"I have to go to a party today." I complained, my voice whiney, rolling over onto my back as I spoke into the phone.

"What kind of party?" Ryo asked, sounding mildly interested.

"Some kind of cocktail party." My nose scrunched up, and he snickered, clearly enjoying my pain.

"Is this the one everybody's talking about? Romi Mitchell and Brad Prince's anniversary shindig?"

"Okay, first off, please never use the word shindig." I ordered, hating how incredibly 90s the word was. "Secondly, yes, it is that party."

"You shouldn't be complaining," Ryo informed me, a teasing lilt to his tone. "Everyone wants to score an invite to this thing."

"Oh, shut up." I huffed, playing with a strand of my hair. My Saturday had been amazing, and I just lazed around watching every chick flick I could, but now Sunday had reared its ugly head and I was currently waiting for Ally to show up so that we could get ready together.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang and I sighed. "That was the doorbell. It's probably Ally." I told Ryo, making a face when he laughed at my tone.

"Why did you say yes to this in the first place?" He inquired, amusedly.

"I don't know!" I exclaimed, before adding in an effort at defending myself, "Romi asked me and I didn't realize I'd said yes until I did!"

Ryo just kept laughing.

"Now, I have to go," I said, as Ally walked into the room, a dress bag, shoebox and makeup kit in hand, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," He was still entertained by my plight. "Have fun."

He hung up before I could cuss him out.

"Was that who I think it is?" Ally demanded in lieu of a greeting, "Because, if it was, I still totally ship it."

"Hello to you, too." I greeted, rolling my eyes. "And, yes, that was Ryo."

"You too would be so cute together. I can just imagine it." She said dreamily, probably imagining some sort of hellish alternate universe where Ryo and I would actually be a thing.

"Yeah, that's not happening." I said, my tone dry. "Like, never."

"Never say never." She teased, singing her words. "I remember how you used to look at him."

"You know, Ally, 'used to' is the key phrase here."

"Why, though?" She whined, pouting, "You two would be, like, the perfect couple!" She insisted.

"Because I don't like him!" I protested, glaring at her, "He's like the annoying older brother I never had, who teases me about every little thing."

"I thought you do have a brother?" Ally said confusedly, referring to Chase, who I hadn't spoken to in four days and probably should call.

"I do, but Chase was always like the overprotective brother, the one who beat up anyone who teased me and took every stupid thing I said seriously."

"Aww!" Ally exclaimed, her voice so high-pitched that I winced. "That's so sweet!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I brushed it off, "Now, can we start getting ready? We have to leave in two hours."

"You're right." She said, turning her gaze towards me, and surveying my appearance before crinkling her nose delicately, "We do have our work cut out for us."

"Should I be offended by that?" I joked, knowing that I looked like a potato and we did, as she said, have our work cut out for us.

"Probably."

I just threw a pillow at her.

***

"Looks like our work paid off, didn't it?" I told Ally smugly later, as we admired ourselves in the mirror.

"We look hot." She agreed, making a pouty face and pulling her phone out to take a couple of selfies.

I stepped out of the camera frame, giggling. She was wearing a tight red dress that ended a few inches below her butt. Her makeup was minimal, apart from her red lipstick. Her heels were also red, but she somehow made it work.

I, however, was dressed pretty different. I wore a black dress with lace sleeves that came mid-thigh. My eye makeup was a little heavy, and my lips were coated in strawberry lipgloss. For shoes, I wore these gorgeous black lace Louboutin booties that I'd fallen in love with at the store.

"Charlie will meet us there. He just texted me." Ally said, looking at me to gauge my reaction. Charlie and I had been a little off since we'd had that little argument and, after a while, it had become pretty obvious that I'd been avoiding him.

"Okay." I stated simply, avoiding her eyes. Ally had tried to talk about it multiple times, but I'd just outright refused or changed the subject. Honestly, I didn't know why she didn't dump him. To hell with trying to make it work.

Of course, I didn't say that to her.

"Let's go." I told her when she didn't say anything. "I just want to go there and get this over with and come back home to my bed, who loves me more than any man ever could."

Ally laughed, nodding. She held her phone and lipstick out to me so that I could shove them into my black clutch, as she'd forgotten to get one.

We were standing in the ballroom about twenty minutes later and I was pretty sure my mouth had fallen open unattractively.

Everyone was dressed in their best designer clothes, all the guys in suits and all the girls in cocktail dresses. There were waiters in tuxedos holding trays of champagne and some other kind of cocktail that looked just as expensive. Each table had a floral centerpiece consisting of an assortment of dahlias, roses and orchids. Romi and Brad stood in the center of the room, greeting everyone, both of them wearing huge, genuine smiles.

Needless to say, everything was fancy as hell and looked straight up like a scene out of Gossip Girl.

"It's insane, isn't it?" Ally asked, shaking her head. "My family's new money, so I was really surprised at all of this when we moved here." She gestured to our surroundings with a little, graceful tilt of her head.

"Let's go say hi to Brad and Romi." Ally suggested when I didn't say anything in response. I knew what she meant about the whole 'new money' thing, she'd told me before. Her dad had made millions off the stock market, and so he'd bought a house here.

"Must we?" I quipped, looking at the number of people we'd have to go through to get to them. I could see at least forty people I knew in some way or the other and, since I was with Ally, they were sure to stop us.

"Don't be rude." She admonished lightly and I rolled my eyes, although I knew it was true. I couldn't use my hatred for large social gatherings as an excuse to shit talk other people.

"Fine, let's go." I ultimately agreed, with a small shake of my head.

On the way, we met Charlie who greeted me with a quick smile and Ally with a deep kiss that I really didn't need to see. She came out of it slightly flushed.

"Have you already wished Brad and Romi?" He asked his girlfriend, smiling congenially the entire time.

"We were just about to." Ally replied, linking her arm through his. Her eyes were brighter in his presence and, although Charlie and I had our differences, I could tell he cared about her too.

"Same here. You want to go together?" This time he was addressing the both of us.

"I don't mind." I said amenably, not wanting to say anything that could offend him.

So, we made our way to the center of the room, having quick conversations with random people who greeted us. Honestly, I didn't remember half of their names.

"Brad, Romi! Happy anniversary!" Ally was the first to wish, pulling both of them into a small hug. Ally told me that this wasn't the kind of party you brought presents to, so none of us had bothered. Charlie gave Brad one of those bro hugs and kissed Romi on the cheek.

Smiling widely, I congratulated the two of them on making it to two years. I obviously didn't know either of them well enough to hug them or anything, but I was surprised when Romi pulled me into a hug. I reciprocated, of course.

We spoke to them for a while, with Ally and I gushing over how beautiful Romi looked. She and Brad looked really happy and I wondered if, in a few years, they'd be celebrating their actual wedding anniversary instead. I actually hoped they did, because you could tell that they truly loved each other.

Basically, I was surrounded by happy couples while I remained, sadly, single.

"Hey, you guys!" Said another sad, single person and I grimaced. This wasn't someone I wanted to see.

"Hey, Millie." I greeted, as Ally smiled a little fakely and hugged her. Charlie ignored her and continued his conversation with Brad. Romi's attention had been drawn by another girl who, I think, was in my Psychology class.

"It's so good to see you, Taylor." Millie gushed, and I kept myself from scowling at her. She was probably insulting me inside her head. Millie pouted, before saying,"We don't talk anymore."

Her eyes held glittery malice, no matter how much she tried to conceal it, and I was sure that what I'd told Tamsin about my origins had reached her ears.

Good.

After a positively uninteresting conversation about how Tamsin and Millie were going to go to Sherri Hill directly for their prom dresses so that they could have custom made ones that no one else would ever even touch, I wanted to stab myself. Ally luckily changed the subject by asking Millie where her partner-in-crime was. She was apparently at home, sick.

Spotting a familiar back in the crowd, I excused myself, smiling teasingly when Ally glared at me for leaving her alone with the devil.

"Hey." I said, smiling widely as Chris looked up, his brown eyes surprised for a second before filling with warmth. I embraced him, patting him on the back a couple of times before pulling away.

"You know, I didn't think you'd make it tonight." He informed me and I laughed, knowing exactly what he meant. I hadn't known if I actually wanted to show my face.

"I didn't either." I said honestly, hooking my arm through his and letting him lead me to the nearest table. My feet were already killing me. As gorgeous as the shoes were, they definitely weren't worth the pain.

"At least we can leave soon, though, now that they know we came." Chris said, his tone reassuring, "You wanna do something after this? There's something I need to talk to you about."

Curiosity filled me. What could Chris have to say? "Well, I'd be glad to. I'm just happy that tonight's going to be drama-free."

His gaze caught something over my shoulder and he scowled darkly. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Oh, Lord.

"What are you doing here?" A voice I was frankly tired of asked from behind me, hostility laced deep into every word.

Why had I assumed that tonight would be any semblance of normal?