Beautiful Disaster

Breakdown

One hour after I arrived at the party, I had no idea where Sophia and Romeo had gone off to. I'd had more drinks than I should have and my head felt fuzzy, as if it were full of cotton wool.

I found myself dancing with Luca Giordano, who I wasn't at all interested in, though you wouldn't think that by how close we were dancing.

Our bodies were pressed together, our faces inches apart, his hands on my hips as I swayed to the beat of the music. He leaned his face closer to mine and I realised that he was going to kiss me and at the same moment, I realised that there was nothing I wanted less than to kiss this boy.

As if he'd sensed my discomfort, Loren suddenly appeared beside us, with an expression on his face that reminded me of a thunder storm.

It took Luca a moment to notice him, but when he did, a frown appeared on his face, as if he couldn't understand what was going on.

"You have a problem?" He asked Loren, slurring the words slightly because of the amount of alcohol that he'd had to drink.

Loren shook his head, a look of disgust crossing his face as he grabbed my elbow softly and began to pull me away from Luca. Luca grabbed my other arm, somehow managing to keep me close to him, and I saw Loren's gaze drop to Luca's hand on my arm, his expression changing into something even more dangerous.

"What's your problem, man?" Luca demanded, sounding annoyed now.

I somehow knew that this wasn't going to end well, but I couldn't bring myself to care, probably because of how much I'd had to drink.

"Right now, you are my problem." Loren said, his voice harsh and filled with a barely leashed warning that Luca didn't seem to comprehend, if his next actions were anything to go by.

"Find your own girl. This one is il mio." Luca sneered.

As soon as the words left his mouth, I saw Loren's expression change once again and I knew that this definitely wasn't going to end well. The moment that Luca had called me his, Loren had gone into protector mode and that wouldn't bode well for whoever got in his way and right now, Luca was in his way.

"She's not a toy that you can claim, asshole. Let her go before I have to make you." Loren said, his voice calm and cold. I could detect the barely leashed anger underneath, but it seemed Luca was oblivious.

"I told you to find your own girl, asshole." Luca spat, though the intended effect was lost because of how much the words were slurred.

I could see the situation escalating quickly, so I pulled my arms out of both of their grips and turned and walked away from them, unable to deal with this situation right now.

I'd made it onto the front lawn by the time Loren caught up with me and I felt as if I were going to be sick. Loren caught my arm and stopped me in my tracks, but I didn't turn to face him.

"You okay?" He asked after a moment, a hint of concern in his voice.

I spun to face him, suddenly feeling angry. I didn't like the way he'd acted as if I couldn't take care of myself. He had no idea what I'd been through and he had no idea what I was capable of and I suddenly wanted to let all of my anger out, with him as the target.

"I'm not some defenceless child, Loren." I snapped.

Loren frowned, as if he couldn't understand why I was angry with him. To be honest, I didn't completely understand myself. I just suddenly had all of this anger and it needed to go somewhere and he was the only thing there at the moment so he had to take the brunt of it.

"I thought I was helping. You didn't want to keep dancing with him, did you?" He asked, sounding confused.

I sighed in exasperation, because that wasn't the point. I didn't want to keep dancing with him, but I didn't need him to get me out of the situation. I was capable of looking after myself without his unnecessary help.