Free The Secret 04 The Ever After of Ella and Micha by Jessica Sorensen

step inside the kitchen. Ethan is sitting on the table, drinking from a red plastic cup and Lila is laughing at something he says while she pours herself a drink over at the counter. There’s another couple chatting in front of the kitchen sink. I used to go to school with them, but I can’t remember their names. I wave to them when they say “what’s up” and then I head for the living room.
    “Bottoms up.” Ethan lifts his cup as I pass by him, toasting to something, and then he throws his head back and guzzles the drink.
    “Are you wasted already?” I ask. “Because you’re supposed to play the drums in, like, ten minutes or so.”
    “Nah,” he says, but his bloodshot eyes suggest otherwise. “I’ve got this. Besides, I can play the drums when I’m drunk perfectly fine.”
    “Micha, do you want me to make you a drink or pour you a shot?” Lila calls out with a bottle of orange juice in her hand.
    “No, thanks,” I tell her, scooping up a beer from the cooler near the doorway. “I have to stick to beer.”
    She nods knowingly as she sets the juice down on the counter beside the row of vodka, tequila, and Bacardi bottles and a stack of plastic cups. Ever since Ella called me out on my asshole drunken behavior about a year ago, I take it easier on getting trashed, usually sticking to only a few beers. It was hard at first, but now it’s comfortable.
    I pop the top off as I stroll into the cigarette-smoke-filled living room, letting the wonderfully potent smoke settle in my lungs. Even a couple of years after kicking the habit, minus a few slipups, it still gets my mouth watering.
    Earlier, Ethan and I shoved the couches aside to make room for his drums, which we picked up from his house during our drive back from the grocery store. My old guitar is leaning against a taped together microphone stand. There’s also an amp and a bass guitar in the corner beside a small plastic Christmas tree decorated with red and sliver ornaments and tinsel. I haven’t figured out who’s going to play the bass yet, but I put it up there just in case. I know a lot of people who play the bass and it’d be nice to have a good sound even if it’s just a party. I sort of feel like I’m saying good-bye in a way because in a few days I’ll be married, my life with Ella will finally start, and this life can hopefully become a memory of everything we shared that got us to that point.
    I start to go over to my guitar when I spot Ella sitting on the back of the sofa with a red plastic cup in her hand. A tall, scraggily looking guy whose name I think is Brody is standing in front of the sofa, staring at her legs and cleavage while yammering about something. I walk over to her and hop up on the back of the sofa beside her. Then I drape my arm around her shoulder. I know I’m being territorial and I know she’d never do anything with anyone but it doesn’t mean that I’m going to let some guy look at her like he could eat her up. He’s lucky I don’t punch him. Ella’s mine and he needs to walk the fuck away.
    “Hey, where’d you go?” Ella asks me as Brody gives me an uneasy look and then walks away without saying a word.
    “To get this,” I reply, holding up my fingers.
    She takes my hand and runs her finger over the metal ring. “Did you seriously put an O-ring on your ring finger?”
    I dazzle her with my most charming smile, the one I know makes her stomach somersault. “Now everyone knows I’m taken.”
    She takes a sip of her drink and then licks her lips. “Such a shame. I was looking forward to kicking all the girls’ asses who hit on you tonight.”
    “I bet you were,” I mumble as I lean forward and lick a drop of alcohol off her lip. “Bacardi, huh?”
    She shrugs and angles her head back to take a large swallow. “I thought I’d have fun tonight. Get a little drunk.”
    I eye her over warily. “I’m not sure I like that. Drunk Ella can sometimes be mean. And horny.”
    “Hey.” She restrains a