"Is it dark outside already?" Miguel asked, checking the time on his watch.

His feet were resting on top of an empty red movie theatre chair, but he sat properly as soon as the lights were turned on. People were already leaving as the credits were displayed on the big screen, talking about the movie and finishing their bags of popcorn.

"No, I don't think so. But it won't be long."

Nicole was texting Carolina, who was stressed about her delay. She had ignored the phone through the whole movie, but the second she turned it on, a thousand messages from her housemate illuminated her screen. Death threats and hysteric warnings about how she should've been home hours ago to get ready.

"Shit!" Miguel nudged her in the arm. "Please tell me I'm hallucinating."

Nicole looked at the people going down the stairs; to the couple he was pointing. When she recognised the girl's Barbie t-shirt and the boy's dirty blond hair, she almost choked on her Coca-Cola.

"What the fuck?" she exclaimed a little too loudly. "Are those two together now?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I thought she was smarter than that."

Nicole gripped the sides of her chair, her knuckles going white at the sight of them. The girl she thought was her friend, and the boy she thought she loved. They never needed her in the first place, and that made her insides twist.

Memories of him haunted her nights. Sweet nothings whispered in the morning, the gentle touch of his hands up and down her arms, feathery kisses between smiles. Lies. All lies to cover up for his behaviour. Even so, she preferred to believe he loved her, to believe those tender mornings and forget the nights of screaming at each other.

She shook it off, looking away from him and directing her attention back to her phone.

"We should go. Carol is going to kill me as soon as she sees me."

Miguel rolled his eyes and leaned his head against her naked shoulder. He knew he had to leave, but he was comfortable where he was and he did not feel excited about going to a party where Jenny most definitely was. It was already too much of her every week in their chemistry classes.

"I don't want to go to Andrew's stupid party!" he complained.

"It isn't Andrew's party." Nicole explained. "It's Carol's party. She just tricked him into borrowing his house."

To him, it was all the same. He enjoyed clubbing with his friends, but anything hosted by someone who knew Jenny was to be avoided at all costs.

She sighed. "Do you think she's being a good friend?"

Miguel locked eyes with her, unsure of what she meant. Nicole would never turn against her housemate. They were close friends, after all.

"She's using Alice's situation to get a party!" she continued. "Alice doesn't even like parties."

"And Andrew obviously doesn't know that."

She snorted. "Of course not. They don't know shit about each other."

At that point, Nicole knew Andrew better than Alice because he was always at The Bookmark, even if they talked little. How he liked his coffee, his job, his study method, his favourite book genre. He loved Liz and vice versa. What did Alice know of her ex-boyfriend?

"Are you mad at Carol?" he asked.

She shook her head. Mad wasn't the word. She didn't want to say it, but she was disappointed that the girl who claimed to know Alice better than Nicole was using her to her advantage.

"I just think that this is the last thing Ali needs right now."

Her phone started ringing before she could elaborate, and Carolina's name flashed on the screen. It was pretty obvious that she was angry at her.

"Let's go. She's must be done turning Ali into a doll and it's my turn."

🖤🤍🖤

The place was already crowded when they arrived, all previously decorated by Carolina before she went home to get ready.

The kitchen was full of alcoholic drinks and red paper cups they had bought the day before, and Andrew was the one filling drinks and handing them away, avoiding the commotion. He was used to partying, but not in his own house. There were people he knew, but he couldn't count Carolina and Lucas as friends. He was alone in his own party with people he didn't know and had no intention of knowing.

Andrew was never an introvert. Quite the opposite, actually. Yet, the party had the sole purpose of distracting Ali and making her forgive him. He wasn't in the mood to have fun either way.

She walked in, following Carolina and Lucas. The black top and loose matching pants were borrowed from Nicole, who had stayed in the garden waiting for Miguel to arrive, and though simple, she looked much more beautiful than Carolina in her tight pink dress and black stilettos.

"Hey there!" the brunette flashed him a smile. "Can you get us something to drink?"

He grabbed the nearest bottle and started emptying it into cups, but as he reached the third one, Alice gathered the courage to stop hiding behind Lucas.

"I don't want that. Just give me a coke or something."

He nodded, and she swallowed dry. She didn't want to be at his house and much less did she want to be near him, but if Carolina thought she needed a distraction, then she would try to enjoy the party.

They grabbed their drinks and excused themselves to the party. Perhaps they were lost forever, swallowed by the enormous crowd.

Andrew was never alone. People kept coming and going to refill their drinks. The music blasted, and he stared at the people dancing in his living room. He was sitting at the table, staring at a cup of whiskey, far from being his first. The bottle was long lost in his cabinets, but he had found it when he took everything breakable upstairs. It wasn't a drink Carolina considered appropriate for a party, but he preferred it over the beer she had staffed his kitchen with.

"You look depressed."

Her voice startled him, making her lips contort into that devious smile of hers. He regained his cool and looked back at the brownish liquid dancing inside the cup. His life felt like that somehow, contained to a recipient, but easily spilt all over.

His mind was focused on every single warning text he had received that day. It wasn't enough of a hint that he didn't return the calls. They needed to control him and now that he had fled; they were grasping for something they couldn't reach. He was taunting them, but he felt bad for it.

"Do I, Stalker?"

"Are you still on that, Witty?"

"Yes, but so are you."

Nicole leaned against the table, snatching one of the clean cups and pouring a drink to herself. It wouldn't be the first of the night and it wouldn't be the last.

"Where's everyone?" he questioned, noticing the sudden quiet.

She looked over her shoulder to where he was staring and took a sip of her drink. He felt dizzy already.

"Carol asked Miguel to light some fireworks."

He almost jumped in his seat. There was no way he was ever letting them use his house again.

"They're going to ruin the grass!"

"Relax, it's already dead, anyway." She supported herself on her elbows to be at eye level with him, but also because the alcohol was stealing her balance. "I was going to say you look good, but all you dress is the same monochromatic clothes."

Cuz you're not dressed all grey. He wanted to reply sarcastically, but he kept quiet in case he was wrong.

"Why are you not with them?" he asked instead.

She shrugged. "I'm bored. I was trying to find a decent one-night-stand, but everyone is irritating."

He wasn't expecting her to be so forward. Everything about her caught him off guard, but he found it refreshing.

"What would you do if I kissed you?"

Andrew didn't move his eyes from the paper cup. He didn't look surprised at all with the question, but he was.

"What do you expect me to do?"

"Runaway crying because someone kissed you without consent," she said.

As one should, since slapping a girl is frowned upon. He smiled a bit.

"Is that truly the picture you have of me?"

Nicole shrugged. She didn't even know what she was doing. Of what she knew of Andrew, he was a nice, good guy. He was not what she came looking for at all. However, Nicole didn't know him. Anyone who truly knew him would never use such words to describe Andrew Whittmore; calm, perhaps was a good one. It was in his nature, but good or nice was just wrong.

"Pretty much," she said, and a smile tugged on the corner of his lips.

He finished the drink without taking his eyes off her and got up, leaning into her. She had to refrain from stepping back.

"Why don't you kiss me and find out?" he suggested.

Nicole still could turn around and go look for some more promising guy. The party was crowded. It wouldn't be hard to find someone capable of actually rocking her entire world. Yet, a certain nervousness was building itself at the thought of Andrew.

With little thought, she pecked him on the lips quickly and stepped back. He snorted.

"Wow, is this what the great Nicole offers?"

"Don't mock me, asshole," she protested and tangled her fingers in his hair before glueing their lips together.

He tasted like scotch and something sweet. Nicole hated whiskey, but she refused to back out. If he was going to doubt her intentions, or her abilities, she was going to show him she was worth much more than anyone he could find at the party.

The idea she had of him was quite obvious, but she wondered what could he possibly think of her. The great Nicole he had called her, as if he thought of her as a higher being, or as if he mocked the thought of her. She wanted to know exactly what impression she had caused.

Nicole was a fiery kisser. She expected Andrew to be gentle, to go easy on her. She did not expect him to push her against the counter, nor the way he gripped her against him. His lips responded to hers as if he wanted her, as if he was as hungry for her as she was for anyone at all.

"Is this good enough for you?" She broke away, breathless.

He was still staring at her red smudged lips, a darker shade than his. "Is it enough for you?"

She met his eyes, her thumb cleaning the lipstick on him.

"How cute, thinking of the lady first." A smirk made its way to her face. "I have a thousand ideas of what would be enough, but I don't think you'll be the one putting them in motion."

Andrew pushed her hand away from him and let go of her, stepping back. The sudden lack of his body pressed up against hers surprised her, and she felt the urge to draw him closer again.

"Don't start things you don't intend on finishing," he said, walking to the door.

She stared at him. Don't say a word, let him go. She kept repeating.

"Wait!"

What is wrong with me?

He looked back at her dishevelled self and saw the annoyed look on her face.

"What if I want you?" she asked. "I came here looking for a good time. I did not think of you, but what if I want you?"

He snorted. "Am I supposed to know what do you want?"

Meanwhile, Alice had lost Lucas and Carolina in the middle of the people screaming and singing at the top of their lungs.

She wandered through the garden alone, zigzagging away from the mass of shaking limbs to the door. The house's warmth welcomed her inside, the music still blasting into her eardrums. She hated parties.

The place was empty since everyone had run outside to see the fireworks already blasting through the sky, and the floor was covered in discarded red cups. She was hoping to find Andrew in the kitchen. Although she wasn't at ease with him, she felt like they needed to talk everything out. Even if he didn't love her back, that didn't mean they had to end on bad terms.

She took another coke from the fridge and sat by the table, disappointed but also relieved to find out he wasn't there. He must've gone to see the fireworks too.

"This is bullshit," she whispered to herself, sighing. "I am bullshit."

Alice wondered what had gone wrong with them. It surely wasn't just the fact that she rushed it. No matter her doubts, she still blamed herself. If she had kept quiet, maybe the relationship would have grown strong. She wanted to show Nicole she was wrong, that not all men were scumbags, but she was the one who ended up realising Nicole was right. Not about men. About how she was moving too fast and that she should have let things evolve slower.

Desperation filled her heart, and she rubbed her eyes, supporting her forehead against her fingers. A single tear slid down her face. She didn't want to be that sad girl everyone pitied! She wanted to be loved and cherished.

Is it something wrong with me? She questioned herself. Am I that hard to love?

Sick of being in his house questioning herself, Alice texted Carolina, telling her she was going home. Her ride was outside, half-drunk, kicking the stones in the garden, unaware of his purpose.

"Give me the car keys," she told Miguel, hand out.

He turned around, frowning. Balance abandoned him as he tripped away from her, falling to his knees on the grass. Being already on the floor, he just lay there, staring at the sky.

"Why?" he whispered.

She rolled her eyes. "Because you're too drunk to be here and I want to go home."

He nodded slowly, as if trying to decode every word.

"Aren't you going to ask what happened to me?"

"I'm guessing it was Jenny. Now, let's go."

Unsurprisingly, she wasn't wrong.

Miguel got up and put the keys in her hand before hugging her tight. He didn't even notice her sudden stillness, only held her close for a little too long.

"Let's go!" he chanted, running to his car. "We shall sing to the radio until our ears fall off and we can no longer speak!"

Oh, God. She grimaced. It was going to be a long ride.

🖤🤍🖤

Andrew laid by her side and for a moment they kept quiet, just listening to each other's erratic breathing.

Nicole didn't know what to do. Usually, she'd just got up, dressed and left. This time she didn't feel like getting up and they both stayed in that tense, awkward silence.

"Do you...do you want to go back downstairs?" he asked after a while.

She shook her head. "No, let's just... stay here for a little longer."

He nodded and there they stayed, staring at the ceiling, mute.

"You're not kicking me out soon, are you?" she questioned, finding the mattress quite comfortable.

"We can just stay here," he said. "But eventually I'll have to go back down."

She nodded and asked out of curiosity, "And if you kicked me out, how would you do it?"

He was surprised by the question. Of all things she could've asked, that was the one she picked.

"Well, I like to say things like go home," he noted. "It works most of the times when they get clingy. It does not work with the crazy ones, though."

Nicole frowned. Most of the time? How often does he do this?

"What about you?" he asked.

"I don't have one-night stands... I usually sleep with the same guy for a certain amount of time until he gets boring. They know they can't stay long."

He turned his body, so he was now facing her, and she did the same.

"Tell me, I've always been curious. How does that whole friend with benefits thing work? Is it exclusive? How do you break up with each other?"

"If it were exclusive, I would not even have agreed to it, it would be the same as dating," she explained. "And normally I'd just tell him I didn't want to see him anymore."

"Normally?" he repeated.

"Gabriel is getting too attached," she complained. "I haven't called him in weeks, but he doesn't seem to understand."

Gabriel was the policeman, that much Andrew knew, but besides that, all that came to his mind was the image of a much stronger and older man than him. He always thought girls like men like him, but apparently, Nicole wanted nothing to do with him.

"It's quite the loss for him," he noted, and Nicole felt flattered. "Does that mean you're getting a new plaything?"

"Eventually," Nicole shrugged "Why? Are you interested?"

She almost hoped he'd say yes, but she wasn't that lucky.

"I'm nobody's sex toy."

"Not a toy. We'd both be benefiting," she clarified. "Didn't you say I'm hot?"

He wasn't liking the way the conversation was going. Sure, it had been fun. Still, he wanted to stay clear from Nicole and her mood swings.

"I already got it out of my system," he said. "Didn't you?"

"Of course. I was just suggesting," she dismissed.

Three knocks on the door made them freeze, staring at each other.

"I'm looking for the bathroom," a voice came from the other side.

Nicole blinked, unsure of what to do, and then heard Andrew giving him a brief explanation.

"Thank you."

He found her eyes again and then burst out laughing.

"Maybe we should go downstairs," she mentioned.

He nodded, smiling.

Hello!

It's only chapter 7 and I'm already hating my writing. This is too early!

First of all, don't tell me Andrew and Nicole feel forced, cuz that's the idea! They are not supposed to like each other, so don't come at me!

Poor Ali cried this chapter :,(

Thought's so far? Besides the fact that I suck?

Thank you for reading!