chapter twenty-one

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"I got shots too, but the only person that willingly takes shots with me isn't here so...", he trails off, taking a swing from one of the small cups, the other sitting in front of him. He licks his lips, and takes the other shot too before clearing his throat. His focus on the earth fairy next to him. "I'm not gonna tell you how beautiful you look, ''cause that would be a bit cringey." Terra and Musa share a confused look, both having million question marks above their heads. 

Terra leans a bit to Musa before whipering. "Why is he flirting with my cousin?", Musa shrugs, trying to read his emotions, but everything was a bit confusing from the alcohol he consumed, but funnily enough she could feel the confusion the most. It was like he wasn't even sure what he was doing. 

"So, when's Sae coming?", Musa asks noone in particular, her voice higher then it needed to be on purpose. She could see from the corner of her eye as Riven stumbled over his words as he tried to listen on their conversation. "Oh, I think she's actually already here. She must be over with Aisha, Bloom and that cute guy.", Terra catches on fast and continues the conversation with Musa. "Ohh, Grey, was it? He's mad cute.", both of the fairies knew Aisha and Grey were a thing but that didn't stop them from twisting the story a bit. 

Musa winked at Terra, before lightly nudging Flora. "Hey, you didn't meet Grey yet, right? I should go introduce you two. He's been hanging with us a lot lately.", Musa smiled, and pulled Flora's hand before letting her even open her mouth. 

Terra grabs a bottle form the waitresses tray and plops it infront of Riven, who looks at her with his eyebrows raised. "Thank you. This is the nicest thing you've done for me.", he comments taking a sip from the bottle. "Well, that's what I thought we were doing today. Acting nice.", Terra starts, Riven's playful smile drops from his face as he leans on the chair, sighing.

"She's my best friend and -", Riven cuts her off. "Relax, we're just having a bit of fun.", he refers to Flora. But Terra shakes her head. "No, I'm talking about Sae. You can't keep leading her on like that and then just flirt with other girls." Riven's brows furrow in confusion. "What-", this time Terra cuts him off. "If you say you're just having fun again, I might smack you. Because you don't have just fun. You ruin people. And before you say you've changed or it's different with you too; I don't know what happened between Dane, Beatrix and you but I have a feeling it'll take more than a new boyfriend for him to get over it. As for you, you weren't ever in it for it to get over it. So don't do that again to either of my friends."

"I've been nothing but nice to him. I was clear about what it was." - "Yeah, yo were just having fun, right? And stop deflecting on the important things I'm talking about.", Riven shakes his head again. "I'm not. There's nothing to say about it. Sae is my and Sky's friend. There's no leading on.", the words left a sour taste in his mouth. The bitter lie, leaving a burning feeling in his stomach, just like the tequila he brought for her did. 



Sae was working on autopilot after the exhausting morning with Rosalind. Her mind haunted with the pictures now seared in her mind. The only thing she knew would help stood right in front of her. Five tequila shots were lined up in front of her, the other five on the other side of the table where a specialist, she couldn't remember the name of, stood. The salt already on their hands as they watched for the go. She stuck her tongue out, ready to lick it, the other hand ready to grab the first shot. 

"Ready. Set. Go!", Aisha yelled, the group around them yelled and whopped, rooting for either of the too. The alcohol burned her throat, but she didn't let t stop her, as she threw every shot like water. After gulping the last one she took the lemon inside her mouth, to get rid of the bitter taste. One hand in the air as she hollered in excitement she won the little game. Sky excitedly put a hand around her shoulder squeezing her into him, both laughing with the rest of the group.

 "Who's next?", Sae yells, excitement and alcohol buzzing in her veins. "I'll go.", Riven pushes through the crowd, a smirk playing on his lips. "Oh, come on, Riv. We both know you can't handle shooters.", Sae giggled, but Riven's smirk never fell. "That's why I brought these, Princess.", he brought up two beer bottles, extending his arm to give Sae one. She happily took it, her eyes following the bottle so she doesn't notice the way Riven glares at his best friend, Sky only winking at him before removing his hand from Sae's shoulders, his attention on the red head girl.

Sae leans towards Riven from across the table, her eyes twinkling. "Prepare to loose, Riv." she says, the nickname easily slipping from her mouth without her noticing it, while Riven's stomach was filled with butterflies just for the fact she didn't voice the last two letter from his name. "Game on, Princess.", they clink the bottles before Aisha gives them the go. They start chugging the contents of the bottle, Riven looking over his bottle, slowing down when he notices his drinking faster then her. Only when he hears her shout in excitement does he finish his bottle.

He drops the bottle on the table, walking around the table so he can stand in front of her. "Ha! I won!", she pointes her index finger at him as he chuckles. You cheated.", he comments and she starts shaking her head, which only made her more dizzy, but she didn't care. She was enjoying this. Aisha passed the two a knowing grin on her lips. "Good job, Sae.", she gave a look to Riven, who rolled his eyes.

The group was letting loose, drinks were handed all over, not caring who drank from who or what was in there. They were dancing, without a acre in the world. Sae was everywhere, all at once. She always, somehow, found herself next to Riven, but then both their hands got too handsy,  their bodies too close to each other, their breaths mixing, their perfumes intoxicating. So she would avoid him as much as she could, dancing with the girls or other specialist, both of them confused about whatever the hell was happening between them.



Somehow the two found themselves outside, sitting at a table. Riven was leaned on the wall behind him, Sae in between his legs leaning on him with her back. They giggled as they shared a blunt, talking about nothing and everything. 

Sae phone buzzed, she grunted as she got up from the bench, the chilly air hitting her back. "Ugh, I gotta take this. ", she waved her phone before taking a couple of steps away from him, she leaned on a wall, her eyes trailing over everything, but her eyes fixed on the brown haired boy. She wasn't really listening to what Bloom was telling her, her attention now on Flora. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but Riven didn't seem really interested in whatever she was saying . or was he acting? 

"Yeah, yeah. I'll meet you at the bathroom.", she mumbled in response, ending the call. But as she approached, she found the spot on the bench empty and Terra and Flora were now there, talking - well more like fighting. 

"I'm not proposing to him. We're literally just friends hanging out.", she could faintly hear Flora say. "I know him Flora. I know what he's like and more importantly who he likes and I don't want either of the people in this weird love triangle to get hurt." 

breathe // riven x ocWhere stories live. Discover now