Logan sits beside me wearing a button-up shirt underneath a black suit jacket. His hair is tied back, revealing his sculpted jaw. He’s starting to look like the old Logan again and it did nothing to help the way I had been feeling the past three days.
As for me, I decided to go with a shorter dress tonight. It wasn’t an outfit I would normally wear but I felt the occasion deserved a little something out of my norm. When I was with Julian, he’d always wanted me to dress the way he thought I should. Low neckline, short hems, expensive price tag. The more expensive, the better, in his eyes.
Ever since leaving Julian, I liked to dress more modest. Wearing tight, revealing outfits reminded me of a time when my decisions were based on someone else. But tonight I’d had the courage to try something new. Maybe it was like that night Logan and I made love. I wanted it to heal me in a way, give me a sense of control when in reality, I probably had none.
Everyone’s laughter subsides and I lift my wine, finishing off my second glass.
“Oh my gosh,” Abby says. “Speaking of hilarious college stories.” She rests her elbow on the table and turns to me. She’s wearing a bloodred tank top tucked into a tight black mini skirt. Typical Abby. She points to me. “Remember that time we went bar hopping in Providence?”
“Oh, no,” I groan, burying my face in my hands. My cheeks warm, remembering the night I drank way too much and woke up with the worst hangover of my life.
Logan’s eyes shift to the side and I can feel his stare. He hasn’t heard this story, mostly because it involved Julian. A day I wanted to forget.
Max leans forward on the table, pushing his half-eaten dessert to the side. “What happened?” His eyes light with amusement whereas I wish I could crawl under a table, preferably on the other side of the restaurant.
“Well,” Abby starts excitedly, “it’s quite popular for a lot of students to go bar hopping in downtown Providence. There are all sorts of clubs, including a ton of dive bars.”
“Abby, come on,” I beg. “No one wants to hear this story.”
“Oh yes, they do.” She laughs.
My stomach turns. It wasn’t the night itself that was bad. Memories of Julian getting angry with me, yelling at me and forcing me to apologize for embarrassing him was what made it probably one of my worst memories. He was there that night and never let me forget it.
“So, anyway,” Abby continues. “One of our friends told us about these so-called dive bars, including one actually called, ‘The Dive’. We had already been to about three other bars before we showed up to this one. Well, just so happens that when we walked in, it was a full-on rave club.” Abby leans back in her seat, lifting her arms dramatically. “I’m talking techno, neon lights, you name it. We were all so drunk already that we decided to just stay and grab a drink. After we had our first drink, Lena insisted we go out on the dance floor. Everyone was dancing to EDM music and thrashing around. We were about halfway through the first song when someone, I don’t even know who it was, spilled their entire drink down the front of Lena’s shirt.”
“What’s so funny about that?” Max asks, clearly still enthralled with Abby’s story.
Logan’s eyes constantly shift between me and Abby, unsure of where this story will lead. I can tell he’s gauging my reaction. I straighten my back, taking a sip of my water, trying to keep myself together. The last thing I need is to cause a scene.
I force myself to look at Logan, giving him a tight-lipped smile. It’s a failed attempt. He frowns. He feels bad for me, somehow knowing this story wasn’t one I wanted to relive.
“Hang on, I’m getting to the good part,” Abby says, touching Max’s arm. “Lena’s dress was completely soaked. I mean, an entire beer splashed across her chest, dripping to the floor. Instead of just leaving or going to the bathroom to dry it off, she decided to take her dress off.”
“What?” Max asks. His eyes widen as his gaze shifts to me. He grins. “You didn’t.”
“She did.” Abby nods. I’ve never seen her smile as big as it is now. “She completely took off her dress and tossed it into the crowd.”
My head pounds as I clench my teeth, feeling the muscles of my jaw tic with every second passing. I’m not sure why Abby felt the need to tell this particular story. There were a million stories we shared together and she just so happened to pick the most humiliating one. A story that was mine, not hers.
Max turns back to Abby. He’s been enthralled with her ever since we sat down for dinner, unable to take his eyes off her. I’m not sure how Abby feels about Max. We haven’t had a chance to talk about it so I’m not entirely sure what her intentions were with this dinner.
“What happened after she took off her dress?” Max asks between laughs.
Logan stays silent, sitting back in his chair. His hand rests on the table, clenched into a tight fist. The knuckles on his hand are now ghostly white from the pressure.
“All three of us got kicked out of the club,” Abby says lightly. She lifts her wine to her mouth, taking a sip.
“The three
