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“No!” He rushes out, “Sorry, I mean, no. I’m not at home. I’m down the road from Heath’s, can you guys pick me up there?”

Hayzel’s gaze met mine and I shrugged. “Give us ten minutes and we’ll be there.”

Weird as always. He’s never at home whenever we pick him up. Now that I think about it, I don’t think we have ever been invited to Ethan’s home.

“I’ll be there, waiting,” he replies before hanging up on us.

The journey starts, Hayzel switches the radio on, and loud music booms through the speakers.

The bottle is almost empty by the time we pull up into the street and catch his silhouette standing against a wall. I park quickly next to him and he gets in the backseat all smiling.

“Jesus, how much have you guys had?” He says lightly, his voice muffled by laughter.

Hayzel turns around to him and laughs more. “We might have a little, just a little something to drink.”

“Just a little, Hayz?” He asks and she bobs her head as if she were truly convincing him. I snort before meeting Ethan’s gaze in the mirror. “And you Reya? Want something stronger?”

I smile before replying, “tell me where we’re going first.”

“Vincent and a couple of his friends from Hollyberry’s are having a party at his house.”

Vincent is a little older than us, he lives by the coast of Seraphin Bay. His parents are somewhat semi-wealthy enough for him to attend a private college near there called The Hollyberry Academy.

“Ethan! You never told me we were going to Vin’s tonight.” Hayzel says as she slaps Ethan on the arm.

He laughs, fishes a cigarette out of his pocket, and lights it. After taking a drag, he holds it out for me. I lean forward taking a slow drag while keeping my eyes on the road before he slips it back between his own lips. “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive, Rey?”

“Nope,” I reply, before pressing my foot on the gas, picking up speed fast which causes Hayzel to laugh hysterically and Ethan to grimace and let out a small “fuck.”

It takes us a little under an hour to get there and I’m parking the car a street down from Vincent’s house but, you can already hear the music booming loudly and it carries throughout the neighborhood.

The sound is deafening.

“You think the golden boy of Seraphin Bay will serve us cheap beer?” I ask as I slip my keys into my jeans pocket and move over to where Hayzel and Ethan are standing.

Hayzel jumps up onto Ethan’s back and I watch as he adjusts her legs around his waist. They talk, laughing and giggling about something I can’t hear.

I look out to the sun setting and the reflection it’s giving as it bounces off of the ocean.

Gosh I’m so drunk.

I manage to pull myself free from thoughts of the scenery and dart towards them ahead of me.

“Rey, I’m so excited!” Hayzel yells when she jumps down Ethan’s back to hook her arm around mine. I smile at her as the three of us walk up towards Vincent's house.

“Wooaahh, who do we have here? Sup Bennett,” Vincent says as he meets us inside.

“What's up, Vin,” Ethan replies grinning. “This is Reya and Hayz,” Ethan introduces us and I give a slight wave of my hand as he glances at us.

“Hey girls,” Vin says gesturing with his head towards his home, “my home is yours, have fun and enjoy the party!” He tells us as we enter the foyer.

His house is booming and I find myself being hauled by Hayzel to the table of a variety of drinks.

“Huh, guess he's not so cheap after all,” she whispers. Expensive wine, expensive champagne, expensive vodka.

That’s going to be fun.

After thirty minutes and multiple bottles of beer Hayzel and I find ourselves on the dance floor with a sea of people dancing, grinding and being carefree.