The Argument

Frank had spent most of the night alternating between playing the wallflower and trying to keep Joe out of trouble. He was currently doing the former, while sipping a beer and trying to shake the memory of Nancy tensing at his touch out of his head. He was not succeeding.

He was pulled out of his thoughts, however, by an angry voice calling in his direction.

"Well look who's here!" yelled a very clearly drunk Ned.

Frank was surprised to see that Ned was at the party, though he guessed it was probably too late to uninvite Ned by the time he and Nancy had broken up. Frank was about to say a polite hello when Ned continued.

"I mean, I can't say I'm surprised! I thought maybe you'd have the decency to not rub it in my face, but of course you don't. It's not like you had enough decency to not steal my girlfriend in the first place!"

Frank froze. He had absolutely no idea what Ned was talking about. In fact, it was actually pretty ironic that Ned was inventing stories about Nancy running off with Frank, while in reality Nancy was barely speaking to him.

Frank suddenly realized the room had quieted. Ned's yelling had attracted the attention of a good portion of the party guests, who were awaiting a response from Frank.

"I think you've had too much to drink," Frank said calmly. "I can assure you that I didn't steal anyone's girlfriend."

"I found the letter, Hardy! Don't act like you don't know! I might not be a detective but I know a love letter when I see one!"

A small gasp rose from the crowd of onlookers.

"I had to read all about you and Nancy and how close you two got in Belgium while I was sitting at home like an idiot! I had to read about it in a freaking letter!"

Frank was truly bewildered. He hadn't written Nancy any love letters, not even in his head, let alone one Ned might have seen.

The crowd parted suddenly as Nancy came pushing through to where Frank and Ned stood.

"Ned, what are you doing?" Nancy said, her voice shaky. She had clearly heard at least part of Ned's rant.

"I'm telling this jerk where he can shove that letter," Ned snapped.

"Leave him alone, Ned!" Nancy pleaded.

"Of course you'd defend your new boyfriend! You know what, I don't need this," Ned said as he turned towards the front door. "Have a great life together. You two deserve each other."

As the front door slammed shut behind Ned, Nancy bolted from her spot in front of Frank to the kitchen with tears streaming down her face. Frank, however, stood paralyzed in place, with all eyes in the room on him.

He breathed a sigh of relief when Joe appeared out of the crowd, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him towards the kitchen.

"Nothing to see here, folks! Just some drunken shenanigans, so go back to your partying!" Joe shouted cheerily to the crowd as he closed the kitchen door behind them.