eden was laughing at something someone had said, which wasn't even funny.
it's been a half hour and eden had already felt drunk.
it was hitting her hard because she both has never had one sip of alcohol before and because of the amount of vodka she had been ingesting.
she stumbled around until she fell into someone.
she turned around and saw that it was jace.
she gasped at the sight of him.
"hey, babe. where have you been?" he asked.
she had no idea what to say. her lips parted.
"baby?"
she turned around and began walking toward the door.
"babe, where are you going?" he called to her over the music as he followed her.
when she got outside, she bumped into taylor.
"hey, girl. you good?" she asked.
eden shook her head. "i-."
"oh, look! it's jace! hey, jace." taylor smiled and spun eden around.
"uh, hey taylor." he replied, then looked to eden. "you don't look so good, eden."
he then looked down at the cup in her hand.
"have you been drinking?" he furrowed his eyebrows.
"i—."
"she has actually!" taylor exclaimed. "and she has something important to tell you. don't you, eden?"
"what's going on?" conrad asked as he walked over, jeremiah accompanying him.
"eden's about to tell jace something really important." taylor replied.
conrad and jeremiah looked at each other.
"it—i don't h-have anything t-to tel-tell you, jay. exc-except that i love you." eden stuttered.
taylor shook her head. "i don't think that's it, eden. i think you should tell him what you did upstairs."
jace looked from eden to taylor then back to his girlfriend.
"what—what happened upstairs."
tears started to run down eden's face.
"i'm so sorry, jace. it just happened." eden shook her head, which made her even more dizzy.
"eden, what're you talking about? i want a straight answer."
her head was buzzing. she put a hand to her forehead and took a deep breath.
"you know what? i'll tell him for you, girl!" taylor said. "she kissed steven."
jace closed his eyes and hook his head.
conrad glared at taylor and jeremiah's mouth hung open.
"i'm sorry, jace. it just happened. he—i—we—."
eden then leaned forward, throwing up all over jace's shoes.
when she was done, she looked up at him and gasped.
"are you kidding me!" jace exclaimed. "ugh. my new fucking shoes."
"i'm really sorry—."
"save it. you can have steven. you really are just the slut that everyone thinks of you as."
jeremiah went to lunge at jace, but conrad pushed him back and went face to face with jace.
"i think it's time for you to get the hell out of here." conrad said.
"gladly."
he then turned to eden.
"we're done, eden. i'm packing my shit and leaving tomorrow morning. don't you ever try to contact me ever again." he pointed.
and then, he turned around and went inside to go clean his shoes.
eden turned to taylor.
"i hate you!" she exclaimed.
she then punched taylor right in the nose, causing her to fall to the ground.
"what the hell!" taylor exclaimed.
"okay, alright. come on, let's go." jeremiah said and grabbed eden. "conrad, you're driving, you're our dd."
jeremiah took eden to the car and conrad turned to taylor.
"good luck getting back to the house."
he then walked to the car where jeremiah had taken eden.
he helped jere get a sobbing eden into the car, then drove them home.
🌊
conrad and jeremiah took eden up to her room, removing her shoes and placing her in her bed, under the covers.
jeremiah kissed her on the forehead. "goodnight, sis."
"night, jere." she whimpered.
conrad gave her a sad smile.
"will—will you stay, connie?" she asked.
"'course i'll stay, edes."
he crawled into bed next to her.
"i feel so stupid." she said before crying again.
"you're not stupid, eden."
"and i'm a crybaby too." she added.
"eden. stop." conrad interrupted. "you're spiraling. look, kissing steven may have been a mistake, but that's just it. a mistake. you don't need to be so hard on yourself. i know you hurt jace and you feel like shit for it, but please don't beat yourself up. you're a good person, eden. a really good person. and you're not a slut. he's an asshole for even thinking to say that to you."
"that's the thing. i don't think it was a mistake and i don't regret it. i think it happened for a reason. i don't know. i think i should just go to sleep."
"okay. goodnight, edes."
"goodnight, connie. i love you."
"love you more."
she closed her eyes and after a few minutes, she was knocked out.
after making sure she was asleep, conrad kissed her forehead and quietly left the room, leaving her to sleep.
🌊
eden woke up the next morning with a pounding headache and a horrible feeling in her stomach.
dread and sickness.
she got up and almost tripped and fell.
she looked at herself in the mirror and saw how horrible she looked.
she cleaned up her face and put on some comfy sweats.
after letting out a breath, she slipped down the stairs.
when she got down there, jeremiah was sitting at the table with a hangover drink and a bowl of lucky charms, the box sitting on the counter in front of him.
jeremiah watched as she opened the cabinet and grabbed a bowl.
she poured some lucky charms into it, then some milk and grabbed a spoon, then dug in.
"lucky charms? you never eat lucky charms." jeremiah pointed out.
"i do now." she replied.
"interesting." he nodded.
"why is that so interesting?" she furrowed her eyebrows.
"like i said. because you never eat lucky charms." jeremiah shrugged.
"so what? just because i never eat them doesn't mean i can't now? and just because they're bad for me means that i'm now unhealthy? and—and just because i made one small mistake that i'm a bad person? i'm a slut? and that just because it meant nothing to him, it means nothing to me?" eden screamed.
she took a breath and looked to her brother who was staring at someone behind her.
it was steven.
she turned to see him standing there and shook her head.
she placed her spoon back in the bowl, then walked out back to where the pool was.
"are you gonna talk to her, or..." jeremiah trailed off.
"so you know." steven muttered.
"yeah and so does conrad. and jace. that's why he packed his shit and left this morning. he didn't even say goodbye. taylor fed eden a bunch of drinks and made her tell jace, then eden threw up on his shoes and punched taylor in the face." jeremiah explained.
steven closed his eyes and let out an exhale. "fuck. just...don't tell shayla. okay?"
"i want planning on it." jere replied. "just...please let eden down easy. she loves you, dude, and she's my sister. i don't wanna see her hurt."
"i don't wanna see her hurt either. especially by me. i care about her a whole lot. a whole damn lot. i'm...gonna go try to talk to her. try to fix things a little bit." steven replied:
jeremiah nodded. "good luck."
"thanks."
steven then went out back to where eden had gone.
he saw her sitting by the pool, her feet dipped in the water.
"hey."
she didn't even look at him. she sat there staring at the water.
he sat down next to her and dipped his feet in the water.
"can we talk?" he asked.
"sure." she muttered.
"okay."
she turned to look at him in his chocolate brown eyes. "so talk."
steven let out a breath.
"what we did, eden—."
"—was a mistake. i know." eden finished.
steven shook his head. "i wasn't going to say that."
"then what were you going to say? huh?" she raised her eyebrows.
he grabbed her hand.
"that it felt so right. to kiss you. to be with you in that way." he said.
"but you're with shayla and you like her. a lot." eden replied.
he shook his head. "no."
"no?" she furrowed her eyebrows.
"no, eden. i like you. i love you. and...and i'm willing to sacrifice shayla for you. the one thing i don't understand, though, is how you think it meant nothing to me because that kiss meant everything to me. you mean everything to me."
eden shook her head and leaned in, connecting her lips with his. he kissed back and he placed his hands on her cheeks and pulled her in closer.
she draped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him down.
he slowly pulled away and smiled at her.
"before we do that again, you need to break up with shayla." eden reminded.
steven sighed. "yeah. and then i can ask you to be my girlfriend."
"maybe on the beach. in my cute little white sundress." she requested.
"ugh, so high maintenance." he rolled his eyes.
"not as high maintenance as your little deb girl." she retorted.
"i can't argue with that."
she laughed and he rubbed her shoulder.
"okay, i should probably go have a talk with shayla." he nodded.
"you go do that. good luck."
"thanks, edie."
he ruffled her hair and stood up before disappearing.
eden looked at the pool and smiled.
maybe last night wasn't so bad.
AUTHORS NOTE
idk if they should've gotten together this soon, but i love them so much. my literal favs.
i hope y'all are happy with it.
muah,
lea <3