The Party

"Come on, all of your clothes in here are made for work. Where are your sexy clothes?" Julia scowls, romanticising the word sexy.

"What do you mean these are all sexy!" I hiss, offended that the clothes I deemed sexy were classified professional.

"Seriously you call this sexy?" Charlotte frowns with disgust holding up a black dress that had the style of a t-shirt on the torso and had a pencil skirt that reached the knee.

"it's tight," I point out, reaching for an excuse to call it 'sexy'.

Two pairs of eyes circle to mine, one pair held an ice blue with little ringlets of gold and sapphire, Julia's, whilst the other was grey with tiny bubbles of brown and ringlets of blue, Charlotte's.

I raise my hands to my face, covering my eyes. "Okay I'm shutting up, please find me the sexiest outfit you can within my nun's closet," I say, giggling and giving up.

"Thank you!" They both exclaim in unison.

*

"Hi, can I grab a Moscow Mule," I order, grabbing a seat on a leather, cushioned bar stool. I prop my hands on the marble counter searching around for my two friends.

"Here," A cool voice announces, sliding the copper mug into my hands.

I smile and nod in appreciation, "thanks,"

My eyes slide over the bobbing heads that synchronised with the rhythm of the music. I continued searching until my eyes stopped at the head of a man, his light brown hair glowed in the light and his presence screamed for command.

I shut my eyes, "No way," I breathe

I turn around and circle the contents of my drink in the mug, taking a long and much-needed sip. The cool contents slide down my throat, pleasuring every sensor in my throat. "Mm," I moan.

"Excuse me, can I have another, this is great!" I say, humming to the beat of the music.

The bartender nods, his brown hair swishing to his movement, I smile.

By the time I knew it I had ordered so many Moscow Mules that I had officially become drunk. My body yearned to dance to the rhythm that boomed in the small club, with that I raced to the dance floor and started swaying my hips to the song. The heat from surrounding bodies mingled to mine and I felt my muscles loosen and free themselves, the most I had been in a long, long time.

As soon as I knew it I felt hands moving down to my hips, swaying to the movement of my body, I turn, looking up into the eyes of my dance partner.

"Hello," He says softly, almost as a whisper.

"Hello," I mimic, my eyes glare into his. He smirks.

"Can I buy you a drink?" He questions, inviting me to the bar.

"Sure," I accept, placing my hand in his as he directs me through the crowd to the bar where I sat not only two hours ago.

I plop myself down on the barstool and wave to the bartender, "Hello again," I say drunkenly.

He smiles, "Let me guess, a Moscow Mule?" He teases.

I giggle, "Oh my gosh, how did you know?" before returning my eyes to my 'date'.

"Brandon," He introduces.

"Evelyn," I reply, taking out my hand, prompting for a handshake.

He reaches out, placing his hand in my and giving me a firm shake. "You mean business?" I tease, smirking.

His eyes glitter before he plasters a smirk on his face as well, "How so?" He ponders, taking a sip of his gin and tonic that the bartender placed before him.

I copy him, taking a small sip out of my drink, "All my business co-workers shake their hands like that, very stiff,"

"So, you're calling me a stiff now," He gasps.

I gulp and nod, "I am! Guess you have to prove you're not," I challenge, my eyes sparkling with excitement.

"I think I just may take you up on that challenge," He tempts, his eyes wandering down to my lips, I instinctively lip my own, the heat rushing to my cheeks.

Silence surrounds us, as excitement and sexual tension slowly feel the atmosphere of our little bubble. "You're definitely new around here, I've never seen you here before," He pokes, like a small kid poking at a small ant nest.

I narrow my eyes, "Yes, I came here with my girlfriends, but they've completely disappeared amongst the crowd,"

"So, did mine. All I remember is dancing with them and then they were completely gone, that's when I saw you," He remembered.

"They are probably together somewhere haha," I laugh out.

He chuckles, "I think you may be right if they come back at the same time we know,"

I smile, his chocolate brown hair was curled to the side and his green eyes shone with happiness. "What's your story E?" He inquires.

"There's really not much to it," I cut-short, my eyes seeking my copper mug.

"Everyone has a little story," He states, staring down at me sipping my drink.

I take a pause, "I was born in Genzano di Roma, Italy, and moved to Melbourne when I was six. Took me a little while to get used to the Australian language and culture, but I did, haha. It was difficult making friends in the first couple of years, but, eventually, I met my friend, Julia or Giulia. I passed through high school with a breeze and finished my degree in business management and have been working in a company for a few years now," I say briefly, finally looking into his sweet eyes.

"Italian I see," He chuckles.

"Sì," I reply sarcastically.

He smiles brightly, revealing his pearly white teeth. "What's your story?" I add, pondering the mystery behind this interesting man.

"Uh, well," He gulps down a drink and stares into the sky before fixing his eyes to mine, "I am Serbian, it doesn't make sense with a name such as Brandon, but I am," He chuckles to himself.

"I was born here in Queensland and have been traveling around ever since I could walk, because of my father. He was always traveling because of work and so we had to go with him and never stayed in one place for too long, the longest being 2 years. I finished school with a law degree and have been a lawyer for almost four years now," He finishes.

"Was it difficult moving around a lot?" I question

He nods, "Yes, I could never really make friends, I was always just waiting for the clock to run out, so I almost always stayed in my own little bubble focusing on my work," He informs, taking another sip out of his drink.

"I couldn't imagine th –"

"Ev, what on earth are you doing here?" A deep voice says harshly.

I turn, already regretting me acknowledging that voice, that awful and beautiful voice. "I am talking and drinking," I state flatly.

"Who's this?" Brandon questions, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Alex," I acknowledge, annoyance coating my tone.

"Who the hell is this?!" Alex hisses, his eyes raging with fire.

"Brandon, my friend," I spit, taking a huge gulp out of my drink.

"Can you leave Alex; your presence is not wanted here!" I add I couldn't bear his presence, the sheer look on his face reminded me of what he had done to me, how he had hurt me.

"We so need to talk Ev," He states blankly, his eyes rolling and his arms crossed.

"There's nothing to talk about. Now, if you excuse us we were talking, before you rudely interrupted," I growl, grinding my teeth.

"Evelyn!" A melodic voice calls out, I turn my face to spot Caroline.

All heads turn her way, "What the hell are you doing here Alex?!" Caroline snarls.

"I –"

"He was just leaving," I interrupt.

Caroline glares at him with pure disgust, "Please," She voices.

"Caroline you know me!" Alex fumes.

"Not after that stunt you pulled on Ev I don't," She grumbles, her hands expressing her anger.

"Dude, you're obviously not wanted here, can you just leave?" Brandon booms over us all.

Alex stares at him with such anger that I thought he might kill him, I knew what Alex was capable of, and one of them was definitely a fistfight. "Fine," He growls, turning his leg and walking right out the bar door with a bang.

"Why the heck is he everywhere?" Caroline hisses.

"It's like my karma I swear, for not resolving this with him years ago and calling him," I remember, all the emotions and memories of that night floods in.

Caroline places a consoling hand on my shoulder, "No, it's not yours, it's his, he finally gets to see what an amazing woman he missed out on!" She asserts, making me happier.

"You always know the right things to say, Caroline," I murmur, pulling her into a tight hug, before slipping off my chair.

Before I even move two hands grabbed my waist and pulled me up back onto the stool, "got you," he whispers.

I turn and look back at the man who had nuzzled his way into my heart and my respect. "And thank you for tonight, I really appreciate your defense," I say softly, appreciating his sweet and much-needed actions.

He tips his pretend cap before nodding an understanding acknowledgment, "Don't thank me, it's the simplest thing I could do to help," He admits before rubbing his huge hand over my delicate arm.

"And who is this?" Caroline intercepts, smirking to the gesture Brandon had made to my arm.

I giggle, "This is Brandon, Brandon this is Caroline," I introduce, where Brandon places out his hand, which is rejected by Caroline and instead he is pulled into a small hug.

"Thanks Brandon," She praises melodically.

"Brandon?!" A voice screams out.

I turn to look into the voices direction and my mind is confuddled. "What?" I blurt out.