ACCIDENTAL AFFAIR

Andrea “Come on Drea, don't be such a boring wuss.” Natalie whined as the rest of the girls gave murmurs of acceptance. “Chug, chug, chug, chug.” They chanted at me so that I was going to take a shot of tequila. This was only my fourth shot and I was already beginning to feel tipsy, which was not something I wanted. “We're right in the beginning of our exams. I do not want to be hung over by tomorrow you guys.” “Tomorrow is Saturday, Andrea.” “Yeah, and I plan to study for our first exams which is going to be on Monday.” “Girl, you already studied more than enough. You don't have to study anymore. Besides, this is our last night of freedom. We might as well enjoy it.” “Fine. But this will be the last one and I mean it this time.” I sighed and downed the shot, the burning sting hitting my chest as it went down. “Yes girl.” They all cheered me as I gulped it down. I looked at my watch and all I wanted now was to be back in our apartment in my comfy silk nightgown, in my bed and about to sleep. We were right at the beginning of our exams. The only set of exams left for us in our entire university education and after that our graduation ceremony and we were done. Done with freaking college. It would have made more sense to celebrate at the end of our school year, but some of us had already started securing good jobs and would have to move out of the state or country right after graduation. I was actually the only one that hadn't secured a job yet or even started looking, and to think I'm the one that's taking this the most seriously. I couldn't blame myself though. My brother had been through a lot taking care of me ever since our parents passed and since I was a child, all I've wanted to do was to repay his kindness. “Earth to Andrea.” Michelle said, snapping her fingers in my face. “Are you even here with us? What's on your mind, sweetheart?” “Nothing. I'm fine. I was just trying to remember if there's still any milk left in the fridge.” Crap. I regretted the words as soon as they left my lips. Of all the things I could muster up, it just had to be about some damn milk in the fridge. They were definitely going to know that I was lying, that's for sure, and knowing my friends, they weren't going to let up until I told them what was going on, and that was not something I didn’t want to tell anyone. “Oh yeah.” Kyla said. “We ran out of milk but I restocked when I went to the grocery store today.” I blinked. Then again. Okay. That was quite unexpected. And just like that, everyone's minds were off it. Okay, maybe I was wrong when I said that I was a bad liar, or maybe luck just happens to be on my side. “Okay, so we were saying we wanted to play a game.” “Oh okay.” I smiled loving the idea and also glad to accept anything that didn't have to do with drinking again. “Good. So let's play Truth or Dare. Who agrees?” “I agree. Y'all have a lot of beans to spill and I know that for a fact, Natalie.” I specifically called Natalie's name because I was certain that she was hiding something from everyone in the friend group. “Oh okay. I see what you're doing. You want to call me out huh? Well wait your turn darling. Who wants to go first by the way?” “I will.” Kyla giggled. We really loved this lounge bar and in our earlier days at school it was an every Friday thing, but now that everyone was focused and trying to come out with the best degrees possible, our coming here had reduced drastically. I turned my head just to see how dark it was outside, and for the umpteenth time that night, I met the most gorgeous pair of dark, piercing ocean blue eyes. Whoever the owner of those eyes were, he was sitting at a dark corner of the room, so I couldn't see his face but something about his stare made me feel a lot more conscious of myself and what I was doing than I usually would be. And I have no idea if I was just high off the attention, but I decided to start acting more sultry and teasing. I could literally feel the heat of his stare raking me over. “Drea, it's Natalie's turn. Do you want to ask her?” “Definitely.” My attention was back where it belonged. “Natalie...wait, what did you choose again?” “I chose truth.” Her cheeks reddened from the realization that she had been cornered which proved my guess right . She really was hiding something. “Good. Natalie, do you have a boyfriend? If yes, who is he and do we know him?” “Oh my goodness Drea. You didn't have to just instantly hit me with that. Plus that’s three freaking questions. That’s not fair.” “Well…I don’t hear anyone else complaining.” “Wait, Natalie?” Michelle called out with eyes wide open. “Why are you acting so offended? Wait…do you have a boyfriend?” Everyone stared at her in shock as she turned red as a tomato from the guilt and pressure. I know I was going to seem like a bad person for putting her on the spot like that, but it's not my fault. We're best friends and we're supposed to tell each other everything, and for the past two weeks, I've noticed she’d always had a soft, dreamy kind of smile stretched out on her face every once in a while. I was patiently waiting for her to tell us about it, but since she didn't want to tell us, I have decided to pull it out of her. “Yes I do have a boyfriend.” There were gasps all around the table but completely different reactions. I gasped because hello, it felt amazing to be right in this situation. Kyla’s gasp was out of shock, as she was obviously surprised that Natalie could keep such a thing from us. And Michelle’s was pretty much the same. “And I didn't tell you guys because I felt like you guys were gonna judge me and stuff, because yeah. You do know him.” “Who is he?” Kyla looked slightly angry at this information. “It's Howard.” My brows furrowed in confusion as I tried to think of anyone I knew who was called Howard, and with the expressions on every other person's face, I could tell they were as confused as I was. Natalie, noticing everyone's confusion, decided to explain further. “Howard. The one that works at the breakfast shop.” “Wait. The korean-american dude? With the hot figure that's always staring at you?” Michelle asked with a grin. “Yeah. That one.” “Oh my God girl. He is so cute. Why did you think we would judge you for it?” She asked with a confused look on her face. “I don't know. I was just being stupid and I was judging you guys based off of my sister's reaction. She thought our family is too high society for me to be associated with someone like that.” They all nodded, her explanation being very valid and understandable, but I was just there trying my hardest to listen as I took little side glances at the blue eyed man. He wasn't constantly staring at me like some psychotic freak, but I had caught him glancing at me over five times in those two minutes. “Andrea, aren't you going to pick?” I darted out of my thoughts and stared them all in the face, and from the way they were looking at me, it was obvious that they'd been trying to get my attention for a while, and of course I was distracted. “Dare.” I muttered with a smile. I couldn't risk picking truths because I knew they were going to start questioning me on what was going through my mind. And what was the point of choosing truth when I was just going to lie anyway. “Good.” Natalie smiled smugly at me. “I dare you to go have a conversation with the dude you've been eyefucking all the way across the room.” My eyes widened in shock at what they’d asked me to do. “No. I don't even know him.” But apparently they didn't seem to care, and that was when I knew that I was indeed f****d.