Ride or Die

Nothing Can Stop Us Now

Chapter 9: Nothing Can Stop Us Now

"What's your deal?" Theo asked, his eyes narrowing as Draco glanced a second time over his shoulder, looking for sign of the vehicle that had been following him. "You're being twitchier than usual."

Draco shifted uneasily, tucking his phone back in his pocket. "I thought," he began, pausing briefly to wonder if he were going insane, "I thought I saw someone - "

"Draco!" Astoria cried shrilly from her balcony overhead, sending some of her drink spilling over the edge in her enthusiasm. "Oh, fuck," she muttered, licking the side of her red cup. "Oops - "

"I thought you weren't coming?" Susan called down, appearing beside Astoria and jostling her drink a second time, prompting her to growl in frustration and knock it back, making a face as she swallowed.

"I'm not," Draco said under his breath, shaking his head - hard to believe this had ever been appealing at one point, he thought morosely, feeling a vague sense of superiority - and Theo nudged him.

"You were saying?" Theo prompted, gesturing. "You thought you saw . . . ?"

Draco frowned. "I thought," he began again, "that while I was driving here - "

"Draco!" Astoria called a second time, gratuitously propping her bared cleavage against the ledge of the balcony. "Fucking come inside - "

"What the fuck are you even doing?" he called up to her, squinting past her through the sliding glass door. "It sounds like fucking chaos up there."

"It's a party, stupid!" she shouted back gleefully.

"That it is," confirmed a resigned voice behind them, prompting Theo and Draco to turn. "And how truly unfortunate that it is for me."

"Daph!" Astoria squealed, waving down at her sister. "Daph, you're here!"

"I am," Daphne called back, her heels tapping against the sidewalk as she came to stand beside Draco and Theo. "I thought you promised me small and intimate, Astoria - "

"Oh, things will get intimate," Astoria assured her smugly, turning as someone nudged a shot glass into her hand. "Hold on, I'm coming down right now," she yelled, throwing the shot back and biting down on a lime before disappearing from sight.

"Was it the dead dad that did it, do you think?" Daphne murmured disapprovingly, and Draco chuckled, shaking his head. "Or, perhaps," Daphne mused delicately, giving Draco a sharp jab to the rib, "could it have been the miscreant ex-boyfriend?"

"Miscreant?" Draco echoed vacantly, shoving her hand away. "When did Astoria fuck Theo?"

"Mm," Daphne agreed, smiling as she shook her head. "Good one."

"Yes, fucking hilarious," Theo muttered, backhanding Draco in the chest before reaching for Daphne. "Happy birthday, Greengrass," he said loudly, throwing an arm over her shoulder. "Been missing Diagon since you've been gone?"

"Not at all," Daphne said, making a face and swatting at Theo as he tugged playfully at her belt loop. "I don't miss any of you."

"When," Theo erupted dramatically, "will you stop injuring me like this?" He shook his head, admonishing her. "It's unconscionable, Daph. You're unconscionable - "

"You're a menace," she retorted, and he shrugged.

"Not sure I see how that's relevant," Theo sniffed, "but fine."

"As you can see," Draco said, gesturing, "Theo's the same" - Daphne rolled her eyes, smiling fondly at Theo as he offered her an irreverent, coquettish bow - "but I heard you started your own business," Draco continued, nodding at her. "Impressive, Greengrass," he commented, and she shrugged.