21
Angelo
T
he bar was packed, the music thumping, people from corner to corner, everyone was here to celebrate the team’s latest win, the one that took us to the finals which was fun. Well, for all of them, not for me. I played like shit, my head was all over the place, but thankfully it didn’t matter. The other guys all stepped up and made up for my mistakes. I was grateful, but I still didn’t like my own performance. I was still supposed to be on top form, especially when I wanted teams to look at me.
This game would have been filmed by Faye, which meant it’d end up on the YouTube channel and the whole world could see it. Hopefully she hated me enough not to feature me at all.
Urgh, I barely wanted to think about how Faye felt about me, she hadn’t spoken to me ever since we had that stupid row, and I was starting to think that she never would again.
“Hey, there!” Sierra’s voice burst through the crowd and she grabbed onto my arm. “How’s it going, bestie?” I chuckled at her dumb nickname for me. Now that we’d decided to only be friends, she kept playing on it all the time. Not that I minded. It was kinda sweet really. “How was the game?”
“You mean you weren’t there?” I asked in mock horror. “You didn’t come to see me?”
“Nah, I can’t ever be bothered to watch football because I don’t get it,” she giggled. “I don’t understand the rules. And before you explain, I really don’t want to learn. I would rather not know.”
I didn’t care, I didn’t want to talk about football either and actually it felt good to have someone in the room that didn’t know how much of a loser I was. Sierra hadn’t seen me fail so she wasn’t going to judge me like I was certain every single other person in the room was. Thank God.
“Well if you aren’t interested in the game, then why are you out? You do realize that everyone is obsessed with it tonight? It’s all anyone will want to talk about. It’ll be boring for you.”
“I came to see my new bestie,” she teased. “And also, I heard that Iain might be here tonight and I have a total crush on him.” She scanned her eyes everywhere. “Have you seen him anywhere?”
“Who the hell is Iain?” I hadn’t heard that name at all. “Is he something to do with the team?”
“No, he’s an actor. He’s in the new Romeo and Juliet play. How do you not know him?”
The mention of Romeo and Juliet made my heart flutter. “I don’t know him but I do know someone in the play… maybe I can help you.” But then suddenly I remembered that Faye wasn’t talking to me. “Oh, well maybe. I forgot that my friend in the play hates me at the moment.”
“Why?” Sierra asked me curiously. “What did you do? And yes, I’m blaming you.”
I still wasn’t sure it was my fault but since I couldn’t be one hundred percent I couldn’t disagree. “I don’t know, if I’m totally honest I think feelings got in the way of our friendship.”
“Oh dear… well, at least you won’t ever have to worry about that when it comes to us.”
I laughed at Sierra, glad to hear that from her. “That’s true. You’ve somehow managed to be immune to my charms. I guess it makes sense for someone to not find me irresistible. Now, let’s go and find your Romeo. What did you say his name was, Iain?” She nodded. “Right, let’s find him.”
We walked through the crowds and I continued to look about, pretending to know who I was looking for. I hadn’t seen anyone else in the play, so I had no idea who this guy was, but Sierra did. I hoped she would spot him soon enough because this was annoying. Someone would grab me soon enough to talk to me about the game and I really wasn’t in the mood. Maybe once this was done, I would go.
“Who’s that?” Sierra grabbed me and caused me to spin around to see a commotion going on near the door. My heart sunk when I saw Kevin on film with Faye behind the camera. I knew that they both had to be here, but I’d manage to avoid them so far. “Is that one of the players?”
“Oh yeah it is,” I answered morosely. “His name is Kevin. Please tell me you don’t like him.”
She screwed up her nose as if she felt disgusted by the idea. “Ergh, no. Not a chance. He looks arrogant. The sort of person who loves himself more than he can ever love someone else.”
It flooded me with relief to know that at least there was one other person who could see Kevin for who he really was. Thank God it wasn’t just me that could see what his façade was.
“Trust me, he is.” I rolled my eyes. “He’s a good team player, but he does love himself.”
“Who’s the girl filming him?” Sierra cocked her head to one side as she looked at the one person I really didn’t want to see. “She seems like a nice girl, I hope she doesn’t like him either.”
I couldn’t speak, the words got balled up in my throat, I couldn’t say Faye’s name even if I wanted to. I couldn’t see what Sierra could, she looked good, like she wasn’t missing me at all. My heart had shattered in my chest and she was carrying on as normal. It hurt me a whole lot. I could barely stand it. Now that I’d looked at her I couldn’t drag my eyes away, however much I wished I could.
“Angelo?” Sierra called out to me as she shook me. “Angelo, are you okay?”
“I... I…” I gulped desperately. “I don’t know who… who she is.”
“Is she the girl?” Sierra saw right through me. “Is that the one you got feelings for?” When I didn’t answer, she just knew. She could see my heart break. “Oh my God, I can totally see why but… what’s going on? You’re going to have to share the whole story with me so I can help you.”
“Yeah, okay…” I parted my lips, ready to spill everything to the one person I really wanted some advice from, but before I could Kevin rose from his chair and he scooped up Faye in his arms. He dipped her down and crashed his lips against hers as if they belonged there. My lips were the ones which belonged there, I was the one who liked Faye, who’d been kissing her. Kevin probably didn’t even like her like that, she was just a game to him, a competition prize he could discard.
I wanted to scream, there was a yell in my belly that wanted to break free, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t do anything to draw attention to myself when I was in such a messy state.
“Okay, I think it’s time for us to go,” Sierra said decisively next to me. “There’s no point in us hanging around here for that show, is there? It’s terrible, and Iain isn’t here anyway.”
“No, it’s okay.” I rasped while grabbing onto her shoulder. “I don’t want you to have to leave because of me. That isn’t fair. You were having a good night.” I gulped back, trying to swallow all of my emotion down. I’d been doing it for ages, I could carry on now. “Let’s stay. It’ll be fine.”
“What are you doing?” Sierra asked me desperately. “What’s going on here? Do you have a plan?”
“I think maybe I should try and speak to her. My sister told me I should tell her my feelings. And she didn’t look into the kiss, did she? Kevin forced it on her right?” Desperation raced through me, I needed Sierra to understand. “I mean, you’re the one who said she doesn’t look like she likes him…”
“I don’t know, Angelo, I wouldn’t want to make assumptions when I don’t even know what happened.” She pulled me to one side, dragging me into a corner. “Tell me what happened. Help me.”
“We slept together,” I insisted as I tugged my fingers through my hair. “She was filming me for a while and we had a real connection. I know I didn’t just invent it. She likes me and I like her.”
Sierra didn’t look as blown away by my revelation as I thought she would be. I actually thought there was a glimmer of pity in her eyes which crushed me. Was she looking at me like that because she thought I was usually the heart breaker? How many girls had been through these emotions over me? Had any? I’d always done what I could to be honest and upfront, but maybe it wasn’t enough.
“I don’t know if tonight would be the right time to talk to her about it since you’re in a bar and a little bit drunk. Plus, she’s working and currently embroiled in the drama with Kevin. Maybe wait.”
Sierra grabbed my hand and she dragged me towards the exit of the building. I didn’t know if I wanted to go, but I allowed her to take me all the same. Sierra wasn’t emotionally involved in this situation so whatever she said probably had at least some wisdom to it.
As we got towards the exit, Faye seemed to sense me and our eyes connected. While she stared at me, my heart flapped and fluttered wildly in my chest. My blood boiled and I got butterflies. As always, Faye made me feel a million dollars, she was the only one who’d ever stirred me up like this.
Was there hope? For a second I thought there might be. There wasn’t any hate in her eyes at all which had to be a good sign, didn’t it? Maybe I could pull her away from Kevin and beg her to be mine. I almost slid my hand away from Sierra’s to connect with her instead… but as I did, Faye’s eyes spotted the movement and she saw my hand in one that was clearly a girls’. Sierra was lost in the crowd, Faye probably couldn’t see who I was clinging to, but that didn’t matter. She didn’t know that Sierra was only my friend anyway so there wasn’t any excuse.
Faye’s eyes narrowed and her lips pursed in determination. She turned a little away from me and hooked her hand around Kevin’s neck and she dragged him towards her for a deep and passionate kiss. This time I could see feelings, maybe hate for me but maybe love for him, I couldn’t tell. The kiss made my heart hurt because it wasn’t instigated by him or forced upon her. Faye wanted this one. Her lips parted, she darted her tongue into his mouth, she was really going for it. At one point she molded her whole body into his as if she wanted to take him home and have sex with him.
Maybe she did and maybe she would… and what could I do about it if she did?
Shit. I dipped my head down and I moved rapidly towards the door, giving myself over to Sierra totally. She was right, being here was bad for my health. Being near Faye wasn’t any good for me especially when she was so connected with Kevin, the guy that she’d liked all along.
I didn’t tell Sierra that part, but now I was going to have to. I would have to tell her that Faye had been attracted to Kevin long before me because that changed things. I already knew what she was going to tell me, that I was the consolation prize, the rebound, the guy who would lose.