Two years earlier

I walked down to the kitchen with sleepy steps. I felt nauseous just thinking about food, I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast yesterday. My vision was blurry through my sleepy eye locks. As I reached for the refrigerator door, I heard someone moving behind me.

"Hey!" I jumped back, and in the jump, I hit my head on the half-open fridge door. In front of me was a tall, black haired, blue-eyed guy, probably one of Mikes friends.

"I didn't mean to scare you. Does it hurt?" He smiled and looked at me concerned. What was supposed to hurt again?

"Your head! Does it hurt?" He made a nod towards the side of my head where I hit the door. I had forgotten all about my pounding head as there was a handsome guy standing in front of me.

"Who are you? Are you one of Mike's friends? What are you doing in our kitchen?" The questions just stumbled out of my mouth. I was nervous, what if I made a bad first impression?

"Lots of questions at once! Yes, I'm one of Mike's friends. We got a little drunk last night and I kind of passed out on your couch when we got back here." His voice was so smooth. I couldn't help but smile. I couldn't take my eyes of his bare chest.

"Typical Mike too get drunk! Let me guess, three beers, a bottle of whiskey and five girls?" I grabbed an apple from the fridge and took a large bite.

"Believe it or not, he kept it to just two girls last night!" He was right, I didn't believe it. Mike had probably been screwing all the girls at Hollis, twice!

"I can't believe that the girls put up with it! I mean, how attractive is it that he has already slept with a hundred girls, and that was when he finished High School." The apple tasted like plastic so I threw it in the trash and turned back to him.

"You didn't answer my first question! Who are you?"

"I'm Ezra!" He smiled and then bit his lower lip. My God, he was hot.

"Don't you wish you could go to parties, get drunk and your parents can't say anything about it?" Get drunk? Really, no!

"I don't drink, and I don't go to parties!" I remembered the one time my friends and I went to a party, the memory made my head spin.

"I don't believe that! I've heard that you and Mike are quite alike, not the complete opposite. I mean, your brother is the king of parties, you must have some of that in your blood!" I just sighed and started walking up the stairs.

"It was nice to meet you Aria, I do hope you are the complete opposite of your brother." We looked at each other for a moment.

"It was nice to meet you too Ezra, and I'm glad your are not like my brother."


I heard a hard knock on my door. I was so tired of everyone at Mike's stupid party, asking me where the toilet was.

"Go away, this is not the toilet!" I continued reading in my book.

"I know it's not the bathroom. Could you open up?" Ezra's voice was soft behind the door. I could hear that I had already been drinking a bit too much. I made a mark on the book page and then forced myself of the bed. When I opened the door I could smell cheap beer mixed with sweet perfume.

"Where do you keep the aspirin in this house?" He looked at me and I could see the desperation in his eyes.

"We keep them in the kitchen, but they are probably long gone in the stomachs of somewhat twenty druggies down there. But I have some here!" I found the aspirin and gave it to him. He swallowed two pills with a mouthful of beer.

"You know, if your head hurts, it's probably because you've been drinking, and drinking even more won't stop the pain!"

"It's not the alcohol! My girlfriend is making me nuts! She thinks I'm cheating on her. She probably thinks I'm up here to screw one of her friends. Gosh! She is so naïve!" I sat down on my bed and he did the same.

"Why can't girls just trust their boyfriends? I mean, she have never seen me cheat on her, and I never have been cheating on her! I have been honest with her since the day I met her! I can't say the same about her. She's been screwing Mike four times since we started dating."

"Then why are you with her?"

"I honestly don't know. I should probably break up with her, but, she's very important to me, she was my first love!"

"Ezra!"

"What?"

"You just said was! Don't you love her anymore?"

"I can't love her after what she did! She slept with my best friend; you can't love someone after something like that. However, I do care about her, and I want her to be happy, even if she hurt me. She deserves to be happy, she really does." Ezra was utterly amazing; his heart was so kind, even to the person who hurt him.

"Then let go! If you believe that she deserves to be happy, then let her be happy. And you deserve to be with someone who don't throw your love on the ground like its yesterday's dinner!" A single tear made its way down his cheek. He really did care about her, even after what she did.

"Thank you! How the hell did you do that? I've been going back and forth with this for months and you made it so easy for me to choose just by saying three sentences."

"I guess I'm good at finding the right words!" We smiled at each other before he took a sip from his beer.

"Can I have some of that beer?" I pointed at the almost empty bottle in his hand. What was I about to get myself into?

"I thought you didn't drink!" He just looked at me very confused, but then he gave me the bottle and I drank it in one shot.

"Wow, slow down a little!" He started laughing and took the bottle away from me.

"I figured that one party wouldn't hurt! It is summer, all my friends are on vacation and I feel like doing something totally out of my comfort zone! Now, why don't we go down and join the party?"

We made our way down to the living room and headed for the 'bar'. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey and then handed it to me.

"I prefer whiskey over beer! If you want to really go crazy, then whiskey is your best friend." I poured a quarter of it down my throat in one shot. It was burning, as it made is way down to my stomach. It was like drinking fire, although the whiskey was ice cold! Something clicked inside my brain and I suddenly felt the need to dance. Normally I didn't like to dance.

Ezra and I danced for what seemed like hours. Then Mike looked at me, with the whiskey bottle in my hand. This was about to turn into the worst night of my life. Well, second worst!

"ARIA! Why the HELL is there a whiskey bottle in your hand?" My brother always drank, but when it came to me, he wanted to protect me from everything. Drinking, parties and sex.

"I just wanted to try it, just once! Give me a break; you know I won't make a habit of this!" That was when I felt my stomach twist inside of me. I couldn't move, I was to sick! I vomited all over the floor. Whiskey + crazy dancing + second time at a party, not a good combination.

"Ezra! Help me get her to the bathroom." His voice was softer now, more concerned than angry. He and Ezra supported me on each side and got me of the floor.

"Everyone out! The party is over!" Mike screamed and for some reason people actually listened and they started walking towards the door.

I had never felt as sick as I did now. My hair was up in a messy bun and reeked of the smell of vomit. I wrapped my arms around the toilet seat once more. I was exhausted from all the vomiting, then I looked up to meet Ezra's concerned eyes.

"Don't ever let me drink again!" Then I threw up once more.