Autumn Leaves & Pumpkins Please

thirteen | more tequila's please

october 27th

dallas, america

IT WAS A SATURDAY EVENING, which defined Wine & Chips with the girls. Since the ripe age of seventeen it had become a tradition and after the common event we would go out. We had fake ID's to get access to the most lit clubs in our city and we had the time of our lives back in the teenage days. That was until my mother found out what we had been doing every Saturday and I sometimes still heard her screaming at me these days. It was traumatizing to say the least.

We were discussing the relationship between Hailey Baldwin and Justin Bieber when a package arrived. I didn't remember ordering something online, so I carefully opened it. A black, shiny box with the Apple logo reflected the artificial lights of my lamps and I gasped. When I unpacked the box, a MacBook with a blush marble cover appeared.

"What did I do to deserve this, God?" I asked as I dramatically looked up to the ceiling.

"What's that?" Sadie curiously asked, where after all the girls surrounded me.

"That's the latest MacBook, how in the world are you able to afford it?" Gwen asked.

"I didn't buy it," I said.

The girls looked at me in confusion and I held up my hands gesturing that I was being for real. I wasn't even able to afford donuts, let alone the most expensive laptop created by Apple. Then I saw a little paper in the corner of the box. I grabbed it, looked at the girls who mouthed and gestured that I should read it out loud.

"Dear Autumn, a little bird told me your old laptop passed away, so I got you this new one. It is optimized to do all kinds of work on, so the newest software shouldn't cause any problems. Hopefully you won't spill water over this one, you doofus. Love, Xavier."

"Aw, where can I order a Xavier?" Lily-Rose asked.

"Chris who?" Valentina said in a British accent, "Oh, I think I love Xavier more than you do."

"That's really sweet of him," Sadie smiled, "he seems to care about you."

"It doesn't mean anything to him. It's just a matter of money," I said.

"You doofus, of course this means something. It means that he cares about you and your laptop," Lily-Rose took place on my couch and filled her glass again. "I brought some shots."

She took the bottle out of her purse and put it onto my table. I grabbed some shot glasses from the kitchen and sat with the girls.

"He left me alone the other day. He ran off to the toilet and left via another exit, so I wouldn't see him," I explained.

"That's strange. What was the matter?" Fadoua asked as she drank her coke.

"I don't know. He seemed to feel unwell all of the sudden, then he stood up, told me to not follow him and left the shop. He posted a picture on his i********: half an hour later and didn't pick up when I called him. And now he sends me this."

"Men are weird creatures. How about we just toast to Autumn and Xavier's fake relationship," Lily-Rose filled all the little glasses and we raised them all together.

"Cheers!"

We went to a bar in our city where we got to meet fellow classmates and old friends. There were certain people we would always hang out whenever we decided to go out, but we never saw them during the normal week.

I wasn't that drunk yet, so I sat on the barstool observing people around me. Random sluts were trying to shake their booty in the center of the room, while others were either talking by the wall or at the bar, just like me.

I sipped from my tequila when I suddenly felt two hands on my shoulders, squeezing it roughly.

"Autumn!" the male voice shouted into my ear.

When I turned around, I saw Alex' excited face. He was a friend of Chris which made him my friend automatically. We hugged for some seconds until he let go of me and looked quite surprised.

"You're famous," he said.

"Oh no, don't start."

"Xavier Montgomery." It looked like he was whistling, but due to the loud music it was inaudible. I pushed him softly and shook my head as I laughed.

"It's devastating Chris," he turned around and pointed at his close friend who was leaning against the wall with a somber expression on his face. Chris looked normal as ever; his blonde short hair carefully brought into model, the blush on his cheeks, eyes bright as ever. The only thing different was his aura, normally he would radiate these electric waves of positivity, but they had turned into dark clouds.

I shrugged.

"He needs to get over it. I was stupid for giving him another chance." As I talked, he caught my gaze and held it for quite some time. It was almost as if his eyes were trying to convince me, trying to talk me into giving him another chance. They were begging me to show some sympathy, so I just looked the other way.

Just when Alex wanted to react, Drew joined our conversation. He put his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him. The strong scent of his aftershave filled my nose, but I didn't mind, Drew was that one guy who just always smelled good. His naturally flirty behavior and handsomeness completed the picture. The way he dressed was the cherry on top of the pie; he had this classy look yet vintage. Only he could pull off looks he created.

"Attending classes she cannot, but partying she can!" Drew kissed my cheek, where after he let go of me to sip his beer. "Stop staring at Chris, he'll think you still have a thing for him."

A girl approached Chris and it took me approximately three seconds to figure out that it was Sophie. He was having a hard time smiling at her and gently pushed her away when she started touching him, then he seemed to excuse himself and headed towards the restroom.

"Where's Fadoua?" Drew asked. I looked at him as I wiggled my brows. "Get out."

"She's over there with Gwen."

He smiled at me and walked to her. When he started talking to the two girls, Gwen walked off with an approving smile decorating her face. Although Fadoua acted as if she didn't like Drew's presence, she couldn't keep her eyes off him when they talked. Drew became very interested in her a couple of weeks ago, but Fad is everything but easy on guys; he'd have to fight and he sure was doing that. They were the cutest thing ever.

"So... About you and Valentina," I said to Alex.

"No, about you and Xavier. Dude, how? How did you even meet?"

"You sound like you have a fan account."

"s**t, you caught me. But really though, you're hanging out with the Xavier Montgomery."

"It's no big deal, you're overreacting."

"You're underreacting!"

Suddenly, a storm of weird feelings overcame me. It was probably caused by the amount of alcohol in my blood, but I had never felt such a nipping sensation inside of me. The talk about Xavier reminded me of his presence and how I lowkey liked him being around me. It reminded me of his sensual touch, the dark look in his charming eyes, the sound of his deep voice.

I wanted to call him.

"I have to go," I quickly hugged Alex and then ran away from him straight to the exit of the bar.

The freezing air embraces my barely covered with clothes body and I felt my body temperature decrease, but that didn't stop me from completing my mission. With my shaky hands I dialed his number, but stopped when I was about to hit the green button.

I was being easy on him, very f*****g easy. He left to London without saying goodbye and apologized by sending me a new laptop. I wanted him to fulfill my romantic needs, but also didn't want to seem desperate for him – which I really was at this point.

I tried to not imagine his hands caressing parts of my body as if I was a treasure he had discovered, I tried to not feel his sweet lips against mine.

Maybe I just wanted to have s*x and was he the first one to pop up into my head, maybe I wasn't obsessed with him after all. Or maybe I was, maybe I couldn't stop thinking about him when he wasn't around.

My skin was covered in goosebumps due to the cold and I quietly cussed to myself. Just call him already, one part of me said, but I was being incredibly contradictory. I looked up to the dark sky and closed my eyes for a couple of seconds.

"Hello?"

The raspy, British voice made my world stop for what felt like hours. I looked down at my phone and realized I had accidentally called Xavier and he picked up.

"Auuuuutumn?"

"Tu du du, you have reached the voice mail box of 202-555-0118. At the tone please record your voice message. When you are finished recording, you may hang up or press one for more options. Tuuud."

"Hi, Autumn, this is Xavier. I called because I'm on my way to your house right now."

"What?" I interrupted him.

"Kidding. Are you high?"

"No."

"Drunk?"

"Are you?"

"Perhaps."

"But isn't it like four pm in London?"

"Since when is consuming alcohol time-bound?"

"I like that way of thinking."

"Thank you. Now, Autumn, why are you drunk-calling me? Do you miss me?"

I held my breath for a couple of seconds, then started giggling sheepishly.

"I might need a few more tequila's to be able to answer that."