24

TWELFTH HOUR

Anastasia remembered her twentieth birthday even more than her sixteenth. It was the worst birthday party that she had ever had because it was awkward, embarrassing, and it was in Las Vegas. Even José's lame-ass birthday party at that bowling place was better in Anastasia's memory.

They had been dating on and off for a whole year now. She could still remember the look on his face when she said yes to being his girlfriend on his seventeenth birthday. She sighed to entering another relationship that she didn't care too much about. She didn't know why men in her life just couldn't take no for an answer. She had been breaking up with him more than she could count, but he had always been telling everyone that they were dating even when she never said the word yes.

She had no idea what was it with people asking her out on the days that she couldn't give a negative answer.

It was his eighteenth birthday, many people had already asked her why didn't she just break it off with him completely if she didn't really care about him or the relationship. Some even accused her of holding on to a hot guy because she was jealous of the other people that actually wanted him. She would snort at that pathetic theory, the only reason why she didn't break it off completely with him because their fathers used to serve together, and she didn't want to disappoint their fathers by exposing them of José's behavior. She couldn't care less what José was up to, and she wasn't bothered to actually come up with the rejecting words that she knew would hurt him and his ego.

"I'll pick you up," José said into the phone enthusiastically. "Love you," he called before ending the phone. Anastasia grunted a response about picking her up and completely neglected the second one. It wasn't that she didn't like him, but she definitely didn't feel that strongly about him. He was just another friend of hers that she cared but not too deeply about.

"Girl, you're hot." Jack whistled at his girlfriend who happened to be Anastasia's best friend Kate. She didn't know why Kate even accepted his date, not that Jack wasn't a nice guy, it was just that she could feel that there was something Jack had against her and he was using Kate to get to her. Anastasia had tried to warn Kate about it, but Kate brushed off, also throwing it in her face about her carelessness toward her relationship.

"You look sexy," José complimented when they stepped out of the car. She was wearing her usual outing attire. Unlike Kate, she wasn't a dress and heels kind of girl. She had a pair of converse on, a pair of bell-bottoms, a tank top and a giant coat that literally swallowed her up.

Rolling her eyes to herself at that praise, she said something back to him just out of courtesy and let him led her to the bowling booth that he had booked. Jack had decided to team up with his best bud instead of his girlfriend, which further made Anastasia believe in her theory that this guy had some kind of grudge against her.

The night was boring for Anastasia. Kate wasn't interested in bowling and was on her phone scrolling through social media and texting her brother almost the entire time. Jack and José were in their own world, chatting and challenging the girls, which turned out to be Anastasia alone. They weren't happy about losing either, but none of them said anything when Anastasia gave them the look telling them to stop whining about losing a match to a girl. They demanded a rematch and Anastasia accepted it.

Bowling could be fun, and she knew that if she was here with Luke and Sean and their friends, it would be so much better. She huffed at the lack of knowledge Jack and José had about Kate and herself.

On the way home, Jack and José still didn't stop talking and Kate started to fill Anastasia up with the gossip that she had heard from Ethan. As well as an update on her anxious waiting for her Early Decision for journalism in USC. It was their Senior year in high school, and all Anastasia wanted to do was to get into college and get out of the hell-hole that she was in since she moved to LA.