1 – Naomi

Her ears rang while the next high pitched song came on. The lights that come from above cross her pale complexion and her eyes momentarily sting.

She swiftly made her escape to the punch table trying to drown out some of the music. Her eyes gazed about the room, trying to see if there were any faces she recognized. The person who had invited her decided to ditch at the last minute but she had told herself that that wouldn't bring her down.

The blazing light lays on a new face, the host she remembered. Declan Coyne. She squeezed through the crowd towards him but at the last second she tripped over her own feet falling into Declan. His drink went up then came down right on his shirt. He wiped it off casually before looking at her.

"I'm so sorry." Her face turned a deep red and she couldn't close her mouth from the embarrassment her clumsiness caused her. She took a napkin to help soak some of the wine up. She pressed it against her shirt, apologized again and walked towards the other side of the room. Naomi didn't look back.

She wanted to get out of there as soon as possible and the door that she had entered an hour ago just seemed so far away. She pushed through the people who were too caught up with the music and dancing to notice. She felt hot tears start to form on the brim of her eyes and she didn't want anybody to see that.

She bit her lip looking for a way to get out. Naomi took a deep breath in and hastily went over by the glass skylight which looked out on New York City. She felt her breathing slowly come back to normal.

A tap on her shoulder brought her back inside the room. She turned slightly to see who it was but her mind had already knew who it must be. It was Declan. He probably had followed her all the way over to here.

"Mr. Coyne, I'm so sorry about your wine glass, and your shirt," she said. She couldn't look at him directly, it was just too embarrassing still.

"You've already said that and it's Declan. I'm not my father," he told her, smiling wide and making her do the same.

"Well, Declan, I hope you're not too mad at me," she said looking directly at his face. Naomi knew he was a player and didn't want to take any chances. Her heart couldn't take it being broken again especially not by somebody who was as good looking as him.

"Of course not. If I was, do you think I would have came over to see if you were alright?," he asked, slowly lessening his smile.

"I didn't think you cared," Naomi said. "About me, that is."

"I care for anyone who was so nervous to see me that they bumped into me," he teased, humor layering each word. She casts her eyes back up to the skylight, looking at the stars that cover the whole sky.

"If you're trying to flirt with me, it won't work," she said. She wondered if maybe she was partly lying but she didn't let Declan see that.

He looked at her, seeming almost confused. " Oh, so I was flirting with you, was I?," he said, laughing a bit. She raised her eyebrows.

"I'm not looking forward to having my heart broken yet again thanks," Naomi said looking back at him. She felt tears when she closed her eyes but she pushed them back.

"Now it's my turn to apologize. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring this up. I am dealing with a break up too," he said to her, for once not having a smile on his face. It was his turn to look down.

"My 'boyfriend' cheated on me," Naomi said pursing her lips. "What happened to you?" She never really talked to Declan, knowing his status as a player but she actually really wanted to hear if his story could beat hers.

"Uh, I think you already probably know," he mumbled. She thought if maybe she had heard from somebody in the halls but nothing came up.

"Actually, I don't. I haven't heard anything about it," she said. He looked at her, she looked at him. Their eyes met.

He sighed and she guessed that this wasn't something he wanted to talk about. " Holly J. just wouldn't take what I offered and broke up with me that's all," he said calmly even though his hands were balled up in fists at his sides.

"If you ever want to talk about it, you know, to let ALL your feelings out. I'm here," She whispered. She looked up from under her thick eyelashes, he was a blur. He held onto her shoulders but said nothing. His eyes slowly closed and she watched as he didn't open them right away. "Declan?" She asked "Are you going to be ok?" her voice was very claming to him. She touched his hand which rested on her right shoulder. He felt all warm and she started to wonder why he was so close.

Moments later he looked up, opening his eyes one at a time. "Better than ok while you're here," he whispered almost not even audible. His voice was shaky.

Naomi couldn't believe what Declan had just said to her. She caressed his face. "Do you wish to go somewhere and talk?" she asked. She really didn't think through what she had just said. What if he said yes? She had just met him and being alone somewhere just didn't feel right when it was with somebody like him. She swallowed. "Declan Coyne. I've never seen you so upset. There's a lot of rumors going around about you." Both good and bad, she mentally added. Gossip wasn't her number one thing when going to school but it definitely kept everyone talking. For the past few days he was all anybody wanted to talk to.

"I'm not usually like this I promise but I'm glad everyone has somebody to talk about," he said sarcastically.

"You know, your sister is gone, and so is Holly J. you need a friend, and I'll be that friend as long as we stay friends, nothing more." She looked at him seriously. She had made up her mind completely, she wasn't ready for a relationship right now.

"That'll be nice… but I can't promise that I'll never want anything more," he said, his smile showed something quite devilish. She tried not to take it so seriously and she didn't want to make a big deal about what he had said either.

"Ok Declan, when's our first meeting?" She asked, trying to step out of his grip. When she had finally succeeded, she moved herself as far away as she could so he couldn't think of something else to do. He looked disappointed but he didn't say anything to indicate that. She really did try not to hurt his feelings but she began to think if the damage was already done since it seemed like he liked her more than just friends.

"Declan, we just met. You can't expect us to have a relationship," She said aloud. "You just broke it off Holly J. I'm probably just a rebound." She felt that the truth should just be said so that nothing could go further.

"Well, you can think whatever you want to but I'm going to keep on thinking that you didn't just say that," he said casually and he really meant what he was saying. He most likely already forgot what she had just said about not having a serious relationship.

"You're not taking me seriously are you," She said. He looked over at her and smiled.

"No," he said sheepishly. She felt the urge to slap him but that would just make things worse. She didn't want to be the school's gossip either.

"Whatever, Declan. So is my apology accepted?." She didn't feel like furthering that conversation so she moved onto a lighter topic.

"Only if you accompany me to get more wine," He smiled, holding his arm out. She looked at him and took it.

"Agreed," was all she said. They made their way over to the table and that was just the beginning of what would happen in the next couple of days.