Sam Evans was seventeen when he had his heart broken for the very first time.
Sure, there were other girls who broke his heart quite badly before, but there was only one girl in the whole world capable of making his heart crumple into millions of pieces for the first time in his life.
Quinn Fabray.
That name had haunted him ever since the day she left his life.
He had known from the first time he laid eyes on her that she would be a very special person to him. The girl whom he had been dating when he met Quinn had also seen the connection between them and it had resulted in them breaking up soon after.
He could still remember vividly the memories they shared between themselves. How both of them showed each other their most vulnerable side that they have never shared with anyone else, how they had disclosed private jokes between one another to how similar both their preferences lied in.
He had never once thought that there could be someone like her who seemed to be perfectly made for him, it was just as if she was the other half he had been searching for in the past seventeen years of his life.
But that was what mainly caused the crack in his heart hurt so badly when she left him, with a sad goodbye and he had never heard from her again to this very day. He had tried making up with her – leaving messages on her cell and saying how he would try making everything work again. However, that did not work.
She told him that the scars between them were too much for them to heal, despite both of them putting in their best efforts.
She changed all her contacts soon after, making it even harder for him to keep in touch with her. He even tried asking their mutual friends for help, except she had done the same with acquaintances and closer friends had already been told not to reveal anything about her.
Now six years later after August fifth, which was the day she had completely disappeared from his life. He remembered this day so clearly because ever since that day, every August fifth had been a horror for him. Every single thing had managed to go wrong and he was gratefully thankful when each August fifth passed by.
He had hoped to stay in on August fifth this year since it was a Saturday and he did not have to go to work. Unfortunately, his best friend from work Noah Puckerman, or Puck for short, had decided of all days to hold a party to introduce his future bride to all his friends. Sam had tried getting out of it but Puck had insisted on him being there since he had wanted to introduce him to his best buddy from high school as well.
Sam sighed inwardly to himself as he glanced at his clock – 5 p.m., only three hours away from Puck's party downtown.
Should I just tell him I got sick from that beer we had last night, he thought, as he smoothed his shirt whilst glancing in his mirror.
But Puck was so excited about this… Plus, I owed him from the times he covered for me at work…. He sighed again at his last thought, knowing there was no backing out.
The clock struck eight the moment Sam pushed open the door to the small restaurant Puck was holding his party at. The music blasted through the equally noisy streets outside and he winced to himself of his throbbing eardrums.
"Hey Sam, dude!" He heard Puck cry out excitedly, making his way through the crowd with an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders as he tried getting to Sam.
"Hey," Sam replied as the other man fist-bumped him, grinning so widely his eyes could almost disappear.
"You remember my babe right? Anna?" He nudged her forward and she offered a friendly nod towards Sam.
He returned the nod before shoving his hands inside the pockets of his trousers.
"Yeah, of course I remember her. How can I forget? She's the love of your life."
Puck grinned even wider at the statement, which seemed literally impossible for Sam to comprehend. He looked at the petite girl in his arms and gave her a quick kiss on her lips.
Sam turned away, knowing that with Puck, a kiss could never been just so innocent. He cleared his throat quickly before it got too far, making sure he had Puck's attention as he continued.
"Where's that buddy of yours? Is he coming soon? You know I can't stay long. I'll leave after meeting him, y'know,"
"Aw, man! Don't be such a party pooper," Puck pouted and gave Anna a small push into their crowd of friends, signaling a private talk with his best friend. She understood and quietly retreated into the noise to give them privacy.
"You know what day it is today, right…." Sam raised his brows, hoping Puck understood what he was implying.
He had told him about Quinn ever since they had familiarized with each other, almost making Puck want to punch him in the face every time he mentioned her name. He had always emphasized on the unlucky day, which was not really hard since both of them are usually together on every August fifth.
Puck winced at the reminder. "Yeah, yeah, I remember. But dude, live a little! Your luck might change tonight!"
Sam raised his eyebrows again, crossing his arms in the process. The other man understood and nodded to himself, perhaps thinking about his other friend.
He glanced towards the door and murmured, "He should be here by now... But wait a while, will ya? I promise you he's worth the wait. Let's go get a drink in the meantime, okay?"
Sam sighed for the umpteen time for the day and allowed himself to be dragged towards the bar with Puck.
With a few glasses of beer down his throat, Sam felt his world spin. He had never been quite a strong drinker, unlike Puck who was still shoving more drinks towards him. He shook his head no as Puck pushed yet another glass to him and forced his head to look up.
He saw a blonde who had been sitting close to him sent him a flirty smile, not quite certain of his blurred vision. Nonetheless, he managed to force the corners to his lips curl into a drunken smile and started to open his mouth to speak to her before it dropped in shock instead.
The blonde's features had morphed into Quinn's and all Sam could see was that Quinn making his way to him, her eyelashes fluttering with the same flirty look he saw earlier on the blonde stranger.
Sam fell off his chair, earning gasps around him as he struggled to pull himself up. He rubbed his eyes to clear his vision and glanced at Quinn again, sincerely hoping she was not there as he had seen.
Thankfully, Quinn had disappeared and in her place, was the same blonde but now with a disgusted look on her face. The last he saw her was her spinning around on her heels and making her way back into the crowd again, probably to search for another man more dignified than he was at the moment which was sprawled out on the floor.
Sam felt a caroused hand wrap around him and pulled him up on his feet, before turning around to see it was Puck, with a concerned look on his face.
"Dude, you okay? I can take you home if you're not feeling well. You don't have to sit around waiting for him, man."
Sam shook his hands off and leaned his back against the table to support himself. He nodded with a smile.
"I'm fine. I've been waiting for so long, a little while more won't kill me."
"If that's okay with you, I mean." Puck murmured under his breath, the concern not yet washed from his face.
Sam heard the bell on the door ring again, signalling yet another arrival of Puck's friend. He turned towards the door and Puck followed the direction of his eyes before breaking into a big smile.
"Biff!" Puck cried again, using the same tone he had used when Sam entered.
Sam straightened up on his seat, knowing that this must be the buddy from high school Puck was talking about.
From afar, he saw a tall man with a hidden figure tailing behind him, their hands tightly intertwined together.
Must be his girl, he thought as the man hugged Puck with a big smile plastered on his face as well, murmuring a few words when they separated.
"Come on, Biff! I'll introduce you to my pal from work. We're just as close as both of us are, man! You'll love him."
"You've been talking about him non-stop, of course I'd love to meet him. But dude, you know, I am only allowed to love no one but her," Biff held up his hand, the one holding onto what seemed like his girl's, and chuckled.
Sam heard an embarrassed giggle behind him and Puck smiled with what looked like approval, probably having had experienced the same feeling with Anna too.
The trio finally reached Sam's side and he noticed Anna had made her way towards them as well, now had an arm slipped around Puck. He felt a surge of longing, remembering Quinn again. Before he had the chance to lose himself in his memories again, Puck poked his side, urging him to stand before greeting his friend.
His hands pushed the sides of his seat to support him and he felt Puck also rest his hand on his back to help him.
"Biff, meet Sam. Sam, meet my boy Biff, the most handsome guy in all of Westwood High!" Puck chuckled at his last statement, making Biff punch him lightly at his shoulders, chuckling with him.
"Is he always a joker at work too?"
Biff shook his head teasingly at his best friend Puck, offering a hand out for Sam to shake. The blonde took it and gave it a firm shake, his head nodding in agreement.
"All the time, he teased back, earning a light punch from Puck at his shoulders.
"Ouch, that hurts." He winced playfully before turning back to Biff again.
"Pleased to meet you, he's told me so much about you."
"All the bad things, I bet," Biff chuckled again.
"Nice to meet you too. To be honest, I was quite jealous when he first mentioned about you. I thought how he could replace me with a dumb blonde?" He joked with a squeeze on Sam's hand. "Just joking, dude."
Sam replied with a weak smile."Yeah." The dizziness has not worn off yet and he felt his world spin again.
He could still hear Biff mumbling something and he shook his head, in an attempt to clear his head. Puck stepped forth to help him again but Sam pushed him away, wanting no help from anyone.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Biff push the hidden girl gently to his front, hearing small protests from the girl. Biff mumbled something back, his voice dropping to a soft, gentle tone to soothe her anxiety. She seemed to have calmed down from that, making Sam instantly impressed with Biff, and gave a tiny sigh before holding his hand again.
Noticing the girl move forward and Biff's clearing his throat, Sam managed to straighten up again and smiled slightly, knowing what was to come.
"And here's my girlfriend," Biff began.
Sam averted his eyes to the girl's and saw hers turn to his as well, locking eyes for just a second as recognition set in.
He saw her lips tremble and she tried to move behind Biff again, but he held her in place as he continued talking. His eyes widened with shock and he rubbed his eyes again, hoping that it was just an image of her like earlier. But when he opened his eyes again and furrowed his eyebrows to look at her once more, he knew it was her undoubtedly.
He managed to catch himself before muttering her name out along with Biff.
Quinn Fabray.
August fifth was certainly the most unlucky day of the year.