"Who has soccer practice on New Year's Eve?" I asked.

"It's still daytime," Parker reminded me, as he filled up his water jug in the kitchen.

"And soccer doesn't break for a new year," Emmett added, stuffing his shin guards into his bag.

"Ready to go?" Emmett asked Parker.

Parker looked back towards his bedroom uneasily and then at me.

"I'm staying here," I reminded him.

"Lee should stay asleep," Parker said, as Emmett headed towards the door. "If he gets up though, try and convince him that food would be a great idea."

I nodded.

"And call me if you need me," he added, his eyes flickering back towards the hallway again. "For anything."

"I will," I promised, with a smile.

"We have to go," Emmett added.

"He just..." Parker trailed off. "Maybe I shouldn't go."

"We'll be fine," I promised, crossing the living room and practically pushing Parker out of the door. "Your practice is only 2 hours. And I'll call you if we need you, I promise."

Parker nodded, and I rose up on my toes and kissed him.

"Okay," Parker said, with a half-smile.

"Are you finished yet?" Emmett called from the down the hallway. "Because we're already late for practice!"

"Go," I said, giving Parker a good shove before closing the apartment door.

I plugged my Little Mermaid vinyl into the record player before taking a seat on the couch. I located my Kindle before folding my legs underneath me.

I was close to halfway finished with my book, and I was curious as to how the plot was going to unfold from this point.

I needed a nice, relaxing morning. Living with now three boys in the apartment, with one of them being my boyfriend, could get overwhelming at times.

As I was getting the good part in my book, I heard a door open and slam shut down the hallway.

I looked up to see Lee come into the kitchen and open up the refrigerator, ignoring me.

"Good morning!" I called out.

"Where's Parker?"

"He had practice."

Lee took a bottle of water before turning to head back to his bedroom.

"Would you like some breakfast?" I offered.

"No."

"Okay, well if you want or need anything I'll be here."

"Great to know," he muttered, before heading back to Parker's room.

"Okay," I mumbled, turning my attention back to my book.

I miss the other Lee.

~*~

"We have to leave in ten minutes!" Parker called. "We're already late."

I enjoy being late to parties. That's how you make an entrance.

"I hear you!" I called back, as I separated a piece of my hair to straighten.

Boys just don't understand.

I finished straightening my hair and stepped back to observe my outfit.

I was wearing a strapless gold peplum shirt, and I'd paired with black jeggings and black pumps.

"Emily!" Parker whined.

I sighed, putting in a pair of gold, dangling earrings and then grabbed a gold clutch purse to carry my phone and wallet before going out to the kitchen to meet him.

He was leaning against counter, engrossed in his phone.

He was wearing a pair of dark wash jeans and a light blue button-up shirt, his sleeves rolled up to three-quarter length. He'd paired it with a pair of white vans.

He turned his head to call for me again and then paused, staring at me.

"Ready to go?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him.

He just continued to stare at me, his jaw falling slack.

"Do I have something on me?" I asked, my eyes brushing down my outfit.

"You look gorgeous," he said, raising his eyebrows at me.

I couldn't help but blush.

"So what time will you guys be home?" Emmett asked, coming into the kitchen shirtless and in a pair of sweatpants.

"Sometime in the AM?" Parker guessed, looking to me for confirmation.

I just shrugged in agreement.

Emmett grabbed an apple. "Okay," he agreed. "Be careful."

"I thought we'd be reckless," I said, with a smirk.

"Shut up," Emmett warned, pointing his apple at me.

"You sure you're good here with Lee?" Parker asked, changing the subject.

"I'm good," Emmett promised. "Amber is coming over."

"Gross," I complained.

Emmett just wiggled his eyebrows with a smirk.

"Just keep an eye on my brother," Parker ordered. "Call me if you need me."

"Got it dude," Emmett promised.

"For anything at all," Parker added.

"Dude, I said I got it," Emmett said, with a nod. "Now leave before you annoy me."

Parker's eyes flickered back to his room, nervousness written across his face.

"Emmett is a capable human," I promised, taking Parker's hand.

"Okay," Parker muttered, uncertainly.

I kissed him, causing Parker's attention to snap to me.

"We should go," I suggested.

"Right," Parker agreed.

I kissed Emmett's cheek before practically dragging Parker out of the apartment.

"He'll be okay?" Parker asked, looking to me.

"He'll be fine," I promised.

Parker nodded, clearly still unconvinced.

We were taking a cab to the party that way we wouldn't be tempted to drive home, and it was waiting for us downstairs when we got there.

"My meter has been running for ten minutes," the cab driver informed us, as we climbed into the backseat.

"Okay," I said, with a slight laugh.

Parker just rolled his eyes.

The party was already in full swing when we got there, and Parker paid the driver before we headed inside.

"Emily!" Hannah called, throwing her arms around me as we walked inside.

Her breath reeked of alcohol.

"Hey," I said, lightly patting her before prying her off of me.

"You're late," she slurred.

"But I'm here now," I said, with a smile. "So let's get this party started."

Parker reappeared by my side, handing me a red cup. I didn't even notice him leave.

"What is this?" I asked.

"It's a trash can party," he explained. "That's Hawaiian punch and everclear."

"Okay," I agreed, before taking a sip.

I didn't expect it to burn the way it did, bringing tears to my eyes.

"Take it lightly," Parker said, laughing at me.

"Shut up," I ordered, blinking to rid the tears.

We made our way onto the dance floor. I finished off my drink before joining Parker, stumbling a bit.

"You okay?" Parker asked.

"All good here," I promised, with a giggle.

"Okay," he agreed, wrapping an arm around my waist.

"We is all good in the hood," I said, giggling at my word choice.

I am a funny person.

"I can see that," he agreed, laughing as well. "Let's take it a bit slower on the drinks maybe?"

"Oh yeah, I need a new one." I stood on my toes, wrapping my arms around him to keep steady. "Where are they?"

"I'll get you one," he said, with a smile. "Stay here though?"

"Okay," I said, nodding as I located Hannah. "I'll stay with Hannah."

"Okay," he agreed.

I stumbled over to Hannah, throwing my arms around her.

"Hello gorgeous," she slurred.

"Hi," I answered, smiling at the rest of my friends.

"Are you here with Parker?" Natasha asked me.

I nodded in agreement, running my fingers through my hair.

"Like, as in things are official with Parker?"

I nodded again, giggling.

I was Parker Adams's girlfriend. How cool was that?

"Are you sure Parker knows that?" she asked, pointing behind me.

I turned to see a girl clinging to Parker's side, giggling profusely.

"She's just a whore," I argued.

And then Parker handed her a drink, my drink, flashing his signature smile at her.

"And apparently so is your boyfriend," Natasha said.

Although a bit tipsy, I managed to storm over to him, anger pulsing through my veins.

I'm not normally an angry drunk, more of a giggly and happy one.

But seeing my boyfriend flirt with another girl really got my pulse pumping.

"What are you doing?" I demanded.

"Handing you this drink," he said, handing me a red cup. "And what are you doing?"

"Watching you hand that blonde bimbo a drink."

"Who, Olivia?"

"If that's that slut's name."

He chuckled. "You're cute when you're jealous."

"And you're cute when you're about to die."

"Olivia just needed a drink," he informed me. "And I was heading to the kitchen anyways."

"But you brought her a drink and then smiled at her."

"Would you like me to smile at you?"

"You can't flirt with her."

"So drunk Emily is possessive?" He took a sip of his own drink. "I think I can live with that."

"I am not possessive," I whined. "I just don't like her."

"Okay," Parker agreed, with a laugh. "It's 30 minutes to midnight, would you like to dance?"

I nodded in agreement, and he wrapped his arm around my waist, leading me back out to the dance floor.

As it neared midnight, someone turned on the flat screen TV, and we all tuned into performances before the countdown.

"I love Ariana Grande," I said, staring at her as she performed. "She's perfection."

"You're perfection," Parker corrected, kissing the top of my head. "But I'm not gonna lie, she's pretty hot."

Boys.

"And let the countdown begin!" the announcer called out.

It started at 60, and I was way too drunk to even think about counting down that much.

So I just finished off my current drink, used to the burn from the Everclear now, and waited until it reached 10.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one," we all chanted.

Although I think I mixed up a few numbers along the way.

"Happy New Year!" we cheered, and I reached up and kissed Parker.

He wrapped his arms around my waist, picking me up to kiss him.

It was perfect in every way.

~*~

"So did you have a good night?" Emmett asked, plopping down on the opposite side of my bed.

"Shut up," I groaned.

My head was pounding, my mouth dry, and my stomach rolling.

Hangovers are the absolute worst.

"Here," he said, handing me two Tylenol and a glass of water.

"I love you."

"You better."

I downed the pills and the water before rolling back over, pulling a pillow over my face.

"If it makes you feel any better, Parker is in pretty much the same boat."

"Stop talking," I groaned, his voice reverberating through my skull.

Have I mentioned how much I hate hangovers?

And so that's how I spent New Year's morning, curled up in bed, nursing my hangover.

As the morning wore on, the symptoms of my hangover wore off, and I managed to venture out into the living room in search of food.

Parker had made it out before me, munching on cold pizza.

"Morning," he greeted, with a half-smile.

"Morning," I answered, locating a package of Pop-Tarts.

"I can just feel the sexual tension," Emmett whispered.

"Shut up," I muttered, too hungover to try and argue with him.

I might not have the pounding headache anymore, but I was still not quite together.

"How was Lee last night?" Parker asked.

"You mean aside from the four times you called?" Emmett asked. "He was fine."

"You called four times?" I asked Parker, raising my eyebrows.

"He's over exaggerating," Parker defended.

Emmett went to pull out his phone.

"Anyways," Parker said, hastily. "Did he come out at all? Do anything? Say anything?"

"He came out for a few minutes, told me that he didn't want or need anything from me, and then went back to bed."

Parker let out a sigh, finishing off his pizza.

"Is he not eating?" I asked, taking a seat next to Parker.

"Not really," Parker muttered. "He's not doing much of anything."

"So when does it change from a mood swing to depression?" I asked.

"About two days ago," Parker informed me, before drinking some orange juice from the carton.

Dating or not, I still refused to drink from that carton.

"So what are you going to do to help him out?" Emmett asked.

"He's supposed to meet with a therapist tomorrow, but I'll be lucky if I can drag him there."

I looped my legs over the top of Parker's, kissing him on the cheek. "You're a good brother."

"So you tell me."

"If you two are done being all couple-like," Emmett called behind us, "When Harry Met Sally is on."

"What?" Parker asked, as I jumped off the barstool and hopped onto the couch, snuggling in to see my favorite New Year's Day movie.

"What is this?" Parker asked, taking a seat next to me.

"How do you not know this movie?" Emmett and I asked in unison.

"Don't do that," Parker ordered. "And you two know the weirdest music and movies."

"Shut up and watch," I said, slapping my hand over his mouth.

It was Emmett and I's tradition to watch sappy New Year's movies on New Year's Day, but When Harry Met Sally is my all-time favorite.

"This movie is so old," Parker whispered to me.

"It has sex," I whispered back.

He didn't say another word for the rest of the movie.

**************************************************************************************************************

So what did you guys think about Lee & Emily's encounter? What about the New Year's Eve party with Parker and Emily, was it what you expected? And then New Year's Day?

The picture at the tip top was created by Truly_Blonde. What do you think?

So yes, I'm aware that I haven't updated in about two weeks now. But you guys, I don't know how many times I have to stress to you that . And sometimes it gets a little hectic. But . So for the last time, please respect that, and understand that when my updates are late it's for a reason.

Teaser: It's time for Lee to head back to Cornerstone, his boarding school.

Update: Again this week