She was right. She was so fucking right. She did feel better.

She let out a soft moan against another pair of lips, enjoying the feeling of a warm tongue sliding against hers and cool hands traveling up and down her body, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake.

Mel had been so right– kissing other people did make her feel better. Kissing made her feel good, touching made her feel great, and fucking made her feel less numb.

"Madeline!" Someone shouted, banging on the door nearby. She groaned against the pair of lips, but her coordination had been impaired by the weed and alcohol, and she accidentally bit down on them. The response it elicited was enough to make her temporarily forget someone was on the other side of the door, calling her name.

She brought her hand up to the girl's cheek, using her hips to push them further into the wall. Another groan and this time, teeth came down on her bottom lip, and the faint sting of pain distracted her long enough to be caught off guard. The girl flipped them around, slamming Madeline against the wall, and pinning her wrists above her head to prevent her from trying to fight the position.

Wet lips began a pursuit down her neck, teeth just barely scraping over sensitive spots of her skin, and the high it gave Madeline was competing with that of the weed, which was slowly wearing off. She let out a sigh, sinking against the wall contentedly. Her eyes fluttered closed and the blood rushing between her ears was almost enough to tune out the cries of her name coming from the other side of the door.

"I think someone's looking for you," the pair of lips said against her skin, sounding annoyed but not enough so to bother moving away.

"Whoever it is can fuck off," Madeline responded, freeing one of her hands from the other girl's grip and tangling it in her wavy, brown hair. She tugged on the girl's head, hoping to keep her distracted from whoever was still banging on the door.

It seemed to have worked, as a hand slithered around her back, skillfully unclipping her bra. Her hand dropped down from the girl's hair and she began incessantly tugging on the hem of her shirt.

But the banging didn't stop. Nor did the shouting. Her name was called over and over again.

Madeline groaned as she pushed the girl off of her, using her wrist to wipe the small pools of saliva that had gathered at the corners of her mouth. Irritatedly, she whipped open the door without bothering to fix her unbuttoned jeans that hung loosely around her waist. As she had suspected, Luna and Dylan were standing on the other side, looking panicked and slightly frustrated.

"What?" She asked impatiently, glancing back and forth between the two of them.

Dylan looked away immediately after seeing the state she was in, but Luna couldn't have cared less as she pushed her way into the room, an equally angry look on her face. She pointed at the other girl, standing in the exact spot Madeline had left her. "You, out!"

The other girl laughed cynically. "You sure you don't want to join?" She earned a snort of a laugh from Madeline. "Three's a party, after all."

"Three is a crowd," Luna responded bitterly, her lip twitching. "Out. Now."

The girl – Madeline hadn't bothered to learn her name, or to even ask – rolled her eyes, but relented. She made her way to the door, but not before brushing past Madeline, and letting her hand brush against her lower back. "You know where to find me," She said, winking suggestively at Maddie before slipping out of the room.

Once she was gone, Madeline turned her attention to Luna, who was already scowling at her with her arms crossed over her chest. "I wasn't finished with her yet," Madeline said lazily.

"Too bad." Luna had done her best to sound angry, but the crack in her voice betrayed her, giving way to her exhaustion. She moved closer to Madeline, and took it upon herself to button up her best friend's pants again and fix her bra as well. Once that was taken care of, Luna alerted Dylan it was safe for him to come into the room.

"Who was that?" Dylan asked as he made his way over to the two girls.

Madeline shrugged, "Does it matter?"

Dylan and Luna exchanged a look as Madeline walked over to the bed, rummaging through the sheets as she looked for her phone before falling onto the mattress after losing balance. Madeline laughed to herself at the misstep, and once she had retained her balance, she propped herself up against the headboard.

"The party's ending soon," Dylan continued. "We're all heading out now."

"You couldn't wait ten minutes?"

"We're always waiting ten minutes," Luna exclaimed, a certain edge in her voice as if her repeated attempts to reason with Madeline lately had worn her out. "Or twenty minutes, or an hour. Aren't you sick of all of this yet?"

"Sick of what?

"Sick of acting like a heartless bitch," Dylan finished, monotonously.

Madeline paused for a moment, her brows knitting together as an injurious look spread over her features. But the pout of her lip soon curled up and she began laughing– laughing at them mockingly. She raised a brow, demanding them to challenge her once again.

Dylan wanted nothing more than to scream at her, and Luna wanted nothing more than to slap her. For as long as they knew her, Madeline had always been good at hiding her emotions and putting up walls; this just happened to be the Great goddamn Wall of China.

She hadn't so much as mentioned his name since she found out that he had cheated, and after two weeks of jumping from party to party or disappearing after midnight, and never being fully sober before getting high or drunk again, the limits of her friends to comply with these walls, or to try to break them down, had been severely tested.

This hadn't been the first time in the past fourteen days that Dylan and Luna were forced to act as her babysitter – forced to clean up her messes and ensure she didn't create larger ones – and they could guarantee it would not be the last. However, Madeline pushed them away further each time, and some of it had been intentional.

"Whatever," Dylan sighed disdainfully as he shook his head. "If you want a ride home, we'll be in the car."

Dylan made his way out of the room quickly, and didn't bother to look back to see if the girls were following him. He hated being around Madeline right now because he wasn't used to her like this, and he didn't want to be used to it. He just felt useless. Useless and tired.

Luna hadn't fully given up hope yet. Madeline had stuck by her side after all, it was only fair she tried to return the favor, even if it meant giving tough love.

"You're going to have no one," she said, refraining from putting any soft emotions behind her words. "Once you're done pushing us all away and we stop fighting you from doing so, you'll have no one." Luna kept her eyes trained on Madeline, biting out every word, hoping they were sharp enough to penetrate the rough exterior Madeline had built around herself. "I don't want to have to fight you anymore, so please, Madeline, please talk to me. Just let me help you."

Madeline had lowered her eyes to the floor, her lips were puckered tightly, and Luna had hoped that it meant she was maybe considering what she had said. It was hard to read her, but she could make out the glassiness of Maddie's eyes.

"Help me?" Madeline asked, her voice low that it almost blended in with the muffled bass of the music playing downstairs. "Help me? How could you possibly help me?"

"Maddie-"

"There isn't any help that you could offer me, Luna," Madeline said angrily. "You don't understand-"

"I don't understand?!" Luna exclaimed, scoffing. "You're seriously going to say that I don't understand? Of course I understand, Madeline! I know what it's like to be cheated on, so-"

"Yes, but you were stupid enough to go back to him!" Madeline cut her off, her face flushed with anger. Luna stepped back, her mouth closing shut, stunned by how cruel and blunt her best friend had been. "You can't help me because you can't even help yourself."

Luna swallowed down the lump in her throat. "You don't know the whole story, Maddie. Zach is your friend, too. You should have some decency to show respect."

"Respect?" Madeline laughed humorlessly. "Respect for the asshole that cheated, or respect for the idiot who took him back after one feigned sob story?"

Luna willed herself not to cry until she was safely away from Maddie as she shook her head. "You just don't know when to stop, do you?" Madeline stayed quiet, her hands balling into fists at her sides. "I know you're hurt, and I know you think no one understands, but you're wrong. You're the one who doesn't understand, Maddie. You don't understand just how much you're hurting everyone around you."

"Whatever."

"It's not whatever, Madeline," She argued, her tone growing colder as whatever remaining hope and patience she had was drained all at once. "If you don't want to treat us like your friends, or even humans, then we'll move on. The guys are starting to give up, and if that is truly how you see me," Luna paused, holding her breath that maybe, just maybe, Madeline would take back what she had said. "If you really think that low of me, I don't know why I'm even bothering anymore."

Luna waited only a moment more for Madeline to say something, but when she was met with silence, she gave up. She pulled away from Madeline, "If you don't want us to be around, then we won't be. Goodnight, Maddie. Get home safe."

She waited until Luna had left the room and her footsteps blended with the bass of the music playing throughout the house to look up. She used the wrist of her sleeve to rub her nose and then a stray tear.

She groaned. Her high had worn off.

* * *

She apologized. Well, sort of.

She had only done it because when she told Mel what happened at the party, the girl had bluntly told her she crossed the line with Luna. She only went through with the apology because she was high when she gave it.

So, really, it wasn't entirely her fault. It was theirs– they had believed she meant it.

"Another," She slurred, slamming down a crumpled wad of dollar bills onto the counter. Her lips turned up in a watery smile as the money was pushed back to her, and the man sitting on the stool beside her slid his credit card forward.

"This one's on me, sweetie," He said to her with a thick New York accent. She thanked the man as she picked up the shot of tequila placed in front of her; she brought it to her lips and effortlessly downed the shot like it was water. Even as it slid down her throat, she barely recognized the slight sting or the bitter taste.

"Maddie, I think you've had enough," Luna argued, placing a hand on Maddie's shoulder, attempting to pull her away from the bar. Maddie quickly shrugged Luna off, putting more space between herself and Luna and Jason.

She turned to fully face the man that had paid for her drink, striking up an easy conversation with the man, who looked much too old to be hitting on someone in high school. Madeline leaned in closer as the man whispered something in her ear, and then his hand was wrapping around hers as he pulled her away from the bar.

Luna tried to follow after her friend, but quickly lost sight of Madeline in the sea of people crowding the bar. She looked over to Jason for help, but he was only slightly taller than her and just as distraught. Neither of them had anything to drink tonight, in spite of what they were hoping would be a fun night out with their best friend again.

When Madeline had come to them two days ago and apologized for how she had been acting recently, they had believed her– she had seemed sincere enough. For one thing, she looked more sober than she had all summer; then again, it was quite possible they both forgot what Maddie looked and acted like when she was sober. Second, they had wanted to believe her; she was their best friend, and they had missed her.

Tonight was supposed to be their first night hanging out together again in almost two weeks. They had expected the time in between was enough for her to grow tired of going to parties or getting high every night, and she would finally reflect on the weight of her emotions. They hadn't expected her apology to last as short of a time as her sobriety streak.

It wasn't as though she wasn't apologetic. She did truly feel bad about what she had said to Luna, even if secretly she still meant it. However, she never stated anywhere in her apology that she was taking a sobriety pledge, and, currently, being drunk and high was so much better than being sober.

Her vision was blurry around the edges and her mind was foggy, and she loved it– it was all the more reason to keep going. She threw back drink after drink, willingly allowing any guy to cop a feel if it meant another free drink for her.

Luna and Jason had attempted to push their way through to Madeline, but it was of little to no use. Luna was silently cursing her best friend out and Jason was just praying to God that all three of them made it out of here tonight without any bodily harm.

They finally spotted her on the opposite side of the bar, standing uncomfortably close to the older man. Her hand was draped over his chest and she was smiling at him flirtatiously as his eyes raked over her body.

"How do we get her out of here?" Luna asked, having to scream so that Jason would be able to hear her over the music.

"I don't know," He responded just as loud.

Luna watched as the man placed his hand on Madeline's hip, tugging her closer to him. Luna scowled and marched over, practically tearing Madeline out of his grip. "Hey!" She exclaimed. "Keep your hands off of her!"

"Let it go, Luna," Madeline said, pushing herself towards the man, her shoulder bumping into his chest.

"Yeah," He agreed. "Let your friend make her own decisions, darling. Here, I'll pay for both of your next drinks."

"No thanks," Luna spat at the same time Madeline cheered her approval of more drinks. Luna looked over to Jason for some help.

"Hey, man, let her go. She's drunk," Jason told the man. He only laughed, "What's that got to do with anything?"

Jason's lips curled into a frown. "Seriously, leave her be."

"Look, man. Finder's keepers," He said, passing Madeline another shot. "Go find your own bitch to screw."

Jason's jaw shut tightly and he edged forward, as the urge to punch the man sunk into his gut. However, the man quickly responded to Jason's change in stance, standing taller and puffing out his chest. He towered over Jason and raised a condescending brow, daring Jason to make a move. Admitting his fault and lack of muscle build, Jason backed away, holding his hands up in surrender.

The man moved himself and Madeline a bit further away from Luna and Jason. The two hung back, finding a place to stand that was far enough away from the crowd, but close enough to keep a good eye on Maddie.

"We can't call Dylan," Jason said. "He's away, so it won't do us any good. Where's Zach?"

"Out of state," Luna sighed. "Some tournament for his sister's softball team."

"So what do we do?"

"I'm going to make a call," Luna said, eyeing Maddie one last time. "Just keep her busy for now, I guess."

She nudged her way through the people, heading in the direction of the bathroom. Jason kept his watch on Madeline, who was now on the dance floor, swaying to the beat with another handsy man. "I don't think we'll have to worry about keeping her busy," Jason muttered to himself.

Luna came back a few minutes later, her face flushed with anger. Although she looked frustrated, she said nothing as she crossed her arms over her chest and joined in with Jason on watching Madeline dance with the man.

Fifteen minutes had passed before Luna spotted him pushing his way through the crowd recklessly. He looked pissed. Actually, he looked more than pissed. He was practically fuming. Not unusual, though.

"This better be worth my time," He said bitterly once he was close enough for Luna to be able to hear him. "I was on the other side of town."

"You need to chill out."

"Don't tell me to chill out. I was fucking busy." Luna assessed the array of bite marks around his neck and the dishevelment of his hair. She wanted to argue with him, but he did come to help them and that alone was a shock, so testing him probably wasn't the best idea. "You can't expect me to drop everything at any time," he ranted on. "I have my own life-"

"Yeah, yeah, that's really great," Luna said disinterestedly.

"What's this big emergency?"

Luna pointed to the dance floor, where Madeline now had her back pressed against the older man, swaying her hips freely for him and allowing him to touch her wherever he desired.

"Seriously?" Carson rolled his eyes, his lips pressing into a straight line. "This is still going on?" Luna nodded her head. He scoffed, "I've seen cardboard with more character than Damien, and she's acting like that asshat was some big loss."

"It's not that simple, Carson," Jason defended feebly– he had never liked Damien either.

"Can you just shut up and go get her?" Luna exclaimed, slapping Carson's shoulder gently.

He didn't respond; his eyes were fixed on Madeline. Her hair danced behind her as swayed from side to side, and her eyes remained closed as she felt the beat of the music with her body.

"Carson!" Luna demanded, snapping her fingers in front of his face. "Please."

He rolled his eyes, "Fine."

Luna and Jason stayed behind while Carson marched into the crowd of people on the dance floor, easily shoving people out of his way. He had stalked his way up to Madeline, who hadn't noticed him coming and spared no glance in his direction as she continued to dance. The man eyed Carson over, hesitating to speak.

"Let her go," Carson demanded, a certain finality in his voice.

The man laughed, "Not a chance, man."

"She's half your age and twice as hot. Let her go."

The man rolled his eyes, "Look, I already told someone else: this place is packed full with other bitches, go-"

The man was barely given a second to react as Carson's hand clamped down on his shoulder and forcefully shoved him away from Madeline, who only recognized something was going on when she noticed the loss of contact. She watched quietly as Carson brought his other hand to the man's throat, his eyes locking steadily on the man's.

"Call her or any other woman a bitch again, and I promise you, I'll rip out your vocal cords and strangle you with them. Am I understood?"

The man nodded his head, his voice getting stuck in throat, where Carson was still applying pressure.

"Good," Carson released his grip, leaning his head inward and lowering his voice once again. "Now leave before I make you."