Slow It Down

Part 4 •REWRITTEN•

I should have left the party after that. I should have walked away before I did something stupid. However, I didn't expect to literally run into her.

One second, I was wandering around, looking for a bathroom so I could piss. Every door I opened led to the same shit. Drunk couples grinding on each other, some half naked, girls bent over furniture, some of the rooms had more than one guy in it. I slammed a door shut, irritation and disgust rolling through me. I have done the same thing before, but I at least had the decency to lock the goddamn door for privacy. This place was a fucking cesspool, probably full of STD's by now.

I gave up with the idea of finding a bathroom. I needed to get out of there.

I was now currently leaving a hallway of occupied rooms—half-naked girls giggling behind closed doors, the smell of weed thick in the air. One second, I was storming down the hall and turning a corner, ready to finally get the fuck out of there and the next—a small body collided with my chest. A small grunt escaped me, but mostly from being caught off guard.

A wave of scent hit me—vanilla and something sweeter, like citrus. A hint of alcohol was mixed in with it.

I snapped automatically, annoyed from watching that bullshit downstairs and now not being able to piss. "Watch where you're going, bitch," I muttered, too irritated to care enough to even glance down and see who it was.

But then I heard her gasp softly.

My stomach twisted. Something in my head flashed red, warning me before I even looked. But when I finally did—when green eyes stared up at me in shock—I felt my stomach fucking drop and my body lock up completely.

Lilah.

Fuck me.

Her big eyes widened as she blinked up at me, mouth slightly parted like she was still processing what had just happened. I could tell she recognized me, too. Her jaw slacked, her pupils blown wide—not just from alcohol, but from shock.

For a second, neither of us spoke. She froze, staring at me like she'd just seen a ghost.

I hadn't seen that look since our last encounter. It shouldn't have hit me the way it did. I forced my face blank. I needed to act like this wasn't a big deal. Like she wasn't fucking with my head just by standing there. But she was. And that's exactly why I had to get the fuck away from her. She had no idea what the hell was going through my head. And I planned on keeping it that way.

Four years. Four fucking years since I saw her. Four years since I erased her from my life, since I decided she wasn't my problem anymore. So why the fuck did my chest feel tight right now?

I was too stunned to move. Too caught off guard to react.

"J-Jackson?" she breathed. Her voice was softer than I remembered. Or maybe it was the chaotically loud party surrounding us.

My throat tightened. I forced my features into a smirk, shoving my hands into my pockets like I wasn't suddenly feeling way too much.

"The one and only," I muttered, giving a lazy, cocky smirk. Fake. Automatic. My mask.

Lilah just stared at me. Her eyes scanned every inch of me like she was trying to match me to the boy she used to know. But that guy was long gone. She had no fucking clue who I was now. And she never would. That's how it was supposed to be.

I should have walked away right then. I should have smirked, turned around, and left before she could say another word. But then, her shoes slipped off her slackened wrist. I instinctively bent down to grab them at the same moment she did and our heads smashed together.