“Beth!”
Looking in the direction my name was called, I spotted Meg. She walked over with some restriction of her leg movement due to the lime green dress she was wearing. It was hemmed at her thighs, and very tight. However, she looked lovely. When she breezed over to me I noticed, that her eye makeup matched the colour of her dress, with ice-pink lipstick. We hugged.
“HI!” I shouted over the music. We hadn’t seen each other in weeks. Actually, I hadn’t seen anyone, because I hadn’t been anywhere. I had been so busy with everything else. “You look lovely,” I gushed.
“Thanks. You don’t look too bad either. Are you coming over? The others are dying to see you.”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there. I’ll just tell Jason where I’ll be.”
“I’ll come with you. It’ll be nice to see Jason and Sam.”
Every time anyone mentioned Sam’s name, I felt a little pang of sickness. I think that was my body’s way of telling me to feel guilty. Come to think of it, I hadn’t really seen either Sam or Russell in a while, either. I guessed that they’d been off somewhere, making up.
My stomach did a flip. I wasn’t sure whether it was because I just thought of Russell, or because I saw Russell kissing Sam. I went over to the table where my friends were; they all cheered when they saw me. I was glad to see that Ben, Izzy, Joe and Rachel had all come.
“Hi, guys! You all look gorgeous!” I said
“Hi, Beth. How’s Jason?” Joe asked, with Rachel sitting on his lap. They had always been inseparable. Ever since they got together, five years ago.
“Good, thanks. So, what have you all been up to?” I enquired as I pulled a chair out. I looked around the table at all of them. Izzy took the lead.
“Not much. It’s been quiet without you around. Joe and Rach have been boring and staying in all the time, and Ben’s still pining over Sam. So, it’s only been Meg and me.”
“Oh, thanks, Iz,” Meg said. She looked slightly indignant. “Anyway, Ben’s always pining over Sam.” At this, everyone looked over at Ben.
“No, I don’t,” he said. He was beginning to shade red in his cheeks.
“Ben, every time she’s in the same room there isn’t anyone can get a word out of you.” Meg took a sip of her drink.
Everything went quiet. Ben stood up and said, “I’m going to get a drink.” With that he strode off in a bit of a huff. I turned to look at Megan.
“Leave off him, Meg. You know how sensitive he is when anyone mentions Sam to him,” I giggled.
“Well, I wish he would just admit it. It’s so annoying! Everyone knows it.”
“I think he likes to ignore the fact because she doesn’t return the feelings. So just ease up on him a bit.”
“Yes, OK!” Meg snapped.
We carried on talking for a bit. I decided to go to the toilet. By the outer bar, I could hear a small commotion. Walking towards it, I saw what it was. Standing by the second, larger bar Sam and Russell were arguing.
This was all we needed. I just hoped they weren’t arguing about what I thought they might be arguing about. It crossed my mind to walk away and let the matter sort itself. Then I thought of Mum and Dad. It was their night. Why should I stand by and watch the night be ruined by those two? I walked over to them before it became any louder.
“What’s going on?” I questioned them both. Russell looked angry. I don’t think I’d ever seen him that mad. He looked at me.
“Why don’t you ask your little sister? That is, if you can get any sense out of her.” Looking at Sam, I could see she was a bit unsteady on her feet. “That’s all she spends her time doing, getting drunk!” Russell continued.
I stared at Sam. “Why, Sam? This is their anniversary. We spent a long time organising this, and for what? So you can ruin it by arguing and showing us up?”
Sam was near to tears. She slammed her drink down on the bar.
“Why don’t you point your anger at him?” Sam spat out. I looked back at Russell. I was becoming dizzy with the back and forth. Sam went on, near to sobbing: “Do you know what it’s like living with a robot? You don’t do anything, Russell! You don’t talk to me; you don’t make love to me. Do you even like me, anymore?” The tears were streaming fast down her angry, flushed cheeks.
I was beginning to feel uncomfortable. This disagreement could turn and become deadly at any second. Russell was stunned. He looked at me, then Sam and finally back to me, again. I gazed at him imploringly, silently screaming at him not to say anything about the two of us.
At last, he spoke. “Do you blame me?” He had calmed down and was talking in a peaceful manner. I just hoped that he wasn’t lulling us into a false sense of security.
“Why? Whatever have I done to you?” By now, Mum and Dad, along with a few other people, had come to see what was going on. I reassured them that all would be well, and that I would sort the mess out. They went back to the party, Mum looking over her shoulder and still obviously worried.
“At first, nothing, but now all you do is drink and drink. You’re never home, and when I am around you, you’re miserable,” Russell explained in as normal a voice as he could. Sam fired up again.
“You liar!! How could you say this crap? I’m always happy! You ask any of my friends!”
With fire in his eyes, he said venomously, “Yeah, your friends! Who wouldn’t wanna hang out with a bunch of alcoholics, huh, Sam?”
“You bastard.”
Just as she was about to retaliate Russell spoke again. “Forget this, I’m out of here!”
Then without another word, he was gone.
CHAPTER 12
Watching Russell walk away was heartbreaking. I felt empty. I didn’t want this to happen; any of this. I suddenly felt helpless and very much alone.
I took a side-glance at Sam. She had tears welling in her eyes, which she was trying to blink away, while downing another drink. This was terrible. I blamed myself for all this mess and destruction.
I leaned over the bar and ordered a drink for myself. I didn’t want to even look at her; I was afraid that she would see the shame in my eyes. I looked down instead.
“What am I going to do?” Sam slowly spilled out. “I thought you having that talk with him would make it better. It’s just made it worse.” She took another gulp of whatever she was drinking.
“I’m sorry, Sam. It’s all my fault.” I put my head in my hands.
Sam looked at me, slightly stunned.
“What do you mean, ‘your fault’?” Her eyes bore into me.
“I was the one that spoke to him.”
She looked away.
“You’re not to blame, Beth. It’s over. I think it’s plain he doesn’t want to be with me anymore.” She got up from where she sat. I took her arm gently.
“Sam...” She looked at me. I paused and took a breath. What could I say to her that would make it better? Nothing. “I’m here for you, if you ever want to talk.” She wore her dejection plainly on her face. Then she walked off, back to the party. I sat there for a while just thinking. I felt a little drunk, so I put my drink down unfinished and walked back into the main room.
Seeing Mum’s expression, I went to their table, and tried to put their minds at rest. I sat down next to Mum, and held her hand. Sitting there with Mum and Dad were Daisy and James, their closest and longest friends.
Daisy and James were with Oliver, their son. Ollie was 34; tall, dark and quite handsome. We used to play together when we were younger and he would always try to wind Sam up. Then there were times that we would pretend that we were getting married. Those were the days. Now, though, I’d grown up and he was like a cousin. Besides, I had other things on my mind these days.
“Oh, hi, Aunt Daisy; hi, Uncle James; hi, Ollie.” I said
“Hello, lovey. Are you OK?” Daisy asked.
“Yes, thanks,” I said, still holding onto Mum’s warm hand. I looked at Mum. “It’s all blown over now,” I told her.
“Where are they?”
she asked
“Sam’s in here, somewhere, and Russell went off home, I think. Hopefully to cool down.”
Daisy looked puzzled.
“What’s wrong?” Daisy asked
“It’s Sam and her boyfriend,” Mum began. “Nothing to worry about; they just had an argument.”
I changed the subject, as this conversation was headed into hazardous territory.
“Where’s Jason?”
Mum pointed her finger.
“There,” she said. I looked in the direction of her finger, but I couldn’t see anything. “Over there, see him now?”
At last, I could make him out. He looked like he was with his family.
“Yes, he’s sat with his mum and dad,” I said. For a minute, I could have sworn Sam was with them. I was probably just looking at his sister, or someone that looked like Sam. I sat back and relaxed. One of my favourite songs came on and I had to go and dance; I hadn’t danced all night.
I got Meg, Izzy and Rachel up with me. We danced hard; so hard, that by the 3rd song, I was starting to sweat.
“This is great! We have to do this more often.” I shouted over the music.
“That’s what we’ve been trying to tell you!” Izzy replied, swinging her arms.
During the 5th song, I saw lots of exaggerated arm movements and what sounded like raised voices from Jason and, looking closer, Sam. I stopped what I was doing, and hurried over to see what was going on.
“Jason, what’s wrong?” I demanded
Jason turned round.
“Beth, its Sam. She needs to go home; she absolutely off her face!”
I was taken aback.
“What’s she done?”
His breath came out of his nose, like a bull in a ring.
“My mum asked her if she was OK. Sam’s response wasn’t too polite.”
“Oh, God! Sorry! Tell your mum to ignore her. I tried to calm Sam down and obviously it didn’t work.”
“Mum tried that, too, and Sam just kept the abuse coming. Beth, you’re gonna have to get rid of her; that was bang out of order.”
“OK, Jase. I’ll try to move her up by my mum.”
He shook his head.
“That’s not enough. She needs to go home.”
“I know that, but I can only do so much.”
“Can’t you tell your dad or something?” Jason asked.
“I’m not ten, Jason.” I sighed. He wasn’t going to let this go. Once Jason had something, he was like a dog with a bone.
“So let me get this straight: your drunken sister abused my mum and you’re not going to do anything about it?
“Now you’re being silly. I’ve apologised, but Sam’s a grown woman, and I’m not going to ruin Mum and Dad’s night because you’re not happy with what I’ve suggested.”
I could tell he was getting angrier and angrier.
“No, God forbid, you ruin your mum and dad’s night. I didn’t think you liked my mum as soon as you met her. Well, now I know.”
I couldn’t believe my ears! Why was he being like this with me? I hadn’t seen him for most of the night, and then when I did, he was causing trouble between us.
“What is wrong with you?” I had just about had enough. I could feel my temperature rising, but I wasn’t going to lose it and have a slagging match. “Look, let’s just calm down. This is becoming silly, Jase.”
He folded his arms. I guessed this wasn’t going to be the end of it.
“Why? Have you realised that you’re in the wrong?”
“Are you trying to have an argument with me? And you had better stop shouting, as well!”
“Or what?” he snapped.
I sighed aloud and looked ’round the room. Thank the stars that nobody was looking at us.
“I think you should go and sit back with your family, Jason, and calm yourself down.”
“No, I don’t think I will. I think my family and I will be going home instead!”
“Jason, this is completely ridiculous. You’re behaving like a child.”
His mouth screwed up tightly.
“Well, this child’s bedtime has been and gone. So if you don’t mind, we’re off.”
He moved back to where his mum and dad had sat all night. As they were talking, Jason’s mum looked over at me, her face full of contempt. I gathered that he was blaming me for all that had gone on between us in the past 10 minutes. Well, that was typical. Trying to get his mum to like me was hard work, and Jason wasn’t helping.
I sauntered over to Sam, treading with caution since all that had happened. I understood that she was having a bit of a bad time with things at the moment, but I was beginning to get rather irritated that she couldn’t contain her emotions. I’d already tried to cool things down, and she hadn’t taken any notice, so now it was time to tell her as straight and sympathetically as I could still manage.
I sat next to her and mentally prepared what I was going to say. She, again, had a drink in her hand. I was hoping that it was the same drink from before. However, due to the state that she was in, I doubted this very much.
“Sam.” I was hesitant to say anything to her. This reminded me of thriller films I’d watched in the past. You know that you shouldn’t go in the haunted house, but you still do, on your own, and then you get slain by the monster. She twisted her head to face me and as she did, it wobbled uncontrollably. Her eyes were glazed over. This probably meant that I wasn’t going to get much sense out of her. “I think you should go home. Sleep it off.”
She blinked very slowly. You could see her thinking over what I had just said.
“What?” Sam looked confused.
“Why don’t you go home and sleep it off? It looks like you’ve had enough.” I put lots of concern into my voice, so as not to make this sound like a scolding.
“Why don’t you mind your own business? It’s your fault all this happened, anyway. Now he’s gone, and I don’t know where. I just wanna have a drink and be left alone. All everyone keeps doing is having a go at me. Why don’t you piss off, and go and be Miss Popular somewhere else.”
I groaned and lifted my eyes skywards. She was slurring her words, and her breath stank of alcohol.
“Sam, please...”
She narrowed her eyes at me and leaned forwards. Her head bobbed up and down in a drunken, rhythmic movement.
“If you don’t go now, then I’ll make sure that I really ruin this party for everyone. Got it?”
That was the final straw! I had had enough.
“Look Sam,” I growled through my teeth, “I’ve just about had all that I can take from you. This is ridiculous! I have tried to help you time and time again, but to no avail. Every time you have asked me, I have stepped in and put a bandage on whatever hurt you had at the time. I am sick of the way that you behave.
“So, what—you’re having trouble at the minute? Doesn’t everyone? I don’t see them acting like you. Who cares that you keep arguing with your boyfriend? It happens to all of us. You are conducting yourself as a child would. You have no self-control and you are making this party a living nightmare. Why don’t you put someone else’s feelings in front of yours, for a change?”
I got up, started to stride away, then turned back. “Not everything is about you. The sooner you recognize that, the better. Otherwise I can see you having a very unhappy life.” With that, I moved off across the room. I needed to be as far away from her as I could get, right now. Sitting in a corner of the hall, I rubbed my temples to ease the tension that was built up in my head. I watched everybody laughing, dancing and enjoying themselves and wished that I could, as well. I looked at Mum and Dad, and from what I could see, they’d forgotten all about the Sam and Russell incident.
Mum was chatting nonstop to Aunty Daisy, and Dad was having what looked to be a serious conversation with Uncle James and Ollie. I drew that conclusion from all the hand movements that Dad was making. I decided the lights weren’t helping with my headache, so I put my head into my hands a
nd tried to drift away.
“Beth, are you all right?”
I looked up and saw Megan standing over me. I nodded my head.
“Yeah, I’ve just got a headache. Family pain. It’s moved from my ass to my head.”
“What’s wrong?” She sat alongside me.
“It’s Sam. She’s being a bit of a nuisance.”
“Tell me. That’s what friends are for.”
I smiled and felt more human again. I would have to go careful what I said to Meg, as otherwise she would probably march over to Sam and give Sam a piece of her mind, too.
“It’s nothing really. She had a row with Russell, he walked off, and from then on she’s been getting legless and bugging everyone off, including me.”
Meg looked over to where Sam has sat.
“Well, she’s not there now, or I’d tell her a few home truths!”
I swallowed in relief, as that would have made matters worse. Unfortunately, there was no telling Megan “no.” She did what she thought was right at the time, and God help anyone in her path.
“Why don’t you come and sit with us? We’ll have a laugh and a drink, and dance the night away. Huh?”
I thought about it for a second.
“No, that’s OK. I’ll sit here and try to get rid of this headache.” I smiled a weak smile.
“Sure. If you change your mind, then you know where we are.” She squeezed my shoulder, as she stood up. “Beth?” I looked up at her with tired eyes. “You know that I’m here for you, don’t you?”
That sounded familiar. Nodding my head, I replied yes, and then Meg walked back into the crowd
After sitting for 10 minutes with no relief from the nails shooting into my head, I stood up and began walking over to Mum’s table. Everything felt a little foggy. It must have been all the stress and tiredness catching up with me. With work being hectic at the minute, and organising this party, perhaps I should have try to calm myself down a bit.
Moving out into an opening, I could see the table that I wanted. I could see Mum and Uncle James talking. Dad and Aunty Daisy weren’t there, though. Then Sam came into focus. Oh, God. I hope she had relaxed by now, and I hoped that Meg hadn’t seen her. I don’t think I could take any more anger and resentment. Closer to the table, I began to feel nervous. It got worse and worse as I neared them. Sam saw me. This was it. Which way was it going to go?
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