I knew it, I fucking knew it.

Not only was she Jack's ex, but they broke up only three weeks before the wedding. I thought Jack and I were moving kind of fast. I should have known better, and now here I was, desperately trying not to cry as I hung out with my dad in the living room in hopes of not having to talk to Jack. I didn't want to hear him end us, it was bad enough knowing we were over before the day even ended.

After awhile, Joyce came home and cooked dinner. I excused myself from it, claiming I felt too sick and went up stairs. Being careful to lock my door, so Jack couldn't just barge his way in here, I put in my headphones and started blasting every sad song I owned.

I sat on my bed, staring at the ceiling until my phone went off. I checked the name, glad to see it was only Dalton.

“So, how'd it go?” -Dalton
“She is his ex...”
“Well, I'm sure it will be okay.”
“They broke up only three weeks before we met.”
“Oh...”
“And they were together for a year. It's over. She came back just to get him.”
“I'm sorry darling. :( Want to hang out tonight?”
“I can't Jack's here and...” I backtracked and rewrote it. “He lives right across the street. He'll see me leave my house.”
“Just sneak out the back or something. I'll call Hayley.”
“I'll try. What are we going to do?”
“We're going to have fun. I'm sure I can find out who's having the party of the day.”
“I don't wanna go to a party.”
“Okay.... ever been to the Hideout?”
“What's that?”
“It's just an area where teenagers hang out in down. The basement of an abandoned building. Hayley showed me it.”
“Sounds like somewhere footballers don't go.”
“I'm no ordinary jock sweety.”
“Trust me, I know.”
“So, you gonna get out of there?”
“Yeah, meet me on the corner of Dixie and McKaster.”I looked out my window, and tried to figure out how bad of a drop it would be. I am on the second floor after all. It didn't seem like a good idea. Listening to my door, it sounded like everyone was still downstairs and eating. I snuck down them, and headed to the wash room, avoiding being seen from the kitchen. There was a winder in here I could easily slip through.

So I did.

`~*~*~*~*~*8~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I was hanging out on the corner where I said I would be when I heard the honk of a car horn. Looking up, I found Dalton and Hayley riding up in a beat up truck.

“Hey guys.” I said, climbing in.
“Hey girl, Dee here told me you were having guy trouble.” Hayley said, putting her arm around my shouler.
“Yes, yes I am.”
“Well, don't worry. We're gonna have fun!” Dalton yelled, and we took off.

We rode more towards down town, and Dalton parked the car. We had to walk a few blocks until Hayley tugged me into an alley way, Dalton close behind us. We went up to a door where I could here faint sounds of club music and smelled a bit of weed. Hayley knocked on the door twice before it opened slowly.

“Password?” Someone asked, I couldn't see who. It was too dark.
“Fuck the man.” Hayley stated and we were granted an entrance.

We stumbled through a hall where there was finally a set up of a poorly put together club like area. People were lounging on old couched, or chairs. There was a bar set up, with a shady dude mixing drinks for people on wobbly stools. People were dancing on a makeshift dancefloor while someone played with an stereo.

“Whoa, this is...sick.” I said, smiling.
“Yeah, your step-brother's band has played here before.” Hayley said, and pulled me towards a couch. I ignored the mention of Jack. “So girly, what's your poison?”
“What they got?” I asked, smirking.
“Anything basically.” Dalton said, taking a seat across from me. “Beer, vodka, tequila, whiskey.”
“Oh damn, hit me up with whiskey.” I said, and Hayley ran off to get drinks.
“A whiskey girl? Dude, whoever broke up with you is nuts. I can't even handle that stuff.” Dalton laughed.

We all talked and got to know each other better as we drank. I wasn't trying to get black out drunk at all, but I did spend most of the time feeling tipsy. Hayley told me about how she wanted to sing, and even gave me a sample of her pretty voice. Dalton talked about how he wanted to go to college and be a doctor. He was in sports mostly for the scholarships, but did have a crush on one of his team mates. I had forgotten about my troubles of the day, just feeling the now moments.

Hayley and I got up and danced in the crowd for a little while, purposely making fools of ourselves and laughing around. A friend of hers, someone I didn't recognize, came up and asked if she wanted to go to the Blaze Room. Hayley nodded.

“Wanna come Ember?”
“Um, I don't know what the Blaze room is.” I admitted, and Hayley laughed.
“It's fun, you'll see.”

She took me with her, and I looked over to see Dalton was occupied with some dude so I just went with it. However, I soon learned that the Blaze room, was not some where I wanted to be. We went down some corridors and I noticed I smelled something familiar. In my tipsy state, I didn't connect the dots till Hayley's friend opened a door.

People were getting high down here. It wasn't just weed in here either, I watched a couple people exchange pills and I let go of Hayley's hand.

“Whoa, I'm not into this sort of thing.” I said.
“Oh, really? Ever try?” Hayley's friend asked, kinda of snappish.
“Shut it, Lee.” Hayley said, and looked to me.
“I have and I didn't care for it.”
“It's cool. I'll see ya later then?”
“Yeah,” I smiled, and she disappeared into the room.

Walking back, I took a deep breath, glad I didn't let myself be dragged into that situation. I've gotten high once. I went a little too far that one time. It was about a week after my mom died, and I was so depressed I was willing to try anything to make it go away. Drinking wasn't doing it for me at some party I went to, so I tried something different. First, I had a blunt, then someone shoved some kind of pill into my hand, and I didn't even realize which way was up anymore. I managed to get home in my trashed state and my dad was furious. The next day I spent feeling like I was dying.

I made it back to the first room, and found Dalton still in liplock with his new buddy. This wasn't very fun anymore. I looked towards the bar, thinking of getting more to drink when my phone started freaking out.

“Hello?” I answered, slurring a bit.
“Are you seriously drunk and missing right now?” The voice said, it was Jack.
“I'm out with some friends.” I bit back. “Why do you care?”
“You know I do.”“Actually, I don't. Go be with Malibu Barbie and leave me alone.”
“Why can't you just listen for two seconds?”“Blah blah blah, I can't hear yoooouuu.” Okay, maybe I was drunker then I thought. “I'm gonna go drink and a find a boy to grind on.” I wasn't really going to, but I had to make Jack feel a little bit more like I did. It was successful, cause I heard him growl before saying.
“You better come home right the fuck now.”“Make me.” I snapped, and hung up

Notes

Well, at least she's not high, right?