Accidents Happen

“Dance with me.” I slurred lightly with the simple statement. I would not ask this handsome stranger in front of me to dance and give him the option to tell me no. Then I would lose out, and that would not do.

I swayed my hips as my hands slid onto his to guide him. So he would also know what to do. I was too drunk to take anything that I was doing as embarrassing.

I slurred the lyrics to the song playing while I moved my butt against this man who seemed amused by my actions.

“What’s your name?” I called out to him over the music. He leaned down so that his lips brushed against my ear, sending shivers down my spine, before speaking just loud enough for me to hear.

“Gabriel.” His tone teased and made fun of my drunken state, causing a deep blush to heat my face as I jerked away from him.

“Are you making fun of me Gabey baby,” I asked, angered for no real reason, but before he could answer the world did a swan dive which had me stumble back into none other than the queen vulture herself, Honey.

It took Honey less than a second to spin around and push me right back into Gabe, who caught me, but all the pushing and moving made my stomach do flips., everything in my stomach was now all over the front of Gabriel.

He let out a small sound, which was all I needed to leave. I turned towards the door and booked it, and didn’t bother to look back to where Gabriel stood puke-covered with Honey, giving me an evil smirk. I was more than embarrassed; I was on the lines of being mortified.

Once I had made it home, tired and needing sleep to forget everything that had just happened. So I stripped out of the partially vomit-covered clothes and tossed them into the wash before making my way into a somewhat refreshing shower to sober myself up a bit before curling up in my bed.

Every drunk person reaches that moment in life where they say ‘I’m never drinking again,’ which is never true. Tonight was that point for me; I never wanted to drink again, let alone leave my house.

Getting into a hot shower, I let the water run over my face. Thinking back on the events in the club, I tried to convince myself that it’s not that bad; only it was.

It was worse than that bad. It was like a tornado, and ‘that bad’ had had a baby named ‘my life is over.’ I let out a long-frustrated groan and clenched my eyes shut to forget it.

I stayed in the shower until the water ran cold over my small body causing goosebumps to form over a majority of my skin, my lips now a light shade of blue.

When I left the shower, I didn’t feel cold at all; but felt more awake than I had been in quite a while. It was amazing.

After I’d dressed in an oversized grey hoodie and black leggings, I went outside for a short walk. The nightmare that had happened earlier gone from my mind.

Well, it was until I realized I had forgotten my purse at the club which has my phone and wallet in it. I let out a loud groan and started making my way back to the club.

My shower had sobered me up, at least to where I could walk in a straight line.

I tucked a long strand of my snowy hair behind my ear as I spaced out, focused on anything but my destination. The first thing my eyes landed on was two birds resting near a fallen rotten apple that lay below an old apple tree.

It looked peaceful yet gloomy at the same time. The smaller bird of the two hopped towards the apple, most likely in hopes to eat a few bites of it before the other bird flapped its enormous wings to scare it away.

The next was the cement that I walked on. I had always had my phone with me, or at least I had something big on my mind, so I never really paid attention to my surroundings. In the cement were dog prints, most likely from a runaway or a stray long ago.

The town rarely spent money in the downtown areas where the poor people lived, so the sidewalk and streets had cracked in most places or had chunks missing thanks to the cars.

They didn’t fix the roads, signs, or even care for the statues of the town heroes; like the goddess statue, vines and bird feces overtook which. I cringed at the sight of that.

“Man, think... If they believed me to be her descendant, will I end up as a poop covered forgotten statue?” I didn’t bother to mumble when I said this to myself; it wasn’t like there was anyone out and about in this town. Not to mention they wouldn’t care since it’s me. I am an outcast.

Puffing out my cheeks in a tired pout, I kept walking towards my goal; this walk was making me think about things I didn’t exactly want to think about, but I had no choice.

Like the fact that growing up, I had only had imaginary friends that played with me in the forest by dads’ old house.

‘Dad...’ I regretted the thought immediately. I had fond memories of my father apart from the day he left. My mother always told me he was sick, that he wouldn’t be coming back. As far as I knew; he was dead.

That was always as far as the conversation went on that subject. My mother never really liked it when dad spoken about. I could still see the sadness in her eyes from it. Beginning to feel tired again, I took a seat on the bench beside the old park. My eyes closed for what felt like only a minute before sleep took over.

I awoke to a light tap against my shoulder. My eyes opened to a bright stream of direct sunlight that had kept me warm the entire time I had been asleep. Whoever woke me seemed to notice my struggle with the brightness, which caused them to step to the side to give me some shade.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust again before I realized just who was standing in front of me.

Nate.

Today he was wearing a long black sweatshirt that fit his body perfectly, along with form-fitting jeans. I already secretly hated the fact that he had a better butt than I did.

“You drooled.” His cheerful voice cut off my thoughts as a deep blush covered my face. Quickly bringing my sleeve across my lips and chin to clear the drool from my skin, I’d let out a small sigh.

“Thanks, Nate, I appreciate it. So, what are you doing here?” I asked in a somewhat shy tone that was higher pitched than I would have liked. To my amazement, he held up my purse and a piece of paper that had my address scribbled onto it in sloppy handwriting.

“A guy at the bar was talking about you, and since I knew you and was already heading this way, I thought I’d drop it off for you. I hope you don’t mind that I know where you live now.” Nate seemed to be uneasy about this conversation. Was he nervous?

Having noticed my realization of this, he laughed; trying to play it off by giving me a smooth, cheerful smile, only making my embarrassment worse. Had he heard about the minor accident I had?

“They didn’t tell you what happened last night, did they?” I knew my expression was that of a pleading one. I didn’t know if I would ever live the embarrassment down if my new friends all found out about me throwing up on that guy at the club last night.

“Kinda, they told me you’re a hard one to get wasted, but enough you did last night and...” He stopped talking, giving me a torturous smirk.

“Hm. What was that other thing said about dancing...” He was teasing me now, but I could feel myself relaxing. He was making me feel calm. As if I didn’t have to worry about it.

“Hey Nate, want to go get a drink with me?” I uttered the words under my breath. In my mind, what I said sounded a lot more confident than it did in reality. I quickly averted my eyes and took an interest in a tiny insect that has made its way towards the grass with a small leaf on its back. I could hear Nate’s nervous sigh as he pondered my question, possibly trying to think of a way to let me down as gently as possible.

“Yeah, sure. Want to go watch a movie this Sunday?” He asked in a hushed tone that almost went unheard by me.

It was about eleven o’clock when I had finally arrived home from the park. I now had a date with Nate; this wasn’t just any date in my eyes though, it was my first date. My first night out with a man alone to have more than a friendship, or a meaningless kiss. Excitement had been coursing through my body since I had heard him agree to the date, I had honestly expected him to say no. It wasn’t because I was used to being an outcast, but more so he didn’t really know me at all.

Once safely shut away in my room, I would place my laptop onto my writing desk. The pale white wood was soothing to me, which is why I chose this one for my room. Light colors represented peace in my life; my bedroom walls were of a novel lavender shade; my carpet was light brown and complimented the desk. The room was small, only able to fit my writing desk, a little pullout twin bed, a black bookshelf, my mini-fridge, and a cute black table that sat up against the wall.

It wasn’t much, but it was mine. I’d slide onto the faux leather computer chair, though now it was more so fabric because of the faux leather chipping and peeling away from constant use. The cool touch of the back was soothing to my heated skin as I flipped open my laptop. Her eyes locked on the last thing I had up. The page was on a white text document with only one sentence written out.

“Broken ties and faded lies, it will reveal our truth.” I read the sentence out loud. Confusion showed on my face. I didn’t remember typing it out, but maybe my mother had as a prank or something? I couldn’t help but frown at the thought. Even if my mother had figured out my password, why would I type that of all things. It made little sense. Hitting the exit button on the screen, I’d save the file only to open up the school’s website page. My eyes skimmed over the official map of the school, which showed all the exits and entrances to the school in case of an emergency.

In this little town, I doubted there would actually ever be one. My mind drifted off of the task at hand, and onto my upcoming date. I couldn’t help but be excited for it, though I still didn’t know what all they could do. Their town had little to do, even for an adult. They could go to the cafe, and maybe after that a movie. Though I knew that was a basic choice. With a small shrug and an exhausted sigh, I would lean back in my chair, arms stretched above my head as I pulled my gaze up to the ceiling. It was going to be a long night.