𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 (1)

𝟷𝟽. 𝚓𝚞𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚗

☆ • ☆ • ☆

"we have arrived," zach announced in a loud voice, as the car pulled up to in-n-out. "get ready, for the best food in your life, aud."

audrey laughed, shaking her head. "zach, you're hyping this up too much, what if i hate it?"

"then you can't be our friend anymore," zach deadpanned, his face completely serious. audrey nervously chuckled. "he's joking, right?"

daniel answered, "i think, but with zach it's hard to tell."

everyone got out, and walked inside, heading straight to the line. "what're we ordering?" corbyn asked.

☆

after ordering, everyone sat down at a big booth, talking and on their phones.

audrey leaned over to daniel, showing him a post on instagram. "this is so funny, look at-"

she was interrupted by a deep voice behind her.

"a-audrey?"

audrey stiffened, leaving her phone in daniel's hands as she turned, stood up, and saw the tall, brown haired man calling her name.

her ex-boyfriend. the person who broke her heart. the boy who broke her trust and love.

julian gonzalez.

his eyes were dark with sadness and surprise. he walked closer to the table, the people surrounding it having gone completely silent as they stared at him.

"hey, audrey, how are you?" he asked, reached his arms out to touch her shoulder.

audrey flinched, jerking away from him and closer to daniel, who immediately wrapped his arms around her.

julian looked at daniel's arms around audrey with furrowed eyebrows, his eyes squinting, before he regained his original mask of sadness.

"you're not even going to say anything?" he asked, his arms crossed, eyebrow arched.

audrey shook her head, "i have nothing to say to you. don't act like you did nothing to me."
her voice was soft but steady.

"please, audrey, remember all the good times we had together? when we went to the park, when we danced together at prom, when you flew out here to surprise-"

"stop. please." audrey said, her eyes downcast. "don't you remember every bad thing you've done to me?"

"forgive and forget, please," julian said.

daniel cleared his throat, glaring icy daggers at julian. "hey, babe, let's go, okay? christina already packed the food, we can go to our apartment," he said.

and sure enough, christina already had all the bags of food in her hands, corbyn holding some as well.

"we're leaving," christina said to julian, her voice threatening. "don't even think about following her, or talking to her ever again."

everyone walked in silence, daniel holding audrey's hand as she looked back at julian one more time.

except for julian wasn't the sad boy she had seen a few seconds ago, he was smirking, his foot tapping against the floor as his eyes stared down at audrey. he waved, and turned around, heading back to his table.

once they got outside, daniel immediately gathered her up in his arms, hugging her tightly. "are you okay?" he asked, his eyes full of concern.

audrey just nodded, saying, "i didn't think i would have seen him this soon."

"he seems like a dick," zach started.

"he is a dick," audrey replied, shrugging her shoulders. "but i don't care about him. at all," she said fiercely.

daniel rubbed her back, trying to calm audrey down. "do you wanna talk about it? we have a few minutes until that uber comes back."

audrey nodded, "i trust you guys, and i think it would be nice to get it off my chest."

jonah agreed, "we're always here for you, audrey, even if we just met, you're such an amazing person."

"thank you, jonah," audrey said, a soft smile taking over her lips. they relaxed back into a frown, however, as she started her story.

"julian was...he was my friend, and then he became my boyfriend. he was perfect, to me, at least. everyone said he was just with me to have sex with me, none of my other friends liked him, and neither did my parents. but they all just accepted it, i guess they realized they would have to let me learn my lesson the hard way.

we were dating for about a year when he had to move for work, he's a year older than me. he moved to cali, and i couldn't go with because i was just accepted into nyu. but we tried to make it work long distance, and i thought we were doing okay.

a few months after, i decided to go and surprise him there, because i missed him, and i thought he missed me too."

audrey chuckled dryly, rolling her eyes. "he obviously didn't miss me, he was fucking another girl as i knocked on his apartment door. and he had the audacity to try to hide it.

but the worst part about this was the fact was that everyone back home, my friends and family were right. as soon as he had used me, i meant nothing to him. i...i wish i had listened to them first.

he's singlehandedly the reason why i don't trust anyone, and i can't ever seem to be in a relationship.

well, until daniel."

audrey took a breath, her speech making her thirsty as she grabbed the bottle of water in christina's hands and took a sip.

she glanced at daniel, who's fists were clenched, his eyes dark with anger. "hey, dani, don't worry about it, okay? i just wanna forget."

"okay," he replied, his arms slowly relaxing. "i just really wanna punch him."

"we all want to punch him," corbyn said, nodding. "but it's not gonna help."

"if he tries anything, you tell us right away, okay?" jonah said, looking into audrey's eyes.

"yeah, you need to be safe, and let's be honest, i'm sure he wants you back," christina added.

the uber pulled up, and everyone got inside, daniel and audrey sitting next to each other.

"well, that was an interesting day," audrey mumbled, her head leaning against daniel's shoulder.

the crunching of the tires on gravel, and the soft music of the radio slowly lulled audrey to sleep.