We slid into the booth and I felt the whole world spin around me, tight and fast, my stomach jolting with the motion. Elodie and Colette slid onto each side. Colette gave me some concerned pats while Elodie pushed a giant glass of water in front of me.

"The drinking portion of this party is over," Elodie told Colette as I sucked down the entire glass of water - it didn't do much for the spinning. Colette flagged over a waitress ordering a bunch of things and I settled back into the leather of the booth. The music was melodic and low, the crowd had thinned on the dance floor - everyone crowding at the bar.

"I hope you are at least enjoying your last night of freedom, Avery." Colette smiled at me. I shrugged. Despite knowing I would be legally married by this weekend - it still felt fake to me. I didn't know how to reconcile that exactly in my brain or even explain it to everyone. So I shook some ice into my mouth and started chomping.

"I think you're drunk enough to tell us all your secrets now," Elodie smirked and took a sip from her drink.

I let out a quick snort, "secrets? You were there for them."

"I wasn't there for Jackie." She pushed, taking another sip. Colette gave her a hard look and it was Elodie's turn to shrug.

"Well, I didn't fuck him if that's what you're after," I said through more chomping ice. Elodie actually laughed, high and ringing in the booth. The waitress appeared with a basket of french fries and another round of water for the table.

"I already knew that." She conceded. "I was more after everything that happened before I met you three in Venice."

"Oh," I grabbed a handful of french fries. "You want to know about all the times I tried to hump him and he blue balled me."

"Avery!" Colette gasped and then started laughing taking a long drink. I waved her off, my ring catching on the hanging light fixture above our table.

"Look. All you need to know is that he showed up to my school - everyone wanted to fuck him. He singled me out, asked me to prom, I turned him down. Then I changed my mind and told him I'd meet him there. Stellan crashed the prom, I got on his plane," I took a gulp of water, "blah, blah France. Stabbing. Blah, blah Istanbul. Order - who were Saxons. Blah, blah back to France."

Elodie and Colette were shaking with laughter. They both took a drink and then Colette sighed,

"You see how we've corrupted her. Describing all this death and mayhem as if it's boring."

Then the memory flashed across my thoughts for a single ebbing moment. I smacked the table, making all the glassware clink into each other,

"There was that time we got caught in bed together. That was pretty hot. But it would still be first base. I mean Stellan got further in Cannes and in half the time. But I was drunk for that...hmmm…"

Elodie laughed again, taking a much longer sip of her drink. I finished off the second glass of water and shoved another fistful of french fries into my face. The edge of my drunkenness starting to lessen. The room wasn't spinning so much anymore and I felt safe enough to pee. I let Colette know and she offered to follow but I was fine.

We'd been on a pub crawl since six o'clock and this was my third rally. I'd never drunk this much and I had a feeling I was going to regret it - but it was keeping all the panicky thoughts at bay. The "16 and Pregnant" thoughts away. The shotgun wedding thoughts away. The never fucking anyone else but Stellan until I died thoughts away. In all honesty, I had no problem with that last thought. But, some carnal part of my brain was trying to rebel against this logic.

I finished up and made my way back to the table. They were finishing up their drinks and flagged the waitress as I slid back into my seat. Once I settled I turned to Elodie,

"Alright, your turn."

"Excuse me?" She looked over her glass at me, but I could see the panic flicker across her eyes. She knew exactly what I was asking.

"Tell me the story. Tell me the epic love triangle romance that drove Stellan to drink for months on end." I shook some ice into my mouth and chomped, waiting.

Elodie gave Colette a quick glance as she finished her drink - stalling. I kept direct eye contact knowing I'd wear her down, or at the very least have to order her to tell me. I didn't want it to get to there- but I would if I had to.

"We're doing this?" She eyed me cautiously. I nodded. She flagged the waitress over and ordered a round of shots for the table. The silence held at our booth. Elodie and I locked into a staring contest as I continued to chomp ice. Colette swirled her drink on my right, watching us without any kind of commentary.

When the waitress showed up she set the shots down in front of all three of us. Elodie took hers, reached over and drank mine slamming the glass down onto the table, eyeing me a final time.

"Oh - we are so doing this," I smirked. She rolled her eyes and took a breath.

"Alright," she motioned to Colette to pass over the third shot. It slid across the table and Elodie held onto it for a moment, eyes closed, formulating how to start the tale. I leaned forward, excited, Colette leaned back, glass still in hand, waiting. I couldn't help myself, the booze making the filter on my mouth non-existent.

"What was the whole relationship about?"

"Sex." She quickly and honestly replied. I flinched a little, surprised by her brutal honesty, my mouth making a perfect "o" of surprise. But I shook it off and continued,

"But not just sex."

"Lots of sex?" She asked, actually confused. I rolled my eyes,

"Obviously something more was there."

At first, she cringed as if I was wrong. Colette let out a laugh of disbelief and Elodie took the third shot and conceded,

"Alright, obviously I am fiercely loyal to him. So it did grow into something more - but I didn't piece that all together until well after we'd ended."

"So how did it start?" I pushed, knowing she'd now had far too much alcohol to stay upright for much longer. It seemed the soberer I became the drunker she'd become after sprint drinking those shots.

"Of course," she smirked at Colette, "when he appeared at the Dauphin's he was the prettiest, shiniest thing anyone had ever seen. Everyone wanted to fuck him."

"I do remember that." Colette laughed. I smiled and sat back in the seat, plopping another handful of french fries into my mouth.

"But that was the sole reason I didn't want to fuck him. I need more of a challenge. Plus, he's not my type. So he existed on the back of my radar for months. Then I was promoted and needed to do some training for the position. They sent me to Fitz. And I'll never forget what he said that day."

It fluttered in the back of my mind. This was the second time someone had said that about him. Luc had told me when we'd been hiding out at Colette's villa, his own personal story about Stellan. He had used almost the exact same phrasing. Elodie laughed before saying in a near perfect imitation of his accent,

"I've seen her castrate men with a single look. Give her the bigger knife, she'll be a natural."

Colette and I burst into laughter. The waitress set down another round of shots and more water as we quieted down.

"Were you a natural?" I smiled.

"Oui." Elodie took another shot. "And as we left that day he told me 'See you around El.'"

"Ahhh," my smile grew huge as the origins story of their nicknames started to blossom before me. I clamped my mouth shut to let her finish.

"To which I told him, 'You don't even know me and you've already reduced my name to a letter?' He had shrugged. I had then retorted, 'See you around S.'"

I actually clapped a little, happy to finally know the story. Elodie shook her head at me and reached forward on the table to grab a water. I waited for her to finish the water before urging her on,

"And?"

"And it made me laugh. He made me laugh. And I hadn't laughed in a really, really, really," she paused remembering, her face falling a little, "long time."

"He does have that effect on people," Colette said from the opposite side of the table. We both turned to her and she rose her shot to us. I rose my water, Elodie another shot, and we all clinked and then drank.

"So the next logical step," Elodie hissed as she swallowed the vodka, "was to jump into his bed. So I did. Many times."

I blanched, not surprised but kind of disappointed at how easy it had been for her. Elodie smacked a hand across her chest a few times, the shot burning her still. Then she looked over at my face and threw her hands out, knocking one of the empty shot glasses over. Uh oh - she was pretty shit faced now.

"Please understand something, Avery. It was different back then. We were all different back then. And it was all so very casual. We had fun together, he's huge, and a fantastic lay," she lamented and then her eyes flew open and she went still. I started laughing at her reaction, the pink rising on her cheeks the longer I laughed.

"Please, proceed." I gestured for her to continue. She scrubbed her face, reaching for the water and taking a huge gulp.

"But then Jack showed up one day at Fitz's and I had never wanted anything so badly or instantaneously as I wanted him." Her eyes lost focus as she said this, remembering in her mind's eye. Colette leaned onto the table, rapt now.

"So you fucked him." I offered, trying to break her trance. She shook out of it and started vehemently shaking her head,

"Oh no, I hated him. I was the coldest bitch I could be whenever he was around. I hated that he made me feel that way. Please understand, Avery," she said again and I smiled at her marveling at how drunk and open she was becoming. "He was different then. You don't know that Jack. Only Stellan and I know that Jack. He was magnificent and charming and devious. And he saw that I hated him and made it his mission to be as charming as possible to win me over."

"The bastard," Colette smirked. Elodie smiled back, a real smile that made a dimple form on the right side of her mouth. My mouth dropped open a little in shock at seeing her smile for the first time.

"Finally," Elodie sighed, leaning against the seat and playing with the bottom of her hair for a moment, "he won me over. He cornered me during an event at the Louver, demanding to know what he'd done to offend me so much - and I kissed him. He was so surprised he backed away from me at first and then...well...it escalated quickly." She finished with a grin.

"What part of the Louver?" I asked, curious. To my surprise, Colette spoke up next to me,

"The Napoleon Hall." She winked at Elodie, who heaved a heavy sigh, rubbing at her eyes for a moment before nodding,

"So I went to Stellan that night. He was asleep, and again - Avery - I felt like it was all very casual. He had this reputation, and I knew it was bullshit, but he was such a flirt...anyway." She stopped her rambling. "I told him I'd slept with Jack. It felt like the right thing to do. He was very confused, and then he was very angry, and then he made me leave."

She shook her head. I bit my lip trying not to interrupt but thousands of questions were rising to the surface for me. I took another drink of my water. Elodie took her time trying to form the next part of her story and Colette offered next to us,

"It caused quite the scandal in the dorms if I remember correctly. You see," she put a hand on my arm, drawing my attention to her. "Staff aren't allowed to have relationships - but everyone does. So a very public, loud, scandalous break up is the hottest kind of gossip. Plus, everyone was hyper-aware of Stellan so it made it even worse."

"The problem was that I'd assumed it was casual. He'd assumed it was a little bit more. He hadn't slept with anyone else during our time together so he felt rightfully betrayed." Elodie supplied.

"Okay, I'd gathered as much from him as well," I confirmed. Elodie took another breath, sighing before she continued,

"So, Jackie and I started to date. Then Oliver happened. Jack disappeared. Stellan was still drunk half the time, and everything settled back down." She crossed her arms and nodded toward me. "It took Stellan and I a very long time to become friends again - and I relish it. There are few people in this world that are worth that kind of work. He was my best friend, and I his until you showed up."

"I know," I smiled at her. "I could tell when he took your handcuffs off in Venice."

She laughed, hard, and then took another long drink of water.

"So let me tell you - as one of the two people at this table that have fucked him." Elodie started. Colette gasped and then dissolved into laughter. Elodie leaned toward me, conspiratorially, "You don't have to look so panicky. You're not going to get bored of fucking him."

"You can tell?" I gasped.

We all started laughing and a shadow fell over the table.

"Ladies?" Luc casually asked, eyeing Elodie incredulously. She oozed toward him, like a wave, and pulled him into the booth with us.

"Oh, Lucien - you missed it. We were swapping dick stories."

Luc snapped toward me, scandalized, "Avery! What other dicks have you seen?"

"Well, there was this one boyfriend I had," I remembered, looking up at the ceiling of the place. Suddenly the floodlights turned on and the bar was light like a crime scene. Maybe it was. There were only stumbling, hunched, beleaguered people at the bar and toward the exits.

"Everyone come to the car. I was tasked with bringing you home, but we can hit one more place - see if I can't get the details out of you again." Luc smiled at us and helped Elodie up. Colette and I linked arms following them. But from her teetering, faltering steps I could tell that Elodie was going to pass out in the car. I wasn't too far behind her - the booze and exhaustion pulsing through my bloodstream.

I paused for a moment as they all poured into the car ahead of me and looked around the lights of London. Was this my life now? Wasn't it what I'd always wanted? Then why did it still feel so strange?

"Avery!" Elodie yelled at me from inside the car. "Tell Luc about humping Jackie!"

I nodded. There it was. With a laugh, I took another look around. If it was always going to be like this - awkward but fiercely loyal - I could live with that. I slid in and shut the door, the car barreling down the cobblestone to our next destination.