Words & Whiskey

EDITED VERSION: Chapter Six

"Please, Audrey?" Darian pleaded, giving me a puppy dog pout. His vibrant blue eyes seemed to seep into mine and I felt myself slowly caving in to his wishes.

Samara was looking between the two of us, arching a brow. The three of us were sitting at the kitchen table, writing our papers for our classes. Samara and I worked on our short stories that we had started the week before and Darian worked on a script. However, the whole time we have been doing so, Darian has been trying to convince me to go to a party his ex-boyfriend, Justin is throwing to celebrate the beginning of the school year.

I looked at Samara, hoping she would help me with an excuse, she held her hands up in surrender. "Don't turn to me, sweetie, 'cause I'm going to the party."

I narrowed my eyes. "You suck."

"And swallow," she winked, continuing on with her work.

"Gross," I groaned, holding back an eye roll. I knew Samara was going, apparently, her and Justin shared multiple classes together as they both are majoring in Journalism. I shifted in my seat, my eyes darting between Darian and Samara. "Why are you even going to a party your ex is throwing anyways?"

"Well, we are working it out," Darian said quietly, his attention now fixed on the kitchen table, looking slightly upset. "I also wanted him to meet you."

I softened, feeling guilty that I was so resistant to attending, "Alright, I'll go."

Darian gave Samara a high five, his look of distress completely gone. "Told you the guilt-trip would work."

"You guys suck," I mumbled as I continued to write my story, which was turning out to be a little bit darker than I intended. Why does heartbreak bring out the most disturbing stories in writers?

"And swallow," Darian winked, just like Samara said only moments before.

After a few minutes, we lapsed into a comfortable silence. The sun was starting to set and the smell of the crisp cold air lingered in the apartment, due to the balcony door being left slightly ajar. Samara left for the bathroom, reapplying her makeup and changing into some of my clothes for the party. Meanwhile, Darian left to take an abnormally long time in the shower, leaving me alone in the living room, watching Netflix.

As I hear voices echo from the television, my phone rings. I pause my show and scrunch my eyebrows in confusion as I answer the call. "Hey Alex, what's wrong?"

"Why does there have to be anything wrong for me to call my little sister?" Alex's voice snapped over the phone.

I rolled my eyes, leaning back on the couch. "Well, ever since mom and dad died you went completely off the map."

"Correction," my sister said quickly. "I've been all over the map. I am currently sitting in a nice Starbucks in New York."

"Lovely," I responded dryly. Alex never called unless she wanted something, when I spent my gap year back in Alberta trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, she up and left to Lord only knows where calling me once because needed me to mail a hoodie she forgot back home.

"Lighten up, Audrey," Alex groaned, I heard her take a sip of whatever she was drinking. "Not everyone can handle sitting in a classroom every day learning about boring things."

I played the show, turning down the volume and turned on the subtitles so I could continue watching. "Well, you're technically a teacher. Don't you still teach yoga?"

"Ugh, sis," I could hear my sister's eye roll. "Yoga is not your traditional classroom setting and it is certainly not boring."

"To me it is," I sighed, remembering when my sister tried to teach me yoga and I fell asleep during child's pose.