No Such Thing

Chapter 15

Playlist:
Wannabe - The Spice Girls
Let's not fall in love - BIGBANG
TiO - Zayn

All eyes are on me when I enter the bar and remind me that I haven't been here in a long time, meaning the last time I was... Well it wasn't pretty. I pretend that I'm unaware and lead Ryder to a table by the lit-up jukebox, slapping the top and nodding at the bartender to bring us a round. "Okay everyone is staring at you like you're some kind of ghost." "I just haven't been here in a very long time. That's all." "Stella Mason!" The girl calling my name runs up to me and I meet her in the middle with a huge hug. "Cindy Keller? No way" "Oh my god! Where the hell have you been?" My high school best friend. Still the best hips in the nation. Her figure was perfection. Her dark brown skin glistened even in the dank bar and clashed with her ruby red curls. She had her septum pierced and her smile could eat you alive. "New York! You're gorgeous as ever, oh my god." "Look at you! Supermodel at best. Okay wait... We have to do it." She put her hand out for mine and I knew what she was insinuating. "Ridgefort Rovers slay the masses. All you losers can kiss our-" We chanted in unison, swirled our hips, and smacked our asses just like we did on the cheer team. I remembered that Ryder was next to me as we finished laughing. "Cindy, this is Ryder." "Nice to meet you. My boy toy's here too. Oh and someone else who'll be happy to see you. Robbie! Get over here!" She calls out to a table across the room. Ryder leans over to whisper in my ear. "I didn't know you were a cheerleader." "It was another life. Sue me." A raven-haired Nadia Fernandez was bouncing over with what I assumed was her boyfriend holding her hand. "Stellz... No way." She squealed and tackled me in a hug. The cheer squad was reunited.

"Stella was the class sweetheart at school. She had a fluffy pink pen for fucks sake." We had all sat together at booth and were busy reminiscing on the old days, which seemed farther away than they were. "Every boy was lined up at her locker saying whatever they could to get in her pants and she was too nice to shoo them off so we always stepped in." I think Ryder is as confused as I am because the girl they're talking about doesn't sound remotely like me at all. "Prom was hilarious. She went with this football player, Reese, just to please her parents. The second she got to the dance, we helped her ditch the shmuck and she stayed with us the rest of the night." "Thank god she could drive since she was the only one who wouldn't touch a drink or a smoke for her life. That is until-" "Until I saw the light and fell for the fiery nectar of which is alcohol. The end." The girls looked at me oddly and I knew exactly why but I just faintly smiled as if to say shut the fuck up please. "I can't believe that's the same Stella sitting here next to me." He's looking at me in disbelief and I don't blame him. "I've changed. It happens." Cindy grabs my hand. "You should've called us. Or maybe visited, anything. We've always cared. We miss you tons." "I'm sorry. I know. I've been really caught up with work and stuff." I was lying. The truth is I tried to forget about anything in Colorado after I left, except for my family, of course. It all hurt too much and when it stopped hurting, I just didn't care enough at that point to reach out.

Another night of intense drinking has left me feeling like I'm on a cloud. "Ryder, do you really wanna see your girl go nuts? Watch this." Nadia runs over to the jukebox and flips through the choices until she pops in a few coins and the song starts. Wannabe by The Spice Girls. My glam jam. Before I know it I was standing up on the tabletop with the girls, singing at the top of my lungs. I really fucking missed this.

*Ryder's POV*
She was unrecognizable. I had to keep looking back at her standing up in the backseat of the convertible red Mustang. It was the crack of dawn and she had her hands up over her head, wind blowing through her hair, straight out of a music video. The most amazing part was the smile on her face. The kind of smile that knows no trouble or worry. Just bright and purely euphoric. It was fucking incredible. "Stop here!" Her friend Nadia had me park by a cliff overlooking the city. Stella grabbed the whiskey bottle from Cindy's hand and stumbled out of the car and ran into my arms. It was pretty chilly out so I took off my leather Saint Laurent jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Cindy and Nadia grabbed ahold of their men as well and we all looked on at the horizon as the sun rose up in the sky. Stella walked closer to the edge and scared the shit out of me as she kept trying to stay on her feet. "To fucking freedom, baby." She took a shot from the bottle, raised it up, and chucked it into the abyss below. The rest of our party cheered. "Good. That was enough for you anyway." She leaned into me again. "I've got more than enough of you to keep me drunk." Sober Stella would punch drunk Stella in the face right about now. "You make absolutely no sense." "I love you." That caught me off guard. I had to remind myself that she's beyond her limit at the moment. But that doesn't mean I can't indulge her. "I love you way more, Stel.. Way more." And I meant it.