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AFTER REUNITING with Valentina and spending a bit more time catching up with each other—including the light stuff, like Valentina's new friendship with Jonathan, and the dark stuff, like how Valentina's leg always hurt more after she woke up than it did when she went to sleep—someone called for Tina's help with a spill on the carpet.
Now the blonde was sitting by herself on a bench outside, leaning against the armrest with her chin placed in her palm. Normally, the lonely quietness would make her succumb to the blazing thoughts in her pounding head. But at this moment, the buzz in Valentina's body had finally taken over completely, and she could undeniably say that she was totally, fully, 100 percent wasted—just how she liked it.
Her mind was somewhere else as the chatter of the party inside echoed hazily in her ears. It sounded similar to the noise of a fly in the air, but she didn't want to swat this fly away. She welcomed it, as it drowned out those horrid thoughts that never seemed to leave until she reached this state of mind.
More than an entire bottle of vodka and several white tablets later, Valentina couldn't even remember if she styled her hair before going to the party. It didn't matter now because her sweat and heat had caused the natural curls to reform anyway. She looked like she'd just crawled through the Upside Down.
Busy counting the blades of grass that appeared to stand out more than the other ones in the dimly-lit backyard, Valentina didn't notice when someone called her name from inside the house, nor did she realize that they'd taken a seat next to her on the bench until their hand was knocking into her shoulder.
She jumped, dropping her hand back to her side and swiveling her head to the side. The movement was the most she'd done in about an hour, and it caused her head to spin for just a second. But once her vision refocused, Valentina's dark eyes settled on Billy's outstretched hand holding a cigarette.
"You smoke?" he offered. She cast her eyes toward his face then back to the stick between his fingers. Gently, Valentina grasped it between her own and ignored the fluttering feeling in her stomach when their fingers skimmed each others.
He watched as she put the stick between her lips, puffing the pink skin around the white paper like lipstick on a ghost. Billy admired the way her makeup smudged around the corners of her mouth, as if she was just kissed by a passionate lover. He cleared his throat, raising the lighter in his other hand.
His own cigarette flamed as he inhaled while switching the lighter from his left to his right hand. Valentina started to lift her own hand to grab it from his, but instead, Billy lifted it to the cigarette between her lips. Her body froze where it was, eyes crossing downward to watch where the whirling flame connected with the stick in her mouth. Billy watched her mouth for a moment, before his eyes raised to watch her entire face.
