A Love Like War

f i v e

SONG OF THE CHAPTER:
House of Memories by Panic! At The Disco
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"A bar? For dinner? Alex I told you I don't want to get drunk." I whine as he holds open the door for me to enter.

"Shut up, you don't have to drink anything you don't want to. You're a big boy." Rian grins at me before pushing through the door with a grin.

I nod and make my way inside. The bar is crowded and loud, and the smell of beer wafts to me as soon as I have a foot inside. I'm taken back by the smell. The last time I drank was with her on our last date.

"To the bar." Rian calls with a wide smile on his face. I trail after him, as does the rest of our band, and we make our way over to the crowded bar.

"There isn't enough room!" I call to the back of Rian's head as I take in the seats littered with people, but there's nowhere left for the four of us to sit.

"Yes there is!" Rian calls back. He pushes through a small crowd of people standing by the washrooms and arrives at another corner of the bar, a corner where there's room for all of us to sit facing the bartenders.

I quickly accept the seat in the corner of the room, the one closest to the wall, and look through all the kinds of alcohol on the shelf in front of me.

Alex sits beside me with a grin and picks up a small menu on the counter top. His eyes skim over the words as they quickly flit from option to option. "Wanna split ribs?" He asks after a moment. His brown eyes find mine and I nod. "Okay. Where's the damn waitress?"

"I can help you, if you'd like." A familiar voice offers.

Fuck.

I totally forgot.

"Hey Stells! I missed you, how've you been?" Alex asks quickly with a smile on his face.

"I've been good what about you boys?"

"You know, same old, same old. So I was wondering if we could get two rounds of vodka shots and a rack of ribs?" He asks quickly.

Stella nods before catching sight of me. Her face splits into a grin as she wiggles her fingers in my direction. "Hey Jack." She murmurs quietly.

Fuck.

My.

Life.

"Uh- Um- H-Hi Stells-Stella." I stutter after a moment.

She smiles before moving away and I turn to glare at the rest of the band. "Of all the fucking places to go. You chose here?" I growl lowly.

"We thought you needed closure." Rian pitches in with an unsteady smile.

"Fuck that. I don't need anything! I don't need this," I guesture wildly at the bar, "or anything else. I want some friends who tell me with the hell is going on before watching shit hit the fan, but look where we are?" I spit out before standing up from my seat.

"Where are you going?" Alex asks.

"Anywhere but here." I bite out before storming out of the bar.

Once outside I take a deep breath. I wasn't ready for that. I wasn't ready to see her. She looked beautiful, as always I suppose. Her black hair has grown a couple of inches since I last saw her, it now hands just past her shoulders, and it was curly. The soft tendrils falling in delecate waves. She always wanted curly hair. Her black eyeshadow had been switched out for a more neutral shade of brown, and her winged eyeliner was gone. My Stella was gone.

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"Jacky." She coos from beside me. Her pale skin pressed against mine.

"What?" I mumble as I pull her body closer to me.

"We need to go! Alex said to meet them there at ten." She whispers with a giggle. A beautiful giggle.

"We have plenty of time, it's only eight-thirty." I whisper back.

"I haven't even showered, and I still smell like last night!" She exclaims as she gestures to her bare body.

"And you're still beautiful." I tell her as I place a kiss to her exposed neck.

"Oh my god, so much cheese." She says with a short bark of laughter.

"I can't help it baby. You're like macaroni, you need the cheese." I tell her with a wink as she turns her head to look at me.

"That was awful." She says after a moment. She then moves from my arms and into the room. Her body bends down to pick up my shirt from the night before and slips it over her body. "I'm going to shower. Want to join me?" She asks after a beat of silence.

"Hell yes!" I exclaim as I wiggle my way out from under the covers.

"Wait." She calls, holding out her palm to stop me from moving closer. "No more cheese." She bargains with me.

"Deal." I whisper. "No more cheese."

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I don't know quite how long I'd been walking before I stop at the little bench on the side of the lake. It must've been a while though. I take a deep breath in and slump against the wooden back. Too much for me to handle at once, I muse in my head.

I look around to take in my surroundings. A small pebble path rests under my feet, a large tree in full bloom grows beside me, but what takes me back the most is the girl sitting two feet away at the opposite end of the bench.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hey! How are you guys doing?
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