~Althia~

"Has he said anything to you?" I asked Jessica

It was the morning after my breakup with Zach and I had called Jessica crying. Like the amazing best friend she is, she immediately came over and let me cry to her. Now we were just hanging out in my room watching random shows on the tv and only speaking when I spoke first.

"Have you heard from him?" I quietly asked her

"Um, no" Jessica turned to look at me "He spent the night at Alex's and Mont was over there too, from what I know he only said that you guys broke up and then he stayed quiet" She added

I nodded

"Wait, where's Jeff in all of this?" I asked her when I realized she didn't mention him

"Jeffy is here" A voice that I knew all too well yelled from downstairs

"You called Jeff?" I questioned Jess

"I had to!" She answered "It's Jeffy and I know you wanted to be alone but you need your best friends by your side more than anything right now. All of them" She told me

Jeff came racing upstairs into my room

"I'm highly offended that I had to hear from Jessica about everything that happened but all is good because I'm here now" Was the first thing he said

I couldn't help but smile a little bit

"Ah, there's that smile" Jess cheesed as she pinched one of my cheeks

I rolled my eyes as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders

I hugged her back

Jeff didn't miss the chance to join in

"As much as I hate to worry about him and as much as I hate him, have you heard from Justin?" I asked them

Both of them sat up abruptly

"You shouldn't-" Jess started

"Mama, you should kn-" Jeff said over her

"Look, I know that I shouldn't use the word hate, my dad already gave me a speech about it, but I can't think of any other words to describe how I feel towards him" I told them "I hate Justin. I hate him for everything he did and I know that I said his feelings are valid and they are but I hate him so so so much for ruining everything and taking away the best thing ever from me. I hate him." I went off

Jessica and Jeff exchanges looks over my head

"What?" I looked at them, confusingly

That's when I heard footsteps walking down the stairs

I got up and walked out of my room to go the railing and that's when I saw him at the front door, struggling to put his shoes on

"Jus!" I called out to him

He quickly glanced up at me before walking out my front door

"Great" I sighed as I turned around and saw my friends at my doorway with uneasy looks on their faces

"I'm sorry, I should have told you the second I walked in" Jeff spoke gently

"He really wanted to see you and apologise" Jessica added

"And now I just ruined another thing in my life, this just keeps getting better and better" I shook my head and walked past them, back into my room

"You didn't ruin anything" Jess told me as she followed me into my room

"You have every right to feel the way you do towards him" Jeff agreed as he was right behind Jess

I laid down on my bed and buried myself in the pillows

"Is now a good time to pull out Baby Driver?" I heard Jeff ask

I slowly lifted my head and saw him pulling out the dvd from his bag

"Hmm, maybe you should put that away Jeff" Jessica spoke "There's no use of playing it if only two out of the three people in this room will watch it" She added

I quickly sat up as soon as she was done saying her sentence

"Put that shit on and let's cuddle please" I told them

They both laughed and Jeff got up to put the movie on while Jess practically jumped on me

//

"Wait no, don't get up yet" I told Jeff as he started moving to stop the movie

The three of us have been laying in my bed all day watching movies that Jeff brought with him.

Right now I was comfortable with my head on Jessica's leg with Jeff behind me with his arm around me as he had his head on Jess' lap, Jess playing with our hair at random times

"We kinda need to start getting ready for the party" Jeff told me

I turned around and looked at my two friends

"I am not going to a party" I said

"Oh but you are" Jess contradicted

"And why would I?" I questioned

"Because your favorite person in the whole entire world is in charge of doing the beer run" Jeff answered as he poked my nose

"Why are you doing the beer run? You never do that. Also what does you having to get alcohol have anything to do with me going anywhere outside of my bedroom?" I asked him

"A junior that's on the baseball team is throwing the party so he asked me to get to booze since you obviously need someone that doesn't look seven to get it" Jeff answered my first question

"Also you need to come along since you can't leave me alone to drink with the boys and Mont and Alex wanna see you" Jess answered my second question in a duh voice

I looked at them as I thought

"I'll come but I want to be back home by midnight, I'm not getting drunk and I'm not taking care of any one that's drunk, and a part of me is only going to see my friends" I finally said

"Yay" They both cheered

We all slowly got up and started to get ready for this party.

//

"Zach isn't going to, um, be there is he?" I suddenly asked as we were in the bathroom

Jessica stopped putting her mascara on mid-way and Jeff stopped doing his hair halfway as they looked at me

"I'm pretty sure he is going to be there" Jess spoke carefully

I shook my head

"I'm sorry, I can't go" I told them as I started to walk out of my bathroom

"Wait, mama, come on" Jeff grabbed my wrist to stop me

"Alt, I know going through a breakup sucks and that you're hurting but you can't, and I won't let you, stop everything only because Zach might be at the same place or not" Jess looked at me sincerely as she chose her words carefully

"Also you don't want to cause a big split between our group, do you?" Jeff blurted out

My eyes went wide at what Jeff said

"Oh way to fucking go Atkins" Jessica slapped Jeff on the chest "Now she's going to think that she's going to draw us all apart because she doesn't want to see her ex, which is completely normal. Way of making her think she's going to ruin something else" She went on

"Congratulations on reminding her that she thinks she fucked up everything, Davis" Jeff shot back

"Suck my fucking dick Jeff" Jess scoffed

"Jeff you suck at making someone feel better after a breakup" I spoke before Jeff could respond

"Excuse me but I'm the one that brought the movies and I think that's the greatest thing ever" Jeff looked at me

"You were doing good up until now" Jessica told me

Jeff opened his mouth to argue but then closed it again

"I'm sorry Thia, I didn't mean to worry you or put more pressure on you" Jeff softened as he looked back at me "It's just I hate seeing you like this and I don't want you to stop yourself from living just because you and Zach aren't together anymore" He went on

"I know, I was being a pussy" I said "Now I know that I gotta go to this party and get drunk" I added

Jessica and Jeff cheered

"Except you're not getting drunk" Jess raised a fist in the air and made a small whoop sound

I made a face at her

"Why not?" I asked

"Because as someone once told me, getting drunk isn't necessary to have fun and that's the rule for tonight" Jess answered

"I hate that you used my own words against me but you sounded wise so I can't be mad" I faked a pout while she laughed and hugged me

"Are we ready to go ladies?" Jeff spoke

We both nodded and followed him out of the bathroom

//

Jeff led the way to the front door and as soon as he opened it, we were greeted by the familiar sounds of a party

We walked through the house and it wasn't long until we found Montgomery and Alex

Alex greeted us girls first as Monty talked to Jeff about something

"How are you holding up?" Alex asked me as he brought me into a hug

"Terrible but slightly better with all the support, you know" I answered him

"Jess told me not to mention Zach and I understand why but if it makes you feel any better, he isn't doing the best either right now" Alex responded

I released from our hug and looked at him, taken aback from what he just said

Before I could question him, I got crushed into a big hug

"Mont, I can't breath" I managed to say as I pushed him back a bit

"Sorry" He laughed "I just felt like you needed a big ol Montitty hug" He shrugged

I cracked a smile and brought him into another hug

"What was that for?" Monty asked me

"Because you used your nickname and I oddly missed you" I answered him

"Oddly missed me? Should I be offended by that? What does that mean?" He questioned

"It means that you get to make me a drink!" I exclaimed

"Are you sure you want to use your first drink out of the five you're allowed right now?" Mont looked at me

"Ugh, you know about my drink limit" I groaned

"Fuck yeah I do" He responded

I groaned again as he chuckled

"Let's go get you that drink" He said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder

I looked behind me and saw that Jess was right behind me with Alex

"Hey, is it true that you're off the hook and ready to get baited again?" Bryce suddenly appeared out of nowhere

Before I or Mont could respond, Jeff pushed him back

"You stay the hell away from her for the rest of the night" He told Bryce

Jessica rolled her eyes and we stepped away from him continuing our way to the kitchen

//

I've been at the party for at least an hour now and found myself alone as I gazed at the crowd

Jessica and Alex went to go dancing while Montgomery left to go play beer pong. Jeff was getting my fourth drink of the night but it was taking him some time, meaning he probably stopped to talk to some people, forgetting about my drink.

My eyes scanned the room and stopped at the staircase when they landed on a familiar face. My breathing got caught in my throat as I locked eyes with Zach for a split second before I looked the other way, only to be met with the eyes of Justin. I quickly looked down and made it seem like I was fixing my shirt. I slowly lifted my eyes back up to the spot on the stairs where Zach had been. I couldn't tell if it was relief or sadness that washed over me when he wasn't there anymore. I scanned the other side of the room where Justin was leaning on the wall just seconds ago but I found myself looking at random people I didn't recognize.

Suddenly a hand was on my lower back and I jumped as I turned around ready to tell off whoever it was

"Relax, it's just me" The person said and I froze in place "I didn't want to scare you" They went on

I couldn't do anything but nod

We stared at one another for what felt like forever

"Can we talk?" He broke our gaze as he gently spoke

Again I couldn't do anything but nod as I let myself being led by him, closer to the stairs where the music was still loud but there weren't as many people.