"Another shot of dirty Martini please."

Patricia announced to the bartender, trying to be loud enough so he could hear her voice from the loud club music even if she didn't have to. She was too drunk to care.

"Miss," the bartender tried to gain her attention "I think that's enough for one night. You've had quite a lot to drink."

"What?!" Patricia yelled again so he could hear her. The music wasn't even that loud.

"I'm sorry I can't let you have anymore drinks tonight, especially if you're going to be driving."

Patricia scoffed, she was beginning to get so irritated .
How dare he?

"How dare you?!" She glared at him still yelling. "I'm the one paying aren't I?"

She was furious now

"It is not about the money miss-"

"It isn't? so what do you need then? An ID? You want to know if I'm legal to drink?" Patricia was trying so hard to sound convincing.  "I'm not drunk!"

"Let's just wait a while till your friend gets here then you can do whatever you want okay?"

The bartender took away the glass from the table

"You just lost a very cool customer yo!" Patricia said in the most drowsy tone ever. She was beginning to gain a lot of attention "I'm never coming to this sick bar ever again! You guys are so mean to me."

She sobbed, taking her voice down a bit. She was almost in tears

"Why is everyone so mean to me?" She raked her hand over her hair and sobbed.

"Patricia?"

She scoffed at the sound of Sam's voice. She could smell his sweet perfume as he walked closer to the table with his jacket in his hands. He had the most worried look on his face. It hadn't even been thirty minutes yet Patricia had called him to come get her and he now was there, she was completely drunk and out of her mind. She looked like crap too. Her hair was messy from her constant itching and her mascara was all over her face like she had been crying the whole evening.

She looked a mess. Sam took a seat right beside her, he glared at her for a minute and then exhaled

"Sam." Patricia rolled her eyes not bothering to look at him

"Just how much did you have to drink Patricia?" She slowly turned to look at him

"Not much."

"What do you mean? Tricia You're drunk."

"I'm not drunk." She responded lazily, finally turning to him. "I'm just tipsy ." She chuckled, sam exhaled. She couldn't stop laughing. It was like everything was suddenly funny. Sam knew exactly what was coming next.

He got out his handkerchief just in time for Patricia to start crying, and there it was, she was getting everyone's attention again with her loud sobs and tears.

Sam looked around
He couldn't describe how embarrassed he was. He couldn't help but wonder what went through all their minds as they watched her cry her hearts content. Did they think he was the one? That he was the one making her cry?

This was it, the moment he dreaded . He had never been the one to ever take care of Patricia during her drunk moments, it was always Angelo. He always knew the right words, he always knew how to make her feel better.

Getting drunk wasn't exactly Patricia's strongest suit. She was bad at it, really bad at it.

Sam exhaled
It was going to be a long night.

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

"Let it all out"
Sam rubbed Patricia's back gently while she threw up all that alcohol right outside the clubhouse. He was trying so hard not to look. Helping people get over their hangover wasn't really his forte, it could scar him the whole night if he dared look.

He watched Patricia dab her lips with his handkerchief when she was done, she sunk into the bench. Sam turned slowly to look at her, he had to make sure she was okay.

"How are you feeling?"
He asked her. She sniffed without saying a word.

Maybe she wasn't ready, maybe she didn't want to talk. Sam nodded and he understood. He and Patricia were never really the ones to talk about how they felt to each other. Angelo was the better person at listening so Sam understood how difficult it was to get Patricia to open up to him.

"Do you want me to take you home right now?"

He asked again

Patricia didn't move a muscle
What exactly was it she wanted? Sam wondered. Did she just call him so he could watch her cry and throw up and not say anything?

"I've lost him."
Sam turned to her slowly, she had her eyes glued to her hands while she talked. "He chose her and not me."

Sam exhaled. He knew exactly what she was talking about, who she was talking about, it wasn't a secret. Sam was aware of Patricia's feelings for Angelo. He saw it coming especially since he had to give up on his feelings for her in the past just so he wouldn't get in the way of their happiness. Ever since, he had just waited in the sidelines and not told any of them how he felt.

Just wait it out Sam, just give them some time and everything would fall in place

Those were the words he always told himself whenever he got the thought to tell Patricia how he really felt. Years had passed, a lot of years had passed and he thought those feelings were all gone but they were slowly finding their way back to him just by looking at her.

"He said he loved me Sam." She turned to look at him as tears filled her eyes again "He promised he was going to fight but instead he just left me for her"

"Patricia-"

"What am I supposed to do? Should I just sit back and let them be happy?" She looked into his eyes "Sam I don't think I can. I'm trying to move on but it's so hard for me." She sobbed

She was so miserable, anyone could see it

"H-hey," Sam moved closer to her. Seeing her that way broke his heart to pieces.

"I love him Sam, more than I ever imagined. It has always been him, it will always be him. I can give him everything, Anna is only going to break his heart, that's what they all do, they hurt people. She doesn't deserve him. How could he do this to me?"

She sobbed

"Oh God" She wiped her tears off quickly and turned to Sam. "You must be so sick of all my drama, I'm sorry, it's just that I can't help it these days. My emotions are always on the edge."

"Hey," He reached for her hand "It's okay,"

Patricia sniffed

She tried to force herself to smile a little bit. Sam's voice and warm hands made her so comfortable, it made her feel better.

"Look, Patricia, you don't need to be sad anymore. I know this is not easy for you but maybe it's how it's meant to be."

"No" She said almost in a whisper

"Tricia, Angelo is in love with Anna and there's nothing any of us can do about it now. All we can do as his friends is support him and hope he made the right decision."

"No"

"Tricia, you have to move on." Patricia took her hands quickly from his.

"I wish it was that easy Sam." She cleaned her eyes again. Sam exhaled weakly.

"You don't understand. I can't let him go, not now, not when I need him the most. "

"Need him?" He raised a brow at her

"Tricia Angelo is married. And you might not believe this but he is in love with his wife. He'd literally do anything for her, you have no idea the amount of sacrifices - the things he has done just to keep her safe. He has moved on Tricia."

"K-keep her safe? S-sacrifices? W-what do you mean Sam?"

Sam rolled his eyes. Of all the things to be anxious of in all the things he said she just had to pick that one. He was hiding something. Patricia could see it

"What are you not telling me Sam?"
Sam looked away

"It's nothing-"

"It didn't sound like nothing." Patricia was so sure "You know something, you've got to tell me. What is Angelo getting himself into ?"

Sam got up quickly

It wasn't his story to tell, he knew it. He promised Angelo he wasn't going to mention it to anyone. Patricia got up too

"Sam please, you've got to tell me. I'm just looking out for Angelo. If he's doing something, if she's making him do something, we need to know what it is just in case."

Sam turned to her. She looked so worried, so scared He knew at this moment, it would only take a minute for his lips to spill.

He exhaled

"Look, I'm only telling you this because I'm sure we have nothing to be worried about. You cannot tell anyone , not even Angelo."

"Fine I won't I promise ." She nodded, she really wanted to know "what is it ?"

"I'm not sure but Angelo hosted Anna's froster parents earlier today. He wanted to have a talk with them about some things they did in the past, about some tapes."

"Tapes? What tapes?"

"I wish I knew. All I know is those guys did a lot of terrible things to Anna while she was still living with them and they recorded somethings in the tape, things Angelo didn't want to talk about. Whatever it was in those tapes must have been really important since he was willing to spend a lot of cash to retrieve them."

"A-and these tapes, where are they now?"

"I have no idea. He ordered Anna's lawyer to dispose them, burn them ."

"Burn them? All of them?"

"I guess so, I mean Angelo was pretty clear when he told Anna's froster parents what would happen if he found out they weren't being completely honest with them."

"I see," Patricia stood still for a second, she had a lot of things going through her head

"You're not the only one worried about Angelo Tricia, I am too. Especially since he got careless and hurt his shoulders the other day, but if he says he's fine, we need to believe him. We need to trust and support him, he knows what he's doing."

Hurt his shoulders? How did Patricia never notice ?

Sam squinted his eyes as he stared at Patricia. She was standing right there not sure of what to say. He exhaled

"Look," He moved closer, "I know it's hard Tricia but believe me when I say it's best for you to move on."

Patricia looked at him

"You need to accept all of this and just focus on being happy. You might feel you've lost Angelo but you'd always have me. I might not make you laugh like him but I'd always be here for you, and that's a promise."

Patricia forced a smile on her lips. For a while she felt so warm, Sam's words felt so honest, and comforting, so much so that she had almost forgotten why she was mad in the first place .

She hugged him

"Thank you Sam" She told him, holding on tight to him. "Thank you for everything."

Sam exhaled. He held on tight to her too.

I'd never leave you.