Drunk words are sober thoughts
- unknown

       The party was at a club which wasn't surprising. Now, Tommy might be the shit but to his mama, he was just her little kid that she could spank and send up to his room. The only way he was gonna be having a party in her house would be over her dead body.

Janice ditched me the second we got there and attached her entire being to her boyfriend but it didn't take me long to locate Kazeem and his buddies.
"Travis! My man, come hit this". Luke yelled above the music, some rolled up shit in his hand.

I walked over to them with every intention of getting shitface stoned but I found myself rejecting everything that I was offered.

You can fix your life.

I used to think I was contented with myself but the more I thought about what Jake said, merely thinking of the guy made me yearn for more, for better even as I tried to remind myself that I didn't deserve it.

I didn't keep track of how much time I spent with Kazeem and his friends but when they started choking on their words and passing out on each other, I relocated to the bar.

I found myself watching the rest of the party from there while nursing a glass of some weird concoction that the barman assured me was the shit. I almost laughed at the notion of me becoming a wallflower, I used to be a party animal.

"You look lonely".
I let out a loud sigh before turning to face Monique.
"Feels better than being dead".
She bit her lip and gave me one of her should-be-sexy looks.
"I promise to ease up on the honey next time". She said but I focused on sipping my disgusting drink.

"Come on. There's no way I could have known, it's kind of a weird allergy... But super hot".
I rolled my eyes and turned to tell her off but my attention got drawn by the most noticeable guy in the club and he held my eyes with his for a while before I tore them away to look at Monique who was doing some weird twist with her hair.

"Let's dance". I blurted out before I could filter my words. The blame completely goes to the weird disgusting shit drink.
Her eyes went a little wide but she recovered quickly and I could almost see her give herself a mental pat on the back.

She led me to the dance floor and immediately, I felt the stares but it didn't matter because my eyes decided to do some staring of their own.

Jake was now leaned on the wall and I noticed Albert because he had his hand around his waist but his eyes were still trained on me. Monique gave a painful grind to my groin and I swallowed down a groan. She turned to me with a smile and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Does this mean we are past the whole hard to get stage?" She stood on her toes so she could whisper to me and I forced on a smile, then a nod.
"Now we can just fuck and be done with it".
She laughed like she was being paid to.
"I definitely want that but I want more too. Something real and stable, don't you want that?"

I pulled her closer and let my smile widen.
"You know what happened to the last girl that wanted that with me?"
"She couldn't handle you?" She said flirtatiously.
"No. She got shot". She stopped swaying.
"Oh my God. That must have been hard".
I nodded continuously because it hard been hard.

"Yeah. By me".
"What?" Her hands began slipping from my neck.
"I shot her".
She blinked more times than possible in five seconds, then proceeded to opening and closing her mouth like a tilapia.
"You okay?" I crouched to look in her eyes and she backed away speedily.

"Yyeah. I just... I... "
"What, Monique?"
"Meds! I gotta go take my meds".
"What meds?"
"Diabetes. Meds for diabetes".
"Right".
"See you later". She turned and ran for her dear life, bumping into some people on her grand escape.

Another problem permanently solved.
I returned to the bar and the tender smiled omnisciently while handing me another glass of mysterious fluid. I gulped down half of it at a go and when I placed it back on the table, I noticed a presence beside me.

"So people run away from you as well". Jake said as he took a seat.
"Yet you always seem to run in the opposite direction". I turned to regard him and he smiled.
"It's your charm, Harden. I can't resist it".
He requested for a beer.
"Just as you couldn't resist telling Pokello where I am".

Guilt crossed his face but otherwise, he looked justified.
"She was worried".
"It wasn't in your place".
"Yeah. It is in your place as her brother to protect her yet you don't seem to mind hurting her and you travel across the country so you don't have to see it".

His beer arrived and he got it and went over to his boyfriend who was laughing with some dudes I might have seen around.

I have a conscience and maybe sometimes I take things that prevent me from hearing it but I do have one deep within so the living, breathing, walking conscience in the form of Jake Levinson only weighed more on my guilt.

I turned to the tender and ordered scotch that he kept sliding to me as the party got louder and wilder. I went past tipsy to full-on drunk, teetering on the brinks of passing out but it didn't take away the guilt of pushing away the few people that loved me for some reason.

Albert appeared in front of me with his signature grin. I wanted to yell at him to tone it down and stop being such a fairy but I couldn't feel my lips. He turned to the bartender for a second and the next, he was attempting to hoist me out of my seat.

"This is like trying to lift the hulk". He muttered and I chuckled.
"Jake loves the hulk". I heard myself say.
"Jake is the hulk". He stated and I laughed, almost pushing us over.
He managed to guide us past the sea of bodies and out of the club.

I sighed when I sighted the pink car but grinned when I saw Jake in the driver's seat. His eyes widened as he saw his boyfriend being crushed beneath me and he hurried out of the car, taking me away from Albert.
"What happened to him?" He asked his boyfriend like I was incapable of speaking for myself.

"He seemed pretty intent on drinking himself to death". Albie replied, also disregarding my possession of a functioning mouth.
Jake sighed.
"He has a little drinking problem".
"No I don't". Albert caste me a look and laughed a little.

"Cute pout. Is he always this cute when he is drunk?"
I saw Jake's jaw tick as he laid me in the backseat.
"Hardly". He forced out.

        They didn't say a lot on the ride to my apartment, leaving me to nap and soon enough, Jake was helping me to my feet, his forest eyes a little darker than usual.

"You've got to help me here Trav". He grunted as we crawled up the stairs to my apartment. We finally made it there and I leaned against the door while he dug around my pockets.
"You are a pretty blonde". I slurred, grabbing a lock of his hair.

His hair wasn't as curly as it used to be, it was shorter but it was still as soft and I could see the brown in his roots. It didn't matter though, he'd be pretty even with purple hair.
The door opened behind me and I almost fell in but his hand shot out and wrapped around my waist.

"My hulk". I whispered and he smiled before swiftly getting rid of it. He helped me to my bed and laid me down, looking everywhere but at my face as he took off my shoes, then my shirt. He was going to leave but I held his hand.
"Don't leave, I can't watch it".

He stood there for a while before taking a seat beside me. He ran a hand through my hair and my eyes fluttered close.

"I'm here".

----------------------------------------------------
And I'm here for the rest of y'all, even though you'd obviously prefer a Jake.

See you on Thursday!💕