What could have been.

- Chapter 9 -

"Are you being chased by Mrs Landon or something?" Jocelyn asks.

Nervous that I just gatecrashed whatever it is they're doing, I give an almost silent "hi" in response. Sat in the living area of the apartment is Jocelyn, Liam, Clementine and Jeffery. I had no idea that Jocelyn was having them over, I feel bad for disrupting.

"Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt. I just need to grab a few things from the kitchen and I'll be in my room."

"Don't be silly, come and sit with us. We've just ordered a pizza." Jocelyn insists. She knows my weakness when it comes to being unable to refuse a slice of pizza but I don't want to intrude on their night.

"Oh no, honestly, it's fine." I insist.

"Come on Sienna, join us. If you split your fries with us, we'll share the pizza with you." Liam adds.

I look down at the large portion of fries I was planning to greedily devour on my own. "Ok. Deal." No harm in sharing I suppose.

Jocelyn walks over to where I'm standing, linking arms with me, to guide me into the kitchen. I empty my fries and chicken strips onto a baking tray whilst Jocelyn turns on the oven. We have a quick catch up about our day before rejoining everyone else in the living area.

All the sofa space has been taken up, Jocelyn scoots over closer to Liam to make more room for me next to her but I opt to sit on the floor.

I sit cross-legged in front of the coffee table, with my hands tucked up the sleeves of my oversized, grey knitted jumper. I'm unsure why I still become apprehensive at things like this, surrounded by people and alcohol. Typically, you would have thought I would feel overwhelmed in larger settings such as parties, but that isn't the case for me. At parties I can distract myself by dancing, it calms any nerves that I might have whereas, unlike many nineteen-year-olds I already have a distaste towards smaller groups as I can't hide away from any drunken mishaps that might occur.

Sometimes the most hectic of situations are easier to manage or stay present in as you can always disappear into the background when necessary.

Nonetheless, what's making me feel slightly relieved is that Cole isn't here. I don't think I would have agreed to stay if he was.

"Here." Jocelyn says as she throws a pillow at my face, luckily missing me completely. "To sit on." she giggles. I grab the pillow that landed next to me whilst laughing off her failed attempt of hitting me with it.

"We're going to play a few drinking games, you in?" Liam asks but I'm momentarily distracted by the sound of the toilet flushing.

"Sienna?" Jocelyn nudges me with her foot.

"Yes, sorry. I'm in. What game are you playing?"

"It's called Pyramid" Clementine chimes in. "My girlfriend told me about it."

Clementine explains the rules of the drinking game while she shuffles the deck of cards then places them into a pyramid with each card facing down. The fifth and bottom row has five cards, the fourth row above has four cards, the third row has three and so on until the top of the pyramid is one card. The rest of the deck is distributed to everyone in the group.

"We each have to take turns turning over a card starting with the final row and if we have the same number card, we put it down and tell someone to drink. Who you choose to drink has to take a sip of their drink of beer." Clementine pauses in wait for my response, as I give a understanding nod she passes a pile of cards to Liam.

"Here Cole." Liam says, reaching out his arm behind him.

Cole? What the-

I can feel my heart beat speed up as Clementine words become blurred out and the only sound I can hear is the sound of footsteps nearing the living area.