Minute Taker

Chapter 18.2

"Pretty weird that my girlfriend is cousin's with your dude," Atheson interrupted, nudging his elbow into mine as he kept his drink close to his mouth. "Not to mention that my girlfriend's best friend also happens to be your boyfriend's ex-girlfriend. God, sounds like a soap opera we have here, doesn't it?"

"He's not my boyfriend," I mumbled back, causing him to nod as though he had known that all along.

"Potential boyfriend, then?"

I turned to look at him, shaking my head. He put his hands up in defense before taking another sip of his drink. "Sorry, none of my business, I get it," He said, pausing for a moment as he cleared his throat, looking around at how packed the area was getting with people of all ages. "Do you want to talk somewhere more quiet?"

"Here is fine," I replied, trying not to be rude but I really didn't want to be alone with him.

"Sure, sure," He added, taking long breaks to carefully think through what he was going to say next. "So, you know how last week at the fair you said you weren't upset about seeing me with Hadley? If you weren't, then why were you crying?"

I didn't want to answer him, mostly because he didn't deserve an answer. If there was one thing about Atheson it was that often the questions he asked were entirely self-serving, and I knew fully well he simply wanted me to be upset about him so that he could get a quick ego boost from it. If he had any idea what had actually upset me, he wouldn't have asked. I hated that I had to be reminded of Rechyl's death, which in turn reminded me of John's. I cringed, chugging down the rest of my drink. I was finding it much easier to drink and that I could hardly taste the alcohol at this point, wondering if Jannie had made this cup with less vodka.

"Want another?" Atheson pointed to my cup. I thought about it, and while I really didn't need another, I did want to have something to sip on instead of standing there like a fool. I finally handed the plastic cup over to Atheson, almost dropping it but he carefully grabbed it before I could. He laughed, staring at me as if I wasn't the person he had known all these years. "I guess it wouldn't take much for you to get drunk, would it?" He questioned, mostly to himself.

I waited patiently for John and Nora to finish their conversation, but it seemed to go on forever. Before I knew it I had gone through three or four drinks, each one being prepared by Atheson. At first I felt very closed off around Atheson, but after each drink I began opening up more and more to him. Before I knew it I was talking about how angry I was that he was dating Hadley, even though in reality I wasn't really that angry at all. For some reason I felt strong emotions coming over me, making it unbearable to keep anything inside. I told Atheson about how I hadn't even cried about our break-up and for some reason I figured that made me less human than other girls, that somehow I wasn't capable of feeling emotions like everyone else. Atheson took it upon himself to convince me that I was an amazing person and that I was full of love, that I had loved him like no one else.

"I gotta say, Ellie, that no one ever made me feel as loved as you do –-" He stopped himself, a coy smile breaking out onto his face as he corrected himself, "---did."

I turned to him, feeling that fiery spirit taking hold once more as if I couldn't even control it. "Then why was it so easy for you to cheat on me?" I snapped, staring at him without flinching a muscle.

He tried to laugh it off at first, but finally shrugged his shoulders. "You're intense, Ellie, you really are. But we never moved forward, we were always stuck in this rut of being so intense yet never progressing in our relationship," He said, gauging my face to see my reaction but I left him with nothing. "I saw myself marrying you, honey, I really did. I wanted it all with you – the big house, the two or three munchkins running around, but most of all you being the woman I spent the rest of my life with."

I shook my head, scoffing as soon as he said the words. "It doesn't change anything now, but it may have helped then if you mentioned that you wanted all of that," I replied. "As far as I knew we were good, and real good. But you didn't say a thing, so I didn't know. Instead you ran off behind my back and cheated."

He tried to grab my hand in his, but I quickly pulled away from him. I could sense the disappointment from him, unable to bear looking at his face. "We were really good, weren't we?" He remarked softly. "There was a time when nothing else mattered but me and you."

"That isn't how it is now, Atheson," I replied, drinking the last bit from my cup. I swallowed it down and turned to face him, seeing the slight look of remorse on his face. "I'm happy for you. Hadley is everything you want in a woman, and I hope you treat her better than you ever did me."

Heat erupted in my chest as I passed him my plastic cup, tearing myself away from him and out of the havoc of the party. I wasn't wasting any more time, I came here for a purpose and that was to spend time with John. Nora was still caught up in whatever conversation they were having, but John didn't seem to be enjoying himself at all. I had enough of the drama for one night, stepping up to John and gently, yet assertively, interlacing my fingers with his. His once tense shoulders quickly softened, the pinched lines around his eyes vanished and suddenly he was back to the John that I had enjoyed so much. I could see at that moment that whatever Nora had said to him didn't matter anymore, and it didn't matter to me either. It didn't matter that I felt so angry about Atheson when before I hadn't let myself get caught up in the whirlwind of emotions attached to him. It didn't matter that there were so many things working against us – that I had seen John's death and that I barely had any time with him – it was just this moment that mattered.

I stepped forward, placing my hand on John's cheek as I leaned in and pressed my lips against his. At first he seemed shocked that I had, but soon he caved into the kiss and his lips gently moved against my own. I heard Nora make a noise of displeasure, pulling herself away from us as she finally left to meet up with the others. But I didn't care about Nora, and I didn't care about Atheson – all I wanted was to enjoy the fact that I was kissing John.

He removed his fingers from mine, placing both of his hands underneath my jaw and gently cradling my face in his coarse palms, tracing soft lines into the skin of my neck as his lips feverishly enveloped mine. My body was tingling with excitement, though a lot of that could be attributed to the large amount of alcohol I had consumed. Our kiss felt like it had lasted a lifetime, slowly pulling apart from each other as our chests heaved for air. I had no desire to open my eyes, instead I wanted to get lost in his lips once more.

"Did you really want to kiss me or was that just the best way of getting Nora to leave me alone?" John said quietly, laughing slightly to himself.

"A little bit of column A and a little bit of column B, possibly some of column C, too," I replied, finally prying my eyes apart to look at his handsome face that was so close to my own. "I'm sorry if I just made things worse for you."

"Anything but," He quickly interjected, leaning down to kiss me once more. His lips traveled along mine as though he was making a map of every square inch of my mouth, slowly pulling away. "You're a mysterious woman, Ellion, and I'm not entirely sure I get you yet – but I like you."

"I like you, too," I whispered back, tossing my arms around his shoulders as I stole a few more kisses from him.

He laughed mid kiss, his arms carefully weaving around me as I almost lost my footing. "I really hope column C isn't alcohol induced," He said, trying to balance me as I stumbled a little.

"Would it be a bad thing if it was?"

"It would if this isn't what you want."

I giggled uncontrollably, gently pushing my head against his chest. "Oh, if you only knew, John."

He laughed in return, still trying to keep me from falling over. "We should get you home before you start getting sick to your stomach," He said, steadying me on my feet as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, leading me towards Jannie and the others.

"I'm really not that drunk," I said, unsure of why I felt the need to lie. It just seemed so easy to do right now. But as soon as I thought about it, my stomach did feel slightly sensitive, as if the contents inside were bubbling eagerly.

"Oh, I'm sure you aren't," John laughed, motioning to Jannie to come over because I wasn't able to walk in a straight line. It seemed so silly to me that I couldn't put one foot in front of the other, finding myself laughing hysterically with every attempt. I could have sworn only moments ago that I was entirely level-headed, that I could see only one image of everything instead of two – three...four.

I gagged, stopping myself dead in my tracks as I bent down for a moment, using the ground to steady me. I didn't have that much to drink, did I? John said something to me but all I could focus on was a single rock on the ground that seemed to be swirling around in perfect figure eights. I watched it go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth...

And within seconds, I was falling face first into the dirt.