Party 'til you pass out / When the party's over

2.13

'Who's Gemma?,' she asked with a confused look.

'What?,' I asked, only listening half because I was still distracted by the video game.

'Who's Gemma?,' Alison asked again. Hearing that name pulled me from gaming, and I snapped my eyes at her.

'Why?,' I asked carefully. Alison gave me a weird look.

'Because she is texting you.' I grunted a bit and paused the game, walking up to Alison and picking my phone from her hand before putting it back in my pocket.

'She's just someone I know,' I said, trying to sound casually. I felt Alison's suspicious stare burn into my back as I walked back to the couch. Looking back at her as I sat down again, I felt my phone buzz again in my pocket.

'Obviously she is, if she is texting you what you are up to tonight.' I sighed deeply and rolled my eyes a bit. I didn't want to talk about it with her, not now. Not when we were trying to mend our broken relationship and were on the right track of finding our way back to each other. But knowing Alison, she was not going to give in and let it pass this easily.

'She's just a friend, okay?,' I said defiantly. 'Can't I just have friends who text me every now and then?' Alison just gave me a harsh stare.

'I've never heard of her before.'

'That's because I met her when we weren't together,' I threw back. Her face fell a bit at that and I knew my answer hurt her.

'That kinda friend, eh?,' she asked quietly, smiling a pained smile and shaking her head to herself. She huffed and sighed deeply, looking at her laptop and then closing it again. She hid her face in her hands for a moment.

'Don't sit there and tell me you didn't hook up with anyone after we got divorced,' I told her. Alison peeked through her fingers and let out a short, joyless laugh.

'Honestly? No, I did not.'

'Not even with Brian?,' I asked, narrowing my eyes at her. I felt myself getting agitated. Alison turned a bit pale at that name.

'Brian and I -'

'Don't lie to me, Alison. I know you've been with him for a short while.'

'How do you know?!'

'Tom told me.' Her eyes turned dark and she looked at me furiously.

'So what then, Oli?!'

'Nothing,' I said, knowing damn well that only the idea of her being with Brian already made me fuming. 'We had separated, so neither one of us was doing something we shouldn't.' She just stared at me, then huffed.

'Glad you learned that lesson after all,' she muttered. I shot her a shocked look.

'That was low,' I hissed.

'No, you know what's low?' She got up and gathered her belongings, looking at me as she flung her camera over her shoulder by the strap, her laptop in her arm. 'Making me think we could work this all out, while you're still stuck on your fuck buddy, or whoever the fuck she is.' She gulped and walked off to the hall. I got up from the couch and followed her.

'Okay, if you really want to know; Gemma was my girlfriend for over six months last year, but hardly anyway knows about her. Not even my parents. Just Tom and the lads.' Alison froze and inhaled deeply before turning around to face me. 'I'm not sorry for trying to move on after we split, okay?' I just stared at her, holding up my hands in a questioning gesture. 'I was just trying to pick up my life and get back to normal, but even then, I realized it was harder than I thought...' Alison stared at me, her watery eyes scanning my face.