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

Alison

'Don't you think you owe me an explanation?!,' Peter whisper-shouted, looking at me from over his laptop. I just gave him a stare, tearing my eyes from an email on my phone.

'I owe you exactly nothing,' I just said, looking back at the email. He grunted and closed his laptop. We were sitting in a coffee shop in Soho, catching up and reviewing a few shoots he had done in the past month.

'But... HOW?!,' he just asked, his eyes wide and his hands up in question. 'Did my peptalk at the airport help?' He smirked.

'No, it wasn't your peptalk,' I answered without looking up, typing an answer to the email.

'Then what the fuck happened for you to get back with Oliver fucking Sy –'

'Pete,' I just said sternly. 'Sssht.' I stared at him, annoyed and amused at the same time. He chuckled.

'What? It's not that your relationship is not out there,' he said airily, finishing his coffee. He was right; the entire world now knew Oliver and I were back together. The photo he had posted in his story on Instagram had gone viral with Bring Me's fans, and my account had been spammed with notifications after that. As a result, I had gained quite a lot of new followers, mostly fans from Oliver who watched my every move on Instagram. I had decided to just keep it professional and only post about my work, but that one time Oliver had been visible in the back of a story when he had accompanied me to a shoot just for fun, hadn't stayed unnoticed. The reactions of fans were mostly harmless, but I still had a hard time letting go of the negative comments sometimes.

I looked at my phone when it buzzed, and smiled immediately when a text from Oliver popped up.

[Oliver]: 'Come see me at the DD store when you're done, and take Peter with you xx'

'Ugh, look at you, all happy with a text from mister Sykes,' Peter teased. I lifted my middle finger to him and he laughed. 'I'm joking, I'm actually really happy for you, Ali.'

'Sure you are. When you have finished your coffee, care to join me to the Drop Dead store?,' I asked. He frowned.

'Why?'

'Because mister Sykes himself requested for you.' I chuckled at his confused face.

'Why?' He asked again. I shrugged, feigning ignorance. He put his laptop in his bag and we got up. I paid for our coffees and we headed out.

'I've never been to the Drop Dead store,' he said excitedly. I hummed a bit, thinking about how the last time I had been there had been three years ago. It felt weird to go back there, to be honest. But I guess that's what I got for dating Oliver again.

'Is Oli there too?'

'Yup.' I held in a smile at his nervous chuckle.

'What does he want from me?'

'Your soul,' I joked.

'Oh, he can have it,' Peter said immediately, sounding very dedicated. I laughed and shook my head.

'What happened to that guy you told me about?,' I then asked, suddenly remembering our conversation at the airport a few months ago.

'I owe you nothing,' Peter threw back my words at me. I shot him a look and sighed. I loved his energy and witty remarks. We halted for a red light and waited until we could cross the street. Then he sighed and gave in. 'We went on a few dates, he took my virginity and then dumped me.' I gave him a shocked look.

'Oh, Pete, I am so sorry.' He shrugged.

'Well, at least I got some experience out of it.' He laughed a bit, but the joy didn't reach his eyes. I gave him an empathetic look and put my arm around his shoulder for a moment, while we crossed the street and walked in silence for a while.