Ryan's POV

"Come on, Ryan let's play. It's gonna be so much fun!" She screamed in my ears. Drunk Autumn is such a handful.

"I'm all of your drive back home, you forgot?" I protested. "I can't drink."

"You don't have to! Let's just play spin the bottle."

"Yeah same thing. It's do the task or drink."

"Please..." She gave me those irresistible puppy-eyes.

"Fine." I gave in. It's scary how she can control me however she wants, and she doesn't even have to try.

"Yay!" She jumped clapping her hands. I smiled. Drunk Autumn is a handful; but drunk Autumn is also so cute, that the trouble is worth it.

~

The tip of the bottle pointed at Josh and the other side at me. "Truth." He said.

"Tell us about your experience of your first one night stand at the yatch." I said.

"Oh God! Did you have to go there?"

"Yeah go on, go on. You always ignore that topic." Autumn shouted and everyone tagged along.

"Um... but you can't judge me." We all nodded. "So like... we met at the new year's eve party. She told me how she was having trouble with her husband and shit. Long story short, I fell for her because... well because she was beautiful, and awesome, and she was smart. So guess who didn't refuse when she asked to sleep together?" He said looking down. "I should have, because she's married, but who am I kidding again. We all know I didn't care. But in both of our defence, we were both drunk. Not too much to not know what we were doing; not to less to realize that it was wrong; just the right amount. So yeah, I had sex for the first time in my life. That to with a stranger. But I loved it. I loved her. But then the next morning when I woke up she was gone. So yeah..." He completed.

"Aww..." this was definitely Autumn, "Come here you poor thing, lemme give you a hug." Slowly Paula and Ellie joined in too. Me and Daniel shared a look before joining them. Soon it was a group hug just like the old days.

There was a comfortable silence between us as we broke the hug. "You still in love with her?" Daniel asked.

"Hah!" Josh scoffed. "I didn't even find her on Facebook."

"That's not what he asked." I said.

"Well..." He paused thinking. "Let's just say I'd like to meet her again one day."

We all thought it was some crazy story with some crazy chick. There were so many jokes between us that maybe she called him daddy and he freaked, or she found him small or even that maybe it was with a guy. But today I understood that he never told us this, not because he was embarrassed, but because he was hurt. Josh is the kind of guy who would wear his heart on his sleeves.

He is not the kind of guy with insecurities or jealousy. He likes to trust people. And for him to fall for that woman, she had to have something special too. I just wish, he didn't just go and get his heart broken this way. Even though I haven't seen it, but I'm sure he looks her up on Facebook every night and he knows he probably has no chance with her even if he meets her. And I know he never dates anyone because he isn't over her.

"Okay, that's Autumn." said Paula as I noticed the tip of the bottle pointing her.

"Dare!" She screamed.

"I dare you to make out with..." She scanned the room. "Ryan! yes, Ryan."

"What? No!" I said. Not that I didn't want to kiss her. Hell, god knows I want nothing more. But not like this. Not when she's drunk out of her mind and definitely not when we're still just friends.

"Why not?" Autumn pouted. "I'm a pretty good kisser Ryan."

I smiled. "Okay, I wouldn't dare disagree. But still no."

"Why not?" Dan asked.

"Come on, we're friends. This would just complicate things."

"Oh don't make it seem like we didn't do these before. Nothing complicates. Go ahead." said Ellie.

"It's just a kiss, Ryan." Paula insisted.

I looked at her lips, and then back to her eyes. I really wanted to. But it's just that... even if nothing else ever happens between us, I wouldn't wanna lose our friendship.

"Well... maybe it's time to get home." I said getting up.

~

I dropped everyone off, but the last in my car was Josh. As I reached his place and pulled the breaks, I asked him "You still love her?"

"Maybe I do."

"So what if you met her one day, what would you do?"

"Nothing. I would just ask her if she got out of her marriage or not. If she's happy or not." He replied.

"Or if she would want something with you or not?"

"Not really though. While her husband is a jerk and he's not what she needs; I'm not the kind of guy she needs either."

I pondered on his words for a while before asking out, "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Get over her so easily?"

"Over her? Who said anything about getting over her? I'm still not over her, and the worst part is I don't know if I'll ever be over her. That's why I don't date. Because it's unfair to date someone while I'm not over her. It's just that I love her, so I know I need to let her go."

"Wow... you sound so different." I said. "But like, how do you just let her go?"

"If you know that it's good for her, you will." He said. "And I need to. But you don't"

"Huh?"

"Don't let her go. If you make her happy and Autumn clearly makes you happy, then just don't. I know that a woman eleven years older than me would probably not be happy with me. But Autumn and you are different."

"How did you-"

He didn't let me complete as he opened the door and stepped outside. "We all know, Ryan. We've known for quite some time now." And he gave me a smile before closing the door.

Jason's POV

"So like- you liked James?"

"I did." I said. "Not anymore."

There fell a silence again. But this time it was anything but comfortable.

"Jamie and I dated." Kylan said after a while. "He was sweet and all. The exact opposite of what he's known for." He smiled. "Like would you believe me if I said he would bring me flowers and get me chocolates for valentines day and listen to my favourite music just to understand why I liked it so much!"

"What went wrong?" I asked.

The smile faded away. "I don't know. Something just did."

After a quiet pause I said, "Actually, I guess I'd believe you. James may not show it, but he's the kind of guy to do those things. He might not want to show it but he definitely has a sweet side to him." Kylan smiled. "Why are we even talking about James?"

"Well, I guess it's 'spill your secrets' night." Kylan shrugged.

"More like 'let's talk about our exes' night." I said. Kylan snorted at that.

"Oh shit, I was dancing with this girl from some other school. And I left her saying I would be back and I totally forgot about her." Kylan looked quite unapologetic about it though. "She'd think I'm such a jerk."

"Aren't you though?" I joked and we started laughing. I'm loving this friendship of ours. "Kylan, I'm glad."

"Huh?"

"I'm glad that we're friends." I smiled ear to ear; and he retuned that same smile.
_________________________________________

Hello there everyone! I hope you enjoyed this episode! A special thanks to my bestie The Universal Idiot, for her love and support and also, for her suggestions on my writing!

You know the drill, vote and comment if you liked this chap.

Love you all<33
~Millie