It's Rory's birthday on Saturday and I call her to wish her a happy one. I think she has no idea that my brother is planning a party for her. 

I'm kind of scared to go to the party tonight. Aaron is still invited and he didn't say anything about not coming. I haven't heard from him since Thursday night. I haven't heard from Damien, either, but that's not a surprise. He still hasn't changed, I see. 

Ever since he came to my flat, he wrecked me completely. He shook my world again. My girls came by after the two men left and I told them everything that happened. They were surprised and shocked and all kinds of pissed off at the both men. 

Aaron, that bastard, was actually cheating on me. Even though he assured me he isn't, I should've trusted all the signs he showed. 

And Damien ... I don't even want to think about him, although there's not much else I've been thinking about. I've been thinking about his words, his story ... His touches, his looks ... 

I've been dreading to see him again. I remember he used to love running in the morning so I made extra sure I didn't run into him on my way to work. 

Thank God today is Saturday and I can stay at home. I'll just have to buy Rory a present, but I'm going to do that later when I'll be completely sure I won't run into anyone I don't want to see. 

I've been moping around since Thursday, cursing the fate for hating me this much. But it's also my own fault for loving the wrong man. Damien Knox doesn't deserve anything from me, yet my heart wants to leap out of my chest right into his arms everytime I see him, screaming I'm yours, take me! 

But tonight's Rory's birthday and I'll be damned if anything destroys it. I know my brother will make sure everything goes perfect and smooth. 

We're all instructed to come to the restaurant a little earlier, so the surprise will be real. The room is beautifully decorated, really colourful with a big table in the middle and happy birthday Rory hanging on the wall in the back with balloons around us. It's nice, it's really warm and simple and I know Rory will prefer this much more than anything luxurious. 

I greet Rory's parents, Lily and her boyfriend Jared when I arrive. Aaron is not here yet, but he comes on time, coming right to my side. 

He pretends to lovingly kiss my cheek, but he whispers, "Where's your boyfriend tonight?"

I give him a look. "I don't have one," I shoot back, bitterly. I still can't believe Aaron is such a backstabbing bitch. 

Aaron's mouth quirks up at one side and he turns his head to greet everyone. I terribly need a glass of something alcoholic. This night is going to be disastrous otherwise. 

When the doors to the room open and Rory comes in, we all yell, "Surprise!" in unison, big smiles on our faces as we watch the birthday girl's surprise and happiness. She wasn't expecting this. 

"Oh my God!" she shrieks and runs to greet us all, smiling from ear to ear.

Rory is radiating happiness the whole evening. Braden and she are acting like lovesick puppies, always touching or kissing. It's really lovely to see, but it's hard to watch for me at the moment. I'm in some shitty situation with a man, or rather men. 

Aaron and I don't talk much the whole evening. He's sitting there by my side, but that's all. He doesn't touch me - I don't even want him to.

"Lily!" Rory squeals at some point, making everyone shut up and turn our heads. "What is that?"

Lily's cheeks redden as she looks down at her lap. Jared, her boyfriend, drops his arm around her shoulders with a smug smile on his face. "We're sorta ... kinda ... engaged," Lily says.

My eyes widen a bit. Jared's smile slips as his eyebrows draw together. "Uh, babe. Sorta? Kinda?" He shakes his head at her. "We are engaged. Period."

I stare in shock, happy for the both of them. Rory's hand falls on her chest, her mouth falling open. "Oh my God!" she shrieks excitedly. "Congratulations! Oh my God! I'm so happy for you two."

I congratulate them both, meaning it from the bottom of my heart. It's so nice to see them so in love. I also notice Braden giving Rory a deep stare, watching her reaction to the news the whole time. He's thinking about something and I already have a suspicion of what.

I down the whole glass of the awfully sweet champagne and fill it again.

     ◊    

Aaron stands up to leave a bit later. I crane my neck back, trying to get a better look of him. "Where are you going?" I ask him quietly, not wanting any attention on us. 

Aaron puts his hands into his pockets, grinning down at me. "Since we're both out in the open now, I have a date. I can come by later if you want." His eyes rake up and down my body.

The bile rises in my throat. I want to throw up. "I'm not the one who's been cheating this whole time and keeping quiet about it. I don't want any hard feelings between us." 

"I found you with another man on Thursday. That the one you can't stop thinking about?" he asks cynically. "Maybe you haven't been cheating physically, Brooke, but you've done it emotionally. Don't lie to yourself."

"Careful, you sound jealous," I bite out. "Stop being a hypocrite. You've been doing it behind my back this whole time, don't turn this on me. It's not my fault, Aaron. This wouldn't work between us anyway. I want more." 

He leans down. "Then go get it with Knox if he can give you that." Aaron snorts sarcastically. "I'm done here."

I watch his back as he leaves, his words replaying in my mind. The harshness he said them with ...  I really don't get what's up with him. He was the one going with others behind my back and now he wants to act offended? He said it himself that we're not in a relationship, he kept repeating it, and now he's just being an asshole for no goddamn reason. 

Rory senses something's wrong and she asks me about it. I don't want to pile all my problems on her on her birthday, so I don't want to tell her anything at first, trying to brush her off that it's nothing serious and that I don't want to put her in a bad mood, but Rory insists and I end up telling her everything that happened. 

Rory was very sympathetic and she felt bad for me, but I forbid her from thinking about it and ruining her night. I'm not really sad that things with Aaron ended, I'm just sad about how they ended. I didn't tell Rory that, though, I kept it to myself.

And then there's also Damien who makes me confused and wrecks my emotions, placing them everywhere. 

I tiredly rub my eyebrows. Maybe I shouldn't have so much to drink. I can already feel the start of a headache. Just what I've wanted. 

When this night slowly comes to an end, I call myself a taxi. I can't drive home. Braden offered to go with him and Rory but I really don't want to witness any of their makeout sessions. 

I arrive at home, tired and grumpy. I'm not as drunk as I want to be and I'm sobering up already. Which sucks. Being drunk is all fun and games until you stop drinking at one point and start sobering up. And things aren't as fun as they were before.

I try to quietly walk the stairs. I'm tired and I can't wait to hit the bed. These damn stairs are preventing me from doing that sooner.

I open the door and turn on the lights. Then I notice I'm standing on a small piece of paper. I frown and pick it up. It must've been up on the door. I sigh when I read the messy handwriting, that's actually really nice for a male - most of the guys I've known in my life had such a terrible handwriting I could barely read anything they wrote.

I was looking for you and either you weren't at home or you decided to ignore me. I'm giving you my number. Use it. 

Damien

I groan, not in the mood for this right now. I crumble the piece of paper in my hand without saving his number into my phone. I'm not playing these games anymore. I think I might just stay single since men only want to play games these days.

It's like I have Use me! Play me! Make me stupid! written on my forehead. 

I throw the note away and go to the bathroom. I brush my teeth two times because I hate waking up with that terrible taste in my mouth after drinking. 

Then I just crawl into my bed, roll myself in my sheets and cry myself to sleep. 

     ◊     

Another week goes by; too slow for my taste. I want to say that things went back to normal, but they just didn't. It's awful. Every day gets worse.

Aaron and I ended it for good. He came for some of his stuff he left here in my flat and he dropped mine that I left at his. That was that. I wanted to talk to him, I wanted to at least have a civil conversation because I didn't want to end it on a bad note.

He was pissed at me for some reason. I don't even know why he gets to be pissed at me. I was being the faithful one in this relationship. 

Anyway, there's no more Aaron from now on. To think about it, our relationship wasn't functioning anyway. The sex was great, but our communication was almost nonexisting. Besides, he went to see his mother so many times in our relationship and never once invited me to come with him to meet her. That was something that was bothering me, too, but I stayed quiet. 

I know what he'd say. That we aren't in a relationship. 

Maybe it's destined for me to be lonely and end up being that single aunt. At least Braden's kids will love me because I'll spoil the heck out of them - as if they're going to need the spoiling.

Damien has been here, too. Well, he stayed out of the door. I started locking myself in, so Damien was forced to knock. I never opened. I always knew when it was him behind that door because my insides would start to twist and my heart race would speed up.

I also ran into him one morning. I was on my way to work and he was just running back from his morning run. He sped up when he saw me and I was forced to run to my car. That man will even make me do physical activity! 

Rory's been here a few times, too, but I wasn't up for hanging out. I was a mess. 

On the Thanksgiving, I'm invited to Braden's for lunch. He's having Rory's parents and her best friend Lily with her boyfriend Jared over. I'll be the only single one there. I really look forward to that! 

I bring a bottle of wine to Braden in hopes he'll let me drink it by myself. I get there early to help Rory out in the kitchen and Lily joins us later, too. 

"So, how does being engaged feel like, Lils?" Rory ask her, hitting her hip to hers, making her stumble.

She jokingly glares at Rory. "Oh, it's really good. You should try it." Lily winks at Rory.

Rory freezes, her hands pausing in mid-air. Lily's smile freezes on her face and she gives me a look of panic.

"What? You don't want to marry him?" she asks with pure disbelief.

Rory rolls her eyes at her after the shock goes away. "Of course I do, silly. I think it's him that doesn't want to ... marry me," she tells Lily, shrugging. "We didn't really talk about marriage."

"Yet, I hope? You didn't talk about marriage yet? But ... I mean, you're expecting a child with him and you two are obviously crazy about each other. What's stopping you?"

Rory shakes her head at Lily. "It's ... complicated, Lily. I actually doubt he'd ever want to propose to me." 

I cross my arms over my chest. "Why the fuck not?" I ask, displeased about what I'm hearing, but curious as to why she thinks that. 

Rory purses her lips and takes some time to answer. "I don't think that's a question I'm entitled to answer, Brooke. I mean, it's cool if he doesn't want to marry me ..." she tries really hard to hide her true feelings at how I feel about it, trying to look nonchalant, but she completely fails.

Rory is the first one to look away. She looks directly at the doorframe and as I follow her gaze, I see Braden standing there, giving her a serious, meaningful look. I have to look away because I feel weird, as if I'm intruding on something very personal.

"Your parents just came. I thought you might come out and say hello to them," Braden quietly informs Rory.

"Yes. Sure. Thank you," she says politely, making me cringe. The air just became too awkward to even breathe. "Keep an eye on the dishes for me, yeah?" Rory mumbles as she walks towards the doorway. 

"Whoa. That was kind of intense," Lily says, fanning herself with her hands.

I secretively smile to myself, being happy for the first time after a long time. "I can already sense he's going to propose soon." 

Lily stops with the fanning. "Seriously? Did he mention anything?" she asks with excitement.

"No, but I can read him like a book. They're both mad for each other and Braden wants to make her his. I can see it every time he looks at her." 

Lily smiles. "Well, I'll be damned! Their wedding is going to be spectacular, I just can't wait to see that." 

I laugh at her. 

Rory comes back minutes later and not long after that, the food is ready and we all sit down at the table. 

Braden is still tense, especially when the conversation starts being about the date of Lily and Jared's wedding. I have to hide my smile. He's clearly panicking and having cold feet about asking Rory. I'm glad to see he found someone who scares the hell out of him. 

Braden receives a call and he stands up from the table, answering it. It seems to cause even more tension at the table and Rory is looking madly worried now. 

But when he returns back, he instantly seems to be in a better mood for whatever reason. And men dare to say that us women have troubles with mood swings.

The elevator pings then and I'm ready to throw the plate to whoever tries to interrupt our lunch one more time. 

And the person that comes in is very convenient and perfect to do so. I gasp when my eyes land on the snake who dared to come here. I stand up, walking to the elevators, meeting her midway. "What the hell are you doing here?" I hiss, my hands balling into tight fists.

Victoria continues walking forward, completely ignoring me, carrying a child. "Hello, everyone. Braden, baby. You're having a family gathering and you didn't think to invite me and your son?"

Her statement is followed by the silence of everyone in the room.