Page 83 of The Sky Between Us

“We know what happened with you and Aiden,” Giselle said, sitting down on Sarah’s bed.

“And you are part of our team, we are family,” Claire added as poured the liquid into the plastic shot glasses. “So, drink this and take your ass to the shower, before you slip into that dress.”

I followed her eyes to the sparkly surplice wrap sequin dress in champagne color. Based on the cut, I could tell it was bodycon and mini but at least it had long sleeves. Taking the shot from Claire, I swallowed it in one without any lemon or salt. With Aiden, drinking became normal, never getting drunk, but only to the point of feeling good.

Tonight, in my emotional state, I felt the urge to get wasted and forget everything. But my fear of being exploited was stronger. It was going to be a difficult battle to win, between my mind and heart.

“You are not leaving until I do that, right?” I asked, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

Giselle shook her head. “Nope.”

Claire laughed. “Not a chance.”

“Fine,” I puffed. “I’ll take a shower and get dressed. But I’m not in a party mood so don’t blame me if I ruin your night.”

“Keep threatening us, but we know you better than that,” Giselle laughed.

Rolling my eyes, I gathered my shower things. There was no point fighting them and at least in the party I could lose them.

“Oh, and Hazel, threw that hoodie out,” Claire called after me before I closed the door. “Or we will burn it.”

Slamming the door behind me I cursed her under my breath. Heartache or not, I wasn’t going to get rid of his hoodie. It was a memory that I intended to keep with me forever.

“You came!” Sarah screamed into my ear and hugged me tight. In one hand, she kept her red cup and in the other her vlogging camera.

“Are you vlogging?” I muttered annoyed as I turned my face from the lens.

“Yes,” she squealed happily. “You missed my milestone, I got 40k subscribers!”

We did a little happy dance where we bounced around entangled and I felt myself smiling. She worked hard on her channel, spending most of her nights in the past three years editing, proof watching, and creating content. I was proud of her achievement, especially since I was with her since the beginning when we sat in our dorm freshman year, not one party invitation on our hands and she confessed that she always wanted to make a YouTube channel. She regretted not doing it in high school when she was popular, but when her downfall came, she realized it would have all gone to ashes. Building it up when she was at her lowest helped her self-confidence, even if there were some trolls who tried to trip her up on the way, she was succeeding.

“I’m so happy for you,” I chuckled into her ear and I laid my head on her shoulders.

Sarah hugged me stronger and patted my back. “I’m sorry about Aiden, babe.”

“It’s okay,” I shrugged, pulling away and slipping from her arms. “I’m going to get a drink.”

“I’ll be with Elliot,” she said, motioning towards the garden and with bouncing steps, she disappeared in the crowd.

Closing my eyes for a split second, I allowed the energy of the people surrounding me to buzz through my body, before the smell of beer hit my nose, making me gag. Parties were all the same, a lot of beer and beer pong, some dancing and a lot of action in a very crowded space.

As I made my way through the sea of bodies pressed together for either talking, dancing or making out purposes, I waved to some of the girls from the dance team as well as to some of the soccer players who lived in the house. Once in the kitchen, I grabbed a red cup and filled it with water. I walked back to the living room.

Leaning onto the wall, I watched as the others danced around in circles, or rather, grinded on each other for pleasure instead of dancing. A sad smile tugged on my lips as I lifted my cup to take a big sip, remembering my first party, when I was standing alone just like this. But now, there was no Aiden to chat me up, to start a fire within me and melt away my walls. It was like life has given me a second chance to do things over. Without Aiden, I would have probably stayed glued to the wall and left soon. But the new Hazel I was becoming next to him was different. I just had to decide which path I wanted to go down.

“Stop sulking!” Giselle jumped in front of me with a huge grin on her face. “Come on, let’s dance.”

With a grimace, I shook my head. “I’m not in a dancing mood.”

“Then get in the mood,” she pointed at my cup. “Down it.”

Lifting the cup, I emptied the water. “Going for a refill,” I smiled at her innocently and disappeared back to the kitchen. Steadying myself against the countertop, I took several deep breaths.

“Want something stronger?” a voice asked behind me, making me turn.

Elliot leaned his hip onto the fridge next to him, his button-down shirt half open and his face wore a surprisingly serious expression.

“I’m fine with water,” I muttered, opening the tap and filling my glass. “Not really in the mood to drink or party.”

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