INTERIM LOVER, ryan howard.

014 ⋮ last night in scranton

ㅤㅤㅤ"Ryan? It's Casey Edison."

"Hey, Casey. What's up, man?"

"Are you at home right now?"

"Yeah, I am." He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "But I'm about to head out."

"Oh, I was hoping you could take this chick home. She's drunk out of her mind and the only person she seems to know is you."

He cursed under his breath. There were many reasons why Kelly shouldn't drink alone.

"I'm just sitting here outside with her."

"Where are you?"

"Poor Richard's."

"Thanks, Casey. I'll be there in a bit."

Even without being glued to his side, Kelly was still embarrassing and annoying him. Drunk out of her mind and going off about him to his friends.

He was upset, to say the least.

As he shrugged on a coat, he wished he could go just one day without seeing Kelly.

—

She danced in the lot as the stranger sat and watched her. It was a night of festivities– a celebration for her new life, and a hurrah for her last night in Scranton.

She might've had a little too much to drink along the way, but where was the fun in staying sober?

His phone snapped shut. "Ryan's coming."

"That's what she said."

She couldn't remember the stranger's name, and even if she could, there was no chance she'd remember it tomorrow. It was very likely that she wouldn't remember the entire night.

"So how do you know Ryan?" the stranger asked.

"I slept with him. Many times."

The stranger was almost taken aback by her frankness. He had not expected to go there.

"Right. So are you from Scranton?"

"I grew up in California," she giggled, though nothing was remotely funny about her childhood.

"How'd a Westsider like you wind up in the middle of Pennsylvania?"

"I was trying to get to New York but I got lost."

He wondered whether she was this funny when she was sober. When he first saw her, he could understand why Ryan had fallen for her. She had an undeniable beauty that demanded the attention of everyone in the room.

But when she spoke to the strangers around her, he realised her assertiveness became apparent, and he wondered how someone like her could be so hung up on Ryan's type.

A car skidded to a halt in the empty lot. The driver hadn't bothered to park properly. He immediately hopped out of the car and stormed towards the stranger and the drunk girl.

"Hey, Casey, I am so sorry about Kelly."

"It's no trouble. But I have no idea how you hooked in someone like her," Casey awed.

They turned to the girl embracing the night. The moonlight accentuated her figure in a graceful silhouette. It was not the curvaceous vision of Kelly he had been expecting.

Ryan gulped hard.

It was Rachel.

He hurried another thanks to Casey, urging him to return to his mates. Then Ryan jogged over to the girl swaying slowly.