These Stars Defy Love

The house was filling up fast. We already had more people here than I had expected to show up at all, and it was only 10. I was floating from group to group, talking to everyone. I was in my element. I hadn't hosted a party in forever and it felt so good. To top it all off, all of the guys friends were incredible and had been so open and friendly to me. I brushed past a group of people taking shots and grabbed another Smirnoff Ice from the cooler on the kitchen counter. I was starting to feel a little tipsy, and it felt really nice. I hadn't let loose in ages. The last year and a half of James and I's relationship I was constantly worried about what he was thinking. I had changed so much of myself to keep him happy, and the more time that passed after our break up, the more I started to feel like my old self again. I walked out onto the back patio and found Jamie and Tony shotgunning beers while Matty screamed at them to chug faster. I smiled as I watched them push one another and try to finish first. I walked past them and down the porch stairs into the yard. I finished off my drink as I hit the bottom of the stairs and grabbed another from the cooler. "Eveeeee!" I turned around as arms wrapped around my waist.

"Hayley!" She squealed as she hugged me and tipped drink onto herself. She was soo gone.

"You look so fucking hot!"

"Aw thanks girl." I chuckled and grabbed her shoulders to steady her. Chad grabbed her waist as she stepped back away from me.

"She pregamed a little hard... and then didn't stop when we got here."

"Well, I wasn't really expecting anything different from her." Chad snickered and held onto her a little tighter as she wobbled.

"You did good. This party would have been a mess if the boys had planned it."

"Thanks. I was worried they wouldn't let me call the shots, but guess they are smarter than I give them credit for."

"Chad. Let's go find more drinks!" Hayley didn't wait for a response from him before stumbling off in the direction of the cooler, or at least somewhat in a curvy line towards it.

"Talk to you later Everly." He took off behind her and I watched them for a bit as they walked away. They were so cute together. So themselves. And I was so pathetic that I thought a healthy relationship made it exceptional. I shook my head and finished my drink, grabbed another, and chugged that one too. For the next couple hours I continued to make my way around the party and down drinks like water.

Next thing I new I was jumping on Mike's back and we were running down the street singing Metallica at the top of our lungs. We looped around the street and when we reached our yard we both fell in the grass laughing. I sat up and crawled towards the cooler and grabbed another drink. I was sloppy drunk. And I had no intentions of stopping. I grabbed a drink and hopped up from the grass, getting a heel caught in the dirt in the process. Mike caught me and I tossed the second beer I had apparently grabbed to him. "Good catch captain!" I slapped his ass and stumbled towards the front door. He followed behind me, clearly babysitting. He wasn't near as drunk as I was, and thought I needed to be watched. I turned around and faced him and leaned against the wall to support myself. "You know. I'm fine. You can get more fucked up."

He chuckled and pushed my hair out of my face. "I'm drunk Everly. That's good enough. And I know you're fine. Stop worrying. Okay?" I smiled and patted him on the face and turned to walk towards the living room, sipping on my drink as we went.

"Wait. Where is Victor? I haven't seen him in, like, an hour. Or three. I don't know. Time is weird." Mike raised an eyebrow at me.

"I don't know. He's probably around here somewhere. Why?" He tilted his head a little as he watched me, looking for some sort of hint as to why I was suddenly so interested in Vic's whereabouts.

"I just need to know he's having a good time. Everyone should be having a good time." I went back to walking towards the living room just as some random chick grabbed Mike and shoved her mouth onto his. "YESSS MIKE! GET ITTTT!" He flipped me off before grabbing her and pulling her closer. I continued to laugh as i reached down and pulled off a heel. They were getting too hard to walk in. Or I was getting too drunk to walk in them. I tried to take a couple more steps before I realized I had only taken one shoe off. I started to fall, but felt an arm wrap around my waist and catch me. I turned to see Vic and I threw my arms up and around his neck to hug him. "Vic!!! I've been looking for you!" He chuckled as he took my shoe from me so I could take the other one off. He set them under the side table and led me over to the couch.

"Why have you been looking for me Eves?" He smirked as he sat me down. I frowned at him and bit my lip.

"Don't laugh at me. I'm not even that drunk. In fact, I'm soberly perfect."

"Oh, yeah. You're what?"

"Perfectly sober. Fuck off." I smiled and pulled him down on the couch next to me. "Really though. I've been looking for you!" He tilted his head and waited patiently for my drunk self to put my thoughts and words together. "Are you having fun?"

"Is that really what you've been looking for me for?" I took a large swig of my drink and nodded.
"But I also wanted to show you something."

"Really now. What's that?" I finished my drink and jumped off the couch smiling. I grabbed his hand and an unopened drink that someone had abandoned on the coffee table. I opened it and took a drink as I dragged Vic towards the stairs.

"Come on and I'll show you." I got to the bottom of the stairs and paused. They looked like a fucking mountain. I didn't think this all the way through. I also had no idea what I was doing. It took me a few moments to remember that I didn't actually have anything to show Vic, and I quickly chugged the remainder of the drink in my hand.

"I'll help you up the stairs if you promise me you'll slow down." His voice close behind me snapped me back to reality. He was leaned in close so I could hear him over the noise of the party and I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. I turned and smiled at him.

"As long as you realize that I'm past the point of slowing down doing me any good." He laughed and put his arm around my waist and we started up the stairs. When we reached the top of the stairs I turned around and looked him in the eyes as I grabbed his arm as I started to walk backwards down the hall. "Listen. I've told you I had something to show you. Okay?" I tripped over myself and died laughing as he caught me again. We made it to my door and I leaned against it and kept a hold of his arm. "So I told you that, but can you keep a secret?" He looked at me with the most humored look in his eyes. "NO! Don't make fun of me. I'm for real."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I can in fact keep a secret."

I grabbed his arm a little tighter and pulled him closer to me. "I don't actually have anything to show you. I just wanted to get you up here." I stood up on my tip toes and kissed his neck slowly.

"Everly..." He inhaled quickly and then stepped back away from me. I pouted at him and bit my lip and then laughed.

"Is this because you can't actually keep a secret and you're afraid you'll tell?" I reached for his arm again and nearly fell.

"Hey Eves... I think it's time for you to maybe go to bed..." He sounded so hesitant to suggest anything like that to me. It made me smile. He was taking care of me. What a sweetheart.
"Mmmm... bed sounds nice..."

"Okay then. Let's get you in bed." He pushed open my bedroom door and led me inside. I reached around my back and unclipped my bra and slid it off under my shirt and then unzipped my skirt and let it fall to the floor. I looked over my shoulder and wiggled my eyebrows at him before climbing into bed. I pulled the covers up around myself and snuggled down. "You good?" He asked as he switched my lamp on and turned off my light.

"Mhmmm." I sighed contently and closed my eyes. He started towards the door. "Wait!" He turned and looked at me and I sat up and hugged the covers to my chest. "I'm not good at being alone..." I looked down at my hands and wrang the blanket as I said it.

"Oh... do you want me to stay until you fall asleep?" He squinted at me and I nodded. He slowly came and sat on the edge of the bed and I curled up against him.

"You know. I'm gonna be okay. Depression can't really fuck you up that bad. And James was a waste anyways. And I'm gonna do okay for myself. I only kept him around as long as I did cuz I was lonely...and so nobody else would hurt me..." I continued to mumble to myself that I was going to be okay until I was too tired to keep talking. A little while later, as I was drifting off, he laid down next to me and wrapped his arms around me. I smiled as I lay my head on his chest and fell into the best sleep I had in a long, long time.

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