redamancy (a sequel) // c.b

iv. old habits die hard

the drive from elton's to devyn's went by in a blur. harlow had her bluetooth connected and was shuffling through her playlists for the drive over, dancing excessively for a passenger in a vehicle. tara and devyn were also both bopping along and laughing obnoxiously loud, while katrina was splayed across the two girls and sam, which kept the girls from dancing like harlow. sam simply managed to be a human seatbelt for his girlfriend, holding her and she tried to wiggle and dance as well.

when carter pulled up in front of devyn's place, he waited patiently as the four shuffled out in the back, smiling at them as they thanked him for the ride. harlow turned to carter expectantly, hoping he'd come in even though he said he was going home.

"call me when you're ready to go, ok? my ringer is already on." he stated with a quick kiss.

harlow nodded, a small smile gracing her features. "yeah. i'll give you lots of snuggles tonight. i can even be the big spoon," harlow meant it, but carter just laughed endearingly at the girl's words, "thanks, lovie. see you tonight!" with a final kiss, harlow removed herself from the passenger seat to the sidewalk, waving to carter as he drove off.

devyn was waiting for harlow, but the others had already gone inside to meet their friends that didn't go to the engagement party.

"carter didn't want to come?" devyn asked as harlow crossed the distance to meet her.

harlow shook her head, "nah, he's gotta work in the morning. doesn't want to be out late."

devyn just nodded in response.

the music was loud even from outside of the house, and even though harlow was definitely drunk, she was worried devyn and xepher would get a noise complaint. so once she had made her rounds inside and had grabbed a new drink, she had convinced xepher to let her play music, meaning she could control the volume.

her group of friends were spread out around the house, reggie was playing kevin in a game of beer pong; aryia, cassie, devyn, xepher, and griffin were sat around a table in the living room playing an intense game of drunk jenga; and sam, katrina, and tara were stood in the kitchen chatting.

harlow bounced around from group to group as she waited to face off in a game of pong against reggie. her aim was piss poor though, and she lost rather quickly. with a drink in her hand, she flopped over the couch and landed not-so-gracefully on the floor beside devyn, who was quick to prop her up. from there, harlow watched her friends play the rest of their drunk jenga, waiting for the game to restart so she could enter as well.

so while she waited, she drank accordingly. before her friends finished her game she had finished another drink, and was now definitely feeling the effects of the alcohol in her system. her head was a little bit fuzzy and she felt warmth in her stomach. mostly she wanted to get up and dance, but she also wanted carter to be here so she could make out with him on the couch.

in her distracted state, harlow was unaware of tara and katrina talking in the kitchen, in fact, she didn't even glance up as tara made her way over to harlow, wanting to warn her about who was about to step through the doors.

before tara was able to make it across the room to her friend, though, the door opened. harlow came back to reality then, initially because of the cool draft coming through the open door, but then because of the voice she heard. clear as day.

in an instant, harlow felt her stomach turn violently. she whipped her head so quickly towards devyn that she received an almost instantaneous headache. her vision blurred, and she couldn't help but feel like she was about to throw up just because she heard his voice.

devyn met her eyes, and simply shrugged before harlow could even get any words out. "i couldn't uninvite him, harls. it's not fair for him to be left out," she whispered, trying to be as discreet as possible, as she was surrounded by their friends who were more than likely straining to listen in.