after yoichi has rung the doorbell about six times and already starts to ring the seventh time, valentina's door finally opens after all. the music is so loud, you probably wouldn't have heard anything either.
enthusiastically, valentina looks at you. "y/n! you came!" with a deft movement she pulls you first into the house and then into her arms.
a bit overwhelmed, after a short while you put your arms around her as well and pat her back before her gaze falls on the others and she clears her throat. "i'm glad you came, too, of course." she breaks away from you, holds out her hand briefly to everyone.
except for rosa, who gets a quick hug.
"thank you, for inviting me." says hyoma monotonously and then looks around the big house.
"you'll find drinks back there in the kitchen, just behind the living room." valentina indicates that you should follow her, which is why you all do so.
in the living room, a lot of people are sitting in a circle on the sofas and especially in front of the sofas. most of them are already half-naked and full of snot, while they play one drinking game after the other.
when you arrive in the kitchen, well, better said at the huge kitchen island full of alcoholic drinks, rensuke and yoichi inspect some of them while valentina pushes a cup into your hand. "i have something very special for you, y/n." she pulls you with her around the corner, into the adjacent hallway and grabs a glass bottle from an upper shelf of a cabinet.
"what's this?" you ask, holding your cup out to her as she opens the bottle.
"the finest liquor. flown in specially from morocco." giggling you raise both eyebrows for a few seconds before smelling the cup while ste starts laughing heartily. "i wasn't planning on poisoning you," she puts the bottle to her mouth and takes a big gulp before briefly pulling a face. "see."
grinning, you take a sip as well and then directing her back to the others.
"everything okay?" meguru asks with a critical look, which makes you nod slightly and lean against the wall next to him.
"valentina just gave me some booze."
he nods in understanding and then takes a sip from his cup before letting his gaze wander through the living room.
about two hours and four cups later, you're sitting on one of the sofas with rosa as you watch the half-naked ones shove their tongues down each other's throats and indulge in the remaining alcohol.
how can you make a dumbass out of yourself like that?
yeah, you drank some too, but not enough to be really drunk — maybe a little tipsy, but that's it.
rosa seems to feel the same way, because she also looks at you with an annoyed look. "i'm going to go see where the boys are hanging out" she stands up, swaying slightly.
laughing, you look at her and get up as well to hold her; she must have had more to drink than you suspected.
"yoichi is over there" pointing your finger in the direction of the kitchen you start to laugh, whereupon rosa looks at you, grinning broadly, and then makes her way through the crowd to your best friend.
always those lovers.
speaking of which — where is meguru, by the way?
searching, you turn your head in all directions, but he is nowhere to be seen.
sighing, you squeeze through the sweaty bodies until you reach the kitchen, but he is not here either.
a bit disappointed you walk through the hallway and are about to climb the stairs to look for him upstairs, when you see him standing on the terrace.
relieved, you exhale, already thought he had simply left.
with a jerk, you open the door and step out into the cold. "meguru." you grin, and only now do you notice that another girl is with him, taking pictures of him with her imaginary camera.
and meguru posts around in front of the imaginary camera while the two of them laugh.
do you have to understand that?
"y/n" says meguru enthusiastically, coming up to pull you into his arms. surprised and maybe a little startled, you make a strange noise, whereupon he starts laughing even harder and breaks away again to grin broadly at you.
he is absolutely full.
great.
"y/n, this is mae. she's a photographer." he explains proudly.
"hence the invisible camera," mae laughs softly. "i have a real one too, but i thought with such a huge party, i'd probably just lose it," she holds out her hand to you. "nice to meet you, y/n."
you give her a quick handshake. "thanks for looking out for meguru."
she grins at you. "no problem, i'll go get another drink." and with those words, she disappears inside, pulling the door shut behind her.
meguru rolls his eyes with a smile and stops close to you before taking your face in his hands. "i can take care of myself quite well, y/n."
"you could just shut up and kiss me, though."
meguru doesn't need to be told twice, because not a second later his warm, sweet-tasting lips are on yours — your tongues quickly become entangled with each other and it's probably the alcohol, but the thought crosses your mind that you'll never want anything else ever again.
"and this mae girl wants to take pictures of you?" you ask curiously when you break away from each other after what feels like an eternity.
he nods. "yeah, she takes pictures and even portraits. so, like, aesthetic ones, you know?"
as if of their own accord, your lips press together. "forget it."
a blissful laugh leaves his throat. "what?"
"forget it, i said. no one, but really absolutely no one, will take pictures of you"
the thought makes you sick.
slowly, meguru takes your chin between his fingers, thus pulling your head closer to him. "and what about you?" he asks, grinning provocatively, to which you grin back.
"i'm the exception."
"i like it." he breathes, grinning mischievously at your lips before reuniting them with his.
but of course, even this moment must be shattered as the door is yanked open and meguru and you jerk apart.
smiling, valentins looks at you. "y/n, will you come here, please? i want to show you something upstairs."
god, does this girl have timing.
meguru's hand clasps your hands unobtrusively, much like you're not supposed to go, which is why you give him a quick smile. "i'll be right back." without further ado, you gently squeeze his hand again before you follow valentina to the door and throw your lover a smile over your shoulder.
he, however, looks anything but enthusiastic and you briefly wonder if you should have stayed with him, as valentina is already dragging you up the stairs by the hand.
"and what are you hiding up there now? a ghost?" you joke ironically, whereupon she rolls her eyes with a smile.
"eyes closed."
"excuse me?" you ask skeptically, but by then she has already put her hands on your eyes from behind and is pushing you down the hall through all the people.
protectively, you hold your hands in front of you, after all, she could run you into a wall if she wanted to.
valentina, however, only comments on the whole thing with a laugh.
a few seconds later she takes her hands away and you have to blink a few times to get used to the bright light until your jaw almost drops.
along the upstairs hallway, surfboards stretch along the wall to below the high ceiling.
all lined up next to each other and neatly sorted.
"wow, this is...pretty."
valentina laughs out. "i think it's wow, too."
"are these all yours?"
proudly, she nods. "all mine. i could show you something else cool, but then you'd probably swoon."
curious, you raise your eyebrows. "spill the beans!" you say firmly, to which she raises her eyebrows in amusement.
"what do i get in return?"
"next drink's on me?" smiling wryly, you look at her before she starts laughing out loud.
"this is my party, y/n."
you can't help but laugh too "come on."
smiling, she rolls her eyes. "all right, come on."
satisfied, you follow her back down the hallway, where mae is walking toward you. "hey, y/n." she greets kindly, which is why you give a surprised "hey." and then look after her for a moment.
you wouldn't have expected her to head straight for meguru, though.
when the hell did he come up here in the first place, and especially why?
but as quickly as you looked at mae, she disappeared into the crowd with him and you sigh softly before turning your attention back to valentina, who opens a dark closet door.
immediately a large picture jumps out at you and you're amazed to discover her in a photo with your favorite artist. "that's even signed?" you ask, stunned, and move a little closer to the picture for a closer look.
grinning, she nods as a drunk girl heads straight for you two and accidentally bumps into you.
her drink lands from the cup on your shirt but she doesn't seem to have noticed, because she just keeps walking, laughing, as if nothing had happened.
"i'll close it before anything else gets broken," valentina says and locks the closet door again before looking at you with a laugh and stroking your chest with her fist. "aw, she really got to you. pink wine on a white tshirt.. that looks bad for you, y/n." she laughs, to which you join in.
"well, but maybe you can do it with-" she begins, but then breaks off as she squints past you. pressing her lips together she looks back at you, which is why you furrow your eyebrows in confusion and then turn to follow her gaze from a moment ago as well.
and right at that moment, you wish you didn't.
mae is standing with her back to the wall, meguru between her legs; her arms are wrapped around his neck and her lips are on his.
as if by magic, your jaw drops minimally and you feel like your heart forgets to beat for a few seconds.
"meguru.. what the" is all you can get out quietly as you shake your head in disbelief.
this must be pure imagination. in fact, a brief moment later, he disengages from mae and turns his head to look you straight in the eyes but in contrast to your imagination, he merely looks at you with an indefinable look before turning his head again and pressing his lips on the blond girl once more.
stunned and perhaps a bit hurt, you avert your gaze.
what the hell is this?
mutely you look at the floor and turn back to valentina, who is also shaking her head slightly. "y/n, i'm sorry, i know you like-" she begins, but you don't even let her formulate that thought, just don't want to hear it, and don't want it to be true.
you don't want to understand what's happening right now and without further ado, you look at her, shaking your head. "i'm sorry, valentina. i have to go." and with those words you turn around.
valentina tries to grab your arm for a moment, but you disengage and hurry down the stairs, where you run into rensuke, full-throated and quite upset. "hey, y/n, what's up?," he grins broadly at you, but when he notices the look on your face, his smile disappears quite quickly as well. "hey, what's up?" he asks, eyeing you a little more closely. "are you crying?" he inquires worriedly, pointing at your glittering eyes.
quickly shaking your head you smile at him. "i've had a bit too much to drink and i'm dead tired. i just want to go to bed." you lie, not exactly proud of it, but it has to be done.
if you explain to him now what's wrong, you're going to start crying after all. understanding, he nods and says goodbye to you, whereupon you hurry to the front door, open it and step outside.
the ice-cold night air hits you like a blow and for the first time after what feels like an eternity, you have the feeling that you can breathe again. "y/n." you hear valentina's voice behind you and can't prevent the first tear from making its way down your cheek.
quickly you wipe it away with the back of your hand and turn to her with a fake smile, who looks at you skeptically.
gently, she shakes her head. "it's okay, y/n," she pulls you to her, putting her arms around you, for which you're quite grateful at this moment. "i'm sorry, you didn't deserve that.. i'm sure he's just drunk." she says softly before breaking away and looking at you.
frantically holding back tears, you smile briefly at her and then wave demonstratively before walking through the sand back to your house.
so much for meguru not wanting your lips to touch anyone else's ever again. but his do? he's allowed to? didn't he say he'd love to kiss you?
meguru wasn't even your boyfriend and yet it feels like he just broke up with you.