CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO TABATHA

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

TABATHA

The glow from the neon lights and the alcohol is making me feel pretty fucking good at the moment. But I know that I'll feel like shit tomorrow. I'm only trying to drown out the memory of Dash. I remember the first morning I woke up in bed with him and how I wished I could just remember. Now, I'm just hoping to forget.

I left him! But that was the only option I had left. We had a secret relationship that was bound to fail.

"Another," Jackie yells over the music as she hands me a shot.

I smile over at her before I down it as she ordered. I couldn't ask for a better friend than her. She hasn't even spoke to Blake, or so she says. All I know is that she offered to go to Dash's party and keep an eye on him. I told her that it didn't matter anymore. I needed her here with me more than anything else. Thankfully, she understood that.

I turn around and let my eyes adjust to the flashing lights that cover the dance floor. My body vibrates from the music that shakes the floor underneath my heels.

I hate how unfair life is. I hate that the saying ‘money can't buy you happiness' is true. Because I would pay every dime I have to put Dash and me in a bubble where we could live happily ever after. Where no one else can touch what we have.

"Wanna dance?" Jackie asks, placing her hand on my shoulder.

I turn back around to face her. "Not really," I shout over the music.

She throws her bottom lip out in an attempt to pout. "Come on. Let's have some fun. You called me for fun."

"I know." Jackie doesn't agree with what I did. But she's still trying to support my decision.

"Hey, remember that one time when we were eighteen and we bought fake IDs? We snuck into a club. They ended up being over occupancy and the fire department showed up?" She laughs as she recalls our first time at the club. "We accidently gave them our real IDs and they called our parents?"

I laugh along with her. We were grounded from seeing each other for two weeks. But we both got dates out of it. "Those firefighters were hot," I add.

She fans herself. "You're telling me. I lost my virginity to the hunk."

I laugh softly and then the smile drops off my face. "I'm just trying to tell you that we thought that was the end of the world. I don't think we have ever spent that much time texting and talking on the phone. Those two weeks were horrible. But we got through them."

I nod my head in understanding at what she is trying to say. "He loves you," she says leaning over to talk softer into my ear. "He wouldn't do anything to mess that up."

Even though I told him good-bye, I can't help but pray that she's right. Because no matter what has happened, I still love him. And if it came down to it, I would do anything for him.

"So…" she continues, ordering another drink, "tonight we are gonna have one hell of a girls' night and live it up."