BETTER OFF

20

"Who's that?" I ask looking back at Sam who's giving the girl a small wave.

"Get me a shot and a tequila soda," she finally looks over at me, there's a dreamy smile on her face, "I'll be right back."

Oh...my...god....

"Sam!" I call after her but she's already halfway across the yard.

"Oh they're cute," Ivy nods as we all watch Sam and the mystery girl share a long hug.

"Okay drinks! We can keep spying on our friend after drinks," Emma says and we all focus on the giant open bar again.

-

KENZIE
HOURS LATER

"Hey," someone says right into my ear. I get goosebumps, recognizing the voice as Logan comes to stand in front of me.

I've been leaning on the wall people watching like a crazy person instead of dancing or being social. Just me and my rum and coke....and the alcohol buzzing through my veins.

"Hi," I smile up at him, I have to raise my voice so he can hear me. About an hour ago I started wanting to try and find him, I kinda missed him. I take a sip of my drink as we make eye contact.

"A fairy?" He asks with a raised brow. I can just barely hear him over the music.

"And what's wrong with fairies, Superman?" I question looking him up and down. He's wearing a dress shirt with almost of the buttons of the dress shirt undone, and a blue Superman t-shirt peaking through the shirt. I can't even lie, he looks hot.

"Nothin," he shrugs, then smirks taking a sip of his drink before he says, "You look good."

"Thanks," I glance at his arms again, he's got the sleeves of white dress shirt pushed up. I can see the tattooed mountain range that wraps around his left wrist in the flashing party lights.

"You look good too," I look back up at his eyes, "Uhm how have you been?"

"Let's go outside," he pushes off the wall leaning closer to me, "I can't hear shit, in here."

He grabs my hand and I let him pull me through the crowd.

We end up upstairs, cutting through the primary bedroom, that of course he knows the code to the door to, and out to the balcony. The California air is light and cool, and because I'm just wearing a very light flowy green dress, wings and sneakers, I'm instantly cold but it also feels nice.

There's a swing chair off to our left, I tuck my legs under myself and sit down.

"So, how have you been?" I ask as I watch him look over the edge of the balcony, probably watching people play pong and dance in the grass or taking advantage of the photo ops Ellie set up.

It's nice and quiet up here, just the echos of the music that my ears are still ringing from.

"I've been good," he says pushing off the balcony and turning to face me, "How have you been after..."

"Uhm as good as I can be," I shrug. My buzz almost comes to a halt thinking about that.

Logan crosses the width of the balcony and sits beside me on the couch like swing.

"Look what I brought," he pulls something out of his pocket. It's a little blue tube.

Oh hell yeah!

"Wanna share it?" he asks popping open the tube.

"What if I said," I smirk unzipping my purse and pulling out a little black tube, "I also brought one."

Logan starts laughing and so do I.

"Of course, you did," he says still laughing.

I roll my eyes at him before saying, "Well I owe you, so we'll smoke mine."

I pull out a lighter from my purse.

"Deal," he says as I hand him the joint and the lighter.

"Do the honors, Superman."

-

LOGAN

"No! No, no, no," Kenzie dramatically shakes her head, her brown hair shaking everywhere. We've now moved inside, she was cold but we still have the balcony doors open. We're laying on the bed staring at the ceiling while we talk.

"That is not how that happened!" She continues as she sits up, looking down at me, "And you know it! You were the one who slipped and took me down with you!"

"I had to stop you! You were gonna fall either way!" I counter sitting up on my elbows. "I just made sure you didn't fall down the stairs."

Kenzie raises a brow at me, "Whatever," then she sits up and reaches for the bottle of tequila I went down and snuck up here from the bar.

I watch her take off the cap and tilt some of the clear liquor down her throat. She shakes her head, wrinkling her nose and squeezing her eyes shut as she says, "It never gets easier."

That was adorable.

She offers me the bottle and I take it from her. I do exactly what she did, untwist the cap and take a sip.

"Can we go dance?" she asks. I nod swallowing the liquor and putting the cap back on.

"We can do whatever you want," I smirk at her.

A big excited smile takes up Kenzie's face, "I'm going to use the bathroom then we can go back downstairs!"

She literally rolls off the bed and stand up but then instantly sits back down, "Woah."

"You okay?" I ask sitting up a bit worried.

"Yeah," she takes a breath, "Weed and alcohol mixing, and that was just too fast of a move."

Kenzie pushes herself up again, "I'm good, I'm good."

She sounds like she's reassuring herself, not me. And I know Kenzie can take care of herself, but I want to help her and make sure she's okay. Even though I'm also definitely crossed right now but who cares we're hanging out again and she isn't running away. So I let her do her thing in the bathroom before we head back downstairs to join the crowded party.