh, but don't I? Didn't you just tell me the other day, ironically the day before your little date with Ash, how I was beautiful and you were... what's the word? Oh yeah, 'aching' for me? Didn't you kiss me on the cheek to 'supposedly' keep some guy from looking at my ass, rather than just say something? Didn't you fucking call me beautiful every other mother fucking second before suddenly deciding it'd be so much easier to drop me and chase after her instead?" I swung back, unyielding and not slowing down for even a second, my eyes flickering back and forth from him to the bathrooms until I saw her emerge. It wasn't fair to her to dig into him when she was just as much of a victim as I was.

"She doesn't even know, does she?" I finished, seeing him blanch and his jaw set in a firm position. "Know what?" Ash said curiously as she sat down. "Oh, that I ordered you the most fun sounding cocktail they had," Jordan quickly covered. She smiled at him, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. "You didn't have to do that! Thank you though," she said, resting her hand on top of Seamus'.

Everyone else at the table looked dumbstruck. There was a mixture of anger, hurt, and sympathy on everyone's faces. No one looked as angry as Aleks, though James was a close second. No one spoke, and for a second Ash looked curious and opened her mouth. I nudged James with my elbow and he tore away from staring down Seamus.

"Thanks for keeping those fans from coming over here, I would have had to break out the big guns if not," he said, mock flexing and making a face. Ash laughed, and everyone else seemed to fall back into the conversation.