My feet were planted to the ground as I stared in shock at the two people in front of me. Suddenly the thought of fresh air was a lot less appealing and my voice was struggling to find its way past my lips.
My hands tensed as I dug my nails into my palms, almost drawing blood from underneath. "What the hell are you doing here?" I held tightly onto the door with the other hand as they stared at me in shock.
Their hands immediately unclasped as I bit down hard onto my tongue. "Gab-," before James could finish, I slammed the door shut, drowning out their voices from the other side.
My mind searches for a reason that they were here. If it was an idea for an apology then I think it would be better if they turned around and went home, because they were the last people I wanted to see and I refused to let them ruin my night.
My body fell numb as I walked away from the now closed door, attempting to hold in the tears that were breaching their way to the surface. My head ached from the loud music bursting my ear drums as I walked towards the stairs, just wanting to be alone in my room.
I stumbled my way up the stairs and pulled my door open before hastily slamming it shut and falling to the floor. I held my hand over my mouth to stops sounds coming as tears fell viciously down my cheeks.
I pulled myself up and sat down on the edge of the bed, wiping my eyes and the makeup I had done earlier. At this point, I couldn't care less if my eyes were blotched black from the tears, or that my cheeks were red and puffy from hastily wiping them until they went away.
However, I suddenly turned away when someone opened my door and walked in. "It's occupied," I shouted out, hoping that whoever it was, whether it was a couple or not, would just leave me alone.
"You ok?" Caleb's voice made me turn around. He immediately noticed that I was crying and sat down on the bed with me. I wanted nothing more than to just push him away, but I didn't have the energy to do it.
"Why do you even care?" I retorted, a lot more hastily than I had prepared to. He shook his head and leaned closer to me. I pushed him away and sat further back. "Please, just leave me alone Caleb."
He leaned closer again as I attempted to push him back, but he was a lot stronger than I was. "I'm not leaving," he replied as I looked into his eyes in defeat. "I do care about you, Gabby." I rolled my eyes at that as he shook his head again. "What happened?"
In one quick movement, I fell into his arms and he wrapped his body around mine. I let the tears fall again, soaking the shoulder of his shirt. He simply laughed and held me tighter when he realised that mascara was all over his white shirt. "Sorry." I laughed as he simply pulled it off.
His muscles were clearly defined when his shirt was off. I swooned at the sight before I was reminded of what had just happened.
He wiped away a few of my tears before holding my cheeks and awaiting the answer. A sigh escaped my lips a I told him about James and Flora coming to the party. He seemed just as angry as I was until a familiar smirk crept onto his lips.
"I'll go change my shirt and clean yourself up, then meet me downstairs by the kitchen table." I gave him a questioning look before nodding anyway and letting him escape my room again.
I wiped the smudged make up from my eyes and cheeks to make it look a little better before I reapplied some mascara and concealer to the areas that had been wiped clean. I readjusted my hair and took a deep breath, telling myself that Caleb had a plan to make me feel better.
Spraying some more perfume on my neck, I opened my bedroom door again, now a lot more calmed and free from tears. However, as I walked back down the stairs, I spotted the two of them again.
However, my emotion was no longer sadness, I was angry and filled with rage against them. They were laughing at something together next to where the alcohol was, somehow mocking me, which made me even angrier.
How dare they even enter this house, let alone smile and laugh at my expense whilst I'm here.
Caleb was standing in the kitchen, like he had said he would. He was now wearing a black shirt, making my knees fall weak slightly. He was laughing with someone I didn't recognise until he saw me.
James and Flora were standing maybe a few metres away as I gritted my teeth hard and walked towards Caleb. He smiled as he saw me and immediately grabbed onto my waist.
I questioned him slightly with my eyes but he gave me a knowing look and I followed his lead when he walked over to one side of the kitchen, in perfect view for James and Flora, and also enough privacy from anyone else at the party.
The both of them spotted us immediately. Flora seemed to swallow, hard. Where as James looked a little angry, just how he looked when we were at the carnival. Thinking back to it, I really wish it would've been me to punch him. Right in the jaw.
I suddenly turned back to Caleb when his warm touch held onto my cheek. I furrowed my eyebrows as he leaned forwards. I almost pushed him away but something drew me towards him. Holding onto him, I leant towards him, knowing exactly what was going to happen.
He crashed his lips on top of mine, pulling me closer to deepen the kiss. I ran my hand through his hair and held onto his cheek with the other. He smiled against the kiss as I completely forgot why we were doing it. I was only thinking about the moment.
Every feeling I had ever had for James had disappeared and every remaining piece of anger inside me was gone.
The kiss had become less of a revenge plot and more of something I actually wanted. Caleb bit my lip slightly as I grinned and kissed him again.
We were both out of breath when we pulled away, still staring into each others eyes, as if nobody else was in the room, especially not James and Flora.
Caleb, instead, smirked and turned to look at James and Flora. "It worked." I felt myself fall out of the daze I was in with Caleb as I felt my heart sink a little. This was just about revenge for Caleb, nothing else.
When I turned around, James looked even angrier than before, with smoke practically bursting from his eardrums. Flora, however, was looking over at James pleadingly, pulling on his arm to get him to walk away.
Although I wanted more from the kiss, I smiled nevertheless and turned back to Caleb, now smirking at me
• • •
Laughing with Caleb's friends, I looked over and saw Kylie and Clara flirting with some boys in their grade. Definitely the boys they're going to winter formal with. Kylie would never flirt with a boy unless she had to.
"Shots!" The boy next to me shouted, and instead of staying away from the vodka, I didn't care. I wanted to taste something on my lips that wasn't Caleb but instead, a shot glass.
After around five shots of the disgusting liquid, I was beginning to feel a slight buzz in my head. Caleb was laughing the whole time as he too, took a few shots.
However, after taking one more, I stumbled over to the stairs and sat on the staircase, trying to balance myself before I did something stupid or fell over.
I played a game on my phone, hoping to distract myself from how drunk I was, and how much I wanted to kiss Caleb again. I suddenly felt the presence of somebody beside me and it wasn't until I turned that my expression fell.
James.
"I need to talk to you-." Before he could finish, I pushed his chest away and began walking back up the stairs. I knew the only way to sober up was to go to bed, and in this state, speaking to James was a bad idea. "Leave me alone."
However, my wrist was suddenly grabbed onto as I reached the top of the stairs. James was holding onto it and I simply pulled it away with haste. "Look, I'm so sorry about what happened between Flora and I. It was a mistake at the time and I'm so sorry." He begged but I wasn't having any of it.
"You made a big mistake!" I shouted as I was about to grab onto my door handle. "Actually," I said as I turned around to him again. "You were the mistake." I shouted again as I ran into my room and slammed the door, only for it to be opened again by James.
He went to hold my hand but I pulled it away as quickly as I could. "Don't touch me!" I shouted louder and walked away, hoping that he would get the hint and leave me alone.
"You broke my heart James, you slept with my best friend! Does that not make sense in that small head of yours?" I finished as I pushed him out of the room and locked the door, knowing that he would leave me alone.
As much as he would want to speak to me and apologise, he knew when it was time to leave me alone for good. And now was that moment.
The tears fell again and this time, I didn't stop them. I now wasn't sure what I was actually crying about, whether it was about Caleb or James, I didn't even know.
After staring at my clock for what felt like house, the music finally stopped at around five in the morning. The downstairs front door finally closed about half an hour later, signalling that everyone had left, thankfully.
I didn't want to be alone, I wanted someone to talk to. Stumbling into the hallway, I was still drunk and the only name I could think of was Caleb's. Sliding his door open, I looked in to see Caleb with a girl laying beside him in the bed.
Feeling my heart drop from my chest, I closed the door and struggled to breath as I ran back to my room and fell down on the bed.
What is wrong with me?
The only person I knew I needed right now was my mom. I wished to hold her and hug her tightly, never letting go. I had never missed her this much before, and I'm not sure I could go much long without seeing her.
Another stray tear escaped my eye for about the hundredth time tonight. It seeped into the pillow as I closed my eyes and fell asleep.