The Love Triangle

The Party

" I don't know what to wear, Jesse! "
Jesse and I are searching through my unimpressive collection of clothes.
I find nothing good and put on a pink dress with a denim jacket to look presentable.

We reach Conrad's place, and I must admit his parents are wealthy. His place is enormous, but it somehow manages to look cosy. I see Conrad sitting on the sofa in the living room, laughing away with his friends.

Jesse, without hesitation, takes my arm and leads me through the crowd towards where Conrad is sitting. 

"Hey, you guys made it; thank you, Jesse, for bringing Arlo. "

" You're welcome handsome. "

" Why don't you guys join us? We're about to play truth or dare; it would be fun".

Of course, the cliche scene from every teen movie. I barely know anyone there, so obviously, I was going to refuse the offer, but before I could have said anything, Jesse agreed. We are now sitting on one of the sofas after our awkward introduction with the group. I forget everybody's name after five minutes even though I am good with names. I believe it's just the anxiety.

There are three sofas. Let's say I am sitting on sofa 1 with Jesse and some girl who is very scantily dressed, smells of alcohol and speaks with a lazy according to her very sexy accent. Her body screams sex.
I am good at judging people even though I keep telling myself not to. I went off topic there. So sofa 2 is adjacent to 1 but at 90°. A really drunk guy sits there with another girl who is all over him. I assume she is either his girlfriend or wants to be his girlfriend. Precisely opposite sofa 1 is sofa three, where Conrad sits with another tall guy. Conrad looks good, and he particularly smells fantastic today.

The game had already begun, and while internally judging the people around, I wasn't paying any attention all this while. The bottle spins and stops pointing towards the girl sitting with us on sofa 1, the one with the sleepy accent. It's the tall guy's turn to ask the question. The girl picks dare. The guy's name is Miles, and the girl's name is Ava.

Miles dares Ava to seduce Conrad. This is going to be interesting.

Ava gives a slight smirk to Conrad and gently puts her plastic cup on the table before getting up. The first thing she does is make Conrad take off his jacket. She begins by sitting on his lap and resting her back against his chest. She touches her body and then turns around to nibble on Conrad's ear.

I'm sick to my stomach right now.

Conrad, I notice, has a rather serious expression on his face. He looks right at me despite Ava's hands being all over his body. He gives me a look of longing. I want to run away from here as fast as possible, but that would make my discomfort slightly more apparent. Instead, I stare back into his gorgeous eyes for a few more moments until Ava is done with her drama. Of course, I feel jealous even though I think I shouldn't. 

I am standing in his backyard, which looks exceptionally well-maintained. I hear someone coming toward me. I don't turn back. It's Ava.

"Hey, Arlo, right? What are you doing out here alone? "

I nod for no reason.

"yeah, I just needed some fresh air."

"Oh, okay. So are you friends with Conrad?"

I sense a bit of jealousy in the way she asked me that. I have absolutely no idea how to answer that question. I nod again.

"You not much of a talker, I see. I like Conrad, but it is complicated, you know, US."

"Umm?" I didn't know what else to say. She was trying to make it crystal clear from the very beginning that she was into Conrad even though it was evident that vice versa wasn't true. She wanted to give me a hint so that I didn't steal 'her man'.

She opens her mouth to utter some more words of warning, but before she can, Conrad makes his entrance." What are you girls up to?" He says, smiling but only a little.

Ava answers.

"Hey, we were talking about you and your boring party. I am going to get some more booze."  Surprisingly, she leaves us alone only after planting a soft kiss on Conrad's cheek. Such a seductress. She is already on my hit list now.

"You should go inside; it's getting cold out here." 

Thank God he didn't offer me his jacket. 

"I guess so; I needed to get some air, though."

"I understand" He starts giving me that look again.

He comes closer to me, our mouths just inches apart. " You know, Arlo, an hour ago, I didn't care about anything else when I looked at you. At that moment, I could only think of you. I could only see you because I wanted you. I don't care if it's only been a few weeks since I met you. You are just so irresistible. I have wanted to do this since I laid my eyes on you."

He holds my waist, pulling me even closer. He gently presses his lips against mine. Did I want the same thing? Was I ready for this? A sudden overflow of dopamine defeats these thoughts.

"Arlo...Arlo? " Conrad interrupts my train of thoughts.

Yes, I am delusional.

"Ah, I'm here, sorry. Let's go back inside, shall we? "

The rest of the night passed in a blur. I can only remember Conrad and me having a long conversation about some song because I usually have nothing to talk about. Then I also remember Jesse being so drunk that Conrad had to drop us back at our apartment. After we had put Jesse to bed, I remember him kissing my hand before leaving. I was too tired to realise how romantic that was. I do now.