Tangled Affairs

Aubrey's POV

It was David's and I's sixth year anniversary together. The day started on a pleasant note when he woke me up with kisses all over.

"Rise and shine, baby girl," he said, his voice husky, penetrating the atmosphere. Holy. That simple act of his still gives me butterflies every time, even after years of being together. It's just new every day.

"Hi," I replied, grinning and lazily stretching.

David's home wasn't a big one, but it is very comfortable and also one you can call classic. It was cozy and filled with warmth.

The queen-sized bed we laid in was filled with lots of pillows that provided support and were super comfy.

The walls, painted white, were decorated with framed affirmation, as David always claims it helps his day when he wakes up in a 'positive environment'. The furniture pieces added a touch of elegance to the room.

Morning sunlight reflected through the large windows, casting a golden glow over everything. It was always a blessing to wake up in such a home.

He had woken me to have breakfast he'd brought to me in bed, which I could tell had required a lot of effort by the way it was pleasantly set on the plate.

As I stretched, David's eyes crinkled at the corners, his smile still radiant.

"Happy anniversary, my love," he whispered, his eyes shone brightly, his voice filled with emotion.

I am one lucky woman. I smiled back, feeling my heart filled all over again with love for this man who had been my greatest supporter and my best friend for six incredible years.

Little did I know, this anniversary would be one for the books-and not in a good way.

David and I have known each other since our college days in business school and we started off as foes. I remembered the first time he walked up to me-we were both in our freshman year then-asking me for directions.

He looked so haggard and poorly dressed that one would think he was crazy, but crazy is fashion these days, right?

Fortunately for him, I was going to the same place he was, but he seemed to be in a hurry, so I also hastened up my steps.

"Great combo," I said as my eyes scanned his body.

"What is?" he answered a few seconds later, as if just realizing I was talking to him.

"Your dressing...I love every bit of it."

He didn't reply, and I should have taken that as my cue to shut up, but being the idiot that I am, I went on.

"It's really great seeing people who express themselves through their clothing choices."

He abruptly stopped in his tracks, making me almost bump into him.

"I beg your pardon?" He faced me.

"I just love the way you look. It's giving--"

"I don't care." He cut me off. "Would you still mind leading the way and in absolute silence, please?"

I was pissed at first because I was the one showing him the way to his destination, and I could choose not to anymore, but then again I realized I shouldn't have said anything, especially about his choice of clothes, as he might have chosen them because he really seemed to be in a hurry. I didn't apologize to him, and we just kept on walking.

When we got to the building, he asked me to show him the way to, I made him know.

"Thanks," he said, looking around.

"It's cool," I answered. I turned around, trying to look for the people I had come to meet. I located them and started to walk in their direction.

Looking around, I saw that David was still following me.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"Relax, I'm not following you."

"Ok."

Surprisingly, it turned out we were both going to the same place, as we were together in the same group the professor has randomly paired us in.

The members of the group haven't met before, we just chatted each other up anonymously and agreed to meet at the university's student union building, at the coffee shop. We shared our clothes colors for easy identification.

"So we are in the same group after all," I said.

"Yeah, unfortunately," he replied, not looking at me.

"Excuse me?"

"A chatterbox who can't help but spill out her intrusive thoughts. Great! Just what our group needed to ensure we never meet the deadline."

I stared at him, offended by his remarks, but I just kept quiet. It was then that I realized that the rest of the group just sat there staring at us bickering at each other.

I felt a little embarrassed, so I apologized to the rest of the group and took a seat. David was reluctant to sit at first because the only empty seat was next to me, so he had no choice.

We were a group of six, and we all introduced ourselves and started discussing our topic. Everything was going smoothly except that David was cutting me off when I was speaking a few times.

I acted as if I didn't care, but deep down I wanted to give him a punch in his goddamned face.

We had concluded the discussion, and each of us had decided on the subtopics we were going to work on. But after the analysis and looking over, the group leader discovered that David's own topic was very broad, so he decided to merge my topic with his as it wasn't as hectic as David's. Then he paired David and I together to my greatest displeasure.

"I'm sorry, but it can't work that way," I voiced out.

"Yeah, definitely not," David said.

"It'll be easier for you two to work together, seeing how close you are," the group leader said.

"We're not close!" We said it in unison.

"Look, working on this together can't work. We have different schedules, and meeting up to work might be impossible," I tried to object.

"It's just a'might'; it won't be totally impossible. Put your differences aside and make this work. The next time we are meeting, I want your outline ready. That's all for today."

The project was to be submitted in three weeks' time, so we all got to work. The group met together once in a while, but David and I had to see each other more often.

We usually meet at a café, and our meetings mostly led to arguments and disagreements that we sometimes earn a few stares from customers.

As time went on, we had fewer arguments and started 'bonding', but I wouldn't want to put it that way because I still loathed him, but anyway, we started becoming friends.

A few days to submission, the group met again to make proper adjustments and corrections.

"Wow, nice; everyone has done their best. It's really great to work with all of you. Aubrey and David, y'all would make a good team," the group leader had said.

"Of course not," I smiled at him.

The rest of the group members and I became 'Hi friends', but the gap between David and me began to close up. It didn't really start off great, as we picked on each other any slight opportunity we had, but time really does change everything.

We started to become really good friends and relied on one another for support in some situations and began to open up to each other.

What really brought us close was one time he just suddenly rang my phone around one a.m. in the midnight and started to spill nonsense.

"Hello," I said as I answered the phone.

There was silence on the other end of the line. Not total silence though; it sounded like a party, but I couldn't hear David's voice.

"Hello," I repeated.

"Hey Aubrey!" He sounded so bubbly or drunk?

"What?"

Then he started blabbing and saying things I could make any sense of. I tried to ask him where he was, but he abruptly ended the call.

I tried calling his number again, it kept ringing, but he wouldn't pick up. I started to get worried as I didn't know what to do or where to go.

Then I remembered he had mentioned earlier that he wanted to check out a new club, 'The Red Door', and meet up with some friends.

So I called them directly and asked if they'd seen him. The bartender answered and told me he was there, pretty intoxicated, and had left his phone on the bar.

I was so scared, as I wasn't really a night person, but I mustered up courage and left my dorm. I made my way to the club, it was about twenty minutes' walk, but thank God a few people were still roaming on the streets, so I felt a little relieved.

I arrived there to see David wasted and engaging the uninterested looking bartender in a meaningless conversation.

The bartender was looking so pissed and eyeing David so profusely that I could bet he wanted to smash David's face with the wine glass he was cleaning.

"I'm so sorry," I mouthed to the young boy. We're probably the same age, but he needed some respect at that particular point in time.

He just nodded, no, I think he probably just blinked, but I was too occupied with David to really notice his reaction.

David was so out of it that he didn't even recognize me and was just giggling and smiling like a happy little child, more like an idiot.

I had asked him where his dorm was, because I don't think we've become really close enough to know that initially, but right now it was the only thing I wanted to know.

He was pointing and trying to tell me something, but I just couldn't figure it out. I had no option but to take him to my own place, thank goodness my roommates were out of town.

David placed all his weight and leaned very heavily on me, and I struggled a lot to take him home, it seemed like the walk lasted forever.

When I got to my room and placed him down, I chugged down a whole bottle of water while trying to catch my breath.

Still, David wouldn't just shut his trap and kept on saying all sorts of things, and he started to get serious as tears streamed down his face.

He rabbled on about being an orphan and having no one to care for him, he said he missed his mom and play time with his dad.

It first started off as a silent confession and sob, but it suddenly escalated, and he literally began to scream and shout, still crying.

I was confused and didn't know what to do, people in the other room would soon come knocking if he continued this, and I hated so bad to be a bother and distraction to other people.

Panicking, I just suddenly grabbed one of my big textbooks and wanted to hit him on his back, but I missed and hit his head. His head met the table with a loud noise, and he just laid there, not moving.

I froze on my knees, realizing that I had knocked him out.