"The good thing about music is that when it hits you, you feel no pain"~Bob Marley 

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It's been a week since the Halloween Party. Annalisa and Samantha hounded me with endless questions, on the long drive home the next day, but I just couldn't bring myself to admit I did what I did. I settled their nerves by letting them know nothing bad happened. I just needed some time before I could talk about it.

I was still coming to terms that I had sex with a complete stranger, myself. They haven't asked too many questions since then but they knew something wasn't right.

I wasn't embarrassed, necessarily; people do that all the time. That's practically all I ever heard about in High School and even more in College, especially after a long weekend.

I was more confused than anything. I've never done anything like that before. I shouldn't feel bad, right? I was the one who practically threw myself at the guy. I even encouraged him after he hesitated...more than once.

There was a brief moment of clarity, when someone had stumbled in on us and I looked over at him as we were rushing to get dressed. I ran out of the room as fast as I could, not looking back as he was struggling to get his legs back in the pants of his costume.

Maybe it was the weed or the alcohol or perhaps I was so caught up in the moment I even thought I heard him moan out my name. 

When my hand touched his face there was this feeling of warmth that came over me and then it was like I was magnetized to him.

Maybe it's because I needed the physical intimacy and it had been too long. The way he touched and kissed me reminded me so much of when JP and I would be together. I didn't want to stop, I wanted it so badly.

Samantha had told us a while ago, that having sex while faded was something we had to experience and...I can say it was actually pretty amazing. Will I do it again? Probably not. Maybe.

I'm getting home from finishing a closing shift at Zeeko's gym and I'm tired. Not having slept much since—the whole one night stand—if I can even call it that. I just want to get in the tub and drink a glass of wine, while reading a book. Hopefully get my mind off of it.

"Oh, good, you're home, baby girl." Samantha greets me. There's a blanket on the floor, loaded with all sorts of junk food, water bottles, some alcohol and a bag of weed.

"What's this?" 

"It's a reverse intervention of sorts." Annalisa pokes her head out from the kitchen.

I laugh as I set my helmet down on the counter. "A what?"

"You'll see. Now, go get in your comfy clothes and meet us out here ASAP!" Annalisa orders. I sigh shaking my head, making my way to my room.

When I come back out, Annalisa and Sam are sitting on the floor. Annalisa is eating chips and dip, while Samantha is filling, then lighting her pipe. The song "Young, Wild and Free" is playing in the background on her phone.

"Okay...what's this about?"

They shake their heads at me. Annalisa hands me a shot glass with tequila in it. Once we all have one, Annalisa raises her glass, "Here's to being young, wild and free!" She giggles as she lifts her glass and Samantha and I follow her, throwing back the drink.

After we pass the pipe around, Samantha claps her hands. "Okay, enough is enough baby girl. You've kept us in the dark, for over a damn week, now. Spill the tea, girl."

I pour myself another shot. They watch me as I set the glass down. "I had sex."

Annalisa starts choking or coughing on the inhale she was taking. Samantha reaches over and pats her on the pack.

"That's it?" Samantha questions.

"Did someone force you?" Annalisa questions at the same time. I look at both of them.

"No, no one forced me. I...I was the one who initiated it." Not meeting their eyes. They ask who it was, where it happened, if it was good. And why I didn't say anything to them. 

I do another shot.

"I've never done anything like that before. It happened when I went looking for a bathroom on the third floor of the house. We were just talking and then I practically jumped him."

Samantha laughs loudly. "Good for you girl. You shouldn't feel bad. And you're welcome by the way. I knew the condoms were a good idea." 

"Wait, but who was it?" Annalisa asks.

"Batman"

They both start cracking up and I join them. Annalisa then remembers how we saw two guys walk in, dressed as Batman and Robin and asks if it was that one. I shrug not knowing if it was the same guy or not, but I didn't see another Batman so it had to be him.

"Well, how was it?" Samantha asks as she takes a drag from the pipe and hands it to me. I inhale deeply, then exhale slowly.

"It was...good. Really good, amazing." I answer, honestly.

"Then why are you frowning." She asks me. I glance over at Annalisa and she watches me as she takes a long pull.

I explain to Sam that I've only ever been with one guy before last weekend and her eyes widen. I'm not including Alfonso because he forced himself on me and I know by the look Annalisa gives me she knows what I'm thinking.

"Only one guy? Ever?" Samantha questions in disbelief. I nod my head at her as I take a drink of the Disarrono bottle. I remind her about Alfonso and she shakes her head, saying he doesn't count.

"I don't know if it was because of the weed I had or the drinks but it felt right, like it was supposed to happen." I explain how someone walked in on us after we had finished and that's when I bolted. They both say that it makes sense now, given how I had ran out of there like a mad woman.

"I knew there had to be a reason why you weren't wearing your cape, after all the fuss you were making, about your ass hanging out of the skirt." Samantha laughs.

I laugh picturing how ridiculous I must have looked. I take another shot. "Well, now you know." I tell them as I grab a bag of starburst and start eating a few. "I've been confused about the whole thing, because I thought I'd feel bad, or guilty...but I don't."

"Why would you feel bad about it?" Sam asks me.

I sigh and lean over laying my head on Annalisa's lap. "Because I still love him. After all this time, he's all I ever think about."

My mind wanders to the envelope Topo gave me. I haven't brought myself to open it yet. Afraid that I won't be able to handle it, even though Topo said I would.

"You're referring to John Paul?" Samantha questions breaking me out of my thoughts.

This is as good of night as any for confessions. So I tell her about JP and I's relationship from when we were kids, all the way to what I told her about what happened after she was assaulted.

When I'm finished, Sam's laying on Annalisa's other leg, looking up at the ceiling. "Daammn, girl."

"Yup" Annalisa chimes in.

"You know what? You can't help that you still love him even if he fucked up. But I refuse to let you sit here and mope about letting yourself have a night of fun. Come on, let's get this party going." Samantha stands up.

She picks up her phone and connects it to the lap top on the table. She turns on her dance playlist and starts dancing. Annalisa and I join her and start dancing around in the living room, singing a long to the songs. Eventually we tire out and sprawl out on the living room floor.

An idea pops in my head, "Let's call Enzo!" I say excitedly.

"Yes! Let's do it!" Annalisa claps, enthusiastically. While Samantha asks who Enzo is. I tell her he's the longest friend I've had, since I was five. She asks if he's cute, to which Annalisa responds with a lively, "Hell yeah, he is!"

I decide to do a video call. Wait, what time is it? It's fine. It's fine.

"Stella?" I look around the room, someone said my name.

"Stella, down here." Enzo says. I look at my phone and grin.

"Ennzzoooo!"

"Hi Enzo!" Annalisa and Samantha come next to either side of me and greet him. "Oh, damn." Samantha whispers.

"Hey Stella, Anna and someone I don't know." He chuckles.

"Samantha, my name's Samantha, handsome." Sam purrs into my phone. I need to learn how to talk like that.

"What you ladies up to? Even though, I think I have a pretty good idea." He says, smiling.

"Just being young, wild and free!" Annalisa sings into the phone. Enzo laughs loudly, telling us he can see that.

"I have a secret, Enzo." I whisper into the phone, leaning in. "I had sex last weekend and...it wasn't with JP!" I whisper while Annalisa and Samantha laugh in the background.

"Uh..." Enzo says.

"Sh, sh!" I tell him, putting my finger to my lips. "Don't tell anyone."

"About that..." He starts but I interrupt him.

"Don't you want to know who it was with? You're not going to believe it!"

"Okay....um who?" It looks like he's trying to keep himself from laughing as he keeps a hand over his mouth.

"You have to guess." I tell him. "But I'll give you a hint. You always wanted to be him, when we were kids" I try to hold in my laugh, he's never going to guess.

"Stella, when we were kids I wanted to be Batman." He says confused.

I burst out laughing, hitting my nose with my finger since he guessed it right. He starts laughing. "Wait... are you saying you slept with Batman?"

"Sh, sh, sh!" I tell him. "He wasn't the real Batman, but you can't tell anyone, geez." But he's laughing too hard now.

"Stella, wait." He gasps. "Honestly, maybe you're too faded to answer but...were you at a party last weekend, for Halloween?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Annalisa smashes her face next to mine to talk to Enzo.

Enzo's still laughing but manages to ask. "Let me guess you were Batgirl, right?"

"No, I was Robin girl." Annalisa corrects him. We hear some laughing in the background, followed by a "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Is that Joey?" I ask. Enzo nods because he's laughing again.

"Hi Joey! I miss you!" Annalisa says happily into the phone. Enzo pans the phone away from him and we vaguely see three people sitting across from Enzo. One of them has their head in their hands, but slowly moves them away looking back at me, is that JP? 

"Annalisa?" It sounds like Joey again.

"That's my name, don't wear it out!" She slurs and laughs into the phone.

"I've never heard or seen her so sloshed." Joey states.

We hear Enzo laughing again. "Wait, Stella, you didn't answer, were you dressed as Batgirl?" He holds up a purple cape and I recognize the glitter edges on it.

"Hey that's my cape!"

Enzo drops the phone, laughing to the point he starts coughing. "I can't! I can't! This is just too fucking perfect!" 

"Enzo!" I yell into the phone. "Hello? Why do you have my cape?"

"We were at the party too, Stella. Me, Santino, Joey and JP." He croaks in between his laughter.

"What?" Samantha comes up to my other side.

"That one guy, named Dean had a Halloween party and invited Joey and he invited the rest of us." He pants in between his laughing.

I'm starting to feel dizzy and a little sick. My eyes flicker to Annalisa, who's expression looks like she's trying to figure out a really hard math problem. "Dean Esposito?" I ask.

"Yeah, I think that's his name." Enzo says still laughing. "I hate to burst your bubble, but you didn't have sex with Batman, Stella."

I nod my head. "Yes, yes, I did. I was there, it was Batman."

"This is too much," Enzo says laughing wiping at his face. "Stella, John Paul went as Batman."

Huh? I'm so confused. JP is not Batman.

"Oh, Stella," He chuckles, "I swear you two don't know how much you need each other. You end up gravitating towards each other without you two even knowing it!"

I shake my head at his words, my eyebrows furrowing. I would have recognized JP's voice, and he did not sound like JP. Maybe he was in character trying to sound like Batman, I think to myself.

"Anyway, so are you in New York, then?" He asks after he calms down.

"No, we live in Chicago, but Topo said we'll be leaving here soon." I tell him. We hear the door rattle and I remember Topo's supposed to be home tonight.

"Shit, Topo's home! I gotta go. Bye Enzo, love you!" I hang up the phone as Topo walks in.

Annalisa, Sam and I scramble over each other as we try to clean up, but we end up tripping over each other and collapse in a fit of laughter.

Samantha gasps in between her laughter. She's holding her side as she continues laughing. "Wait, who's Topo?" She asks.

Crap.

"Well, looks like I came home just in time." Topo appears irked yet amused.

********

I groan as I move my head, but my neck is kinked and I don't want to move anymore. I crack one of my eyes open and see Topo standing over me taking pictures with his phone. He's trying to hold in his laugh and he reminds me of the cartoon animals who wheeze as they laugh.

Someone else moans in clear pain and discomfort. Or did I make those sounds? I lift my head, slowly. I drooled on my pillow, yet it doesn't feel like a pillow when I try to wipe at it. I look up and realize I was laying on Annalisa's butt.

Topo stops trying to hold in his stifled laugh now as he laughs uncontrollably.

"SH! Topo, not so loud!" Annalisa groan's irritated, which makes him laugh harder.

I get up and realize I'm laying across Samantha's legs. She protests as I move off of her, too. I hold my head to keep it from splitting. I haven't felt this awful since my birthday trip in Atlantic City.

"Why is my butt wet?" Annalisa questions as she pats her underwear.

Topo loses it again, "Ask Stella." He says in between his laughter. I tell her I drooled on her.

"You slept on my butt?" She begins to laugh but then winces as she holds her head with her hands. "Wait, where are my pants?" Annalisa asks looking around.

Topo grabs them from the top of the kitchen cabinets and throws them at her. She doesn't react fast enough and they hit her in the face. Which causes Topo to laugh again.

He starts explaining to her why she's without pants. "Well, I have a video here if you want to see for yourself?" He sniggers.

"I came home and all three of you were beyond wrecked or sloshed. When you finally stopped laughing, you started dancing. Annalisa,  you decided you were too hot. You took your pants off and started swinging them around above your head like you were some fucking cowboy. And they ended up on top of the cabinets."

He plays the video and sure enough word for word we watch it play out.

Samantha whimpers and groans as she sits up. One of her fake eyelashes is hanging off of her chin while the other is on top of her eyelid. "Shit, I haven't felt like this since...damn I can't even remember when."

"What were you three celebrating anyway?" Topo asks as he drinks a cup of coffee. "And who wants to fill me in on who you were talking to?" He sets his cup of coffee down and crosses his arms over his chest.

Ugh, I don't want to be lectured right now. "Let me shower first." I mumble. He moves and shakes his head at me, keeping me from leaving the room.

"I slept with JP, okay!" I throw my hands up in the air but then grab my head, grimacing from the throbbing pain.

"You what? When?" He asks me in disbelief, he uncrosses his arms.

His eyes practically bulge out of his head, when we tell him about our road trip. "You what? When?" He repeats and Annalisa begins to laugh, but then says 'ow' as she leans back on the couch her arms on her head.

"It was my idea." Samantha tells him. "It was a birthday trip for me. Nothing happened, other than apparently Stella's hookup ended up being with this John Paul..." She waives her hand in the air.

"So, that's why you were talking to him?"

I shake my head. "I wasn't talking to JP. It was Enzo. And I didn't know it was JP that I...that I hooked up with. We were both in costumes but they had my cape, I had left it at the party..."

I start to remember bits and pieces of the conversation. Did I tell Enzo we were in Chicago or did I imagine that? I don't want to ask the girls in front of Topo, but adding panic with a hangover is not a good combination. I start to feel nauseous.

My airway constricts and my body retches. I'm dry heaving as I run to the sink and barely make it, expelling whatever contents I had in my stomach.

I hear Annalisa begin to gag and dry heave, too. Except she doesn't make it to the kitchen. Not even close as she pukes on Topo's shoes. I hear him groan in disgust. "Are you fucking serious?"

Next comes Samantha. It's like a domino effect. She at least runs to the hallway but doesn't make it to the bathroom, either.

The rest of the day is spent cleaning, disinfecting and nursing our hangovers. Topo wants us to fill him in on what happened since he was gone.

He nearly loses it when we tell him what happened after the Championship fight, with Diana aka Diabla and her goons. And almost begins lecturing me on why I shouldn't have even been involved in the cage fighting scene to begin with, but stops when I interrupt him telling him I'm done with it.

His phone rings and he takes the call going into one of our rooms. Samantha ends ups taking a nap on the couch as Annalisa and I are at the kitchen table drinking gatorade and eating crackers.

"Do you think he hates me?" She asks, sighing heavily.

"Who, Topo?"

"No, Joey. He didn't talk to me like I thought he would." She says, "but then again, maybe he did and I just don't remember?" She asks look at me.

"He didn't say much and Joey doesn't hate anyone."

"He hates, Vince." Annalisa says. The mention of her brother, brings back the memories of the San Diego trip. 

I laugh, agreeing with her. "Okay, you got me there. But that's only because Vince was all over his sister and I'm sure, now that they're getting married, he's fine with it."

Annalisa chuckles, "I sometimes wish we could go back to when everything wasn't so complicated, before everything changed..."

"I know. I wish that, too, sometimes." I hold her hand.

"Have you decided if you're going to go to the wedding?" I ask her. Vince and Mia are getting married next weekend. I told her I would go with her if she decided to go, but she hasn't made a decision.

"I want to, but I don't want to turn their wedding into some kind of intervention for me. You know how my mom is...she's always been so overbearing, can you imagine what she'll be like now?" Annalisa groans.

I realize she's right and then I get an idea. "If you decide to go, then you should take Topo." I volunteer our friend, smiling at him as he walks in from the hallway.

He narrows his eyes back at me. "They won't even think about doing anything if they see him with you." I tell her.

Annalisa nods, "How about it, Topo, do you want to be my plus one?"

He takes a deep breath. "Do I have to dance?"

"Maybe just one dance." She tells him. He nods, telling her he'll go, only if I really can't make it.

She looks over at Topo watching him for a moment. "Hey, Topo? Can I talk to you for a minute?" He turns to look at Annalisa and nods. They go back to her room and spend a while talking. She kept the door open but I shut my door so they know I wouldn't listen in.

I'm sure she's talking to him about what she told me before he left on assignment. Despite his appearance and what he does for a living, Topo is one of the most reasonable people I have met.

The look of apprehension on his face when it looked like Annalisa was going in for a kiss, tells me wasn't exactly for it happening, maybe realizing she was confused. But who knows? I hope they clear up whatever it is going on.

As I lay in bed, that night, images of that Halloween night come to my mind. I still can't believe it was JP.

It hits me then, that while he was hesitant, he still did what he did, without knowing it was me. There's an unexplained moment of jealously I feel, to know he would do that, but then again, who am I to judge?

I was the one who initiated everything when I thought he was a complete stranger in the first place.

I wonder what he's thinking...now that he knows it was me. 

~~~~~~~

Any guesses on what JP's thinking? ;)

Did anyone watch the UFC fights, last night??? They were aa-mmaaa-zing!!! My girl Rose "Thug" Namajunas kicked a$$!!! I'm not gonna lie was worried for her. And while I was rooting for Jorge Masvidal, Usman is no joke!!!