RE FALLING IN LOVE

Leone had just arrived at the party, after promising her best friend that she would make time to show up. She wasn’t interested in showing up at this high school/college reunion party just to see the faces she wasn’t acquainted with during those years of schooling.

But her best friend just had to force her to show up, and even the so-called best friend was absent. They were meant to arrive together two hours ago but Danielle White was late, having dropped an excuse that she had an important thing to do at her father’s company.

Leone didn’t care about that, her father’s company could go up in flames and she wouldn’t care. All she wanted was for Danielle to show up. If she had to go through this overbearing reunion, her best friend must be by her side.

Leone walked straight to the bar and motioned to the bartender to get her two shots of whiskey on the rocks. She was going to do her absolute best to avoid everyone here and leave when she feels she's spent enough time there.

Having swallowed what she was given, she faced the crowd of people she used to call her classmates from years ago. She wasn’t that bad with faces, she recognized a lot of them from the hallways or the morning assembly each time she had to stand and face them.

It didn’t mean she used to talk to them, she was just used to some faces she used to see regularly.

“Hey, Leone. Glad to see the woman that is on every front page can grace us with her presence.”

She recognized this person as John, a dude that used to be on her basketball team then. They were nothing more than teammates and never really had conversations outside their tournament sessions.

Leone only nodded towards the man with her empty glass raised and tipped towards him and he laughed. There was no need to exchange words with him, she was going to be out of this place very soon.

“Hey, everyone!” John proceeded to yell, drawing everyone’s attention to him and Leone, to the woman’s distaste. “See who showed up tonight. It’s Leone Martin!”

What Leone tried to avoid was already happening to her. Her classmates began to flock around her, questions were thrown left and right about why she didn’t converse with them since graduation.

They had a reunion before this, but Leone had clearly expressed her desire not to attend. It was a surprise the snobbish woman changed her mind this time.

Leone was very repulsed by the crowd that was beginning to form around her. She just wanted her space and now she wished she turned her best friend’s proposal down in the first place.

She was so used to saying no, why was it hard to say no when Danielle asked?

Murmurs about how she was always the hot topic on the news every week could be heard amongst them. Some even tried to use her success and popularity to their advantage by requesting assistance of all sorts.

“If you excuse me, I have to use the bathroom.” Leone pulled away from the crowd and walked to wherever the restroom was. She needed her space badly and probably needed to wipe herself down from whatever they would have used to touch her.