The sounds of glasses clicking together were soon followed by the sound of joyous laughter. "After four long and painful years I cannot believe we graduated." Maddie, her friend called before downing her shot.
Seated in a private booth at their favourite club, they often came to the place when they had rough weeks and felt they deserved a really nice 'I won't remember shit tomorrow' kind of weekend. But to today was different, they enjoyed the low hum of the music and the countable number of people here and there, the mundane of the Wednesday afternoon. They were drinking on a Wednesday because they all had just graduated and walked the stage just the day before, so they felt they needed to take the opportunity to get drunk on an afternoon together one last time before their lives get hectic.
Autumn watched her friends follow after the first one downing their shots. Once the burn passed the girls turn to her, "So?" Sydney started.
She gazed at them with patience, "The plan still the same now that you are a grad?" Lucia added.
Autumn nursed her drink a bit before taking a sip and answering, in a half hurt, half joking manner, "How could it when Jenn is leaving?"
"Only for a year. Aut." Her friend reassured.
"Still hurts and puts a pin on mandatory girls' night." she pouted as she voiced her pain.
"Avoiding the question, how very you." Syd commented.
Autumn could not get mad at that comment because it was, in fact accurate. She often avoided talking about anything that might lead to talking about her boyfriend. The girls made it clear to her that they hate the guy's guts. If she was honest with good reason too, though she would never admit that to her friends, if she was not his biggest defender, who would be?
"I still do plan on moving in with Pete." She answered finally giving into the glares her friends were shooting her. "Oh, and I got a job at Meca Accounting firm. Is that not nice." She added to try and distract them from her first statement.
"I knew it!" Syd was the first to voice her distress.
"Moving in with him? Why? Girl you should be breaking things off with him." Lucia questioned.
Maddie joined in after downing another drink, "Luc is right, you are writing a new book, maybe it is time you left the old one behind."
She turned to her childhood best friend for a little support but the look on Jenn's face made her realise that she was getting none, the subtle head shake Jenn added solidified that realisation. Jen was team 'dump Pete'.
"Ladies, we have been together for four years, does it not stand to reason that we take the next step in our relationship."
Lucia looked at her like she had said something offensive, to them she might as well had, "Four years during which you were on and off."
She smiled and defended, "We always found our way to each other even when we broke up."
"He cheated on you. Once with your stepsister." Sydney attacked.
"We worked through that and we are stronger now for it. He is not perfect, but he is trying."
Autumn turned to Maddie waiting on her addition, "He is a dick and the worst."
"I love him." she closed.
"That maybe so, but it does not change the fact that you deserve better, Aut. You are too great to be chained down by such a man." Jenn spoke in a seriousness that made Autumn's heart tighten and her stomach twist in a weird way.
She took a breath and closed her eyes, letting her friend's words sink in. It was true that her relationship with Pete was not peaches and roses. It was anything but. She has been hurt, lied to cheated on and manipulated but she always let him back in every time.
At first the apologies were sincere enough to make her believe it was a mistake; it would not happen again. But somewhere along the line she had convinced herself that she loved him enough to forgive him for anything, she was afraid of losing him. Afraid she could never find anyone else who would be willing to love her like he does. Autumn knew she was afraid of being all alone.
These were things she never voiced out to anyone, not even her friends. They could never understand why she clung to the man so desperately. "Maybe, but I want him." she meekly admitted.
"What if he cheats on you again? Are you going to let him make a fool of you yet again?" Lucia started, "Look Aut sweetie, I get it, you love him. But we are just asking to make sure that you know what you are getting yourself into by moving in with him. It is a big step."
"And we need to be sure he won't hurt you again." Sydney added.
Autumn would normally be mad at her friends for persisting on this. But they were branching out to live their separate lives, sure they would still hang out every now and then, but they will not be glued together as they were the last four years. They would not be there to protect her as they have before. So, they needed assurance that she will be fine without them.
Autumn smiled at her girls, a toothy grin, "If he cheats on me or hurts me again, I promise I will end things with him for good."
They exchanged looks and still sceptical, but they let the topic go and went back to drinking and talking about their wildest times together. The drank till it was late and they had to get moving to prepare for the new chapters of their lives. The parting was sentimental but at least not permanent, they would meet again. Autumn reassured herself as she watched them all leave except for Jennifer who turned to face her looking like she had something to say.
"I am going to worry about you." her friend said.
"And I am going to miss you like crazy."
"I am serious Autumn. I worry about you. After everything that happened with your family, I do worry much about you. Pete is not helping the situation either. I would feel much better if you were far away from that douche."
"Then I would be all alone." The words seemed to make her friend understand so Jenn left it at that and hailed a cab for herself. Giving her friend a hug before she left, "Do not forget our mandatory calls Jenn."
"I won't." With that they parted.
On her way home, Autumn found herself thinking to how much she had to deal with during those four years, and how it did not help that her family was against her going to college. "You do not need a degree, you will marry and your husband will take care of you. Why do you want to waste money on something so unnecessary especially knowing how difficult our situation is. How selfish of you." her stepmother's words rung out in her mind.
She had pushed through and managed to get a scholarship. That should have been enough to quiet them but… "You should give that scholarship spot to your sister. Like I said before you do not need to go to college. You can marry; you are of age. Your sister needs it more than you do."
And her father had said nothing to her defence. He chose to say nothing. And if Autumn was honest, she preferred it that way, because every time the man got involved, he would always choose her younger sister over her, at least when he is silent, she could convince herself that he was remaining neutral.
Autumn walked into the house she dreaded and could not wait to leave when she moves in with Pete. She planned to let them know a day after the move or they would ruin it like they did everything.
She was lucky that she got to keep her scholarship because the sponsor would not allow the change. If they ruined this too, it would crush her. They had been strangely quiet about her graduation even after the ceremony, they said their congratulations and that was it. No comments that made her regret including them in her important life moments.
Autumn was lost in her thoughts when she heard a door open and an elder man come into view from her father's study. She knew the man, everyone in their city did. It was Mr Pierce. It was strange. Her family never did business with the Pierce family. So, what was the man doing coming out of her father's office.