Supply and Demand Pt. 01

I sighed as I recalled the way he'd cradle me in his arms, or how he'd possessively squeeze my ass-cheek while we lost ourselves in each other's mouths. I turned and caressed my own rear with my fingers, noting how it simply didn't feel the same. My own, dainty hand, couldn't replicate the strong masculine control of his chunky grip, and I longed for that feeling of being truly desired again by a real man. I took a final look in the mirror, then eyed his toothbrush; if things went well, perhaps he would be using it again after the party.

I deliberately arrived at Heidi's an hour late, hoping that everyone else would already be there and in place to witness my entry. After all, I wanted Hunter to be stewing through my absence, perhaps regretting his decision and awaiting my arrival. He must have known I'd be attending, and perhaps my delay would invoke some feelings of rejection within him, the same way he'd instilled in me. I wanted him to feel as irrelevant as he'd made me feel, that the party was something I could completely blow off. My intention was to seduce him, not desperately clamber after him, and turning up late would adequately demonstrate my disinterest, despite the painful truth. I wanted him to see me as the controlled and confident woman that my insecurities had always prevented.

As expected, as I breezed through the door, everyone turned to look. Heidi was in the middle of dispensing drinks to the collective guests, and she paused before offering me a welcoming smile. "Great to see you, Ell," she said. "I was hoping you were going to come." She turned towards the rest of the group. "Doesn't she look stunning?"

There were a number of approving moans and nodding of heads.

"Of course, I wouldn't miss this for the world," I said while slipping my handbag from my shoulder and glancing between all in attendance, mostly in search of Hunter and his reaction. "You know I always enjoy a party with you guys."

Ruth popped her head forward from behind Heidi. She was sat down on the couch, a glass of wine clutched in her grip. "You're usually the life of it, honey." Her encouraging smile filled me with further confidence.

I nodded while snatching a glass from Heidi's tray, before my eyes darted around in search of Hunter and his apparent new beaux. Even though I felt like a million dollars, there was still a tiny voice inside me convinced that it wouldn't be enough and I was nervous to find out whether this girl was real, and whether I was going to exist in her shadow. Hunter's first reaction upon seeing me was going to mean everything. I needed him to be awestruck. I needed him to realise his mistake.

It wasn't until I stepped around Heidi that I noticed him sat in the corner. However, I was surprised to see that he was sunk into a bean bag all alone, a can of lager pressed to his lips. As our eyes met, he awkwardly looked away, and instead initiated conversation with Roger a couple of feet away. Roger and Hunter had really bonded with being the two boyfriends of the group. I guess Roger felt that he finally had someone on the same wavelength within our dynamic. I had always liked him because he had such a fun and engaging personality. He was always one for jokes, however, he'd notably been absent in my life, ever since Hunter's impromptu departure. I thought about leaving them to it, however, I felt emboldened by Hunter's sheepish eyes, and wanted to show that I was a strong, confident woman who wasn't at all upset by the way in which he had abandoned me.

Therefore, while I took a sip of liquid courage, I brazenly strode in his direction, all the while noting that Hunter was nervously maintaining the conversation with Roger while pretending not to notice my presence. Despite his best efforts, his eyes sporadically leered in my direction, before shyly darting away.

"Hi Hunter," I said, while stood in such a way that he couldn't ignore me without appearing obtusely rude. His awkward behaviour and obvious shying away somewhat bolstered me and I felt like I was suddenly the one in control. Which was the correct mentality, wasn't it? I was the poor soul who had been wronged, wasn't I? Hunter's judgement day had arrived, and it was going to be nothing but deserved karma dealt out. "Hi Roger," I added confidently while turning my attention towards him. "Haven't heard from you in a while?"

Roger gulped, then steadied himself, before guiltily responding, "Hi, Ella. Yes, I've been a bit...err...busy."

"Doing what?" I asked while keeping my eyes firmly locked on him. "Been too busy to reply to a text, have you? You must be about to conquer the world or something then."

"Uh, well, work has been busy, yes..." His eyes averted my own and the bullshit dribbling from his lips was painfully obvious. "Just busy."

"Apparently so." I had to hide a smirk as I turned my attention towards my main target. "What about you, Hunter? What have you been up to for the past month? Enjoying the single life, is it?"

Instead of responding, he clamped his eyes closed and gripped the can of lager with both hands, almost as if he was trying to invoke some of his own courage. Such a coward, I thought, while staring at his hunkering form. After everything he'd put me through, he couldn't even look me in the eye. In turn, I moved my arms closer together and squeezed my cleavage, all the while turning slightly to offer a glimpse of my butt beneath the sheen of my figure-hugging dress. The outline of my lacy panties was visible through the silk material, and as expected, when Hunter did open his eyes, they were immediately drawn in that direction. I couldn't help but giggle at his weakness. It was obvious he still held a candle for me, despite his recent ridiculous behaviour.

"See something you like, do you?" I asked, which caused his face to enflame a beetroot purple. I scoffed while he remained silently sat there on the bean bag. I suddenly felt completely in control in a way I hadn't for months with Hunter, perhaps a measure of assertiveness which had evaded me for the entirety of our relationship. I'd slowly lost traction as his behaviour had become more withdrawn, but now, I didn't have anything to worry about. It was clear as day that he was regretting having ever broken up with me. "I knew you weren't over me. This girlfriend of yours is imaginary, isn't she?"

Roger's eyes darted between the two of us, before he gestured towards the other bean bag. "Ella--"

"I'm fine standing," I said. "Come on, Hunter, you're a big boy." By this point, Ruth and Heidi had fallen quiet, seemingly both fascinated and amused by the way I was holding the men to account.

"Ella," Hunter finally managed to say. "You're embarrassing yourself. Please don't make a scene. Let's just enjoy the party, okay?"

I rolled my eyes and gestured towards the empty bean bag next to his. "She sitting here, is she? You left me for the invisible woman, did you? How's that working out for--"

"Who's this, babe?"

I was startled from the voice behind me, and I immediately jerked in place, almost spilling my glass of wine in the process. It wasn't a voice I recognised, and there was a feminine softness and exotic accent to it that I couldn't place. I turned with intrigue, and found my resolve and composure immediately rattled. There, before me, staring at me almost accusingly while her hands were crossed beneath her own ample cleavage, was a girl I had never seen before. She stood a few inches taller than me, while almost managing to be a few inches slimmer too; except for her pronounced bubble butt. Her skin was lightly tanned, almost as brown as her hair, which framed her face amongst an array of multi-coloured braids. Her lips managed to be even plumper than my own, while her eyelashes were as thick without a hint of mascara, almost fluttering at me expectantly; a small, ringed hoop protruding from her eyebrow. Whereas I was decorated as if I was about to attend a strip club, this girl was wearing nothing but a tight-fitting crop top along with a pair of jeans and chunky boots. It almost appeared as if zero thought had gone into her attire, yet, I was pained to admit that she looked bloody good.

"It doesn't matter," Hunter said. "You going to sit back down, babe?"

Instead of following my ex's lead, the girl cocked her head and narrowed her eyes while considering me. "This is her?" she asked, before turning to Hunter and whispering behind her hand, "She looks a lot older than in the photos." I recoiled at the insult, and was about to say something when she turned her attention towards me. "Why were you talking to my boyfriend in that way? You're not a couple anymore."

It was my turn to gulp as I realised that I was being interrogated by Hunter's new flame. While I looked her up and down, it continued to prod at me that he had indeed upgraded from myself. I felt out of place and a bit of a fool while stood there and decked out in such a revealing outfit. It reeked of desperation, while this girl's own attire was somewhat muted and refined. It was only the fact that her breasts were so blessed that her cleavage was on display at all. All of the confidence and courage that I'd strode in with immediately abandoned me, and I felt skewered, the centre of attention in a way that I didn't want.

"I...uh..." I stuttered and struggled to form a sentence while under her judgemental and expectant gaze. Meanwhile, she darted her eyes towards Hunter and Roger, a baffled expression of confusion evident on her face. The longer I remained silent, the more confused she seemed to become. She leant down slightly, and then whispered, "What's wrong with her? Is she always like this?"

Roger almost let out a laugh, whereas Hunter, while sheepishly making eye contact with me, brushed his chin and cleared his throat. "This is Ella," he said, before raising a hand and gesturing towards the girl. "Ella, meet my new girlfriend: Gabriela. She's a student here from Rio de Janeiro. She's studying Business Management."

I offered a placid grimace, not really knowing what to say. A student, from Brazil? So, she was both young, exotic and apparently intelligent for good measure. All of the scenarios I'd envisioned in my head suddenly felt redundant. I mean, this girl was a lot prettier and more confident than I'd been expecting. Hunter had always told me that I was exactly his type, and he wasn't into those skinny, vain kind of girls anymore. I was hoping that his new girlfriend would feel jealous and inferior when seeing how good I looked, however, I was the unfortunate one left struggling with those emotions. As if to compound the issue even further, this Gabriela didn't even bother acknowledging me further, instead, she brushed passed me and took a seat in the bean bag next to Hunter, while absent-mindedly muttering, "I see why you left her."

Roger sniggered, then upon noticing my mortified and enraged face, he blushingly looked down into his beer-filled beaker. Meanwhile, I glanced between the two boys, shocked that they would allow this intruder to speak about me in such a way. I mean, despite our break-up, Hunter and I had been together for five years. We'd shared intimate moments and had built a life together. Yet, here he was, allowing his girlfriend of barely a month to insult me straight to my face. My mouth was dry and my nerves were anxious, however, I couldn't lose face and allow her to get away with such a snarky remark. If I did so, I'd paint myself as a walkover and it would define any future confrontation. This was my friend-group, after all, and she'd only been here five minutes. "What do you mean by that?"

Instead of replying, annoyingly, this Gabriela simply shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes. She then made a clear reposition of her seating arrangement, turning to face both Hunter and Roger while leaving me shunted to the side, as if I was neither relevant or important enough to address directly. She settled back into the bean bag, crossed her legs at the knee so one boot was swinging freely, then plucked up a glass of wine and took a gulp. I'd never felt more insignificant in my life, even more so than the day Hunter had walked over.

"Excuse me," I said instinctively, now on the defence as I was clearly being disrespected.

"You are excused," Gabriela quipped with a patronising smile, which brought another snort from Roger, whereas Hunter wore an awkward, muted expression. I held out a hand towards him, palm upraised, urging him to intervene and put his girlfriend straight, however, he remained in complete silence. With her aloof behaviour, I suddenly felt like I wasn't part of my friend group anymore, as if I'd been ostracised and I existed only as the butt of jokes.

"Jesus," I whispered, totally aghast at how much of a bitch this girl was. I turned towards my two girlfriends, who looked eager to assist.

"What's going on here then?" Ruth interrupted while scooting over and kneeling between Gabriela and myself. "You alright, Ella?" She nodded towards my glass. "You've barely had any of that wine yet. That's not like you?"

I glanced down at my glass, then while giving Gabriela a final glare, I took a sip and awkwardly pretended like the conversation hadn't happened. "I was just getting to know Hunter's new girlfriend," I said through gritted teeth.

"Pleased to meet you," Gabriela said with an obvious, spiteful smirk, before returning her attention fully to Hunter. She reached out and grasped his hand, both of them sharing a knowing look, before she turned and grinned at me. I looked on jealousy, before she momentarily fluttered her eyelashes at me, almost trying to goad me further.

"Well, now that we're all here, how about a game?" Heidi asked from behind us, apparently sensing the icy atmosphere as much as Ruth had. "Maybe we could play spin the bottle?"

"That's a bit childish, isn't it?" Ruth said, and I breathed a sigh of relief. How the hell would that even work anyway, with two couples, myself and Ruth in attendance? I'm sure if I spun the bottle and landed on Hunter, that would really raise the atmosphere and only enflame the hostile interaction with Gabriela further. Although, perhaps that wasn't such a bad idea, maybe I could cause a problem in their relationship before it had really begun?

"Maybe we could spice it up a bit," Heidi added. "Spin the bottle, but, whoever it lands on has to play truth or dare?"

Roger was looking confused. "Do we even need the bottle then? We could just play truth or dare, love? Go around the circle."

Heidi lightly slapped him on the arm. "Don't ruin my fun. This will make it way better, trust me!"

Roger looked towards Hunter and shrugged. "Well, if you say so. As long as I can drink my beer."

"I'm game," Hunter added. "Sounds like a laugh."

Upon hearing Hunter give his approval, I felt the need to speak up and appear like I was comfortable in everyone's company. "Yes, let's play. I haven't played truth or dare in so long." Thankfully, the game would be a welcome distraction from the frosty atmosphere that Gabriela had brought to our group. She may have been a ray of light to look at, but once she'd opened that mouth of hers, the air became decidedly bitter.

We all worked ourselves into a small loop, while Roger and Hunter moved the coffee table aside. Ruth was grinning while topping up my glass with the remains of a bottle, before placing it in the middle of our makeshift circle.

"I'm going first," Roger said, leaning in and gripping the bottle before anyone else could. He spun the wine bottle, and after a few rotations, it came to rest on his girlfriend, Heidi. He couldn't hide his displeasure. "Well, this is going to be boring," he said. "Truth or dare, love?"

"Dare!" Heidi shot back. She then giggled before adding, "Since you pretty much know everything about me anyway."

Roger nodded around the rest of us. "Yeah, but they don't."

"I already said dare."

"Fine, then I dare you to kiss one of the girls," he said in lightening response.

"You what!" Heidi's face instantly shifted from its usually pale complexion to as if she'd fallen asleep in the sun. "Are you serious? Babe!"

Roger yelled, "Hell yeah," before chinking his glass of lager with Hunter.

Ruth nudged Heidi in the arm. "Sounds like your boyfriend has some fantasises going on."

Heidi took a drink from her glass, before her eyes moved between the three of us girls. At first, she looked towards me, before quickly shifting her attention to Ruth, then after a slight pause, she seemed to linger on Gabriela, lost in thought to the point that her head dipped to one side.

"This is a bit immature," I said during the awkward silence. "Are you really that much of a child, Roger?"

"Hey, come on," he said defensively. "It's just a bit of fun, isn't it?"

"Sounds like someone is worried they're not going to be picked," sniped Gabriela, and after a snort from Hunter, I immediately blushed almost as much as Heidi had. I scrambled for some kind of retort, but I was kind of hamstrung. What was I supposed to do, defend myself and say that I wanted to kiss another of the girls? Also, Hunter's laughter kind of threw me. It was bad enough that he'd left me and now shacked up with this other girl, who was evidently a bitch, but I never thought he'd openly laugh at my expense. What had happened to the wonderful man that I thought I knew?

In turn, Heidi glared towards Gabriela, and placed her hand on my shoulder. "Actually, I do pick Ella." With that she leant across me and placed a light, playful peck upon my lips. I was briefly caught off guard, but as Heidi pulled away, I felt somewhat proud that my friend had come to my aid in the face of Gabriela's snipes.

"Come on," Roger urged. "That wasn't a real kiss!"

Gabriela sighed, before saying under her breath, "It's probably the most action she's had in a while." She peered at Hunter with a snide smirk.

This time, Hunter shook his head. "Come on, babe. Play nice. There's no need for that." Gabriela bit her lip and crossed her arms, while Hunter leant forwards and took the bottle. "Okay, my turn." After a spin, and while all of us were watching anxiously, I was pleasantly surprised when the bottled stopped on me.

"Oh, wow," Gabriela said. "I knew this was going to happen."

"It's just a game," Hunter added, before he eyed me curiously. Already the thoughts were swirling through my head. Was he going to dare me to kiss someone in the way that Heidi just had? Would that be a sly little excuse for him to get a kiss from me without being obvious? Was he going to ask me some intimate question? "Well, what's it going to be?"

I looked around the circle, and noticed that everyone was waiting on me expectantly. All were smiling, except Gabriela, whose pretty face was soured with a scowl in my direction. Being the youngest, evidently she was the least mature, and her attitude seemed completely out of place amongst our group. Her eyes were squinted in a glare, as if challenging me to do something. "Truth," I said, seemingly wilting under the intensity of her expression and figuring this was the safer option. So much for showing Hunter what he was missing, huh?

Hunter eyed me with a somewhat sympathetic look, and for the first time, I sensed an inkling of regret within him. Perhaps he felt bad for the way he'd treated me, especially considering I'd always been so loyal and faithful to him. Yes, I wasn't the sexiest girl around, and in terms of looks, Gabriela was a step up. I wasn't first choice, but I was a great choice, and the way in which he'd discarded me had been cruel. "Okay, Ella. Tell us a secret about yourself that no one else knows." He nodded his head encouragingly towards me. "Something you're proud of."

Instantly, I smiled, since it was clear he was trying to make me feel good about myself. However, Gabriela narrowed her eyes and turned her head towards him. Without saying anything, she nudged him in the arm with her elbow.