Love the Way You Lie (RedLipstick and Ambria)

[RedLipstick34]

October 19 is the most important day of the year. At least, that's what Adam's best friend would tell you. And every year, Adam was tasked with the job of making it important. Honestly, Micah would probably be pleased with the presence of beer and Alex's hot but unstable cousin. That wouldn't nearly suffice Adam's need to show off his money and take care of his friend, though, so he told Micah it was just beer and movies with the girls, almost always causing Micah and Skye to go on double dates with them though it never worked, and instead planned an extravaganza of sorts. He invited every single person in Micah's phone contacts. And, if you know anything about his best friend, you'll know that's a ton of people, and thanks to the boys fun loving lifestyle, almost all of them showed up. It was the exact type of party Micah loved and Adam hated, but he could do this for a few hours if it meant a happy 21 year old. He was busy pouring more chips in bowls when the door opened and everyone in the living room yelled surprise. Adam muttered a profanity under his breath and hurried through the crowd into the foyer to tell his elated best friend happy birthday. "You're growing up on me" he said, mocking a proud father and wiping an imaginary tear from his face before Micah wrapped him in a hug and accepted a beer. "I think the girls are still upstairs getting ready. The guests arrived a little early." He explained, leading Micah up the staircase and through the hall. "You must have mentioned free beer in the invite, then" Micah joked back, following obediently, and pumping a fist into the air to excite the watching crowd before disappearing. Adam knocked on his bedroom door a couple times before opening it. "You two look lovely, now come join the party, it's not a ball." Adam insisted, making his way over to Alex, wrapping arms around her waist from behind and kissing the top of his beautiful wife's head.


Micah always found their public displays of affection a little troubling, though he couldn't understand why. His own body made him look away or distract himself whenever Adam kissed Alex. Adam and Alex. Their names even fit perfectly. It was almost kind of gross. Maybe that's why he had to look away all the time: not because of the thing he feared, having feelings for an untouchable completely off limits girl, but just because they were so cute it made him nauseous. That's not to say he didn't admit to finding Alex attractive. Any man with the power of vision knew the Ellington cousins were hot. It was the late night movie marathons when Adam fell asleep on Alex's shoulder and left the two of them up to talk and joke about him and the movie together that bothered him. The times that he came over to hang out, and Adam got one of the frequent business calls and would be distracted for hours while Micah and Alex talked or ate or exchanged eye rolls at something Adam was saying on the phone that made him wonder. That one single time that drunk Micah finally kissed Skye, and the thought that maybe that's what kissing her cousin felt like. That's the one that worried him the most. It was fine. He would never act on it even if he did eventually decide there was something there. Adam was his brother from another mother. He was more important than some possible small crush. "Being completely legal feels good, huh?" Skye whispered in his ear on her way out the door, licking her lips and sliding past Micah in a way that insured their bodies grazing. "Thanks for the party, guys." he said to the love birds before turning to follow, back down the stairs to the party.

 

[Ambria]

The girls usually spent most of the nights together talking on and on about silly little things; romance, their love lives, etcetera. It was actually one of the best times to show off romance interests. While Skye's interests were constantly changing, Alex's was always the same things. Maybe they were slightly different in retrospect, but it was always about little cute, and sweet things that Adam had done for her during that last week or so.


Alex was in love. She never stopped talking about him. . . Some people got jealous, and others just pure annoyed. So what? All she wanted was to express how much she loved the man of her dreams. And he was that: the man of her deeams.


Alex looked down to her comfortable jeans and sweatshirt when he walked in and commented on what she was wearing. Though, all in all, that made the beautiful smile widen on her full, luscious lips. "Oh, babe, if I had any intention of going to a ball, you would have known by now." She winked, turning around to throw her shoes onto the floor so she could be even more comfortable. Who wasn't comfortable walking around totally bare foot?


Just as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, she could feel herself melting. It was like the way ice melted against your skin, for lack of better words. She tried her best to play it off as if no one was watching him place a kiss against her head. Though, after hearing Micha's sigh, from having to watch she and Adam, she moved away and went to see what they would be doing for the night. Yes, she really had no idea. She had been told, several times at that, but could never really remember the little things that her husband told her while they were curled up at night. Let's face it, she had bigger problems than wondering what they would be sound for Micha's birthday party.


What was it again? Come on, Alex! I know he told me. . . I just can't remember.


She rubbed her forehead, walking out just in time to see Micha and her cousin brush their body's against one another. What was it that made her sick at her stomach; the fact she knew how much of a. . . Well, that word isn't appropriate even if you grew up with a person. Seeing them together always rubbed her the wrong way even if it was her little cousin. Not because she was jealous, let's face it; she wasn't. She had everything she had wanted and whatever could ever want.


She knew about Micha's little crush. She'd known for so long it wasn't even funny. However, she wouldn't ever being it up to Adam. He'd be pissed, right? Of course he would. Alex was his wife!


"Babe. . ." She turned back to Adam, and took his hand in hers. "Shouldn't we be getting down there about now? They're going to get mad if they have to keep waiting for us. Especially your best friend." She nodded, gently, and playfully, pulling on his arm to get him to follow suit. Little did everyone know, Alex had a little announcement to make to everyone. Hopefully Adam wouldn't embarrass her in front of all of their friends.

 

[RedLipstick34]

Adam nodded at Alex's suggestion, right side of his lips pulled back in somewhat of a grimace. He really did despise parties like this. The faster Micah got so drunk he wanted to go home and sit on his couch half naked with action movies and his pet cat, and Adam could send everyone home, the better. Still, he struggled with his tie in the full length mirror on the back of their bedroom door, loosening it up and leaving it sloppy and hanging loose around his neck like he'd seen in movies, though he didn't know the point of wearing a tie like this. He didn't have the sort of casual clothes that everyone downstairs was wearing, so a button up and sloppy tie with dark jeans would have to do. Once it was sufficient, he closed the door behind him and followed the others downstairs, reaching to give Alex's hand a squeeze before maneuvering around her to find Micah again and support more drinks down his throat so this would be over quickly and he could work on the presentation he had due on Monday morning.


Micah was big on parties, and the more he drank, the more he made Adam drink, so it wasn't long before Adam was also a little buzzed, but he knew good and damn well he would be Micah's designated driver unless the boy found a bed buddy to go home with, so he tried to keep it to a minimum, never having enjoyed the feeling of being out of control and drunk anyways. Micah seemed to be having a good time at least. He was already immersed in his favorite music blaring from the stereo, women all surrounding the birthday boy. Adam smiled to himself as he sipped his own drink. Personally, he preferred parties that included expensive wine's and substantial meals and quite a bit of conversation, but it wasn't his birthday, and sweaty dancing people and beer was Micah's preferences, so if he had to suffer, all of their friends were suffering with him. Though no one looked too miserable being inside a house as extravagant as The Collins'

 

[Ambria]

Alex simply stood around and watched the close group of friends react to one another, to watch them converse, and what-have-you. She, strangely, felt out of place in a crowd like this. Her cousin was here, her husband was here, and Micah was here-- Then why did she feel so out of place? She couldn't put her finger on it. Nor would she be able to within the next few minutes.


Maybe I should just go. . . they're having a perfectly good time without me. And Adam is drinking again, what a surprise!





The woman rubbed the back of her neck gently, stepping out from the corner to walk to her husband once he was out of the way of all of their other guests. "Adam," She whispered, pulling on his hand. "are you really going to sit there and drink away the whole party?" She asked softly, looking to the glass that was held up in his hand. "I don't exactly think this is the best idea. Seriously, just put the drink down." Alex was being a little more insistent right now. Why? She was tired of him just rolling his eyes at her every time she asked him for something.


It was getting old, rather fast as well.


She sighed, giving up in an instance. "Go ahead, drink away your life. It's not like you have time for me, or your friends, or anyone else for that matter!" She growled in a low tone. Maybe the whisper was in hope that no one would hear her jumping on him about that. Hopefully it worked, too. "I'm done for tonight. With you, that is. I'm going to have some fun with people I care about. I.e., my cousin and Micah."

 

[RedLipstick34]

"Micah and your cousin are already having fun, at this party. Good luck tearing them away from it. It's his birthday, Lexi, I figure that's special occasion enough to drink. Stop being so damn uptight." Adam snapped back at his wife, finishing off his beer with one gulp. Adam wasn't that big of a drinker, but he did get snide and a little rude when the substance was in his system. He told himself that wasn't the reason for his attitude, though, Alex was. Besides, she was the one that came at him with an attitude in the first place. "God forbid someone have fun around you, right?" He added with an eye roll. He didn't want to be mean to his wife, he was sure there was something deeper bothering her than his having the first beer he'd drank in months. Maybe he wasn't showing her enough attention again, that was a popular one. Adam couldn't help it if he didn't do romance, she knew that going into the relationship. Couldn't she just be grateful for the good life and house he was giving her?


"I don't want to fight right now. I'm sorry I was rude. We'll talk later?" He finally said, shoulders slumping to show her that she had won. He loved Alex more than anyone he'd ever known, but relationships were quite frequently infuriating and unless he backed down from an argument they could go on for days. He kissed his wife's cheek, and moved through the crowd again, deciding he should probably get a soda as long as she was downstairs watching.


Skye didn't know the first thing about the guy she was dancing with. Well, no, that's a lie. She knew that he was definitely a good kisser. His mouth was doing quite exciting things to her own and she fluttered her eyelashes open just long enough to make some sexy eye contact with him when she caught a glimpse of something going on between Alex and Adam. She excused herself, telling the man not to move an inch so that she could find him later, and then moved through the dancing people and over to her cousin once Adam left for the kitchen. "Trouble in paradise?"

 

[Ambria]

Alex found her heart racing, pounding with anger. Had she not forced herself to calm down, she might have done a bit of damage to her husband's prideful self. Though, she had caused herself to calm down. She wasn't going to ruin this party for Micah. He deserved something nice. Adam, though? Oh, he'd get an earful later. Not just for calling her uptight, but for practically embarrassing her in front of all of his friends when she was trying her best to keep things between them.


"God forbid someone have fun around you." The words replayed in her head over, and over again. To the point that she couldn't even acknowledge the rest of the world, let alone him when he leaned in to kiss her cheek and apologize. Maybe, even if she had been paying enough attention to what he was saying, what he was doing, it wouldn't have been enough for her to just back down all of a sudden. I mean, granted, she trusted him, but right now those stupid words of his continued to flood her beautiful mind.


Maybe I'm really just that boring. I guess, I should just stop paying attention to the things he does. . . God knows it doesn't make much of a difference to anyone else beside me. I just stress for nothing.


When Skye spoke, however, she practically jumped out of her skin. She hadn't even known anyone was listening, or even paying attention for that matter. "Yeah." She murmured, brushing a hand through her long blonde hair, before pulling it up into a messy bun. "Is that really so surprising for you?" She asked, almost chuckling to herself at the thought of people thinking their relationship was perfect. They were far, far from perfect. "I mean, yeah, he kisses on me when you guys are around. Most of the time besides that, though, he's at work or busy. Don't get me wrong, but I hate this stupid job of his. It makes me wish we had nothing. . . just us. . . maybe even a family later on." She rubbed her forehead, before she leaned against the nearest wall. "Oh, sorry. . . I didn't really mean to dump all of that on you. You should be having fun. It's a party, right? You love these. Go have fun, Skye."

 

[RedLipstick34]

Skye hesitated, glancing over her shoulder at the hot guy who's tongue had recently left her mouth. It's not like there weren't decent looking average kissers all over town. She'd find another one for the sake of a good movie night, which the group was best at anyways, not parties. She held her index finger up at Alex, implying for her to hang on a second, and made her way over to Micah, whispering in his ear what she had witnessed, having a short conversation, and then returning to Alex. "Let's go upstairs. 'Wicked Little Things' is on Netflix now and Micah's been trying to get me to watch it for months. There's not problem that popcorn and hilarious low budget horror movies can't fix." She demanded more than offered, pulling on Alex's sleeve to drag her up the stairs and turning to give Micah a nod that the plan was on.


It was his twenty-first birthday and he would rather spend it cheering up his best friend's wife than getting drunk off his ass and having a good time. Something was wrong with that statement but regardless, Skye mentioned that Adam was drinking and being a dick, so it was team movie night to the rescue, minus one member, because he didn't plan on bothering Adam, who looked uncomfortable but drunk in the kitchen. Micah followed a few minutes after Skye whisked Alex away. He silently volunteered to be the popcorn popper, and struggled carrying two large bowls of popcorn and three soda's up the stairs. Once he made it, skillfully getting the bedroom door open, he kicked it shut behind him. "You guys are gonna love it. The budget had to be like five hundred dollars for that film." He explained, an excited tone playing on his slightly slurred speech. It took a lot to get Micah drunk, and four beers wasn't going to do it. Skye had fortunately made the plans just in time. Three drinks later and he would have been on the floor. "I take full responsibility for Adam being an ass, you can hit me if it makes you feel better. I'm his friend, hitting me will hurt him just as much." He then joked, grinning in Alex's direction, before closing his eyes and wincing as if he was waiting for her fist to make contact. "Get over here and find the movie, slave boy." Skye cut in, snagging the popcorn out of his hands and taking a seat on the bed.

 

[Ambria]

Alex let out a soft sigh as she was pulled up the stairs and to the bedroom. She wasn't sure about this. Though, right now, what was she able to be sure about anymore? Exactly. She had to think of her relationship as a fragile piece of shattered glass that, with one tiny nick, would be in two or more pieces all over the floor.


"Guys, I don't know how great of an idea this is. Adam is going to get mad. . . I mean, I really had wanted to tell him something tonight, but then I had to go ahead and ruin it." She moaned, plopping onto the bed once Micah had came back into the room. "Plus. . ." She whispered, sitting back up to see he and Skye. "You guys really shouldn't abandon the party for me. It's worth a hell of a lot more to Adam that you enjoy that damn party of his than it is that I'm upset. Okay? So, really. . . I love the whole idea and all. . . but if you guys would rather be partying down there , please, please don't you dare let me stop you. "Did she mean it? Hell yeah. She wanted them to be happy, because she cared a lot about the two of them. She did love spending time with these two. It was something she didn't get to do very often. With her schooling and Adam's job. They didn't have much time.


The last thing Micah said made her practically die of laughter. He couldn't truly mean that, right? He'd get more than a slap across the face if she was actually that bold. Which, she wasn't. So, good for him. The offer was rather tempting though! "Oh, really? You think one slap would help me feel better about the fact that he's down stairs plastered while I'm trying to tell him I was pregnant and kind of lost the baby while he was away? Nah. Honey, the only thing helping him right now is that beer. And what's keeping me sane, might you ask, is this damn movie and my two buddies. . ."


Wait, she didn't just admit to that, did she? Crap. Right now wasn't really the time to bring up her miscarriage. She knew that. She had kind of wanted to talk to her husband about the whole thing first but she never had the chance. She, just as she had planned to tell him the excited news of their first child, everything fell apart and she lost it. He wasn't home, no one was. She was all alone, scared, not knowing what to do -- it was like those years of nursing training had just gone through the window. But now here she was, sitting with the last people she wanted to tell, spitting it out like it was some stupid joke.


"Ju-just ignore that..." She whispered, shaking her head.

 

[RedLipstick34]

Micah was barely paying attention, scrolling through Netflix for the movie, drinking his soda out of a crazy straw he found in a drawer, when the confession leaked. It took a moment of silence in the room for the information to process, and then he set the controller and soda down to crawl into the bed with the girls. If he knew anything about Adam, it was that this was going to seriously piss him off. And the fact that Micah and Skye found out before him was going to make it even worse. He wasn't sure what to say, what do you say in that situation? Is there any right or wrong? He smiled in silent thanks at Skye, who was wrapping her arms around Alex and pulling her closer, pretty face rested on top of Alex's stunning one, trying to avoid the bun of blonde hair next to her. Skye stared at Micah with an expectant look, though, obviously expecting him to be the first to say something and he struggled for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "That really sucks, Lex. Ignoring it probably isn't a good idea, though. Have you been to some sort of doctor?" He was sure this wasn't his place. He was the fun friend that made he laugh and cheered her up on the slight occasion that Adam wasn't around or didn't care enough. This was deep territory that he shouldn't be in without Adam around. He considered leaving and letting the girls talk, but that would be rude, too. So he leaned forward to place a hand on her knee, running his thumb back and forth gently for lack of ideas on what else he was supposed to do.

 

[Ambria]

Alex moved away. She felt clostrophpbic with all of the people around her. "No, no. I didn't go to the doctor at all! I just sat here all by myself." She rolled her eyes, "of course I went. I was actually relieved to be honest with you. . . It would have been way, way too unplanned. We weren't and still aren't ready for that kind of commitment." She said, running a hand down the back of her neck and to her shoulder once she was finally away from everyone else. She couldn't stand being held like that. It wasn't something she preferred. It just made her feel trapped, regardless of how caring it was. "No, it's seriaouly okay." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I really wasn't going to tell him anyway. Apparently, I'm not exactly made to carry to full-term as it is. He knows that. Probably why we don't ever really worry about anything happening. So, would you guys stop this and let's just watch the movie? Adam will live. I promise."