Perfect Harmony

𝐝𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐤 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬

After what felt like a never-ending rollercoaster of emotions, Isabel had been smiling on Sunday when she was leaving back home. Instead of cursing Dorian again, she had been too busy apologizing for being a burden and ruining Noah's birthday.

To avoid pity, Noah didn't tell her that he was going to be alone either way so she actually did him a favor. Besides, this year wasn't the first time he was alone on his birthday.

They had spent the whole weekend together, talking, sleeping and yes, also drinking. It seemed to work since Isabel was feeling better. She went through all five stages of grief in two days: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Well, at least he thought that she did.

He knew what to do when Isabel took a bottle of alcohol. Noah had experienced the drunk Isabel for the first time only one week after they first met and she had somehow managed to get him to give her his number and the address.

Very quickly after they first met, they went to one of her friend's parties together. The only reason why he went there was Isabel because partying with drunk strangers sounded horrible. She had left home with him a few hours later but not before getting dozens of phone numbers. He was the boring one of the two of them already back then.

On the next day she had confessed to Noah that she hadn't drunk alcohol before but because she had felt like an outsider in high school, she had been determined to try harder to get friends.

Later they continued meeting new people which meant more parties. Isabel went for the experience while Noah's only reason was her. If he had to say one good thing that came from those, it was his friendship with Isabel that seemed to get stronger after each party.

In the end, their group of friends included mostly only the two of them but that was because they were always together. Unlike Isabel who ended up being quite a social butterfly later, Noah didn't care that he only had one friend.

"You're here! Everyone, this is the bestest man in the whooooole world and he will never hurt me. Come here, Noel, I love youuuu!" Isabel smiled wide when she saw him walking into the bar. Noah, however, wasn't feeling as good when he walked to the bar after his work.

The place was almost empty if you didn't count the bartender and few middle-aged men who looked like they lived in this place. He would have never even known about this bar if he hadn't gotten a call from this particular woman. It hurt him to know what he was about to do because Isabel truly looked very carefree and happy as if she had no worries.

And right now she didn't have any because she had drunk enough to forget everything. God, he should have known better than let her leave on Sunday but he had been a bad best friend and believed her when she had promised that she was okay. She wasn't okay, not even close.

This was the worst he had ever seen her and a lot had happened in ten years. Did she truly love he-who-must-not-be-named this much? A year ago he wouldn't have believed that something like love could affect a person this much but now he knew. Now he had Penny.

"Okay, come here. Look at me, Isabel," he mumbled helplessly and blinked in surprise when she did that. "Hey! How about we go home, sleep and start preparing for tomorrow with a glass of water? How does that sound?"

The poor woman didn't seem to hear anything he was saying because she started to laugh like a crazy person. Then the worst happened and she turned to look around the room and spoke to men who were whispering in the background. Noah saw immediately when he walked in that they couldn't take their eyes off her.

"Does anyone want to take me home tonight?" she suddenly said, almost screaming while looking around the room as if she could see something. The question got everyone's attention in the bar because they were all horny men who most likely wouldn't mind taking advantage of a drunk woman.