Selena's POV;

Today was Cyrus's birthday. I was wearing my light soft brown shirt which was kind of oversized but not that much with faded blue jeans. Cyrus offers me to pick me up but I refuse. Because I had to buy his gift on the way. I was planning on giving him a book to read since he told me he loves reading and has read a lot of books but he hasn't done that for a long time and misses it. I hope it'll make him happy.

I get to my apartment and see Riley all dressed up. I look myself in the mirror and I think I look okay. I'm wearing sneakers and my hair is in a high pony tail. I don't have any makeup on at all. Oh who am I kidding? I will look like a weirdo among the rest of them. But I don't care. I'm just gonna go, give him the gift and come back. I'm sure he's gonna be with his group of friends and would barely notice me.

"Let's go." I said to Riley

"Uh uh...you are not going looking like this.." She said while eyeing me up and down

"What's wrong with me?" I inquired

"Dear, you really can't go like this. It's a party! Cyrus will be waiting for you. You don't want him to see you like this." She said rummaging through the closet trying to find something to wear for me

"But he has seen me like this everyday." I replied

"That's different. You have to dress up properly. You don't want him to be disappointed and lose interest in you, now do you?" She said. She brought out this royal blue dress that was just above my knees. It was an off shoulder dress, a bit tight at the hips, which although I found uncomfortable, it wasn't too uncomfortable.

After wearing that dress, I felt weird. I had never ever worn a dress like this ever before.

"Isn't it showing too much?"

I asked nervously

"Huh? You haven't seen the other dresses yet if you think this is showing too much. It's only a shoulder and a bit of legs." She replied. She hands me these medium-sized elegant earrings to wear along with black heels.
I had never ever worn heels before. I prefer sneakers over heels. But Riley said sneakers wouldn't look too good with this dress. And she made me wear heels. I couldn't balance at first but she made me walk around so I could finally manage it. And then she did my makeup. Which I finally managed to make her to keep it light as possible.

When I was all ready, I stood in-front of the mirror and I couldn't even recognise myself. I looked like a whole new person. And I kind of liked it. I don't know if that's good or bad.

"Girl! You look so pretty! Cyrus isn't gonna know what hit him." Riley said as we both walked out of our apartment

"I don't think he'll notice that much..." I spoke in a low voice

"You think wrong. You put so much effort to dress up just for him. He's bound to notice." She said. I blushed at her remark. I wanted to say I didn't dress up for him but that would be a lie. What she said is the truth.

After buying his present, we went to the club. Before going inside, I stood outside and took a deep breath. As I went inside, the first thing I noticed was that there were a lot of people. And by a lot, I mean a lot! Wow. Cyrus really does have a lot of friends.

"Woah...this party is amazing!" Riley said in amazement

"It sure is.." I replied. I was looking around to find Cyrus. Where is he?

"Oh hey! You guys made it!"

Nash said with excitement. He was holding a drink in his hand.

"Oof...how much did you drink?" Riley inquired because Nash reeked of alcohol

"Who knows. Come on. The volleyball and basketball club are competing over there." He said

"Oh..." Riley said. She looked back at me. She worried about leaving me alone.

"I'll be fine. Nash, where is Cyrus?" I asked him

"Oh he's at the back." He replied, "Come on, come see your team lose, loser." He looked at Riley and smirked

"As if. I'll have you know that we are in fact the winners." Riley said. She followed after him. While I started walking towards the back.

I was looking right and left for him...where is he? Nash said he was at the back....but I don't see him...I wonder what he'll say when he sees me dressed like this....I hope he likes it....oh there he is!

I saw him standing at one corner. I was about to go over when I saw a girl standing so close to him. She had her arms over his neck and then they both kissed.

I was shocked. My smile faded and I quickly looked away. What the hell....I felt a pang in my chest. Why did it hurt so much?

I started walking out the club.

What was I even expecting in the first place? Getting all dressed up for no reason? I should've known he must have a girlfriend. Or that his reputation is true. He does play around with girls. But I did not have to see that. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't even notice if I came or not. He has only known me a for a few days. And that's about it. I was so stupid.

My eyes were welling up. I felt like I couldn't breath. I quickly went back to my apartment. I changed my clothes and washed my face. I don't drink that often but we had wine in the fridge. And I was suddenly in the mood to drink since my mood now all off. So I drank and drank. Till I don't know when but till Riley came back.

"Mary! You left the party so suddenly! What happened? Was it because of that again?" She asked with worry

"...No..." I replied as I sniffed

"Oh...Mary...tell me what happened?" She asked softly. She sits besides me and takes off her heels. And puts her arm around me.

"...I don't know...I am so stupid..." I sobbed and told her everything

"Oh I'm sorry you had to see that. It must hurt so much seeing the one you love with someone else..." she consoled

"...." I didn't reply anything

"You know how he is. He is like this. He's even worse than Nash...no wait, no one is worse than Nash.." she said, I slightly chuckled softly

"Don't worry...if it bothers you this much, just tell him how you feel..." she said

"I wouldn't do that....he would find me to be....clingy and jealous and weird. I don't want that to happen." I said

"Trust me. He won't think anything of that sort." She replied

"But I still wouldn't do it...and you know why...I don't think I am still not over that yet...I am trying my best. I can stand at a comfortable distance from Cyrus and Noah. And when I bumped into Leo...I wasn't that shaken up about it much...but it's still hard...whenever someone is near me or even one accidentally bumps into me...I get flashbacks..." I spoke...in a shaken voice...my voice was cracking

"Oh Mary! Don't worry! You'll be able to move on. Look how strong you are. You are still standing! You are fighting against it and helping many others along with it. And the sign of that is how you've fallen in love with Cyrus. It shows you how far you've come. A while ago, you were a lot worse than now. A lot shaken up. But you are fine now!" She tried to cheer me up and it did help me feel a bit better

"Sometimes I wish I wasn't too sensitive. Because if that were the case then I wouldn't be traumatised by such a small matter." I mumbled

"It isn't a small matter! It's a huge one! Do you have any idea?" She said with her voice raised

"But...it's not like he did anything..." I said. Okay now I sound stupid...I shouldn't have said that. Why the hell was I defending him?

"Don't you dare defend that guy! Don't you dare think like that. You know what he did was horrible! And it's a good thing he didn't manage to do anything but still he did try to do something! That guy should just die! He should just go ahead and drown himself! Bastards like those don't deserve to live!" Riley went on and on telling ways on how that guy could die. I laughed softly at this.

"Thank you so much, Riley. I love you! You're the best and you always know how to cheer me up." I hugged her and said

"Aww....same here...now are you all better now?" She asked once again

"I'm good." I said giving a slight smile, "sorry I ruined your party and plans to have fun.." I added

"Are you kidding? That party was lame. Those basketball guys won and they wouldn't stop bragging about their win. Especially Nash. He was being so annoying. I swear if I stayed there one more moment, he would've died by my hands." She said with anger. I laughed.

"You certainly have gotten closer to Nash a lot." I said

"Huh! No way! That idiot will remain an idiot." She denied

"But you are going shopping with him tomorrow?" I teased

"...well yeah...but that's just to help me find clothes on what to wear on Sunday. He knows Leo's preference." She replied

"Oh speaking of which, I bumped into Leo!" She squealed with excitement

"What happened?" I asked

"Well Nash and I were fighting...and after that I noticed that you were not with Cyrus and he was standing all alone. I went to look around for you when I bumped into him and he accidentally spilled his drink on my dress. See." She showed me the leftover stain, "and he was so polite and apologetic and then he gave me his handkerchief which he by the way remind you brought out of his own pocket!"

"Oh wow.." I said

"I have his handkerchief!" She beamed. I laughed.

"This gives you a reason to talk to him then. Give it back to him." I said

"Nah....I can't do that. I'll just hand it to Nash tomorrow to give it to Leo. Speaking of which, if Nash would've spilled his drink over me I doubt he would have even apologised. See how much difference they both have. And the other day he was defending himself by saying he's like Leo too." She chuckled. What I realised was that, Riley has this habit. Which I don't think she has noticed yet. But she talks about Nash a lot. Like all the time. Even more so than Leo. And when she does talk about Leo, she is always comparing him with Nash. Why is it that though? I mean she also has a male friend who is Dean by the way. He is also kind of my friend. I only know him because of Riley. So the reason she compares Nash with Leo couldn't be because he's the only male friend she has. Does she in truth like Nash? But she doesn't mind it when Nash hangs out with all those different girls. Although she is irritated more than usual at him during that time.

"Hey do you perhaps like Nash?" I asked after all that careful thinking and speculation, I concluded that my friend in fact did like Nash.

"...No way! That guy can't be compared to Leo at all! And you know my one and only true idol is Leo." She replied instantly. Maybe I was wrong?

"But you know...sometimes there is a difference between an idol and a lover." I said. I looked to see her reaction. And she was in thoughts but then she shrugged and said, "No. I don't like Nash. I don't."

"Okay...if you say so." I replied

We stayed awake all night talking and drinking wine. I woke up pretty late the next morning and noticed that my first class time was over. Oh shit! I am so late!

I turn to look at Riley who's fast asleep. Last night we both ended up sleeping on the sofas.

"Wake up, Riley! We are late!" I shouted as I quickly went to get ready

"Oh..huh..what.." she said. She was still sleepy and was in the process of waking up.

"Oh shit! The time! Mary! We are so late!" She shouted and went into her room to get ready

I on the other hand was deciding on what to wear. Honestly after last night, I feel like I should change something about my style. Not for others, but just for myself. Because myself deserves to be dressed up. I chuckled at this thought. I wore a black crop top with black ripped jeans. And on top a maroon cardigan. I did a bit of light makeup. And then we both ran to our respective departments.

I saw Cyrus a bunch of times and wanted to talk to him...but the image of last night would appear in my mind. I know it wasn't such a big deal but you could say it was kind of like a shock to me...and I was hurt about it.

He came to the activity room later and asked why I didn't come. He said he was waiting for me. Now...I know I should've apologised and told him the truth but for some reason I had a hard time believing that he was waiting for me. If he was truly waiting for me, he would've called me. Not make out with that girl instead. So I said whatever came into my mind. I could tell he was hurt by the fact that I just said we were not friends even though I didn't mean that. But that's when he said all those things to me and I got even more angry. My feelings were mixed up. And then he left.

Riley called me after that, so I went out to see her. She asked me what happened and I told her everything. I told her that I didn't want to say all that and now he's mad at me. She told me to have a talk with him properly and that he would surely understand. I said that I doubt he would even talk to me now. She told me not to give up.

"What's your work for today?" She asked

"It's not that much. I'll handle it by myself. I don't need his help." I lied. I didn't want to make her worry. She was going to go shopping with Nash and I didn't want to ruin her plans. I already ruined her party last night. And I was sure that if I told her that I had to go around the campus putting these posters up, she'd cancel her plan and come with me. And even forcefully make Nash help us. But I don't want to bother them.

"Okay...if you say so. I'm leaving now. See you later." She said

I sigh as I look at the cartons of posters. How do I carry them?

"Need help?"

I heard someone say. I turn to look at Dean.

"Dean! You're back. How's your foot?" I asked

"It's better. Still kind of broken though. I need to use this stick to walk." He said as he showed me his stick

"Oh...then don't walk much.." I said

"I know. I just came here to get some papers from the professors." He replied. He looked at all the cartons.

"Looks like everything is ready and all it needs now is to be put up all over the campus." He said

"Yeah." I replied thinking how will I get these cartons to move around me.

"Sorry I left this project. I'm so sorry." He apologised, "If there is anything you need help with, just tell me."

"Ah its fine." I replied, "Actually...can you borrow a bicycle from someone or do you have one with you or something?" I requested

"Yeah. My roommate has one. He is the one who brought me here today otherwise I couldn't have walked all the way here. I can give it you. We don't need it for another two hours anyway. His club activities end at 10." He said

"Thank you! I really appreciate it!" I said. Yes, with it will be a lot more easier. I think.

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