❝Don't know if it's the drink I poured, but I swear I've never loved you more. When you're right here, I come alive.❞ -Bazzi, Paradise
The most shocking part of the night was seeing Harley hanging off of Josh's lips once again. This time, it didn't bother me.
It bothered Noah, though.
"I'm going to beat the shit out of him," Noah growls, but Damon places a hand on his chest, stopping him.
"As much as I love violence, that won't help anything." He says.
"I hate it when you're sensible," Noah grumbles. "You're the one who's supposed to help me beat him up."
Hunter snorts quietly, his mind somewhere else as he shakes his head, "Josh hooked up with two girls tonight: Harley and Quinn. Harley Quinn. Get it?"
Hunter and Alyce had rejoined us half past eleven o'clock. We didn't ask the lovebirds what they had been doing for the hour and a half they were upstairs.
"How are you not mad about this, love?" Noah asks me in disbelief, pointing at the two making out against one of the walls. "Don't you want to choke, preferably Joshua's, stupid neck?"
I shrug nonchalantly, "it's not like Joshua's my property. In fact, I want Joshua to be comfortable enough to move on. I guess it's not ideal that it's with your sister, but it doesn't really matter what I think. It's their lives."
"Wow, that's so mature of you," Alyce says, raising an eyebrow. "I would be petty as hell."
Before Alyce could elaborate, Thalia comes up to us, a red solo cup in her hand and a tired expression on her face. "Lauren said that what we had is over now."
We all try our best to comfort a drunk Thalia, but it proved to be hard when her normal state is angry. She finishes the contents in her cup and tosses it to the side, much to Hunter's dismay. He was about to tell her to pick it up, but he catches one look of her face and silently throws away the cup for her.
"Did she say why?" Alyce asks, rubbing Thalia's shoulder comfortingly.
"Cause I told her what happened between Dylan and I," Thalia chuckles, "any of you guys would forgive me if I hooked up with your brother, right?"
"Well, he's five, so..." Hunter chuckles nervously when Thalia shoots him a glare.
"I obviously didn't mean you," Thalia glowers. "None of you even have brothers, aside from Hunter."
"Don't hook up with Harley," Noah jumps in. "I'd feel obligated to punch you."
Thalia groans, leaning against Alyce's shoulder. "I'm a complete idiot, aren't I?"
"No, you're just in love," Katia says with a quiet laugh.
"Same shit." Thalia deadpans. We all laugh at Thalia's normal pessimism. "I don't want to talk about this anymore. What were you guys talking about before I came and ruined the mood?"
Instead of answering, Noah points to the wall where Joshua and Harley were still going at it.
Thalia's jaw drops in disbelief, "say sike."
I look at them for a moment more, trying to see if I felt anything, but somehow, I didn't. There was no jealousy or resentment towards either of them. The irritation would normally be running through me, the same way her hands ran through his hair or his over her body. Instead, I felt indifference.
"Your sister's pretty, Noah, but she's not very smart, is she?" Thalia smirks slightly. "No offence, Diana."
"None taken," I drawl, laughing at Noah's pissed expression. "You should realize, though, that you're just as dumb as me."
Thalia's smirk falls right off her face, "Diana, I'm heartbroken right now. I can dish it out but I can't take it, you know this."
I chuckle and give her a brief hug, "you're right, I'm sorry. Let's go get some ice cream. Drunk adventures are always the best kind."
"Ooh! I want ice cream," Hunter exclaims excitedly.
"This is your party, you mop bucket," Damon says in disbelief. "You can't just ditch it."
"I can do whatever the fuck I want to do," Hunter huffs like a child, crossing his arms and facing away from his friend.
Alyce sends me a knowing look, rolling her eyes at her boyfriend's childishness. Despite how similar Hunter and Alyce are in the sense that they seem to float towards the clouds, Alyce has always been a little bit more grounded than her counterpart.
"I think Damon's right, babe," Alyce starts making her way to the kitchen. "I don't think the host should just leave. Especially since there's about two hundred people here and wherever Damon is, there seems to be a mysterious fire that soon follows."
"Hey!" Damon protests. We all give him a look, to which he shrugs in response. "It's happened twice. Big whoop."
"Diana, Katy, Jasper and I can keep her company," Noah offers. "There's an ice cream parlour two blocks from here. Damon, Hunt and I used to go during the summer."
Thalia nods glumly, "I could go for some ice cream right now."
With that, Katia, Jasper, Noah, Thalia and I make our way to the ice cream parlour down by the beach. Hunter lives close to the ocean, a perk of being well off with parents who enjoy sailing.
As we walk, Katia and Thalia's twin are finding ways of comforting her. Noah and I didn't want her to feel overwhelmed, so we walked ahead of the trio, making sure to not stray too far ahead.
Noah's hand finds mine, intertwining our fingers. It felt natural, the way our hands would mold together as though made for each other. It's hard to find something so authentic; the gentle feeling of comfort in the hands of another.
Noah points up at the sky, at a cluster stars. "That's called Lyra. It's pretty, don't you think?"
"Does it have a story?"
Noah shrugs, "something about the lyre of Orpheus. I'm not sure, but I've just always thought that name was pretty. You know, baby girl Lyra."
I glance his way in surprise, "you think about these things?"
Noah smiles, continuing to look at the stars, "of course. We'll have two kids: one girl, one boy, preferably in that order. We'll have a house just like Hunter's, right by the beach. Our daughter will be beautiful because she'll look like you and our son will be ridiculously hot because he looks like me."
I laugh, but I can feel happy tears brimming my eyes. No one has ever put this much thought into me. I have never felt this kind of love before.
"Lyra will be super sweet, but also have a snappy side that keeps her little brother in line. At the end of the day, she'll be protective of him and always love him. I like to think she'll be a musician," Noah has a subconscious smile on his face, a beautifully thoughtless motion. "We'll have a big dog, either a golden retriever, husky or pit bull...shit, I'm freaking you out, aren't I?"
I shake my head profusely, "no, just the opposite, actually. I didn't think it was possible to love you more, but every minute I'm proven wrong."
"Love, I don't think you realize how much of a goner I am," Noah says, his arm moving to around my waist so he could pull me closer to kiss my forehead. "You see love like ours written in novels. Our situation right now may not be ideal, since we're being separated for school, but I know that means nothing because at the end of our story, we'll be together."
When you look up into infinity, you realize that there is so much more to existence than just life and death. Being with Noah gives me the exact breathless feeling of looking up into the boundless stars, like walking the line of Heaven and Earth.
A/N: this took a while to write because I was going through a bit of a writer's block and also school has been kicking my ass. I'm in first year university now! as much work as it is, I am genuinely enjoying it so far. Good luck to all my seniors who are applying for universities, I believe in you xx
I always find the moments of when a couple finally gets together in a novel the best part, and everything after that to be quite boring. This was why I intentionally created the conflict of distance for school, because it's a real thing a lot of high school couples deal with and have to decide.
With this plot line, my goal was to make sure this book did not become a boring story where everything is perfect and peachy and beautiful, because that's not what life is about. It's authentic and difficult and still beautiful, with all of its faults. The unrealistic part of books are the "happily ever after," because that is never the full truth and that's okay. I'm sure Diana will think about the idea of happily ever after in upcoming chapters.