harlow's tolerance level for alcohol admittedly wasn't as high as it once had been. harlow had been deemed a "party girl" prior to her starting college, which was backward for what most people experience in college.

however, harlow really hated confronting her feelings, and one way to drown them out was to get as drunk as possible. it definitely wasn't healthy, but harlow had many bad habits, so one more didn't faze her.

"h, i hate to put myself in the brotherly role here, but i think that's more than enough for tonight." elton said to his younger sister, trying to grab the bottle of wine that she was cradling.

harlow tried to stand still to prove to her brother that she was fine, and even though she felt like she was standing up straight, she was swaying in her spot. "elton, i'm not even that drunk!"

elton held his hands up in surrender. "fine. it's your problem in the morning then."

harlow spun around on her heels, trying to look through the crowd to find kat or devyn. she spent the next fifteen minutes looping through the same two rooms looking for either girl but came up shorthanded.

harlow began to make her way towards the back door, suddenly feeling the need to get some air. as she placed her hand on the handle to go outside, harlow saw colby with a smoke in his hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other. she stood in her spot, looking outside, trying to see who colby was standing with.

everything was spinning, but harlow managed to make out a female figure with long hair. it was dark, so she struggled to identify the girl. harlow felt a wave of drunk anger wash over her as she watched the girl reach for the cigarette from colby's hand. smokes and red bulls was their thing, that's what colby had told her, so why was he smoking with another girl?

although she was incredibly intoxicated, harlow was never one for confrontation. her drunken state just heightened her normal reaction, which was to remove herself from the situation.

she didn't even bother shutting the half-opened door before she ran up the stairs and to the ladder by colby's room. holding her half-empty bottle of wine in one hand, she managed to climb to the top of the ladder, and push the hatch door open.

once outside and away from the situation, harlow felt as though she could breathe. she took a long drink out of the bottle, before placing it beside her on the ground. she knew that there was no reason to be mad at colby, and the more she thought about it, the more she realized she wasn't mad at him. she was mad at herself for catching feelings for him and was directing that anger onto him. harlow sat on the roof for a good twenty minutes before a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"hello? is anyone up here? if you're fucking, please stop! i'm coming up!"

harlow instinctively reached for the bottle. when she was able to see colby's face she was both relieved and enraged at the same time. instead of replying, she just placed the bottle back down, avoiding looking directly at the beautiful boy.

"harley? what're you doing up here?" he asked, sitting beside the girl.

"needed air," harlow replied.

"yeah so did i. except i wasn't expecting anyone else to be up here."

harlow tried to stand while grasping her bottle of wine. "i'll leave. sorry."

colby grabbed her arm, holding the girl in place. "no, that's not what i meant." harlow just looked at the boy. "where have you been all night? did you just get here?"

harlow gave the boy a look, holding up the bottle so he could see. "got here with kat a few hours ago. i lost her though."

"i just saw her outside," colby replied.

harlow tried to push herself to stand, wanting to go find kat and get the hell away from the boy she was trying so hard not to think about. she managed to get to her feet, but instantly fell back on her ass. "fuck," she swore, embarrassed. "i think i drank too much,"

colby just laughed. "just sit up here for a while," he reached for the bottle, successfully grabbing it from harlow's hand. "and maybe have some water instead." he held out the water bottle that was in his hand to the girl.

harlow took the water, taking a large drink before leaning onto the half wall of the roof. "thanks,"

"so, you never answered me. where were you all night?" colby repeated, looking at the girl beside him.

harlow thought for a moment, trying to sequence the night's events. "i kinda remember playing flip cup with devyn and kat."

colby laughed once more, and drunk harlow couldn't hide her smile. his laugh seemed to temporarily dissolve the anger she felt. "elton was looking for you earlier. said something about taking you back to your dorm."

"yeah, he found me. it's still early," harlow started, "i didn't want to go back yet,"

colby pulled out his pack of cigarettes from his pocket. harlow watched as he lit one, and then held out the pack to her.

harlow pushed colby's hand away. "i already had a few tonight,"

colby jokingly made a hurt face, "without me?"

"well i mean, i watched you smoke without me tonight, so..." she trailed off, contemplating whether or not she was in the mood for confrontation.

"someone's stalking me," colby laughed, taking a drag of his smoke.

harlow was drunk, meaning she was easily annoyed. "don't get fuckin' cocky." she paused to take a long drink from the bottle of wine, no longer wanting to become sober. "i actually was going out for a smoke when i saw you with another girl smoking. didn't want to interrupt, you're welcome."

"jesus, harley, no need to bitchy about it. i was talking to a girl, what's the big deal? a little jealous, maybe?"

colby was clearly joking, but harlow wasn't in the mood for jokes. "dude, you were just bitching about how i smoked without you," she got to her feet and made off towards the hatch door. "and also, fuck you and your ego, brock."

harlow felt as though she had already said enough that she would regret in the morning. it was hard to control her emotions around colby, even more so when she was drunk. and harlow was jealous of the girl with colby. she was supposed to be the person he smoked with, that was supposed to be their thing.

"harley, stop for a second." colby said, moving to his feet. "harlow!" harlow stopped, but didn't turn around to face the boy, knowing she would crumble just by making eye contact. "i'm sorry. i meant it as a joke, i didn't mean to offend you or anything. and just to clarify i was with kat when you saw me."

harlow felt herself begin to go red with embarrassment. the whole time she was looking for kat, she was outside with colby. kat wasn't anything harlow needed to be jealous of, at least in the realm of colby. all harlow could muster was a simple, "oh."

within the span of ten minutes, harlow suddenly felt sober. funny how emotions can do that to a person. "i'm sorry." harlow slowly turned to face colby, who was much closer than she anticipated. "this is gonna sound kinda weird i guess, but i just thought smokes were part of our thing. not that you can't smoke with other people or anything, because i'm not trying to control you, but-"

"it is ours. just ours." colby cut harlow off with a grin gracing his face.

all colby wanted to do in the moment was pull harlow close to him and kiss her, but he knew it wouldn't be right. she was still drunk, and that's not how he wanted to set the tone to whatever was forming between the two. so instead, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back to where they were sitting before.

harlow and colby sat on the roof for half-hour, sharing smokes and joking around with each other. she even managed to finish her bottle of wine. eventually, the pair made their way back into the house, where the number of people left at the party was considerably less than when harlow first went up.

"harley!" katrina shouted, waving over her friend.

harlow glanced at colby beside her. the two made their way over to kat, who was watching jake and sam play a game of beer pong. "where'd you go? i couldn't find you anywhere!"

"we were on the roof," harlow replied, watching sam and jake drunkenly throw the ping pong ball.

"were we?" katrina asked, looking at the pair with a lifted eyebrow.

"yeah," colby replied, eyes focused intensely on kat. "just smoking."

kat just nodded at the two, then turned her attention back to her intoxicated boyfriend. harlow excused herself, telling colby she was going to get a beer.

katrina, standing with her arms crossed and eyes focused on the game of beer pong, spoke up once harlow was out of earshot. "it doesn't sound like you tried shooting your shot,"

colby rolled his eyes at the blue-haired girl. "it's complicated," colby could now feel katrina's eyes on him. "okay, so maybe i'm just making it fucking complicated. i don't know. but she's drunk and a little angry, it just wasn't the right timing."