The Fire We Make

chapter twenty six

I sat in my car for five minutes before finally turning the engine off and getting out. For some reason, I got a weird sense of deja vu back to my teenage years. I was transported to when I would attend a different party every other night with random strangers with Isaac. I haven't attended a house party since Tristan passed away. I had to remind myself that those types of parties were different where I was highly intoxicated and a naive girl blinded by something mimicking love. Now I was a grown adult with grown friends. Jay looked like he would never in a million years have a party like the ones I used to attend. Taking a deep breath, knocked on Jay's front door and stepped back a bit, waiting to be greeted. Jay opened the door with his infamous grin on his face.

"Ahh, Hollyn! Finally, now it's a party," he enthused.

He embraced me in a one-armed hug as I walked inside. I looked around and saw about thirty people or so scattered around his place. Some of the guys I recognized from the bar and I knew they're part of his squad, but there were some other females as well as males I never saw before. As I was observing my surrounds, my eyes caught a glimpse of the couch I was passed out on a couple of months ago. Images of Kaiden entered my mind as it was one of the first encounters I had with him. I quickly pushed those thoughts out.

"Come on, let's get you a drink," Jay said, leading me into the kitchen.

"How do you know all these people?" I asked as I followed him. Jay looked over his shoulder briefly.

"I don't know all of them personally. Some are Rose's new friends. Others I met randomly, just like I met you," he replied, grinning as he handed me a red solo cup. "Pick your poison."

I looked around at all the different bottles of drinks scattered on the countertop. I was familiar with all of them as my previous job required me to be an expert on it. I decided to settle on lemonade, as I was not up to be intoxicated tonight. Jay watched as I poured myself a serving. If he had any weird thoughts of my choice, he didn't hint towards it. Instead, he took a sip of his own drink and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"Are you ready to meet some cool peeps?" he asked.

He squeezed my shoulder, coaxing me to relax. It worked. I smile leaning into his touch and nodded. The next twenty minutes or so I caught up with the guys in his squad. They all claim to miss my presence but I'm sure they miss the free drinks I used to slide in once or twice. The guys were 20 minutes into a story about their last tour, describing Jay's absent-mindedness.

"That's not exactly how I remember it," Jay interrupted, putting up his pointer finger. The rest of his fingers were still secured around his drink.

"And what does your vision entail?"

"You guys leaving me without so much of a warning! I feel like I would've remembered the memo," Jay said, defending himself. The guys laughed, shaking their heads.

"You got the memo, we were all cc'd."

Jay stuck his nose up. "I guess I wasn't."

A small voice interrupted the guys arguing over what really went on that night so many months ago. I turned around and saw a petite woman with auburn red hair peek over her shoulder. Her big brown doe eyes were fixated on finding something, or someone. When she saw Jay she smiled politely. Jay fixed his composure under her stare.

"We're out of napkins and I can't remember where the extra's are stashed," she said, her voice so soft I would've thought she was speaking to a baby.