Being the only sober person at a party isn't much fun. But then again, Piper certainly couldn't endorse being drunk off your ass when she was standing in a corner watching friends and strangers alike do things they'd never think to do sober. Perhaps parties in general were best to be avoided. If she was feeling social, there was always coffee shops.
A party was the reason for her entire situation right now, Piper realized when she thought about it. If she hadn't gone to that other party then she would be drunk right now. She would not be lingering in a corner by a lamp that wasn't turned on and a couch that was stained five different colors. She would have been somewhere in the messy throng of drunken people, with her friends and with strangers. The thought didn't endear her to the idea of having missed that party as much as she'd thought it would.
She was currently torn between horror and amusement at the antics of the drunken party-goers because she had in fact gone to that party. And she would have been disorientated but enjoying herself as a drunken party-goer if she hadn't gone to it. When Piper put it like that, her options didn't sound very good. What if she had put those options in front of herself before she'd attended the party and asked herself to pick?
Wondering if she still would have gone was pointless, Piper decided. She had gone to that party and she'd been the drunken party-goer and now she had to be the sober spectator in the corner.
Coming back to an earlier thought, Piper noted that something else didn't endear her to the idea of having missed that party. The way it would fix her present situation aside, she wouldn't like having not done some of the things she'd done or met some of the people she'd met.
A few of the things she'd done, at least, and one of the people she'd met. She wasn't willing to trade the memories she had managed to retain from that night for the world.
At Another Party Some Time Ago
It was still what could pass for light inside the house. The party had been going on for a while, but the summer sun had taken its sweet time sinking beneath the horizon.
Piper, on the other hand, had wasted no time doing just that: getting wasted. This was the first big party of the summer and although she had tried to pace herself, she was apparently even more of a lightweight than she'd thought. Her friend Annabeth was the designated driver and she had confirmed that the punch wasn't that strong. Really, Piper was certain she shouldn't be as drunk right now as she was.
This thought was further proven in her mind when she found her way onto the roof without stumbling once. Several people were up there looking at the first few stars that had come out. She sat down next to the first person she saw without a companion.
He was a well-built blonde man, someone she guessed would be tall standing up but not intimidating, and he was gazing at the sky like he owned it through rectangular glasses. His eyes were a light blue, the exact color of the sky around the horizon, but Piper could imagine them turning nearly grey to match storm clouds. They were surprisingly alert despite the obvious smell of alcohol coming off of him. He could have been staring at an army under his command or a map for what his expression said, but he seemed to be studying the sky.
The man turned his confident gaze away from the few stars in the heavens and looked to see who had sat down next to him. Emotions flashed across his face, surprise, nervousness, determination, before a thinner version of his confidence returned. Piper theorized that his drunkenness was preventing him from masking his emotions effectively. She approved.
"What can I do for you?" the man said. It looked like he was making an effort to speak without slurring.
There was a scar above his lip that Piper hadn't expected to see. She liked it.
"Hopefully several things." She replied with a mischievous grin. "I'm Piper."
"I'm Jason." He smiled at her politely, but the gleam in his once steely eyes and the way he shifted towards her in preparation for a long discussion betrayed his interest.
Piper kept talking to him, night finally fell completely, and she found several more things she liked about Jason. She liked how he thought out everything he said and she liked how he was polite. But she liked when she finally got him to loosen up enough to put an arm around her more. She liked how he'd known the clouds would clear so they could star-gaze. She'd liked how the lantern light had caught his features when he laughed. But she loved how he kissed her when everyone else had left the roof and it was just the two of them.
The wind picked up and easily tore through Piper's tank-top and Jason's t-shirt. Piper might have been feeling a bit warm, but the wind wasn't needed, so she stood up, smirked down at a breathless Jason, and extended a hand. Jason's strong hand wrapped around hers and he stood up. A simplistic hopeful expression appeared on his face, a look Piper was certain she wouldn't have seen on him sober. It was endearing.
They carefully made their way back down from the roof and entered the kitchen. The party was still going strong in there. Someone offered Piper a glass of punch, at least that's what she thought it was, and she shared it with Jason. His arm soon found its way around her waist and Piper watched as Jason talked nonsense with passersby. She started giggling and they were both laughing uproariously and kissing sloppily between sips of punch shortly after.
Piper took the last sip of their drink and dropped the cup to the side carelessly. Without the punch stealing Jason's lips from hers any longer, she quickly pressed her mouth to his and began to plunder every inch of it with her tongue. She peeked her eyes open to see his widen in surprise before closing them again as he hungrily reciprocated her kiss.
His hands were both on her now, one on her lower back and the other sliding down her side to grasp her hip. He held her to his body like any inch of space between them was a personal affront and Piper's hands clutched his hair and collar like an iron fist in a velvet glove so Jason couldn't have gotten away from her if he tried. Alcohol and lust combined into a searing kiss that fueled Piper's desires and passion coursed through her veins. She tried to make it clear to Jason what she wanted, sucking at his lower lip with seductive precision, still refusing to break away.
The inevitable need for air separated them temporarily, but Piper's heartbeat raced still. She was on a mission and from the look of Jason's dilated eyes and ravenous gaze, so was her partner.
Piper pointed at the stairs and Jason nodded, his eyes flicking from the top of the stairway to Piper's lips eagerly. They stumbled up the steps, past collapsed party-goers, and into the first room on their right.
Jason's mouth was slanted over hers impatiently before the door was even closed. Piper had the presence of mind to be thankful no one was in the room before losing herself in Jason's touch.
At A Party In The Present
The driver of Piper's group of friends entered the house and started to pick her way over to her. She was the youngest of their group and didn't care much for parties of this nature, which was probably why she'd volunteered to pick them up. Piper rather wished she'd thought of that. The next time there was a party invitation she wasn't allowed to turn down, she would try that, Piper promised herself. Anything sounded better than attending another ridiculous party.
Piper watched Hazel, the driver, step carefully around a sleeping boy and stop in front of her.
"Where is everyone?" Hazel asked. "It's time for us to leave."
"I think they're all in the kitchen." Piper informed her. Her voice sounded hoarse from lack of use.
Hazel nodded and carefully made her way to the kitchen, shaking her head in disapproval at the mess.
Piper began to head for the car, hoping that her friends would be able to walk there so Hazel wouldn't have to carry them. No matter how much trouble the others were, Piper knew Hazel wouldn't let her help. So she opened the passenger side door to the unlocked car and checked to see if anything needed to be moved to make room for the others.
A few magazines and an umbrella were in the backseats and Piper automatically tried to squeeze through the gap between the driver and passenger seats to shove them to the floor. Unfortunately, this maneuver, while previously effective, didn't work because her swollen belly couldn't fit. Piper groaned in annoyance and fell back into her seat, pushing her hair out of her face with a sigh.
As quickly as she could, she got out of the car, opened the door to the back, and leaned inside to sweep everything off the seats. Moments like these made Piper hate parties, but when she seated herself once again in the passenger seat and shut the door, her frustration disappeared and was replaced by something else.
Something light and surprising. Something directly caused at that moment by the pat, pat, pat of very tiny feet. Something Piper had felt the sparks of once before.
She rubbed her bump and pictured a face she'd seen once before, at a party, on a rooftop, just under six months ago. A face she hadn't seen since, but hadn't forgotten. It would be nice to see that face again. Maybe at a party, or a coffee shop, Piper mused.
She had hoped she would see him around, originally, but as time passed she only hoped to see him at all. The way Piper saw it, the main thing standing between her and love was fate. She knew if she could find Jason, then he would want to be with her. She believed that, truly, because it was how she'd always seen the world. She could see the possibility of love between them and she was certain it would happen if only…
Hazel and the others were coming. It was time to leave. There would be no handsome strangers for Piper at this party, and more importantly, not the one she was looking for.
Despite her growing dislike of parties, Piper was certain that if Jason showed up at one, they'd be instantly redeemed in her eyes. With a sigh, she knew she was going to accept her next invitation in spite of her promise to herself. If the choice to attend one party had created these circumstances, standing by that choice was her only option to make things better, because she couldn't take her decision back.