Bad Boys of Romance(20)

When I left his apartment, he was turning on his laptop and acting unaffected by my presence. This had become our normal interaction, for the past few months anyway, so it seemed fitting for our breakup. His last words to me asked if I were coming back the next weekend. I knew he had heard each word I had just said to him but this quiet, controlled reaction was pretty standard for him. I had looked at him for a few seconds from the doorway before turning and leaving without another word.

I pulled my black Honda Civic into the small parking lot in front of my apartment complex and came to a stop in my space.

“So, is it a done deal?” I heard my roommate ask before I shut the door.

“Yep.” I laughed and walked into the living room. “It's done.”

“Thank God!” she squealed and lunged at me for a hug. “You're finally done with that douche bag.”

I just smiled and let her hug me. Hannah and I met freshman year of college and had been inseparable ever since. We lived in a two bedroom apartment close to campus and were both getting our degrees in advertising.

“Let's go out and celebrate.” She let go of me and led me back into the living room.

We had decorated the space with reds and blacks with a few paintings on the walls. A large mirror stood in the corner, and pictures of us were framed throughout the room. It was definitely a girl's apartment.

I fell onto the overstuffed, cherry red couch and let out a long breath. If we went out tonight, it would be the first time in three years that I had gone out without him. He was always possessive and found a way to control my actions even with the miles between us. He never wanted me to go out with just my friends. When I went out with him, it was never for longer than an hour, and I never drank.

I definitely wanted to go out tonight.

“Where should we go?” I smiled and looked up at her. “And what should I drink when we get there?”

“Yes! That's the Riley I've been waiting on all of these years!”

“Me too.” I laughed. “I can't believe I broke up with him. Is it horrible that I'm not even sad about it? Like, not even a little bit.”

“Nope,” she answered without hesitating. “That only means you made the right decision.”

“That's what I was thinking too.” I sighed. “Surely he'll be okay. He just sat there and barely reacted when I told him. I should have just called him and saved the gas money.”

“I'm sorry, sweetie.” She stood up and motioned for me to follow her. “Tell me about it while we get ready for our night out.”

We spent the next hour curling our hair and applying extra eye liner. My long, blond hair fell to the middle of my back on top of the short purple dress Hannah had picked out for me. She explained that we couldn't just wear jeans and cute tops, it was a short skirt kind of night. I was not sure I even wanted to know what that meant so I just went along with her suggestions.

“I'm ready,” I announced as I stepped into my tall black heels.

“Yeah, you are,” she whistled. “Look who's been hiding all this time. You look hot!”

I rolled my eyes but caught my reflection in the mirror before walking out of my room. My blue eyes were surrounded with dark, smoky eye makeup. My lips were a deep red, and the short dress displayed the lean legs that he never let me show off. My head cleared even more as we walked to the front door. Leaving him was the best decision I have ever made.

Hannah made the executive decision that we would go to College Street. This was the area of town that had a host of bars to choose from and the most popular area for college students to go out. The cab dropped us off in front of a bar that had bright blue and green lights flashing in front. The only people going inside looked like they could be my grandparents.

“Not this one.” I laughed.

“No, not that one.” She grabbed my hand, and we crossed the street to a section of bars that seemed to contain more people our age.

We walked through a door into a loud room after showing the bouncer our IDs and made our way to the bar.

“Here's the deal.” She turned around and faced me. “We're having one drink at each bar and making our way down the street. Unless we see a reason to stay in one place, we'll keep moving. Sound good?”

“Lead the way, friend.” I looked around the already packed room. There wasn't a dance floor, but that didn't stop a small group of people from moving to the choppy beat of the techno mix. Red, blue, and green lights flashed throughout the room, making it hard to focus on any one thing.

“We start with beer.” She handed me a bottle and clanked hers against mine. “Cheers to your freedom.”

“Cheers.” I smiled.