These Stars Defy Love

ONE MONTH LATER
These fucking birds. I rolled over and threw a pillow over my head. The nest outside my window had been cute. But the eggs hatched and now I was ready to push it out of the tree. I threw the pillow at the window and then grabbed my phone to see what time it was. As I looked at the phone I remembered that it was Friday, and the day of our housewarming party. We had waited a while to do it, because I had convinced the boys that doing it once we were all settled into the house would be a better idea. It didn't take long to convince them, as they quickly realized how nice it was to have a woman around. It also was nice that we had waited, because now I had slowly started to become friends with all of their friends. Meaning I would know almost everyone at the party. I jumped out of bed and ran across the hall and threw Mikes door open and jumped on top of him. "It's party day!!!" He grabbed me and pulled me down and threw his hand over my mouth.

"It'd better be past 10:00 or you'd better shut the fuck up." He squinted at me and and I gave him an excited smile.

"Welp... it's 9.... is that close enough?" He groaned and rolled onto his back and pushed his hair out of his face.

"I hate you. More than I did 2 minutes ago."

"No. You love me. And you have a list of things you said you'd do before the party that you kept putting off. So now you have to get up and get them done." He grunted and sat up, giving me the dirtiest look he could muster as he did. "Smile. You did this to yourself." I hopped off the bed and ran down the hall, banging on the other boys doors. "Get your asses up. You procrastinated and now you pay!"

Jamie was the first to stick his head out of his room and Tony wasn't far behind. Tony looked over at Mike and raised an eyebrow. "Dude. Someone replaced Everly while we were asleep." Mike laughed and shook his head.

"No. She just really likes parties." I skipped down the hall and banged on Vic's door.

"Wake the fuck up Sleepyhead!" I heard a pillow hit the door and snorted as I turned and skipped down the stairs. "I want all of you in the kitchen in 10 minutes for a team meeting!"

"What the fuck did we get ourselves into?" I glanced back at Tony and flipped him off before turning into the kitchen and starting a pot of coffee. This was the most excited I had been about anything in a long time. I had never had friends like this. James had always been to jealous and over-controlling to let me get this close to anyone else. And parties were my thing. Not only did I love parties in general, but the photo ops were always amazing.

The day past by in blur of filling coolers and filling the yard with lawn chairs. I put food out everywhere and surveyed my work before heading upstairs to get ready. As long as everyone else did everything they promised me they would, this party would be incredible.

***

"Everly. You are being a bathroom hog. We only have two. You can't be in there for hours."

"Sorry Jamie. Sorry." I opened the door and did a little twirl. "How do I look though?"

"Woah. Someone cleans up nice. Who would have thought?" Tony snickered at me as he walked past.

"I wasn't asking you, prick." He flipped me off and I threw my brush at him, which he successfully dodged.

"You look really pretty Evee." Jamie said as he pushed past me. "But I've got to piss. So excuse me." I laughed and walked towards my room twirling my loose curls around my finger. I got into my room and glanced into my mirror to check my makeup one last time. Except for some mascara and eyeliner I hadn't really put on makeup since the split. I just didn't really have any reason to until tonight. It felt weird to see myself all dolled up for the first time in months. I tore my eyes away from the mirror and walked over to my closet, flipping through the nice clothes I hadn't worn in forever. After starring at my clothes for what felt like ages, I pulled on a leather skater skirt and a dark red crop top. I grabbed some black heels and waltzed back over to my mirror to apply some red lipstick. I tugged at my side bangs and curls and frowned. There was a knock on my door and Mike pushed it open and peeked in.

"Damn Eve. Looking good." I looked over at him and furrowed my brows. "What?"

"I don't know..." I tugged at my bangs a little more and then grabbed a makeup remover wipe and went for my face. Mike quickly grabbed my wrist and took the wipe from me, tossing it in the trash. He led me over to the bed and sat me down next to him.

"You know. It's okay for you to dress up for yourself. Just because it's what he always wanted doesn't mean you have to stop just because he isn't in the picture anymore."

"That's not what I was doing!"

"Don't even try. I know you Eve. And I know what you're thinking and doing. Stop. You're pretty. And that wasn't just for him. So just let yourself be pretty. It isn't gonna attract another douche. It's just you being you." I gave him a small smile and then hopped off the bed.

"You're right. I am pretty." I started to walk out of the room and he followed quickly.

"Okay, well. Don't get cocky now. I'm gonna change real quick. I'll meet you downstairs. Jamie and Tony are finishing up food and Vic's getting drinks and coolers ready. I think that's all that's left to do." I nodded at him and hurried down the stairs, careful not to trip in the heels that I hadn't worn in forever. I turned into the kitchen and saw Vic digging through the fridge.

"Need any help?" Vic turned around with handfuls of beer bottles.

"Nah, I think I'm doing okay, well actually it would be nice if you could..." He looked up from the bottles at that moment and his sentence stopped short. "Wow. Ummm..." He knocked a beer can over and quickly set it upright before making eye contact with me again. "You look really nice Eve." I kicked at the floor and turned to look out the window.

"It would be nice if I could?" I kept my gaze locked at the backyard to hide the burning in my cheeks. I had been called attractive by a hundred different men on a million different occasions, so why the hell was I blushing like a fool right now.

"Oh. Um. Yeah. I was just wondering if you could grab one more bag of ice from the garage?" I nodded and kept my face down as I walked past him and out into the garage.

"Seriously. What the fuck Everly?" I whispered to myself as I dug through the freezer for an unripped bag of ice. I had only been here for a month and I could feel myself starting to fall for Vic. He was so sweet. And funny. And we had been spending quite a bit of time together over the past month. I don't know what I was thinking, it was way to early to be catching feelings for someone knew, but damn. He was so... perfect.

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