When We Were Young

𝙲𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍

𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕
We walked into The Rocks and it was huge. There was so much to look at. It was stunning. There was sand on an open area to the left along with the tiki hut open bar. A grey sidewalk with black stripes separating every block of cement ran down the middle of the club. On the right side of the club, there was an enormous dance floor area with a stage and instruments, I'm guessing for the live bands. Right next to that, there was a small black shack that was serving street food with the words "Ready on The Rocks" spray painted in neon green and pink. The best part about the club was it was centered right by the ocean, so it was an amazing view. 

We walked over to the bar area and sat down on the red leather stools.
"What'll it be?" asked the bartender.

"Chilled strawberry lemon vodka with salt and ice, please," said Onyx.

"And for you sir?" the bartender questioned me.

"I'll just take a whiskey with ice, thanks" I said. "You didn't even need to think about what you wanted," I said to Onyx.

"Nope. My mom used to get it when she would bring me to her work, so I guess it kinda rubbed off on me," she said.

"Oh, ok," I said, wondering where exactly her mom worked where they serve alcohol and let a kid in. "So, how long have you known Serena and Armani?" I asked Onyx.

"Well, we've all known each other since high school. I've been friends with Serena since she moved here in her sophomore year and she introduced me to Armani at a party. We all became best friends and we learned a lot about each other. We had a lot of things in common, including the fact we all had crappy home lives," she said.

"Oh, that's neat. I'm sorry to hear about your home lives."

"Yeah, Serena and Armani can tell you their stories, it's not really my place to tell, but as for me, it was both of my parents. My mom was in and out of rehab most of my life for drinking. She worked as a dancer, but because of her age, she didn't get a lot of business, which gave her a reason for her to blame me for it. My dad was rarely ever home, and when he was, him and my mom were always fighting or he was yelling at me for different things. Little things mostly, things that didn't need to be yelled about."

"I'm sorry about that. That sucks."

"Yep, and that's exactly why I left. They didn't really seem to care. They called once and never again after that."

I felt so bad for her. The things she must've gone through...

𝐎𝐧𝐲𝐱'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕
Jesse an I had just been sitting and talking and just getting to know more about each other, so of course I wasn't going to tell him anything to freak him out. So I lied to him about my high school years. I didn't tell him that my dad used to hit my mom and I. I didn't tell him that I still have flashbacks of that most days. I didn't tell him that my mom would yell and scream at me as much as my dad did. I certainly didn't tell him that we were so poor that I had to shoplift just to get any clothes that weren't dirty or too small, and I definitely didn't tell him that my dad used to make and sell drugs right in our house. That's why he was barely ever home because he was a mule. I couldn't tell him that. He wouldn't look at me the same. He could think that my friends are just like me and never want to see them again and I can't have that on my conscience. So, I just avoided it.

"Hey guys, hows it going?" Armani asked.

"Oh it's going," I replied. "I was just telling Jesse about how great of a dancer you are and how you promised you would show us tonight."

"Uuum i don't remember saying that."

"Well of course you did. Now, why don't you go with Serena and save us a spot in the dance floor, ok?" She sighed heavily and walked over to Serena. Truthfully, I just wanted them gone so I could continue to talk to Jesse and I didn't want them saying anything that I haven't told him yet, something that could scare him away.

"That's a good idea, actually. We should go dance," Jesse said, smiling and standing up from his chair.

"I don't know about that. It's been awhile since I've danced in front of anyone."

"Oh c'mon, how bad can you be? Honestly? I guarantee you aren't worse than me." He held out his hand and I reluctantly took it as he led me out to the dance floor. "No one will be looking at you. Besides me. I promise. They'll be too busy grinding and getting tipsy of off their margaritas." He started to dance to the beat and I followed what he was doing. Serena met us on the dance floor, drink in hand, in true drunken white girl fashion, and Armani followed. The band that was playing played upbeat songs all throughout the night. Occasionally, we left to get more drinks. I was laughing and dancing and letting loose. I was the happiest I'd been in awhile.

"Alright guys, you've been an amazing audience," said the lead singer of the band. "So to end the night, we're going to play something with a little more slow tempo." The song "No Air" started playing and most of the people started to leave the dance floor. Except Jesse.

"May I have this dance?" He asked and held out his hand.

"You may," I said, taking his hand. He got closer to me and wrapped his arms around my waist and I put my hands on his shoulders and laid my head on his chest as we danced. We stayed like that until the end of the song. I lifted my head off of his chest and he was staring at me. I noticed that's a thing he does often. I stared back at him and kept eye contact. He started to lean in. I knew what he was going to do, but I wasn't ready for that. I mean, we just met. I quickly turned my face and let go of shoulders.

"Ok girls, you ready to go home? Armani, you're driving since you didn't have anything to drink," I said, trying to change the subject and hoping they didn't notice what Jesse has tried. We all left the club and filed into the car. We dropped Jesse off and, as he walked away, I began to think about what could have happened if I hadn't moved away, if I just let it happen.

𝙻𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘: 𝙿𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚍 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎