Like Gold

35.

35.

AS SOON AS I STEPPED into Daphne's party, it felt like the room stood still.

In reality, no one really noticed my entrance. Most were too tipsy to realise, and the few sober teenagers were busy dancing or talking amongst their friends.

Jace's hand slipped over the small of my back and I turned to see him watching me, his brows drawn together.

"All good?" he shouted over the music.

I nodded. I had expected strange looks, stares, whispers. A part of me even thought that Daphne had invited me as a joke, and I was about to have a Carrie moment. At the very least, I expected the lights and music and alcohol to remind me of something – to send my pulse racing.

Instead, it all seemed exactly how I left it.

Like, I took a year break – I cried, and broke, and melted into my bed – but the world kept turning. It was comforting, somehow. That, no matter what, the world would keep spinning. People would keep living, moving on. And here I was, a year later, at a party for a girl I hadn't spoken to in years.

The lights were the same. The drinks were the same. The stench of alcohol, and sweat, and weed in the air – all the same. All familiar. Nothing had changed, except the people had grown a little taller, and my heart had grown a little sturdier.

Piper tapped my shoulder. "I'm going to give Daphne our gift. Do you want a drink?"

I nodded and she smiled reassuringly, promising to be back in a second, before elbowing her way towards Daphne. We'd gotten her a gift card because none of us were really friends with her and I wasn't sure if she was still obsessed with Disney's Descendants, or if that was a ninth-grade phase.

"So," Jace said, leaning closer to speak directly into my ear. "This is a high school party, huh?"

"Pretty much," I replied. "What do you think?"

He shrugged, gazing around the room. He skimmed over the drunken teenagers doing shots off a designer couch, a girl grinding against a fish tank, and some guy doing push ups in the corner.

"Basically, what I expected," he said. "But a lot less fun than they seem in the movies."

"Oh, all the fun is when we're half drunk," I replied, stabbing my finger against his chest. "And I have you against the wall."

"Oh, yeah?" He lifted a brow, moving closer. His fingers slid onto my waist, his thumbs brushing over my bare midriff. "Can we skip to that part, then?"

His eyes darkened, flickering down to my lips, when a red cup was shoved between us.

"Take it upstairs, you two!" Piper shouted, handing me my drink. Jace reached for the other cup in her hand and she stopped him, holding out an empty palm. "Keys."

He fished through his pocket, dropping his car keys into Piper's hand. She was the designated driver for today. Jace had insisted, but Piper was stubborn, whispering to me something about getting plastered with my boyfriend being a memory for the ages.

She was right. I knew that if I was even the slightest bit tipsy, Jace would refuse to touch me. But if we were both drinking... maybe we were both touchy drunks.

I hoped to find out soon.

I sipped my cup, smiling at the familiar burning of alcohol down my throat. It had been a long time since I had a drink. This was exactly what I needed. It felt like before. Except now, I had Jace with me. Jace, and everything I'd learned over the past year.