Page 19 of Aria

"God, Chels, are you okay?" Julia asked, rushing to my side.

I couldn't stop laughing. "I fell. It's… so funny."

"I think it's going to be a long night," Lisa sighed, sitting down beside me and rubbing my back.

Noah watched with an amused grin from the other side of the room."Or an incredibly short one."

CHAPTERFIVE

NOAH

"Let's dance!" Chelsie rose to her feet with dramatic enthusiasm, almost losing her balance. "Wait, no. Let's drink. More drinks, please."

Devon shot me a death glare when I snickered in reply.

"You're an asshole," he said, trying to stop Chelsie from waving down the waitress. "This is your fault."

I shrugged, willing to accept full credit for my participation. "Looks like you're going to have your hands full tonight," I acknowledged, taking a sip of my beer and enjoying the entertainment for the evening. Drunk girls always put on a good show.

"Hey… hey now, mister," Chelsie stammered. She pushed at Devon’s chest when he tried to sit her back down. "Jus' lemme go. We need more drinks."

"We definitely don't need more drinks," Devon said.

Chelsie pushed him away and stumbled over to me.

"You.” She pointed an unsteady finger in my direction. "Get me beer."

Devon shot me a look that clearly implied,“I will kill you if you get her beer.”

Figuring I’d done enough damage for the night, I shook my head. "The beer is gone," I told her, then chuckled at the horrified look on her face.

"Gone?" she whimpered. "Why would they do that?"

"Don't worry about it. I think you just need to sit down."

"No… no.” She dodged me, crossing her arms. "I'm perfectly good."

I skated my gaze over to Lisa and Julia, who looked like they'd gone into shock from humiliation.

"Right," Lisa piped up, springing into action. "Come on, Chelsie. Let's take you home."

"But I wanna dance!" she exclaimed. Chelsie bolted toward the staircase. "Dancing is a fun and exiblerating experience." She hesitated through a frown. "Ex-hil-her-ate-ing…"

Julia caught her just in time. "Dancing is for sober people, babe."

“You know, I don't mind taking her home,” Devon offered, clearing his throat. “You guys can stay.”

"Nonsense." Julia waved her hand with dismissal. "We've got her back. You guys try to enjoy the rest of your night."

When the girls approached Chelsie, she had already managed to sneak down the staircase and was halfway onto the dance floor.

"Shit," Julia cursed.

I leaned over the balcony, watching as the two friends went in search of Chelsie.

Devon appeared by my side, venom radiating off of him. "I knew you were up to something.”

I guess I felt mildly guilty about putting a damper on what could have been a fun night—I’d even screwed myself over in the process because now Julia was leaving, and I was out of a perfectly good hook-up. "Yeah, well… it's not like you were going to marry the girl."

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