Tonight was probably going to be one of the most embarrassing nights of his life. Not only did he get incredibly drunk (almost to the point of passing out) but he was here, in a bathroom stall. Hiding like a coward and a fool.
He pushed his dark hair from his damp forehead; his cool hand felt good against his feverish skin.
Okay. This was it.
He gingerly pulled out his phone and unlocked it slowly; it was a good thing that he still had the dexterity to maneuver the little touch screen without dropping it into the toilet. Taking a deep breath, he dialed her number– 11 digits that he had memorized by heart. He pushed send and put the phone to his ear, thinking about how he could be at home right now instead of in a bathroom stall, drunk-calling a girl he barely knew.
It was her fault he was here anyway; raucous parties and copious amounts of alcohol weren’t really his sort of thing after all. But his best friend, Chris, had insisted. Chris had stormed into his apartment unannounced, picked out a dark blue button down for him to change into; saying something silly like it matched his eyes and that they had to go out. When he had asked why he had said (with a roll of his eyes), “Because Jade (Chris’ girlfriend) said that Ella would be there.”
Ella.
Even the thought of her name gave him butterflies. He had met her through Jade a few weeks prior at a dinner party and he had not stopped thinking about her since then. Once they had been introduced, she had smilingly reached for his hand to shake it; green eyes sparkling in mirth, her long hair forming a sort of fiery halo of red and gold around her. It made her already pale complexion glow in the dim lights of the restaurant. She had asked for his name and had laughed in delight when he introduced himself as Tom.
“Tom. I like it; it suits you.” She had said.
The whole night had seemed to go by like a dream as they talked and spent the entire time laughing and getting to know each other.
As the night slowly faded to a close, she discreetly slipped him her number, scribbled in her neat handwriting. Ella had smiled winsomely at him, imploring him to call her before they paid their bill and stood to leave.
And then it all went to hell.
They had walked towards the door together, still talking and laughing. Upon reaching the entrance, she had looked towards the street and her smile fell slack from her beautiful mouth. It didn’t hit him straight away that something was wrong; he had been so caught up in the moment, so blinded by her beauty and charm. Ella marched up to a handsome man across the street who was leaning against a dark sedan; it was clear from the way she gestured at him that she was upset.
“Ella you’re my girlfriend! You can’t just storm off and disappear when you don’t get what you want!” Tom wasn’t sure what happened next. All he could feel then was numbness; as if the sky had suddenly dumped ice cold water all over him. He had swiftly turned and walked away, not wanting to hear more.
You’re my girlfriend. The guy had said. And those three words continued to replay in his head as he went home that night. Tom could not even muster up the courage to call her or to ask for an explanation.
Until now.
He had, after all, come to this party because Jade had insisted that Ella would be there, and maybe he could get the answers to all the questions that had plagued his waking moments for days.
The phone continued its monotonous ringing and he blew out his breath in agitation.
He had waited for her to arrive at the club for a couple of hours; nervously downing whatever he could get his hands on just to steady the shake in his hands and to calm himself down. In the end, she had not shown up and he had drank too much tequila.
Tom wondered why he was even trying to contact her now; there was no hope. Things never worked out for him anyway. After all, he had met the girl he thought would be the one and after convincing himself that she was indeed perfect, he discovered that she was also incredibly unavailable.
Just his fucking luck.
“The subscriber you are calling is currently…”
Tom let out a soft groan of disappointment and cancelled the call, feeling drunk and defeated. This was it. He was giving up. It just wasn’t worth it; he had tried and failed. He was going to get out of the cramped bathroom stall, go home and pass out. Sighing, he unlocked the stall door and shuffled towards the sink when suddenly…
His phone rang.
—
NOTE: I wrote this for the Weekly Writing Challenge; but I will not be posting a part two; 1, because I’m lazy and 2, because I like where it ends. You can go ahead and make up your own ending and decide how it goes for poor Tom. Cheers! 🙂
Just Another Day 
Thoroughly enjoyed reading your post but I would encourage you to continue the part 2. That’s when you’ll be able to complete the story and we will be able to appreciate the complete picture here.
I had written part 1 of my story and had similar thought but I also remembered few disappointing books and movies that just didn’t do justice to uncovering the suspense. I believe writing part 2 would also be a good challenge. 😊
bitin lng! it could’ve been anybody. LoL!
Hahaha that was the challenge! Make it a cliffhanger! Hahaha 😉