< Chapter 8: What Stays Between Guys >

♥ Ryan’s POV: ♥ 

The minute we all got out of the car, I felt my stomach churning. I looked over at Justin, who was fixing his shirt before noticing me and smiling in my direction.

“You ready?” he asked me, playfully punching my shoulder. I didn’t respond. Justin’s eyes sparkled in concern and he frowned. “Ryan—”

“—Don’t,” I interrupted, raising a hand up. “I’m fine.”

The thought of Allison was still there, somewhere in my head. I couldn’t help but to think of her. There hasn’t been a single second since she left that I didn’t long for hearing her heartbeat against mine once again. To say I miss her is the biggest understatement of my life.

I charged forwards, each step I took creating a thud against the floor as I approached the club entrance. I then heard the footsteps of the rest of the boys following behind me. Once we were all inside, the smell of alcohol filled my nostrils and I got a sudden urge to just do whatever the fuck I want for once.

I got straight to the point.

“Give me a beer,” I told the bartender, and he simply nodded his head and told me to wait a few seconds.

“Whoa there, tiger,” I felt a hand on my left shoulder. Turning around, I saw Justin smirking at me. “Let’s not go too overboard.”

“I’m not,” I scoffed. “I just want to have fun.”

“You don’t need to be drunk to have fun,” Noah added, showing up on my right. “You can just dance to the music and maybe make some friends along the way.”

“I don’t need more friends, I need Allison,” I scoffed.

Justin and Noah looked at each other before they both sighed at the same time.

“No bro, you need to forget Allison,” Justin smiled at me sadly. The bartender then set the beer down on the counter and I paid him quickly before snatching the bottle and opening the cap.

“Where the fuck is Chaz?” I asked, in an attempt to ignore him. I pressed the tip of the bottle to my lips and swallowing three gulps.

Justin let out a chuckle before nodding towards the dance floor. I followed his gaze until I spotted Chaz already dancing with some girl, a huge smile on his face.

“Well I’m glad he can have more fun than me right now,” I mumbled, taking in more sips of the alcohol in front of me.

“Go out there and dance,” Noah nudged my shoulder, “What are you even waiting for?”

“Nothing. I’m waiting for nothing,” I rolled my eyes.

Soon enough, Justin and Noah ordered their first beers at the same time as I ordered my third. They’d occasionally look at me with slight concern but they never criticized me about it. They learned to just leave me be.

♥ Justin’s POV: ♥ 

By now, Ryan was stumbling in and out of his seat, contemplating on whether or not to head to the dance floor. I couldn’t help but worry about him, since the point of clubbing was for him to forget Allison, but it didn’t exactly mean to get drunk off the ground. He had to at least dance and have some fun like Chaz was doing.

“Ryan, are you sure you don’t want to go dance?” Noah reminded him.

He sat down again and looked at us. “Fine,” his voice was slightly raspy. But before he even made any movement to try and go dance, he ordered yet another beer.

“Go easy on the alcohol,” I scolded him, watching as he popped open the cap.

“I will,” he said, but both of us knew he was lying. He stood up and chugged down half his beer before walking to where Chaz was dancing. I picked up my second bottle of beer and looked over at Noah, who wasn’t even halfway done with his first one.

“You’re not a big drinker, are ya?” I teased. Noah laughed and shook his head.

“I don’t see a point in getting drunk, you know? Your body doesn’t know what it’s doing and by the time it wears off, you’re stuck with a huge headache,” he shrugged. “I just think it brings you more negative things than positive.”

I nodded, letting him know I understand his logic. We then listened to the music blasting in our ears for a while longer before we both took small sips of our beer and looked at each other. I opened my mouth to tell him something, but the words never came out. I just stared deep into his blue eyes, and it’s like we had unspoken communication.

For a moment, we both knew each other’s thoughts. We both thought about the same thing—about the time when I got drunk last time and cheated on Jamie. He’s the one who took care of me. He’s the one who reminded me what happened and was totally cool with keeping it a secret until I was ready. He’s the one who forced me out of there—who saved me from the bitch and gave me a pill to help my hangover.

He was so nice to me and I still feel guilty for even putting him in that position.

“Noah?” I called out to him, nervously switching my gaze to stare at the floor.

“I know,” he replied, putting down his bottle of beer on the counter. I let out a small sigh and looked back up at him.

“I don’t think I properly thanked you for that day,” I began, “I don’t know what would’ve happened if you didn’t do what you did that night.”

“I was only helping you out,” he slapped my back playfully. “You are my friend, aren’t you?”

I smiled at him, nodding before taking another sip from my drink. “I just wish I could repay you,” I sighed.

“You don’t have to do anything. I did it because I wanted to, not because I wanted you to owe me anything,” he reassured me.

“Thanks,” I murmured. “You’re the shit.”

Noah threw his head back in laughter before grinning at me. “And you’re the ass I slide out of.”

My eyes widened. “Noah!” I yelled at him, and we both began laughing hysterically. The current song blasting through the speakers soon ended and our laughing was probably now heard from a mile away. We both stopped, looked at each other, and laughed even harder just as another song began playing.

“Jesus Christ, would someone let me in on the joke?” Chaz chuckled, as he approached us from the dance floor. Noah and I quieted down and smirked at him.

“It’s nothing,” I said.

“Absolutely nothing,” Noah added.

Chaz shot us a glare and I swallowed the remaining beer left on my bottle.

“Are you gonna order a beer now?” I asked Chaz, and he nodded. “Mind ordering me another one?”

“Not at all,” he said, before disappearing to the bartender. A couple of seconds later, he came back with two bottles of beer in his hand. He handed me one and we both popped the caps open as he sat down so that he, Noah and I formed a circle. “So how’s Jason?” Chaz asked, swallowing down practically the entire bottle.

“He’s great. I didn’t know being a father could be so fun,” I chuckled.

“He’s cute too,” Noah piped in.

“Yeah? Well I’m cuter,” Chaz pouted. Noah and I looked at each other and began laughing again. “Wow,” Chaz frowned at us, “I’m offended.”

“Don’t be,” I smirked, ruffling his hair. “We’re just messing with you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he waved me off.

“Has he said his first word yet?” Noah asked, referring to Jason again.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I shook my head. “He’s almost four months.”

“And are you and Jamie in some kind of battle over whether he’d say ‘mama’ or ‘papa’ first?” Chaz grinned.

“Nah, not really. But he’ll definitely say ‘papa’ first,” I winked.

“Great,” Chaz threw a hand up, “You jinxed it.”

“Now he’s gonna say ‘mama’ first,” Noah teased.

“Ha, no way. I’m making sure of it,” I laughed, finishing my third bottle. I felt slightly dizzy and I found it hard to concentrate on, say, the lyrics to the current song.

“Where’d Ryan go?” I heard Noah ask.

“When I left, he was still on the dance floor,” Chaz answered him.

“Oh.”

—

♥ Ryan’s POV: ♥ 

I felt constant pounding in my head as I continued dancing with a random girl I came across on the dance floor.

The song was over soon and I couldn’t remember what the girl had said, but she disappeared to get something to drink. A new song replaced the old one and I danced my way around the floor, waiting for the girl to come back, or for me to find someone else to dance with. Before I knew it, I spotted another girl dancing gracefully with another guy. They both laughed at something and the guy pointed behind him. The girl nodded before watching the guy leave somewhere else. She continued dancing alone and I couldn’t help but get closer.

I wanted to dance with her.

When I was just a few inches away from her, she turned around and was now facing me. The way she moved gave away that she was as drunk as I probably am, but it still managed to be fluent. The disco lights shone on her face and I suddenly recognized who she was.

I couldn’t believe it.

Selena?

Why the fuck is she always in the same club as us?

What’s going on here?

I formed fists with both hands and stumbled closer to her. She noticed me and her eyes widened, shock written across her features. She stopped dancing and glared at me.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, her breath reeking of alcohol.

“I could ask you the same,” I slurred, glaring at her.

“Sure you can,” she leaned her head back and scanned me full-body. “But I wouldn’t answer you.”

I stared at her, noting how the flashing lights around us made her eyes sparkle. It reminded me of how Allison’s eyes used to sparkle like that. And then I began thinking of Allison and Allison only.

“Something wrong?” Selena smirked, landing a hand on my chest. Allison used to touch me like that. Her touches were gentle and caring, just like her. I miss her. No matter what I do to try to forget her, it wouldn’t change the fact that I miss her.

I miss Allison Nelson.

“I asked you a question,” Selena whispered, her breath trickling into my nose.

“Doesn’t mean I have to answer you,” I scoffed.

My heart ached. I wanted Allison back. Why’d she have to get taken away from me? Why’d she have to leave? There’s a gap in my heart, and I realize now that it’s loneliness. Without her, a piece of me is missing, and I feel unloved. I crave the love she brought me. I want to be loved again. I want to feel loved.

“Oh,” Selena said softly. “I understand.”

What? Did I just say all that out loud?

“W-What?” I breathed. Selena shook her head slightly, cupping my face with her hand. My cheeks flushed red and, before I could react, her lips were on mine. I was too shocked to even know how to react, but then my brain flipped a switch.

I miss her.

Grabbing Selena by the waist, I pulled her against me, kissing back just as forcefully. She tilted her head and repositioned herself before kissing me slowly, our lips connecting as one. The pounding in my head got more intense. I couldn’t even feel my toes.

A few minutes passed and Selena pulled away slowly, looking into my eyes. I scanned her irises, searching for the familiar glow Allison used to have. But I couldn’t find it and, for some reason, it made me panic.

This isn’t the girl I love.

“E-Excuse me for a second,” I stammered, fleeing the dance floor as quickly as I could, clumsily making my way through the dancing crowd. I searched for my boys, searching the place until I spotted Noah and Chaz laughing at something one of them said. My body felt heavy, but I managed to drag it across the room to where they sat. “We need to leave.”

Noah and Chaz turned their heads to look at me, the smiles on their faces from all the laughing suddenly disappeared and they looked concerned.

“Why, what happened?” Chaz was the first to speak.

“I home, just wanna… Go,” I couldn’t phrase my thoughts properly, considering the pounding in my head was only getting worse.

“He’s too drunk and so is Justin,” Noah whispered to Chaz, “We better get them home.”

Chaz nodded before his face went pale in fright. “Wait a second… Where the fuck is Justin?”

He began looking around the place before Noah grabbed his arm.

“He’s just in the bathroom, now let’s go,” he said, forcing Chaz to stand before grabbing my arm as well and leading us out. Once we made it outside the club, Noah looked at Chaz. “Make sure Ryan gets in the car safely, I’m going back in and fetching Justin.”

“Cool beans,” Chaz gave him a thumbs up before wrapping an arm around my shoulders and leading me towards the car slowly. Noah ran back inside the club and I slapped a hand to my forehead, the pain making me feel numb. “It’s alright, buddy. We’ll get you home soon enough.”

I gave him a curt nod before climbing on the back seat of the car. Chaz strapped me in with the seatbelt before turning around and waiting for Justin and Noah. A few minutes later, Noah showed up leading a wasted Justin towards the car. Once Justin was buckled up next to me, Chaz got behind the wheel and Noah sat on the passenger side.

But, despite the crucial pain in my head, my mind was racing. I couldn’t think straight, but I knew I had done something wrong.

Something that involved Selena…

*******************

Uh oh… #plottwist

- Nina xx