"Ari I still can't believe you didn't win, it had to be fixed. Her cousin was on the committee!" He offered. Van had grown up witnessing the abuse between Ariella and her mother, Ari was never pretty enough or good enough for Patricia. Tonight Ari had wanted to win so she could throw the crown in her mothers face and tell her just how pretty she felt that night.

"It's not a sure thing Van. My entire life has been centered around winning beauty contests and having people stare at me and tell me how beautiful I am. So I'm brain-washed into thinking when I lose I'm not pretty and that is such a horrible thing to teach a child." Ari wiped her tear away from her eye and pulled down the mirror to check her mascara.

"Ari you are beautiful, that doesn't change from a day to day basis. You've always been beautiful, inside and out. You need to stop letting your mom get inside your head." Donovan said sincerely, rubbing her hand in his own. "How about tonight we let loose and just forget about everything? Do what we want and deal with the future tomorrow? What do you say?"

Ari sighed, "But promise me one thing?"

"Anything." He said, parking the car outside the party.

"You've done this before, so will you have my back and watch out for me? It's scary not knowing 'how' to party." She said, ashamed that that phrase just came out of her mouth.

"Hey, don't worry. I'll keep an eye on you, you'll be fine."

She smiled as he opened her door and they walked inside hand in hand. Her palms were sweaty or his were, she couldn't really tell but all eyes were on them as they walked in.

"Oh hot damn! I can't believe you made it bro!" A guy yelled, Ari gripped his hand a bit harder and smiled uneasily at everyone, half of whom she did not know.

"Hey butch." Donovan greeted the already trashed red head. He reeked of peppermint Schnopps and cigars and it made Ariellas nose scrunch up.

"Sup! Can I get you something to drink, only non alcoholic beverage we have for the lady is water from the tap. Sorry princess." He joked, flicking her perfectly curled hair.

"Actually, I'll have a rum and coke if you don't mind." She smirked up at Donovan, an un-spoken agreement that tonight she was going to forget about everything.

3 hours of partying, 3 rum and cokes, a 12 pack of beer and a sleep later Ariella and Donovan's lives changed with the rising of the sun.

'Ugghh' Ariella groaned, slowly opened her eyelids and flicked them shut as the jackhammer in her head got louder. She groaned again and pressed her palms to her temples trying to ease the pain. "What the hell did I do last night." She stated, massaging the sides of her head.

"You got drunk princess." A scruffy voice growled from beside her and she jumped. "You scared the hell out of me Van!"

"Boo." Van groaned, shoving his head further under his pillow.

Ariella smiled and rubbed her temples, inhaling a deep breath. She could smell Van's Polo cologne, her Juicy Couture and a weird smell she couldn't place. Tt was probably from the previous night when one of them tossed their cookies somewhere in the suite. She was afraid to open her eyes and survey the vomit stains she was sure were all over.

Ariella sat up slowly, planning to get to the bathroom before she threw up the rest of last nights liquor. As the sheet fell from around her body to her lap and a cold breeze brushed across her skin. She shivered glancing down and shrieked.

"Oh, my god!" She yelled, bunching the sheet around her body.

"Now what?" Van groaned, irritated that his sleep was disturbed and his migraine intensified.

When he got no answer he peaked out from the pillow to see her silently crying next to him. Confused he reached over to put a hand on her knee but she jerked away from him. Van pulled himself into a sitting position and felt his head get twice it's size. Drinking wasn't his favorite past time and it wouldn't be in the future either.

This all happened in less than 30 seconds as he realized he was naked, glancing over at Ariellas naked back confirmed his worst fears.

"Dear God." He mumbled, throwing his head into his hands. "We didn't, please tell me we didn't."

Her silence was awkward and he could hear her breathing pick up. He'd always been the rational one on their relationship. In 5th grade a girl threatened to beat Ariella up if she didn't do her science homework and Van had stepped in and sat with the girl at lunch and convinced her to leave Ariella alone. Once in 9th grade Van had made the football team and he was so excited he ran to Ariella and she kissed him on the cheek, head cheerleader Evette had it out for Ariella after that and he spent his first two years of high school warding off evil. But this? How could this even compare to that? What was he supposed to say?

"This isn't as bad as it seems." The first thing that came to mind, apparently.

"It's definitely not a good thing!" Ariella snapped, wiping her nose with the sheet.

"I didn't say it was a good thing, I said it's not as bad as it seems." He sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"Explain how losing my virginity to my best friend while being drunk at a party in a strangers bed could turn into something 'not so bad' then Donovan!" She squeaked.

"I'm sorry!" he growled, "Obviously neither one of us were sober enough to stop it."

"So much for watching out for me." She mumbled throwing her head back against the pillow.

"Did you end up getting raped by a stranger? Drugged by a a jealous cheerleader? End up dead? No! I hadn't thought that you'd blame me for this. I did look out for you it just ended up going too far."

"How do I know you didn't rape me!" She bellowed, her words echoing in the large bedroom.

Donovan looked as though he'd just been hit in the gut, her words stung him in ways he couldn't even understand. He slid out of bed and walked across the room to gather his clothes and slammed the bathroom door shut. Ariella began crying knowing her burst of anger was out of line and that she'd hurt him. She glanced under the sheet and saw blood on the bed only confirming what she already knew.

She wrapped the sheet around her and went to the side of her bed where all her clothes lay. Why had Van's been at the door and hers were by the bed? She shook her head and jumped as Van stormed out of the bathroom and towards the bedroom door.

"When you are ready to go home come find me downstairs." Without waiting for an answer he was gone, slamming the door behind him.

Ariella held her tears in, she didn't deserve that kind of release right now. She shut the bathroom door behind her and jumped into the shower to wash away everything she could that reminded her of last night.

An hour later Ariella walked downstairs to find Donovan on the couch napping. Pulling the blanket from the chair she covered him up with it and sadly smiled down at him.

She walked over to the bay window, admiring the beautiful high-rise view and thought about what this meant. They'd pretended to date for five years, and now they'd slept together. It'd also hit her in the shower, that he'd lost his virginity to her as well so she shouldn't be so self-centered. The entire 5 years she'd spent with him meant more to her than she had realized, he was her best friend and the only person she trusted. He'd always told her the truth even if that meant hurting her feelings, and she found comfort in that.

To be honest it could've been much worse and she could've ended up with someone she hardly knew, it was Donovan for goodness sake! She'd known him since she was 4 years old and what's more important is that she knew everything about him. Every feeling he had, every thought that went through his mind and she'd also remembered him saying he wanted his first time to be special and they joked about him being part woman. How could she be so insensitive to the fact that he'd missed out on his special first time too? She also had to admit that he was adorable when he smiled, adorable when he slept and as far as the past 5 years nobody had touched him. He belonged to her in all senses of the word and she owed him far more than what she gave him upstairs.