Somebody Else ✔

Requiem of an Ex.

Izzy.

Part two.

Edited.

I couldn't make out his face, or faces the of his friends. In the dim the light, it was like looking through an opaque window.

I knew the voice well enough though. And I could smell them, distinctively. Whiskey, expensive cologne and weed, which lingered under my nose, forcing me to turn my head away from them.

I pulled back and crossed my feet. "Hey Cole," I muttered.

One of them pulled out their phone and put on their torch to navigate through the darkness, and I startled at the sight of Cole's fierce green eyes staring at me.

"Hey," he said slowly, running his hands through his tied back, black hair, before motioning to the two guys flanking him. "You know Alex Jaxon and the blondie over there, Jacey Drake?"

Jacey Drake shot Cole a harsh glance through narrowed eyes. He flicked his turquoise eyes between the ground and myself. His cheekbones cut down from his ears to his lips, pursing a Marlboro Light in the crease between his top and bottom lip. I glanced over my shoulder to look for Sam.

Alex jumped in, smiling. "We already saw - shit, what's her name? - Sam! Sam, we already spoke to her and asked if we could stay for a bit, and she said it was fine. Then she - hey! Cole! You can't run off yet!" Alex grabbed Cole's collar to keep him by his side.

Cole was close friends with my ex and Eastwood was a small town so people gossiped. And they gossiped about those boys.

I heard a murmur of French come from Jace, like the thin stream of smoke he forced from his mouth. I ran my tongue over the tops of my teeth as he continued to ramble in a mess of incomprehensible dialogue. I felt my cheek twitch and I scratched my nails into the pads of my fingertips.

"You right there?"

"I'm from Quebec, honey, it's a cultural thing." A long slow drawl broke through the night, soft on the r's. I rose an eyebrow at his golden skin and bleach blonde hair. Catching a hold of my disbelief, he said something else to Alex, who merely rolled his eyes at his friend. I could feel Cole staring at me, but I refused to face him -- I was kinda a pussy when it came to anything related to my ex -- so I ran.

I was trying to find Corey or Sam, to tell them that Cole had gate crashed, but that was soon put on hold.

Having fled from the boys, Kristen - Kristine - Krystal - whatever- found me, and I helped her dodge the unwanted attention of a boy I don't remember being on the guest list. The usual suspects - Georgie and Bodhi - cried most of the night again. Every party.

I drank Jack Daniels someone handed me from behind the kitchen counter - the bar for the night - and I drank it straight as I helplessly sat on the floor of the hallway, stroking Bodhi's hair. At least it was better than where I last saw Corey, outside in the freezing cold trying to coax a hysterical Georgie out of the dirt. Literally, every party. I swear.

I rested my head against the ivory wall as Bodhi let out another wail. My gut churned as I watched the tears drip off her chin that I could only wipe away. She was yelling in her strong South African accent, to keep him away from her. I kept my hand on her chin to keep her head to the side as she slipped down to the floor, her body trembling under the weight of her sobs.

Vinnie came then, a boy she was hopelessly in love with, and picked her up in his arms. He smiled at me, before taking her into one of the already full rooms. As I picked myself back up from the floor, I checked my phone. Barely midnight.