Just calm down will you? jesus

But that little text that Liam had sent me nearly twenty minutes ago, had the complete opposite effect on me; after having two large cups of beer and talking to three strangers, I was beginning to have enough of his shit.

After I got sick of staring out the window as well, I pushed my way through the wicked crowd of property, and found my way to the couch in the large living room, where at least 10 people were sat.

I've been sitting here with strangers for 30 mins, how can i calm down?

My reply to him didn't even remotely express how pissed I was at him. The only reason I wasn't kicking things was because it was Christmas; as angry I was at Liam, I was more excited about Christmas.

And also the fact that I was in somebody else's house, and that I didn't know the people. I surely wouldn't want to pay for the holes in a stranger's doors.

Im on my way. btw the reason im so slow is because i didnt get my christmas present

Who would have thought that he would actually make me smile while I'm angry at him?

I bit my lip and locked my phone, accepting that I was in for another ten minutes – at the least, of wandering around the huge house.

"Still no Liam?" Good thing I asked Briana to come back with me. It's as if I knew he was going to screw something up.

"Still no Liam," I sighed and looked at the carpet as she sat on the armrest next to me.

"That's weird," She said, "I mean, I thought he wouldn't be able to stay away from you, now that... well, now."

I immediately rolled my eyes as she trailed off; I didn't even need to ask what she meant by that.

"That's hilarious," I sighed again. I definitely learned something good this week; never tell Briana when you've slept with someone. She won't give you a minute of peace.

"What, I'm just trying to make you feel better," She explained. "Like, I know I'm probably not as good at doing that as Liam, but..."

"Really, am I ever going to hear the last of this?" I finally looked up at her amused face; it became even more entertained as I did.

"Yes, you are, but not yet. It's too fun for me to stop now."

She was actually right; even with the not-so-great-night that was going on, she did make me feel a little better. She was also right about not being as good at it as Liam was.

"Thank you," I said, a little sarcastically as I looked over at the hallway – again. And no sign of Liam. Again.

"Welcome," I could hear the grin on Bri's face, "Of course, I can't guarantee you'll hear the last of Liam just as soon, if you know what I mean."

I lightly shook my head; I'd be an idiot if I didn't know. "Hey, where're you going?" Briana asked loudly as I stood up, and started walking around the sofa.

"I'm gonna be in that room from before, you know?" I said, and she nodded firmly to assure me she knew which room I am as talking about. "So... if you see Liam, tell him where I am."

The slight smile on her face disappeared and was replaced by a gaping expression; lips parted, eyes widened. Yeah, it was obvious what she thought I was up to.

But no, I'd never have sex in a stranger's bed. I can't guarantee Liam would feel the same about it, though.

I shook my head again, this time to get rid of the dumb thoughts as I pushed through the crowd of people – some of them even being students I've seen around campus – and made my way to the large bedroom I left about ten minutes ago. It was definitely the most peaceful room in the house; if I opened the window, I probably wouldn't hear the music either. Which was actually a pretty good idea; it was freezing cold, yes, but I was ready to strangle someone if I had to listen to yet another Taylor Swift song.

I walked around the double bed where I was originally planning to take a nap, and instead looked outside the double window. The view wasn't much, just the road outside and Christmas decorations on other houses. But it was either looking at that, or listening to 22 for the third time.

After thinking about it for a bit, I decided to try my luck with staring outside at whatever I found interesting. I already knew there wasn't going to be anything interesting to see, but the cold air could help me clear my head.

I regretted opening the window as soon as I did, as the icy cold wind hit my face. It was fairly warm inside the house, so this felt like a snowman slapped me multiple times. Well damn.

My eyes screwed up closed, though I refused to close the window too. I was sure in a minute or two I'd get used to the temperature, and I was also sure that Liam wouldn't be there in a minute or two as well. The only person I was expecting to see tonight wasn't there.

"Sal?" But let's talk about the people I wasn't expecting to see there.

I leaned back and looked to my right, where I knew another door was. I had assumed they led to a bathroom; and I was right about that too, as I saw blue tiles and a sink inside.

Too bad that Dominick was blocking my view of the rest of the room.

"Hey," He spoke again as he leaned against the door frame, a small smile forming in his face when he realized it really was me standing there.

I on the other hand, was far from smiling. My heart was pretty close to bursting out of my chest, though.

"Nick, hi." I smiled, trying not to seem as nervous as I was. I haven't seen him since he gave me three weeks of Christmas break from work, which was about a week ago. The last few days we spent together working at the music shop weren't exactly ideal either; I always felt awkward around him, because of his and Liam's 'staring contest', as he liked to call it, even though he was seemingly fine about it. Still, the place that used to be my favorite one on earth, wasn't anymore because of the two of them. Well, mostly Liam.

"What're you doing here?" He asked, his voice a little hoarse as he rubbed his eye. My guess was, he was either drunk or tired. But given the hour, he was more likely drunk.

"Um, I was invited... what are you doing here?" I asked back, hoping to break the tension. Even though I was pretty sure I was the only one who felt it.

"Same here." He gave me another smile. "Though I'm pretty sure I should slow down on the Jack."

Just as I'd thought. "Are you seriously, already drunk?" I looked at my wristwatch, "But it's only eleven-thirty."

"That's late when you're my age." That actually made me laugh.

"What age is that?" I grinned, "Seventy?"

"No, but right now I feel like a 70 year old."

I chuckled as he walked- stumbled over to the double bed, and sighed as he sat down on the edge of it. "Aren't you cold?"

I suddenly remembered I'd opened the window; the reason I wasn't feeling the cold anymore was probably because I was blushing. "Um, no. I actually opened it because I was hot."

Nick nodded and looked at my outfit, "I reckon you still are."

When my slow, anxious brain realized what he'd meant by that, it didn't make me smile. It didn't have any kind if positive effect on me; if anything, I just kept staring at him, with a look that I was sure said 'take that back'.

"Sorry, I..." Nick started as he glanced at his feet and then back up at me, "I get a little brave when I'm tipsy."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "Is that how you call it? Tipsy?"

It took him a few seconds to react to my semi-insult, but he chuckled when he did. I smiled at my feet, and turned around to look outside the window again.

How much I wanted Liam to be there a few minutes before, was nothing compared to how much I wanted him there now. I needed him. I needed to get out of this accidental trap; I knew that a couple more minutes alone with Dominick wouldn't cause anything good.

"No, I'm definitely drunk, I just didn't wanna admit it," He explained, to which I nodded curtly.

"Is that why you were in the bathroom?" I bit my lip; while I'm stuck here, I might as well not make it uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I thought I was gonna vomit," He said, a little loudly, his blunt tone making me laugh. "But I didn't. And it's settled, as off New Year's, I'm a one hundred percent sober man."

"Isn't that what you told me after your birthday?" I looked over my shoulder at him, "In March?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm serious now. I don't care that girls don't look as pretty when I'm sober." As he noticed me open my mouth to protest, he quickly added, "That doesn't stand for you, of course."

Oh, if only he'd talked to me like this in March.

"That's... thanks," I said, rather awkwardly as I looked at the roof of the house across the street, as if Santa was there.

Now when I thought about it, I actually couldn't believe I spent a year daydreaming about Dominick. An actual, entire year. It's not that he wasn't interesting or special or anything, it's just... this was the first time we were alone in a bedroom, and I felt nothing. And it couldn't have been only because I was seeing Liam; something about this encounter with Nick was really letting me know that we wouldn't make a good pair.

"Don't mention it," His voice interrupted my thoughts again, "You could put on a potato sack and I'd still be able to look at you sober."

And the award for the weirdest compliment goes to... "You're only saying that because you're wasted," I said through a laugh; as much as I wanted to leave the room, more importantly leave Nick, I couldn't deny that he would become about 10 times funnier when he's drunk.

"Nah, I'm saying because... yeah actually, I'm saying that because I'm wasted, I mean... who the fuck would look good in a potato sack?"

I rolled my eyes and lightly shook my head, though I still had a smile on my face. I wonder why he's not like this at work.

"What about New Year's Eve, aren't you gonna get drunk then?" I asked, looking at his reflection in the window.

I noticed him shrug, "Depends. If we happen go to the same party again and you agree to wear a potato sack, I won't get drunk just to see if I was right."

"I wouldn't wear a potato sack for all the money in this world," I grinned and turned around to face him fully. He was still sitting on the edge of the bed, and his eyes were still weary.

"Really? I mean, think about it..." He frowned a little, "All the money in the world... to be honest, I would... I would..."

He surprised me a little as he stopped mid-sentence and started giggling, "I don't even wanna tell you what I'd do for all the money in the world."

That actually makes the two of us. "Yeah... I'm sure whatever it is, it's explainable." I pulled my lips between my teeth and looked over at the opened door, but still no sign of Liam, or Briana telling me he'd made it to the party. I might just have to commit homicide.

The thought made me sigh; just when I'd stopped wanting to kill him every minute of every day, he'd do something that would bring us back to that. "You know what?" I began as I pulled my phone out of my pocket, pretending to look at the time. "I'm gonna go, my friend's in the living room so-"

"No!" Nick shouted – scaring the living shit out of me in the process, and outstretched his arm to stop me from walking after I'd made just one step. I gave him a freaked out look, to which he replied by lowering his arm and awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

"Um... I mean, you..." He let his hand fall in his lap, "It's bad luck."

I blinked a few times; of all the things I thought his drunken mouth would say, this wasn't one of them. "What? Going to the living room is bad luck?"

"No, you... you're standing under a mistletoe."

I blinked twice again, and slowly, painfully slow looked up at the ceiling; and sure enough, there was a small plant-looking object hanging from the curtain rail.

Only this object was potentially going to get me in a lot of trouble.

"Uh, well..." There goes my heart, trying to beat its way out of my body. "I guess I..."

What? What was I even supposed to tell him? I wanna poke your eyes out for noticing the damn mistletoe?

Yes, if nothing, that sounded very honest.

"Um, well... you can leave, though," Dominick said in an overly chill tone, from which I could tell he was nervous too. Definitely not as nervous as I was, though.

If only I could move my legs, though.

I parted my lips to say something- anything, but not a damned word was leaving my mouth. I just stood there and kept staring at him, and the worst part was that he was staring right back at me too.

"I mean, if you want to," He continued as he stood up, quite clumsily, but neither of us could focus on that.

He made a few slow steps toward me, until he was standing right in front of me, our bodies parted by an inch. "Do you want to leave?"

Of course I want to leave, God fucking dammit, get out of my way!

Now why couldn't I say the words that were going through my head? "I..." I don't really know what it was that I'd wanted to say, but it was surely something like 'I'm an idiot'.

My internal panicking was multiplied by a hundred when I noticed he was leaning forward. "Wait, Nick," I finally managed to say, but it didn't do me any good; he just shook his head and paused leaning in for a couple seconds.

"Just keep in mind, I'm completely shit-faced and I'm most likely gonna regret doing this, if I remember I did it when I wake up. So I wanna apologize in advance."

"Can't you just..." I breathed out, staring to genuinely freak out as his face got closer by a few inches, "Stop?"

"Not really," He smiled, "You look beautiful tonight."

If I wasn't in the position I was in, I'd probably look down at my black dress and matching heels and even say 'thank you', but given that Dominick's lips were against mine in a matter of seconds, I really couldn't care less about it.

I leaned back against the window, hoping to break the contact, but to my dismay Nick kept leaning toward me as well.

Whenever I'd imagined kissing him – and let's be honest, that's happened far more times than I'd ever want to admit – I never imagined it like this. Him trying to make it passionate, and me trying to break it, resulting a very awkward kiss.

I didn't even kiss him back, though; because, one, it had all happened too quickly for me to fully process everything and two, I didn't want to. I didn't want to kiss anyone but Liam. And after this, I was 100% sure of it.

My eyes remained closed as I felt Dominick stop, and after a few seconds of just keeping his lips against mine, he pulled away from me. I blinked at the ground and licked my lips, before hesitantly looking up.

If anything, he looked more sober than before. "Well, alright," He said in a casual tone, "You're not in risk of bad luck anymore."

Even though what we just did was beyond awkward, I couldn't help but chuckle at his ice-breaker.

"So... you can go to your friend now, and I... I'm gonna go puke," He gave me a tight nod and a hard expression, to which I laughed once again. Anything to make this as meaningless as it actually is.

"T'has nothing to do with you, though, so don't get offended," He gave me another smile – or tried giving me one, anyway. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," I smiled and within a few seconds, Dominick was closing the door of the bathroom.

"You know what?" I looked at the door of the room as I heard a voice, "Everything makes sense now."

And within another few seconds, Liam wasn't standing at the door frame anymore.

*******

I suck at updating and I want to thank you for dealing with that :))))

Vote and comment? What do you think about the cliffhanger? c: