Almost Always You

Chapter 6

Xander moved towards the door to open it. I felt slightly uncomfortable because Nikki is someone Xander hooks up with all the time; she might not be happy to see me here in his room. I sat up and straightened my dress as Xander opened the door. He didn’t fully open it, just enough to see Nikki.

“What’s going on, Alex? You’ve been upstairs for so long. Are you alright?” she asked.

“Yes, Nikki. Just came upstairs for a smoke. I’ll be down soon.”

“Okay.” She still didn’t notice me, maybe because Xander is really tall and was standing right in front of her. She got on her toes and gave him a peck.

“I miss you. Come down soon,” she said and left. I felt hurt. I mean, we were just kissing, and now Nikki kissed him, and he didn’t say no. He closed the door and turned around. He just stared at me. It was really awkward.

“Umm… I should go downstairs, or Nikki might come back here again. You should go too.” With that he opened the door and left. No proper goodbye, no reason why he kissed me, or what this meant. I was really hurt. I knew deep down that this would have happened. I cannot expect anything else from him. He doesn’t do relationships. It was a mistake. I didn’t realize I was crying until tears were falling down my cheeks. I got up and made my way to the bathroom. I took my makeup off and washed my face. As if anyone cares about my appearance here, and I just want to go down and get drunk.

I made my way downstairs and saw Xander sitting on the couch with Nikki on his lap. I walked towards the kitchen, ignoring them. It was filled with drunk people, and I was ready to be one of them. I drank a can of beer and then took shots with Josh and Peter. By half an hour I was totally drunk. The room started spinning, and I couldn’t stand straight. Suddenly someone grabs me by my waist.

“Hey, are you alright?” It was David.

“Heyyyyy Davvvviiiddd…” I slurred at him.

“I think you need to sit down, Ella; you’re drunk.”

“But I want to play beer pong with Josh.”

“No. That’s enough drinking for tonight; let’s get you upstairs where you can sit down and relax peacefully.”

We made our way upstairs, with me losing my balance on every step and David helping me up. He opened a random door. The room was empty. We made it to the couch. I was so sleepy and tired that I just wanted to go to sleep. I laid down, but David helped me up.

“You can’t sleep drunk,” he said.

“But I’m tired.”

“You need to sober up first; it’s not good to go to sleep drunk.”

“My head hurts. It’s killing me.”

“You sit here. I’ll go and get water and something to eat for you so you can sober up. Do not sleep,” he said in a stern voice.

“Yes, sir.” I said, giving him a weak salute while trying to look serious. He shook his head and just smiled. He got up and left, closing the door behind him. I was really tired, and my feet were hurting really bad. I removed my high-heeled shoes and stretched my legs. I got up and moved towards the bed to get more comfortable but changed my mind as soon as I saw the used condom lying on the floor next to the bed. I sat back on the couch, and David came back in a few minutes later with a bottle of water and a bag of chips.

“Here, drink this,” he said, handing me the water. I drank half of the bottle, realizing how thirsty I was. David opened the chips and said, “The crisps are the only thing I found.”

“Crisps?” I said, laughing. “It’s called chips, not crisps, young man.”

“In your country it’s called chips, but we call it crisps. It’s crispy, so it crisps.”

“Wow, I like your logic,” I laughed. I started munching the chips happily. We started small talk. I realized David is a really nice guy, and he’s very polite. He suddenly asked.

“Where did Alexander take you? I thought you weren’t coming back since you were long gone with him. Is something going on between you guys?”

I was trying to forget what happened between me and Xander a while ago.

“No, it’s just that he’s my brother’s friend, so he was just looking after me in my brother’s absence.” I felt guilty lying to David. He’s really a sweet guy.

“Oh! Okay. I just thought something was going on between you guys. I mean, he had that look on his face,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

“What look?”

“Jealousy.”

“Jealous? Him!” I laughed. “Trust me, he could never get jealous. He’s all punk, you know. Someone who doesn’t show their emotions and doesn’t do relationships because they aren’t made to be tied down with one particular person.” I don’t know why I was bad-mouthing Xander, maybe because of what he did earlier.

“Nothing’s going on between us because I’m someone who’s into commitments. Plus he’s my brother’s friend, so it would be super weird.” I didn’t realize that we both were really close now until I stopped talking. David was now leaning in for a kiss. I cannot kiss him after what happened between me and Xander. I’ll be a slut if I do so, and David is a nice guy; hurting him would be a sin. He was just an inch away when the door opened with a loud bang. It was none other than Xander, and he looked like he was about to kill someone.