"Where's Blade?" I asked, downing my drink.

     Grace placed her hand above her eyes, scanning the room. It was a great party room. There was a bar, and a huge stage up front. Neon lights were flashing all around us. "I don't see him. Maybe he had to pee?" She offered. I felt bad talking so much about Blade when it was her 21st birthday, but I was a little worried. He snuck away while I was ordering a drink and now I couldn't find him anywhere.

    I leaned against the counter, feeling slightly tipsy. I wasn't drunk, but I had just enough alcohol to make me a little dizzy. "Thanks for trying." I pulled her into a hug.

"Who is that guy anyway?" She looked at me skeptically.

    I thought about how to answer her without sounding too cliche'. I looked at the rose gold bracelet on my wrist. "He's umm... we're kind of..." I tripped over my words.

   "Excuse me." A deep voice spoke loudly into the microphone. The room got quiet except for one girl who was too drunk to know to shut up. She was talking really loudly about Rihanna. "Hey, Rihanna  back there, zip it!" The microphone man yelled. I turned to see who was on the stage. When I saw, I couldn't believe my eyes. Blade was holding the microphone pointing at the loud girl. When she quieted down, he spoke again. "First of all, I'd like to say happy birthday to Grace over there." He smiled at her. Her cheeks turned red. "Let's hear it for the birthday girl!" Everyone erupted into cheers. Blade began singing happy birthday and the whole party of around a hundred people joined in. Grace was beaming. "Okay, now I have something I want to announce to all of you. It's very new, and exciting. It just happened, like literally right before this party." All eyes were on him. What are you doing Blade? I was so confused. He looked directly at me. My heart soared. "Amaya, would you come up here please." I froze. What is going on?! Grace started pushing me towards the stage. When I was close enough, Blade took my hands and pulled me on stage. "Sorry to all you men out there, but this beautiful lady right here is taken. Amaya and I are officially together." Cheers erupted. My eyes nearly came out of their sockets. "Now, who wants to here some music?" The crowd roared. He smiled. "Okay, this one goes out to Amaya." My mouth fell to the floor. He began singing "The Hills," by The Weeknd, our song. When it got to the second verse he held out the mic to me and urged me to sing. We sang the song as duet, in front of everyone. I had never been so happy.

   When we finished the crowd chanted for an encore. We ended up singing three more songs together. It felt like a dream. I was terrified to wake up. Once we finished, Blade took me backstage. "You were fantastic." He leaned against the wall, smiling.

    "You were better." I walked closer to him. He shrugged me off in disagreement. "What was that all about?" I asked him.

   He looked down at me. "I wanted everyone to know that you were mine. I'm proud and I wanted to brag." He smirked. "Was it too much?" His voice softened.

  I reached up and traced his face. "No, it was just enough." I smiled up at him. "Thank you for making me feel so special."

  "You are special." He grabbed my waste, bringing me closer. His lips pressed against mine. Then he leaned back. "Great party." He smirked.

"We don't have to stay." I responded quietly.

  "Then what are we still doing here?" He whispered in my ear. He took my hand and lead me towards  the door.

"Wait, let me say goodbye to Grace first, I'll meet you out there, okay?" I kept holding his hand.

"I'll be in the car, waiting patiently." He kissed me. He walked outside.

   I saw Grace standing by the bar with a group of friends. I walked up to her. "Hey, I have to go." I pulled her into a hug. "Happy birthday!"

"Thank you, and thanks for coming." She smiled at me. "You're boyfriend is great! That stunt he pulled was so romantic I almost cried. 

"Of course!" I released her. "He's the best! I definitely wasn't expecting him to do that."

Grace took a sip of her drink. "I'm so happy to see you so in love, it's about time somebody made you settle down."

I laugh. "I guess it's not as bad as I thought."

She grins. "Told you!"

I smile back at her and pull her into a hug. "Text me okay?" She nodded. 

I headed to the door, but a hand grabbed me before I could reach it. "Funny seeing you here."

    When I heard the voice I wanted to scream, but I had already caused enough of a scene with Blade's announcement earlier. I choose to handle him on my own. "Hey Landon."

   His crazy eyes narrowed at me. "I saw Nikayla in town today. She was with some guy. She's cheating on me, isn't she?"

  I kept my voice calm, but not without struggle. "She couldn't cheat on you even if she wanted to. You guys are divorced, you signed the papers."

   He moved closer, he reeked of alcohol and desperation. "This is your fault." He jabbed me with his finger. "You did this."

I shook my head. "No. It's yours." After I said it I realized how to stupid it was to try to argue with a drunk person.

He squeezed my arms and shook me hard. "You're going to pay for this!"

   "You need help." I said, trying to look brave. He  lifted his hand and it came down hard on my face. I moved back, shocked. Once the initial surprise wore off, pain seared through me. I looked around, no one was paying attention.

"Shut up!" He said coming closer to me.

  I kneed him hard in the crotch. "Leave me alone." I screamed and ran out the door. I felt eyes on me as I left. So much for not making a scene. I ran past Blade's car into an alleyway and fell to my knees, bursting into tears. I heard footsteps coming behind me.

"Leave me alone." I said, scooting away. I prayed Landon hadn't followed me.

"Amaya, what's wrong." Blade knelt down beside me.

  "I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else." I said between sobs. I hated him seeing me like this. I tried but I couldn't stop crying. I couldn't remember the last time I cried. It was even more frustrating because someone as terrible as Landon was able to make me.

"It's okay, who did you think I was?" He held me in his arms. I felt a little better being there.

"I ran into Landon." I managed.

   He moved my face to meet his. Fire flashed behind his eyes. "Did he do this to you?" His expression was dark.

   I nodded. "Yes, but it's okay Blade, I'm okay." I held his hands. I suddenly felt like Nikayla after one of their fights, defending him. It was a sick sort of feeling.

"I'm going to kill him." Blade said, standing up.

I grabbed his arm. "It's not worth it, Blade please!"

He looked at me in disbelief. "He hurt you Amaya. I won't let him get away with it."

"I already dealt with him. I just want to go home." My eyes started watering again. Stop crying.

   "I'll do it because you want me to, but he's not getting away with this." He held my face, looking at the red mark taking over the left side of my face.

  "Thank you." I said and we walked to the car. The ride home was silent. One of the best nights of my life was now blended with one of the worse. When we arrived back at the Dream Apartments, Blade walked me to my apartment. Just as we were about to shut the door, Nikayla and Smasher walked by laughing hysterically.

"Blade dude, how was the party?" Smasher asked, not seeing me.

"Great. Terrible." Blade answered shortly.

"What's wrong?" Nikayla's voice took on a dark undertone.

I emerged from behind the door. "Please don't freak out."

Smasher's eyes grew wide. "What the..."

"Maya!" Nikayla ran over and started crying on my shoulder. "Who did this to you?"

"I ran into Landon." Was all I could make myself say.

"I'm so sorry, this is all my fault!" Her cries intensified.

"It's not your fault." I forced her to look at me. "I'm okay, I swear."

    She looked at me sadly. "What can I do?" Smasher came up behind her and rubbed her shoulders. She calmed down a little.

"Honestly, right now I'm just really tired." I laughed. "Let's talk about it tomorrow, okay?"

She stared at my face and nodded. "Yeah, okay. Get some rest."

"Thank you." I smiled at her. "Don't let this ruin your night?"

"Okay." She looked at me one last time and turned away. "Goodnight Amaya."

"Goodnight." I said as I walked through the door.