“Ugh, I hate these parties. Why do I even come? I should have stayed at home”, thought Aston, as she sipped her martini by the bar. She kept telling herself she was just there for her best friend Tony’s birthday, but that definitely wasn’t the whole reason.

Bars like this were not her favorite - she never liked dancing, but she had to humor her friends. She was notorious for bailing on these kinds of events, but Tony was such a loyal friend that she could never do that to him.

She checked her watch, deciding that she would sneak out by midnight. She didn’t have anything to do tomorrow, but knew she would need a full quiet day to recuperate from such a social weekend. Aston found herself getting lost in her thoughts, and as she snapped out of it and looked up, she finally saw him, James, talking with Tony by the door.

She hadn’t seen James for months, since the last one of these events. They had spent hours chatting at the bar, and she felt so connected to him, but he never called her. He just disappeared, and she needed to know why. She needed closure so she could finish moving on.

Aston signaled for another drink from the bartender, while trying not to stare at James. “Aston looks stunning tonight.” she heard as clear as if it was coming from her own mouth. She spun around, trying to figure out who said that, which caused both Tony and James to stare. Aston nervously brushed her messy brown hair out of her face, paid the bartender, and rapidly sipped her drink. “That’s one way to get his attention I guess..” she thought, as she realized she drank half her martini already.

The voice appeared again, “I need to find a reason to be close to her, to talk to her. Ugh, she doesn’t care about me like that though”, but she still couldn’t figure out who was speaking.

She saw James nudge Tony, as he waved Aston over to them. “Hey! I’m buying the birthday boy a shot, come join us!” James shouted across the bar. As she approached them, the mysterious voice said “maybe this shot will give me the courage to say what I want to say.. it is my birthday after all”.

Aston couldn’t understand - Tony’s mouth wasn’t moving.. was she hearing his thoughts? Impossible. There is no way. But.. did he always feel this way?

“Why is she staring at me like that? Do I have something in my teeth?”, she heard Tony think as he obviously used his tongue to clean his teeth. Aston smiled, as she processed Tony’s feelings for her and why she was suddenly able to hear them. She hadn’t thought about him like that before, but as she stared into his eyes, she felt a butterfly in her stomach. Is this why James never called?

James placed a shot in her hand, abruptly pulling her from her deep thoughts. He faced the room to say a few words, “here’s to Tony - the best guy I know. Happy birthday friend! I hope it is one you never forget! Cheers!”. Tony turned his attention back to Aston, raised his shot to her, and yelled “cheers”! Aston took her shot for courage, a deep breath to calm her nerves, grabbed Tony’s hand and pulled him over to the dance floor.