"I really need to hang out with you guys again, it's been a while." I whine into my phone.

I'm talking to Xiu, and she is currently with Savannah. I can hear Savannah agreeing in the background, and I smile because I like how she's always in a cheerful mood. The two of them always have my back through thick and thin, which is something I'll always be grateful for.

"Come and get me." I say. "I just need a break from all of this."

"Okay, what's Dr. Rian's address?" Xiu asks.

I tell her the address, and she tells me that she'll be here soon. I get out of my pajamas and into an outfit. After a couple of weeks, I finally got my splint off, and so I'm limping around now. I don't really wear my brace like I'm supposed to.

That's something that Dr. Rian frowns upon, but I can't stand the brace. I know it's supposed to help my knee, but for me, it feels restricting and actually hurts a bit, so I tend not to wear it that much. Besides, Dr. Rian has been checking my knee daily, and regardless of my lack of wearing the brace, I'm still recovering.

After a while of waiting, I see the headlights of Xiu's car, and I make my way down the stairs. I look around, and I don't see Dr. Rian on the couch, and I accidentally run into Bruno. He's slightly startled by my sudden appearance since I've been upstairs for most of the day, but once he realizes that it's just me, he walks over in my direction.

He pouts, and I smile at him before crouching down to pet him.

"It's okay, Bruno. I'll be back," I say quietly. "Eventually."

I can faintly hear the horn honk outside, and I kiss Bruno before I walk out of the flat. I sit in the passenger seat, and Savannah taps on my shoulder. I look at her, and a card falls in my lap. There's a picture of me on it, and then I notice that there's a date as well as some other information.

"The hell is this?" I ask.

"Fake ID." Xiu and Savannah say simultaneously.

"And why did you make me a fake ID?" I ask, looking at the ID with furrowed eyebrows.

"I made all of ours, and because Xiu and I found this club that isn't too far from here." She cheers enthusiastically.

"So we're sneaking into a nightclub...why?" I ask.

"I just want to let loose tonight, and plus you said that you needed a break from reality." Savannah explains.

I look at Xiu, who has an amused grin spread across her face. Her hair is perfectly straight, and she has on a leather mini dress that's considerably short, and she has on sky high heels. Savannah has on a red mini dress that looks like it's so tight that she could barely move in it.

"I'm going back to my place so I can get you a dress." Xiu informs me.

We arrive at her house, and Savannah places me in front of Xiu's vanity. Make up is applied on my face, and I have on a leopard mini dress that barely covers my butt, and my hair is slightly wavy. I'm given a pair of Xiu's high heels, and I put them on and we all walk to her car. One of the things that the orthopedic doctor recommended was that I try not to wear heels or engage in something that's very physical, yet here I am.

Once we arrive at the club, we wait in line, and the music can be heard from outside of the club. Once we're inside, all I see are people packed like sardines. Gyrating and grinding on each other to the loud music. The music is so loud that I can feel the floor vibrating beneath my feet. I see a group of girls holding up one girl that appears to have vomit over her dress.

"She got white girl wasted." Savannah shouts loudly to us over the music.

Xiu and I both laugh, and we make our way to the dance floor. Even though I can't really dance, I'm having so much fun. We all sing along loudly to the song, and some people join in, while others just give us mean glares. Although we really shouldn't be here right now, I can't deny that it's fun to let loose every once in a while. We all grab each other's hands, and we make our way through the crowd to the bar.

"I wanna get fucked up tonight." Savannah says loudly.

"Let's do it!" I yell enthusiastically.

All three of us get shots of tequila, and we all count to three before we drink them. It burns my throat, and it leaves a warm feeling in my throat. Shot after shot, everything is a haze. My hearing is impaired, and everything sounds under water, or like I have cotton balls shoved in my ears. My throat feels like it would be on fire if someone lit it with a match.

We all drunkenly stumble around the club, and we make our way to the bathroom. I close the stall shut, and I pee on the floor. I start laughing at myself, and I snort loudly. I can hear Savannah struggling in her stall as well, and Xiu is just leaning against my stall door, waiting for me to come out so she can go next.

We go back to the bar for more shots, and this time we order the rainbow shots. I manage to drink them all, and I'm a hot mess. Sweat coats my body, and I've taken my heels off. Someone taps my shoulder, and I look back at the person. He's a tall man, brown eyes and brown hair with perfect tan skin. Definitely one of the most attractive men that I've come across in my lifetime.

"What's your name, bella?" He says, and his accent is thick.

He must be Italian. I recognize that saying because I read too many romance novels.

"I'm Alex," I slur. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm Fabiano, piacere di conoscerti, bella." He says, and flashes a perfect smile.

He orders shots, and swallows them down one by one, and I don't think he's affected by the alcohol. He must have a high tolerance. I can tell that he's talking to me, but I can't hear him. I just laugh and act like I can hear what he's saying. He just smiles back at me, probably amused by how drunk I am.

"Bella?" He asks, and I smile because I love his accent.

"I don't know-," I hiccup. "Whaaaaat the hellll thaaat means, but it's sooooo seeexy when yoooou saaaay ittt." I slur, dragging my words.

I place my hands on his chest, and I slowly move them up and down his shirt. He gives me a seductive smile, and I do the same back. There's no real feeling that comes with doing this, I'm just doing it because I can. My heart doesn't flutter excitedly, and there's no butterflies.

"You have beautiful eyes, bella." He says flirtatiously, and he slightly grasps my butt.

I'm not surprised at his actions, in fact, I'm kind of turned on by them. I place my hands on his waist, and I look up at him. I deserve to have fun every once in a while, and tonight seems like the perfect opportunity. I know that he wants me, and I want him.

"Taaaaake meeeee toooo your place, Fabianooooo." I drunkenly demand.

"Avventura di una notte?" He asks, and I tilt my head and furrow my eyebrows.

"Huh?" I ask.

"One night stand?" He asks, and I smirk at him.

"You can dooooo whateeeeever you want to doooo, bella." I say, drunkenly mocking his gorgeous accent.

He smiles, and I get a view of his perfect teeth. I hear a laugh rumble in his throat, and I laugh too before hiccuping.

"Alex, what're you doing?" A male voice asks sternly.

I turn around, and I throw up near Fabiano's shoes. Fabiano takes me into his arms, and I'm staring right in the eyes of Dr. Rian.

~~~

I wake up to the sound of Bruno whining, and licking my hand. I smile at him, and I groan when I realize that he's on top of me.

"What buddy?" I grumble and rub my eyes.

I pet Bruno before climbing off of the couch, and going into the kitchen to get something to drink. I check my phone, and it's a quarter until 2:00 a.m. My phone starts to ring, and it's my mother call. I groan internally and answer.

"Rian?" She asks in a panicked voice.

"Yes mom?" I say, already in irritation.

My mom loves me, and I love her. It's just her constant nagging that irks me. She's just constantly worried about me and my siblings, which I would understand if we were still younger. But we're all adults now, so it's doesn't make sense to constantly check in. I still love my mother.

"It's your father!" She says, and it sounds like she's been crying.

"Mom, what's wrong? What happened?" I ask worriedly.

"Well, I tried calling you but you wouldn't answer so I figured that you were at the hospital." She says and sniffs.

"Mom, you're scaring me. What happened to dad?" I ask.

"He has cancer. The doctor says that he only has about another year to live. I'm so sorry." She says and bursts into a sob.

My heart sinks in my stomach, and I feel the lump form in my throat. I run a hand through my hair, and I can't stop the tears from forming in my eyes. This is exactly like the time I found out that my aunt had ovarian cancer, and a copious amount of other cancers. Ovarian, liver, kidney, you name it. My aunt was never that healthy, and some of her cancers were inherited from some of her family members.

She died about less than a five months after the ovarian cancer started. Besides my parents, my aunt and I were inseparable. Like best friends, and whenever my parents were busy, I'd go to her house since it was a few blocks from where our house was. Just like my dad, she'd give me lessons about girls, and how to properly treat a woman, etcetera.

Now it's my father. I don't think I'll be ready for all of this to happen. He'll die, but I still won't be ready for the call I'll receive about his passing. There's no amount of preparation that you can go through. Losing a loved one will always hurt no matter what.

"Mom, I uh-," I swallow the lump in my throat. "I gotta go."

"Okay sweetheart, I love you. Please come up as soon as possible to visit us. We haven't seen you in a while and plus with everything that's happened, we really need all of the family's prayers." She says.

"Okay, I love you." I say.

I don't wait for her response, and I hang up the phone. I angrily throw it across the room, and it startles Bruno, causing him to run to the other side of the room. I sit back down on the couch, and I quickly wipe the tears off of my face. Bruno jumps on the couch, and he lays his heavy body in my lap.

"Oh, Bruno." I say in a silly voice and I cuddle with him.

After Bruno falls asleep, I take my car keys, and I drive to my favorite place to go whenever I'm upset. This place was where I used to go all the time before I started school to become a doctor and was glued to my desk that was filled with homework.

The loud music and drunken people stumbling around. The night before I got accepted into medical school, I was here, and this place holds a lot of memories. I was out with my group of friends, and one particular friend was leaving the country because he is in the Army. We all wanted to spend one last night with our friend before he was sent off to Africa. We all got hammered, and it was one of the best nights I've ever had.

I make my way through the crowd of people, and try to get to the bar.

"Taaaaake meeeee toooo your place, Fabianooooo." A very familiar voice slurs.

"What the hell?" I say under my breath.

I see her, and I'm taken aback. Alex. What's she doing here?

She's with some guy, and I instantly clench my jaw. The fact that she's not resting at home, and that she's in this club, trying to hook up with some stranger makes me feel nauseated.

"Alex, what're you doing?" I ask.

The man turns around, and Alex hunches over, and she vomits on the ground. We both weren't expecting it, and we slightly jump backwards to avoid it, and my heart sinks. If Alex is this intoxicated to where she's vomiting, she must not be thinking things through. She probably doesn't even know that she just told this guy to pretty much take her home and have sex with her.

"Bella, who's this?" The man asks, and I'm angered at how his hands are on her body.

"Her name is Alexandrianna." I retort.

"She introduced herself to me, and I'll call her bella whenever the hell I want. Pezzo di merda!" He shouts.

People start looking over at us, and I take Alex's hand, and the man shoves me. Some of the people look excited that we're causing a commotion, while others just try to concentrate on the music and having a good night.

"Who the hell are you?" I ask through gritted teeth. "What do you want from Alex?"

"I'm Fabiano, and she was just about to let me take her to my place." He says, and I'm trying my hardest to resist the urge to punch the arrogant asshole in his face.

"Like she would do that." I say.

"Dr. Riiiiannn, I waaaas." She slurs, and my eyes widen.

"Alex, why are you here?" I ask.

"Fake ID, motherfuckerrrrrrr!" She says and twirls around.

"You know that's illegal, right?" I whisper.

"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK!" She says and laughs.

"I'm soooooooo fuuuuccked uuuup, bruuuuh." She continues her slurring, and a smile tugs at my lip.

"Alex, let's go home. Okay, you shouldn't be here." I say sternly, and I take her hand again.

"Where do you think you're going with bella?" Fabiano asks.

"Anywhere away from you." I spit.

"Vaffanculo!" He shouts.

I turn around and I knock him out cold, and a few people around us gasp. Some people are laughing at him on the ground, completely motionless. Alex slaps my hand lightly, and I frown at her. Her eyes cannot seem to stay open, and her cheeks are extremely flushed, and that just confirms just how wasted she is.

"Youuuuuu didn't have to dooooo that to Fabianoooo." She slurs and smacks my hand.

"Stop it, Alex. I've had enough to deal with tonight." I say and drag her to my car.

"Let me gooooooooooooooo!" She stomps and whines like a little kid.

"No!" I say.

"Seriouslyyyyy, let me goooooo." She demands.

I turn around, and she's holding onto her stomach. She throws up again, and I move her hair away from her face. I just huff impatiently while waiting for her to finish her business so that I can take her back to my house. She's definitely going to need some rest, because I know her hangover will be nothing short of brutal.

"Thank you." She groans.

"Let's go back to my house, okay?" I ask.

"Okayyyyyy, fiiiiiinnee." She says.

I take her hand, and my thumb glides down her thumb as we walk to my car.