"How did you manage to get this many people to show up?" Roman questioned in an interested tone.

"A party's a party," Drake responded with a shrug. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that most of them have no idea that this party was my idea or that it's being thrown for your birthday."

Drake, with more than a little help from Taylor, had managed to rent out the local restaurant and regular teenage hangout for a party to celebrate Roman's seventeenth birthday.

"And tonight we are going to get you drunk enough that you actually go after that human girl you're always staring at," Drake added as he handed Roman a glass of alcohol. "Everything's gone to shit anyways, so you may as well have a little fun."

"Maybe you should take your own advice," Roman responded before taking a large chug out of the glass as he looked meaningfully towards where Taylor was standing in the centre of a group of chatting girls.

"I plan to," Drake responded with a slight smirk before he too took a large gulp out of his own glass. "Just not quite yet… I can't have her thinking that I'm too desperate. Or have her get too used to my attention."

Roman chuckled a little under his breath before finishing off his drink and rolling his eyes.

Drake handed his friend another glass and scanned the rest of the crowd.

"Speaking of your human girl, she just walked in."


"Now this is a real party," Julia raved excitedly. "Not one of those hoity-toity gatherings, this is the real deal… I've never been to a real party before… Hey, do you know who's throwing it? Or why? …Not that I'm complaining."

The restaurant was pretty packed and there was music thumping throughout the room. Some people were gathered in groups at tables or standing along the walls while others were dancing in the centre of the room along with the fast-paced music. Almost everyone had a drink in their hand.

Emery laughed a little at her friend's enthusiasm before she responded, "I'm not sure."

It didn't seem like anyone knew who was throwing the party or the reason behind it. Word of the party had spread like rapid-fire, and yet no one had the slightest idea who had organized it.

"Well whoever it was rocks," Julia commented with a laugh. "Come on."

She grabbed Emery's arm by the wrist and began to lead her through the crowd.

As they weaved through the groups of people, Emery half-shouted over the music, "Hey do you think that any of the Atrian Seven are coming?"

Julia stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at her friend with a smirk.

"You mean do I think that Roman is coming. And why not? The seven of them are all stuck in town until their bus takes them back at curfew. Everyone else is here, so what else could he even be doing? I bet that they're all here."

"Yeah," Emery responded in a tone that sounded doubtful even to her own ears.

It wasn't exactly a secret that humans and the Atrians just generally didn't get along, so Emery wasn't that sure that they would want to come out of their way to attend a human party. Maybe Sophia, but Roman would probably want to avoid the party just because she was there… Or maybe he would come anyways to try and protect his sister and her…

What was she thinking? Even if Roman did show up, it wasn't like he would pay any attention to her, whether he wanted to or not. He was still convinced that he had to avoid her to protect her, despite her many efforts to convince him that she wanted him, not to be overprotected by him.

"Hey, Emery! Julia!"

The pair of girls turned their heads in the direction of the voice to find Sophia smiling over at them eagerly from where she was standing next to Lukas.

Emery and Julia went over and sat talking with Sophia and Lukas for a while before Julia managed to convince Emery, through a series of not very subtle whispered comments in the other girl's ear, to leave the other pair together while they went to get drinks.

"This is my first real party. I need to at least be able to say that I had something to drink," Julia explained as the pair headed over to the bar area. "…Hey, Roman's here."

"Where?"

"By the bar. It looks like he's getting drunk with Drake," she responded in a slightly surprised tone. "…What a pleasant coincidence that we just happen to be headed over there anyways." Julia grinned over at her friend. "Really, it would be weirder to ignore him than to talk to him."

Emery smiled in response, glad that Julia was the one doing the justifying for her.


A few drinks into the night, Roman was starting to feel buzzed. Drake, who seemed to barely be impacted by the drinks that he had consumed, noticed this as well as the fact that one of Emery's friends was leading her towards them and began to smile wryly.

"Good party, right?" Julia commented as she reached the pair of Atrians.

"Thanks," Drake responded with an arrogant grin.

"Wait, this is your party?" Emery questioned.

"How?" Julia added.

"Well technically it's Roman's party," Drake told them. "After all, he's the birthday boy. I just threw the party, with some help from Taylor."

"It's your birthday?" Emery questioned. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"And, no offense, but why are you spending your party getting drunk with Drake?" Julia added.

"Because I'm making him drink until he starts making decisions that he would usually find questionable," Drake responded with a grin. "Plus I'm the life of the party."

When he noticed Taylor walking by herself over Julia's shoulder, Drake quickly added, "And that's my cue to leave."

He stood up from his barstool and then leaned over to Roman's ear to whisper, "Everything's going wrong anyways, why not have a little fun with her?"


Taylor struggled to maintain her composure as she felt hot breath on her neck as someone walked up behind her.

"Did you miss me?" Drake's voice questioned huskily into her ear as his hands moved to grab her hips. "What do you say we go somewhere a little more private?"

She quickly pushed his hands off of her body and turned around to look him fiercely in the eyes.

"Seriously?" She questioned.

"What?" Drake asked, wondering what could possibly be her problem.

"Do you really think that I'm going to let you use me for whatever you want while you continue to ignore me as much as possible? You haven't even said a word to me or so much as glanced my way at school since I agreed to help you throw this stupid party and now you expect me to just swoon because you're here asking for sex?" Taylor challenged him as she crossed her arms over her chest.

It didn't seem like the correct response would be to admit that what she had asked him was pretty much all true, so instead Drake simply shrugged.

Apparently that response wasn't much better, since Taylor just turned away and muttered, "Well then you are thoroughly mistaken. I'm over you now."

Before she could get too far away, he reached out and grabbed her firmly by her right wrist.

"Let go of me," she told him calmly.

Drake released his grip on her arm and raised his hands up in a show off innocence as he took a step toward her, effectively backing her up into a wall.

He placed one hand on the wall on either side of her and leaned close enough to her that as he spoke, his lips just brushed against her ear while he whispered, "So if you're over me, then you don't feel anything right now?"

Taylor struggled to maintain her composure as he pulled his head back just far enough to stare into her brown eyes with his own intense blue ones. God, why did his musk smell so good right now? Focus, Taylor.

"I don't feel anything," she confirmed, praying that he hadn't noticed the slight gulp that she had made right before saying the words. "Now get out of my way."

Drake had noticed her gulp and smirked arrogantly as he moved one of his hands out of the way in an over-exaggerated gesture to let her by.

Taylor shot him one last glare and then stepped past him, head held high as she strutted away.

He turned to watch her go, thoroughly enjoying the view as she walked away from him.


A/N: Please read and review! This is my first Star-Crossed fanfiction so I'd really love to hear your input. I'm not sure how many chapters this story will be, so I'll see how it goes. Thanks for reading and I'll try to have the next chapter up soon. :D