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Just as it seemed things were going right, something just had to go wrong.
The party had been a success, Orion drowning in compliments from partygoers, to which she directed them to her team of people who'd helped her. Elaine had allowed Orion's friends to attend with her, saying it was only fair after they put together such a beautiful party last minute. While she did want to attempt to go around and assure everything was going accordingly, she knew Mateo simply wouldn't allow it.
He, much like his sister, was a party kind of guy. He enjoyed having people's eyes on him constantly, wether if be for something good, like a dance battle, or for something bad, like arguing over a stolen tortilla chip with a tipsy guy. So when the DJ informed the crowd of a dance contest, he grabbed Orion, and danced his butt off. He twirled her, and dipped her, and basically threw her around like she was a handball. And he'd succeeded in what he was trying for, because the two stepped off the dance floor with a plastic crown placed on his head, and Orion's twirling around his finger.
"Dancing Queen? More like Dancing King," He grinned as the two rejoined Tom and Kelsey, who'd been leant against a wall beside the gift table. Mateo's smile faltered as he took in the two's close proximity, and he turned to Orion for her reaction, seeing she already had her eyes narrowed at them. "Kels, a word?"
Kelsey's grin she wore fell from her face as she met the eyes of Mateo, the girl letting out an exaggerated sigh before following after him, her arm falling from Tom's shoulder in the process. Orion watched as the two walked away, waiting until they were a good distance away before turning to him. "I have a no sleeping with my friends rule," She immediately warned, her finger poking at his chest. "So that means, you and Kels? Not gonna happen."
Tom rolled his eyes, grabbing the girl's wrist and taking it away from his chest. "First of all, we were talking. If talking is all it takes for people to assume I'm hooking up with her, then you're lucky people didn't see us earlier or else they'd think you're pregnant." Orion's lips instantly fell into a scowl, and if they weren't in such a public place, she would have snapped harshly at him already. "Second, what is up with you?"
"You're trying to sleep with my friend!" She scoffed, as if the answer were pretty obvious.
Tom shook his head. "That's not what I'm referring to." Confusion washed over her features, making him let out a sigh. "I mean after earlier..." Her face fell completely. "I thought we were making progress on this whole trying to be friends thing, then you end up yelling at me for something stupid, and we're back to square one."
"Me trying to make sure Kelsey doesn't corrupt you is stupid?" She shot back, completely disregarding the rest of the statement. "You don't know her like I do, so me making sure you don't sleep with her is more of a favor to you than it is to me, trust me." She shut her mouth abruptly, and Tom opened his mouth to question why, but then Mateo and Kelsey rejoined them.
"Did we miss anything?" Kelsey asked innocently, her hand resuming it's place on Tom's shoulder.
Orion waited for Tom to remove it, but he did no such thing, making her narrow her eyes at him. Tom matched her look, pink lips twisting into a smirk. "Nothing at all."
The party had run late, and as per usual, Orion was the last to leave. The worst part of hosting; clean up. She was starting to wish she didn't invite Elaine's distant distant cousins, because even if the smile Elaine wore brought her more joy than anything else in the world, she was not ecstatic to be cleaning up their disgusting amount of candy wrappers from candies they stole from the kid's table. She let out a sigh as she spotted yet another chewed up ball of gum wedged into a Hershey's wrapper, using a nearby plate to push it into the bag she held.
"Orion." She immediately straightened up at the voice, a smile settling on her lips as she turned slowly to meet their eyes. She nodded in acknowledgement, biting the inside of her cheek as she waited for his review of her night. "Good job," He nodded, and she could feel her shoulders relaxing as relief flooded her system. "I knew you could plan an amazing party in just a day, and you didn't disappoint."
"Thank you Baxter," She sighed happily, suddenly feeling lighter, as the weight was lifted off her shoulders.
He nodded, gesturing to the table behind her, "Leave that as it is, I can get someone else to come clean up, you've had a rough night."
Orion chuckled bitterly, "Oh you have no idea."
She smiled softly as he placed his arm around her shoulders, bringing her to her side. "I can only imagine, this couldn't have been easy. You had me fooled, but once I saw your little friend was put in charge of bringing your client home, I knew you must have been exhausted to not have done it yourself."
Orion blinked, "My friend?" Please be Mateo. Please be Mateo. Please be Mateo.
Mr.Baxter's eyebrows furrowed, and he paused for a moment. "The girl? Always looking smug? She has that twin brother; Mark? Matty? Something along those lines." His eyes suddenly darkened. "You were aware of this right? You know you're supposed to be tending to him, I'd hope nobody is doing your job for you Orion."
Orion instantly shook her head, a faux look of realization settling on her face. "No, of course! I was just so busy tonight, it seemed to slip my mind. I'll have to thank her for that..." She trailed off, her mind trailing off as she thought of all the ways she could make this situation seem like a positive. She couldn't. "I'll see you tomorrow," She rushed out, and before he could bid her farewell, she had snapped her fingers.
She didn't dare to think of the possibility that they could have still been at it when she made her entrance, and luckily for her, they weren't. Orion's hands curled into a fist as she spotted a familiar article of clothing discarded on the floor; Kelsey's coat. "Come out here right now, or I swear, I will burn this place to the ground!"
Of course, she didn't possess the powers to do such a thing, but it sounded a lot more threatening like that. She waited for a moment before the sound of a door opening rang through the house, and out came Tom, Kelsey trailing behind him. "Didn't I tell you that you can't just snap–"
Orion couldn't even think of admiring his bare torso, not when a fire was burning within her. "I told you!" She all but shouted, cutting him off mid-sentence. Tom flinched at the sound of her voice, not at all used to the loudness of it. "I told you not to do one thing, and what do you do? You go ahead and do the freakin' thing! Is it that damn hard to follow one damn rule?"
Kelsey's eyes widened at the sight of her friend, never seeing the girl in such a state before. It instantly made guilt settle in the pit of her stomach, and while she considered apologizing right then and there, she decided against it as she saw the fire in her eyes.
"You know what? Yes, Tom, we were making progress! We were making so much progress, but all that progress is gone, because you couldn't follow one rule!" She let out an annoyed groan, unable to look at the shocked boy who'd been rendered silent. "I expected this from Kelsey, but... you?"
For a moment, her facade cracked as she spoke the word you, and he could see her. He could see the girl he held while she was shaking, her anxiety prepared to swallow her whole. But just as fast as she appeared, she was gone, angry Orion in place once more. "Don't talk to me, either of you," She finished, and with the snap of her fingers, she was gone.
The home was eerily silent now, neither sure how to react to the outburst of the girl that'd been caused by their sexual tendencies. Truthfully, he'd never planned to sleep with Kelsey, despite her making obvious advances towards him. But when Orion said not to, and he thought of the way she'd been treating him, he saw a way. A way to get back at her for how crappy she'd been treating him since they met. But just like the afternoon he spoke to Baxter, he'd pushed too far, and made a big mistake.
"You shouldn't have done that."
Tom's head snapped to the girl beside him, eyebrows raising, "Me? Isn't this an us problem?"
Kelsey shook her head, walking back in the direction of Tom's bedroom, where she'd discarded her dress for the night. "She expects it from me, not you. I didn't know she told you not to sleep with me, I wouldn't have done it if I knew," She called to the boy, not at all aiding with the boy's confusion. Kelsey let out a heavy sigh when she stepped back in, seeing the boy's look. "Orion and I have a special friendship, she'd gotten used to this side of me. Usually, she doesn't go as far as telling the actual people not to sleep with me, so it's not that much of an issue, but with you she did. I basically already told her the other day I planned on go against her word, you however, didn't. You broke her trust."
"I broke her trust?" He repeated, and when Kelsey nodded, he sighed. "Okay, how do I fix this?" And when the smirk spread across the barely clothed girl's face, he regretted even asking.