it was now about 1:30 in the morning and harlow had surpassed her body's alcohol tolerance limit. she had spent a good hour playing multiple rounds of beer pong with heath. it turns out the drunker you are, the worse you get, although harlow was convinced she was a good player.

since then, elton had introduced harlow to sam's girlfriend kat, and a girl named xepher. harlow had spent the rest of the night by kat's side, instantly hitting it off with the blue-haired girl. the two were both very drunk and had spent hours laughing and dancing.

"i'm going to go outside for a minute!" harlow yelled to kat, even though the girl was right beside her.

"okay, i'll be here!" kat shouted back to her new friend.

harlow generally wasn't a smoker. she liked to tell herself and others that she only smoked when she drank. but sometimes she smoked when she was stressed out or annoyed. and sometimes she just smoked.

harlow moved through the crowd of people to find the back door. as soon as she stepped outside she felt instantly better. she took the pack of cigarettes out from her small purse and leaned against the house as she lit her smoke.

the small backyard was nowhere near as crowded as the house was. there were a few people here and there, but harlow didn't mind. leaning against the building, smoke between her fingers, harlow was finally fully admitting to herself that she was happy her brother forced her out of her tiny dorm. she felt like she had made a friend in kat, which she was thankful for.

just as harlow lifted her cigarette back to her lips, she heard a voice, "y'know, smoking is bad for you,"

harlow whipped her head in the direction the voice came from. she couldn't see the face of the boy it came from, just a figure. harlow rolled her eyes, knowing the mysterious boy could see her. "you should probably call the fun police then,"

the boy laughed in response. instantly, harlow's insides felt as though they were melting at the melodic sound of the boy's laugh. all of a sudden, she could see the flame of a lighter in the dark sky, lighting the end of a cigarette.

annoyed, and drunk, harlow mocked the boy, "y'know, smoking is bad for you,"

"good thing nobody called the fun police," the voice replied. "i'm colby," the boy introduced himself, although harlow still couldn't make out any features.

"harlow," the brunette replied, inhaling her cigarette, then blowing the smoke in the area of colby.

"oh, your elton's sister," colby replied.

harlow squinted, "how did you know i was elton's sister?" she asked, confused as to how this stranger would know of her.

"well, for starters, i live here," colby replied, stepping out of the darkness to lean against the house with harlow.

as soon as colby emerged from the darkness of the night, her breath hitched. the beautiful boy from earlier was standing in front of her. she was having a conversation with the beautiful boy. harlow stood there, trying to think of what to say without making herself seem awkward. all she could manage was, "oh,"

colby tossed his smoke onto the ground, and squished it out under his foot. "do me a favor, and don't mention to elton that i was smoking. he thinks i quit," colby explained.

harlow just nodded in response.

"alright, well maybe i'll see you in there," colby said as he opened the door and disappeared into the crowd of people in the mansion.

harlow quickly finished her smoke, wanting to run inside to tell kat what had just happened. as she entered the house, she could see kat's blue head exactly where she left her.

harlow hurried over to her new friend, excited to tell her all about the cute boy she met. just as she was approaching kat, sam appeared beside his girlfriend. harlow assumed that sam would be quite close with colby, considering they both lived in the same house. on the off chance that sam would tell colby, harlow decided to wait until she could tell kat about the cute boy in privacy.

she finally reached the duo, and was immediately given a corona by the blue-haired girl. "drink up, bitch,"

it's a short one!!

how are y'all liking this?