Chapter Forty Three

Haze

"Skye, do me up?"

I turned around to see Chelsea with her back turned to me, the zipper to her dress temptingly falling open and revealing the bare skin underneath.

I hadn't expected Chelsea to look as beautiful as she did that night. After seeing her run around the farm wearing baggy clothes and covered in dirt, I don't think I was mentally prepared enough to see her looking as stunning as she did later that evening when she started getting ready for that engagement party she'd been invited to. Humming happily to herself as she hurried around her house to get ready, she paid no attention to me as she hurried from the bathroom to her bedroom in naught but a towel wrapped around her. She merely told me to get ready to go out before closing the door behind her.

When she stepped out half an hour later and turned around to reveal the tantalising sight of her undone dress, I actually found my resolve to not make a move on her wavering. Back home she had never paid much attention when preparing to go out to parties or go out clubbing with our old gang; a slick of lip gloss maybe, a short skirt worn on certain occasions. Very minimal effort was put in and I admired that. But that night, a night that was fateful not only for her but for me too, she went all out. Wearing a dress that I was sure didn't originally belong to her and with her face immaculately made up, she looked stunning.

Her brown locks were pulled up into a messy ballerina bun, exposing her long neck and showing off the new angles to her face that I hadn't noticed before. Although it was winter, her skin had a sun-kissed glow that complimented her rosy cheeks and her eyes were alluringly lined with thick kohl which further emphasised their startling blueness. The dress she wore was a dark burgundy colour and clung to her curves so wonderfully that it didn't take much to imagine how amazing she would have looked naked.

I think my tongue probably rolled out of my mouth.

"Oi," she said peevishly, reaching over her shoulder helplessly. "Help pull this zipper up!"

"You... you look..." I stumbled to say as I approached her nervously. "I've never seen you look like that before."

One of eyebrows arched upwards as she half turned to look at me. "Like what?"

"Edible," I replied as I reached out and pulled the zip closed quickly. I let go almost as soon as the zipper reached the end of the track, as if fearing being burned. She looked that hot.

With the dress done up, she turned around and tapped me on the nose with a bright smile. "Not such a tomboy now, am I?"

"Definitely not," I said, clearing my throat nervously. "So... why the effort? Are you expecting Vaughn to be there?"

Chelsea wrinkled her nose. "No, I just felt like making myself look pretty." Bending down, she dragged a pair of high heels out from some hidden corner and unsteadily stepped into them. "I look okay, right?"

"'Okay' is the understatement of the century," I replied, fighting back a sleazy grin. "The groom-to-be will regret the choice he made when he sees you."

She giggled. "I doubt that. Lily's an Asian babe and I'm pretty sure he has yellow-fever, if you know what I mean." Her eyes ran up and down my form for a moment before she asked doubtfully, "Is that what you're going to wear?"

"Why? I'm not expected to wear a tux, am I? It's just a small engagement party, right?"

She shook her head. "Small isn't in Will's vocabulary. I guess it'll be fine, but I think some of Will's rich friends from the mainland are probably coming. I just don't want you to feel like you stand out too much. The girls said the dress code was evening smart."

"I can throw on a smart dress shirt?"

There was a knock on the door and she hobbled across the room to answer it. As she did, I headed over to where my duffle bag had been dumped unceremoniously on the floor and rummaged around for the smart black shirt I'd thrown in there. I had just managed to find it and pulled it out when suddenly I heard a squeal from the front doorway. Looking up, I saw Chelsea's friends ogling her in the same awestruck manner I'd done only a few moments earlier. Like Chelsea, they had dressed up as if they were going out clubbing rather than to a simple engagement party, with Natalie wearing a midnight blue number and Julia wearing black miniskirt with a classy chiffon blouse.

"Wow!" Natalie exclaimed, her eyes alight with excitement as she made Chelsea twirl around on the spot. "You look more amazing then you did at the Harvest Goddess Festival. Is this really what you look like when you actually make an effort?!"

Julia smirked. "You look gorgeous Chelsea. That dress looks so much better on you then it does on me."

"It's because your boobs look obscene in it," Natalie said, elbowing her friend in the side with a grin. "Like a glamour model." I quite enjoyed the mental image I got from that comment and was a little sad that I'd never see the reality of it.

"I just felt like trying to make a bit more effort tonight," Chelsea replied bashfully, her hands lowering to the edge of the dress to try pulling it down self-consciously. "It's a beautiful dress Jules. I appreciate you lending it to me."

"Do you like it, Skye?" Julia turned to ask me hopefully. I was puzzled about why she was making such a point to ask me about it.

"Chelsea's always been sex on legs, so it doesn't surprise me that she does that dress justice," I replied diplomatically.

The blonde seemed displeased. "So you're not bothered?"

"I like it, of course, but that get-up isn't for my sake, surely?"

Julia grimaced irritably before turning back to Chelsea and asking, "So, are you guys ready to go?"

"Oh, wait, let me get my things," Chelsea replied, turning around in a hurry and dashing to her room.

As she went, I started tugging my shirt over my head so I could change, but paused when I saw how Julia and Natalie were staring at me. Julia was smiling like a lecherous pervert and Natalie was covering her face with her hands, though her fingers were moved aside slightly so she could still sneak a peek.

"Like what you see?" I asked flirtatiously as I did up the buttons on the dress shirt.

"I don't know what it is about you, but you make everything seem indecent," Natalie mumbled through her hands. "Lanna's going to have a field day with you."

"Lanna?" I asked.

Natalie glanced at Julia with a grin. "Yeah, Lanna. You don't know about her, huh?"

Julia frowned and waved her hand dismissively. "Enough about that. You'll find out who we're talking about later. Chelsea! Hurry up!"

After Chelsea had finished grabbing the rest of her things, we all set off across Verdure towards Sprout Island where a lavish looking yacht was docked on the far harbour. I had known that this Will guy had come from money, but I hadn't realised how much money until I stared at the lean, clean lines of the large yacht which served as the venue for the party that night. Loud music throbbed from the subwoofer inside and I could hear giggles and laughter from the few guests that were out on the deck. An assortment of rich looking young men and women milled around the boat with drinks glasses in hand and smiles fixed on their faces, and I was vaguely reminded of one of the high society parties that Ellie had once brought me along to during our first year of university.

"Oh my, wow, girls..." one of the guys stuttered upon seeing them, though his eyes were fixed mostly on Chelsea. His accent was posh sounding and I guessed that he was one of the toff-crowd that was invited by the host. "You look, um... ravishing!"

The guy addressing them was fair skinned, fair haired and was wearing all white which further emphasised his pallor. I didn't have a clue who he was, but I didn't like the way he was looking at Chelsea and I protectively wrapped my arm around her waist. "And who are you?"

His eyes strayed from Chelsea just long enough for him to look up at me. "Oh, I'm William. I'm the groom-to-be." He genially outstretched a hand towards me and I shook it firmly. "It's nice to meet you... um...?"

"Skye," Chelsea offered with a shy smile. "Will, this is my friend Skye from the mainland. He's also friends with Ellie and Trent."

"Oh, yes," Will said, his eyes fixing on me with interest. "Ellie told me a fair bit about you. You're an aspiring chef, right? And your parents...?"

"No one you would know," I replied tightly. "Congratulations on your engagement. I hope you don't mind me tagging along; I just wanted to make sure the girls got here safely."

"Well of course!" Will exclaimed gallantly. "The more the merrier! Please, do come in and get yourself a drink. I'm sure the ladies would like to get inside in the warm, even if it is unusually mild out tonight."

He ushered us aboard the boat and as soon as I entered the main cabin my ears were assaulted by loud dance music that pulsed through the air and made the 'party' seem more like a rave. As Chelsea had said, 'small' clearly wasn't in Will's vocabulary. With strobe lighting, disco balls and a bar situated at the end of the long room, it really did seem more like a nightclub more than anything. There were almost a hundred people crammed into that boat and I was daunted that such a party was being thrown by a small island community. Most of the guests looked young, around our age, and almost everyone was dressed to the nines.

"This is surreal," I muttered under my breath when Chelsea was squeezed up next to me as someone brushed past us in a hurry, calling out to a friend behind us.

"Welcome to my world," Chelsea replied, trying to step out of the way and ending up brushing up against me even more. Afterwards she grabbed my wrist and pulled me along as she followed her friends towards the bar. While we struggled through the crowds I noticed that a small space on the dance floor had been taken up by a few girls who were dancing together. A light then suddenly hit the blonde in the centre and I realised who Natalie had been referring to earlier.

Lanna: the wet-dream of millions of young men across the country.

Oh boy, I was so shocked to see her there. I think I actually stumbled when I saw her dancing around with the only Asian girl in the room who I guessed was the bride-to-be. Dressed in a short dress made of silvery strands that shook and shimmered every time she moved, I actually thought I was dreaming. As 'Gangnam Style' suddenly came on and a chorus of amused cheers went up around the room, the girls began to dance along with the song as if they knew all the choreography and I found myself transfixed by the sight of Lanna gyrating along to the Korean lyrics. Her dark eyes finally strayed in my direction and when she caught me staring at her with my mouth wide open, she gave me a wink before jumping into the lasso movement with renewed vigour, her eyes remaining fixed on mine as I blindly stumbled after my friend.

When we finally reached the bar I turned around to see Chelsea giggling at me with amusement. "You've seen her then."

"I had to stop from fan-boy screaming," I replied breathlessly as we reached the bar. "Lanna! Sexpot Lanna! In the flesh! Why didn't you and Ellie tell me sooner?!"

"I guess we kind of forgot," she replied with a shrug. "She's pretty normal if you take away the suicidal tendencies and obsessive behaviour."

"Neurotics are hot," I blurted out, causing her to giggle louder.

"Hey, how much did Will spend on this party?" Julia asked randomly, turning around and looking around her in awe as Chelsea leaned over the bar and ordered our drinks. "I knew he was going all out, but this is ridiculous."

"Can you imagine what the wedding is going to look like?" Natalie remarked with a snort.

Chelsea stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Yeah, I'm planning not to eat for the whole day... that way I can eat as much as possible at the reception. Think of all the fancy food they're gonna put on!"

"Good idea," Natalie said with a nod. What were they? Old men?

I had kind of zoned out of the conversation by that point, having turned to watch Lanna dancing. My mouth fell open again as an electro dance song came on and Lanna broke out into another set of moves that the other girls around her couldn't follow. Flicking her hair like a professional dancer, I noticed that many of the men in the room had stopped to stare at her in much the same way as I was. Tiny in stature but perfectly proportioned, she had a very ingénue face but the way she moved her body was... beyond sexy. She twirled, dipped and swayed like an experienced entertainer, with every sensual move contrasting her otherwise innocent smile.

I started in surprise when I felt someone's pointy elbow jabbing into my ribs. "Like what you see?" Natalie asked teasingly with a wicked grin. "She's single you know."

"Natalie!" Julia snapped.

"What? He's interested and I'm just telling him that she's available – there's no harm in that!"

"Yes there is! You know there is!"

Natalie stuck her tongue out. "I don't know what you're talking about!"

"As much as I don't like her exhibitionism, I have to admit the girl can dance," Chelsea chortled mildly as her two friends glared at one another. "She should do the choreography for the Harvest Goddess Festival. Can you imagine that?"

"I think the older men would get heart attacks if she did and I don't think I could keep up with her," Julia said seriously, her eyes bugging out as she turned to watch.

"At least she's happier than she was a couple of weeks ago. I think Denny's disappearance did her good," Natalie replied with a faint smile. "She's probably just showing off now because of all these rich guys that Will invited."

Chelsea fiddled with a stray strand of her hair that had fallen out of her bun and for a moment my attention was drawn from Lanna down to Chelsea's neck. Conflicting feelings tugged at my heart strings as I looked at the smooth, pale skin and I frowned when I realised what I was doing. Hadn't I already promised myself that I wouldn't feel that way about her? Hadn't she made it very clear that she wasn't in the least bit interested in me? Was I not helping her get together with another man? I sighed in frustration and she tilted her head ever so slightly as she turned to look up at me.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her brow furrowing in concern.

I forced a smile. "Nothing. I was just wondering what to do about you."

"Do about me?"

Not wanting her friends to hear, I leant in towards her ear. "Your situation with your loverboy." I was just about to pull away when suddenly the scent of Chelsea's perfume, faint notes of lemons, peach and jasmine, drifted towards me and momentarily stunned me.

She noticed that I'd lingered too long. "Skye...? What are you...?" She paused and her frown deepened. "Why are you blushing?"

"I am?" I raised a hand to my cheek and felt that they were a lot warmer than usual.

"We should go home if you're not feeling well," she said, misinterpreting my flush cheeks.

She reached up to put her hand against my forehead but I flinched away. I didn't want her to touch me. I don't know whether it was the perfume, the atmosphere or the way she was dressed, but I was finding it very hard to control my feelings towards her when I was the focus of her attention.

Before she could ask me why I'd flinched, Natalie saved me by linking her arm with mine and saying, "Look! Lanna's coming over here! Smile!"

My head was in turmoil when I looked over and saw the tiny idol wading through the crowds in our direction. She sexily ran her hand through her long blonde hair as she looked in our direction, and once again my attention was diverted long enough for me not to notice Chelsea's proximity. With a smile playing shyly at the corners of her glossy pink lips, Lanna looked up at me once before turning to Natalie. That single look sent shivers down my spine and I quickly found myself forgetting about Chelsea as Lanna and Natalie greeted one another like old friends.

"I cannot get over how friendly they are with one another," Julia muttered under her breath. "It's like she never hated her at all."

"Well she did say that her main reason for disliking her was because of Denny," Chelsea reasoned. "Now that he's out of the picture, there's no reason for her not to like her. I mean, even you have to admit that Lanna's less pompous now."

I suddenly felt very lightheaded when Lanna slid past me towards the bar, brushing up against me purposefully as she situated herself between Natalie and I. Unable to stop myself, I glanced down towards her backside as she leant over the bar and ordered a drink from the bartender. The shimmering strands of her dress had parted slightly, revealing a pair of silver hot-pants underneath that didn't leave much the imagination. I swallowed hard.

I must have been staring longer than I thought, because I was suddenly brought out of my trance-like perverted daze when she said, "So what's your name?"

My eyes snapped up to her face. She was smiling coyly up at me and it was clear that she'd caught me staring at her ass.

"I'm Skye," I said rather dumbly.

I guess I must have looked rather gormless because Natalie leaned in helpfully and added, "He's one of Chelsea's friends from the mainland. He's here for a short visit."

"Oh," Lanna said, looking clearly deflated. "So are you two..." she made a quick gesture between Chelsea and I.

Chelsea shook her head. "No, we're not. We're just friends. Close friends, but not that close."

Lanna immediately perked up at this. "Well that's great!" She outstretched a hand towards me. "I'm Lanna. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Th-The pleasure is all mine," I replied, shaking her hand. Her handshake was firmer than I'd expected and I quickly adjusted my grip. "I knew who you were before you introduced yourself anyway. It's quite hard to miss you when you dance so wonderfully."

"Oh, I almost forgot about all that," she replied with a girlish giggle. "It's been a while since I was involved in the entertainment biz, so I forgot that a lot of strangers recognise me."

She was blatantly lying and feigning modesty, but I didn't say anything about it and merely forced myself to keep smiling as I asked, "So how long have you lived here for?"

"Almost two years," she replied warmly as the bartender slid her cocktail over towards her. She took it gracefully and sipped on it once before adding, "I needed a break from all the stress involved with my job."

"Well it seems like you still have a gift for entertaining. It's clear to see that you're good at what you," I replied, finding my confidence quickly. "I think many of the men in this room were quite enamoured with you when you were dancing."

Natalie snickered. "You could practically see their eyes popping out of their sockets."

"Eww," Lanna exclaimed, wrinkling her nose cutely at the thought. "They weren't. They were just a bit surprised to see me dancing like that. I guess I was showing off a little."

"A little?"

"Okay, a lot!" she said rolling her eyes and nudging Natalie with her shoulder. Her pearly white teeth nibbled her bottom lip shyly as her dark eyes quickly found mine again. "So how long are you going to be on the islands for?"

"I'm not sure yet. I haven't decided." I didn't particularly want to set a length of time for my stay, considering that Chelsea might ask me to clear off if things with Vaughn went according to plan.

Lanna pouted at this and frowned in a such a way that I found it impossible not to find her cute. She glanced at Natalie, then Chelsea, and then downed the rest of her drink. Once she was finished she wiped the residue from her lips with the back of her hand before placing her other hand on my arm gently.

"Come and dance with me?" she asked so quietly that it was difficult to hear. I had to carefully watch her lips to understand what she'd said and I quickly realised that she'd done it on purpose.

I gulped and put my drink down before giving her a short nod. She smiled up at me gleefully and led me away to the dance floor while Chelsea and Natalie waggled their fingers at me. I trailed after Lanna wordlessly and when we reached a gap in the crowd she turned around to dance with me, pressing herself against me in such a way that I actually blushed. Me? Blush? Preposterous, right? Well, the idea that one of the women of my dreams would actually be there on that dingy little island and would actually want to dance with me seemed preposterous at the time as well. I thought that I had to be dreaming; things like that never happened to me.

Wrapping her arms around my neck, she pulled me down slightly so that she could speak into my ear in spite of the music and chatter around us. "Are you really not dating Chelsea? No interest or anything?"

I could feel her breath on my ear and I'm pretty sure the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on ends. In spite of that, when I glanced over at Chelsea and saw her in heated conversation with Julia I felt a little twinge in my chest.

"I'm not dating her, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested," I replied apologetically.

Lanna pulled away from me a fraction so that she could look up at me. Her expression was blank and unreadable, but she kept her body moving in rhythm to the music. After a long moment, she pulled me down again and asked, "Do you know that she's in love with someone else?"

I nodded. "Vaughn."

"And you still like her?"

"I don't like her, but I care about her. She's a good friend of mine," I told her. "I'm not going to lie and tell you that I have no interest in her; I'm trying my best to not be dishonest nowadays."

I guess she liked what she heard because all of a sudden she turned her head slightly and pecked me on the cheek before saying, "Honest guys are hard to find."

"I know," I replied, grinning like the village idiot.


I actually felt pleased when I saw Skye disappear into the crowds with Lanna. He looked so dazed and in awe of her that I knew his usual charm would falter and he would actually be himself for once. More than anything, I wanted him to have a good time – especially after making him tell me about his past history with Jill.

I let out a whimsical sigh. "I hope they like each other."

Skye seemed uncharacteristically unsure of himself and Lanna was smiling up at him flirtatiously as if all the drama with Denny had never happened. Usually in his element when a woman, the silver-haired smooth-talker looked awkward and shy; it was kind of surreal to watch. Was he really that intimidated by Lanna? Did her stardom really dazzle him that much?

"And what about you?" Julia asked sullenly.

"I was never interested in Skye in that way. He's a good friend and I want him to be happy with someone, but that someone is not me." I poked Julia's forearm. "Don't worry about me. I'll find someone eventually."

Natalie leaned towards me and said quietly so that Julia couldn't hear. "You know that she was just trying to get you together with Skye, right?"

I scoffed. "Yeah, like that's really going to happen."

"What will?" Julia asked with a frown. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," Natalie said sweetly before taking her drink and disappearing across the room just as Elliot approached them and squeezed next to Julia.

Elliot was dressed smartly for once and his red hair was combed back stylishly while his hands were rammed in his pockets. Although he'd managed to make himself look less dorky than usual, it was clear from the way his eyes were darting around him nervously that he wasn't comfortable with these types of parties. He leaned in and gave Julia a small peck on the cheek and she stiffened at the contact, her eyes widening a fraction as if she were bracing herself for something.

"Hey Chels," Elliot greeted me cheerfully, not seeming to notice.

"Sup Elliot," I said with a small wave. "You look great."

"Thanks," he said shyly. His dark eyes swept down my figure quickly as he stammered out, "You do too. I mean... you usually look great, but tonight... yeah... Great."

I was somehow expected some sort of faux-jealous reprieve from Julia, but she made none and kept her eyes fixed on her drink. She had gone completely stiff and her breathing was shallow, as if she were trying to stop herself from hyperventilating. Why was she reacting that way? It was almost as if she were repulsed by Elliot's presence.

"Will and Lily seem happy," Elliot commented as he absent-mindedly stroked Julia's shoulder. "I didn't realise that tying the knot would be so... exciting."

"Well it would be if you had as much money as Will does," I remarked with a short laugh, glancing at Julia as she shot me a pleading look. She wanted my help; she wanted Elliot to leave. That's when it hit me.

"Hey, Ell, can you give Julia and I some time alone? I need to talk about girl stuff with her," I suddenly said. Elliot looked stunned and then worried, but his expression cleared when I lied, "It's about my love life."

"Oh, right," he said with a slight grimace. "I'll leave you to it then." He rubbed Julia's arm and said, "I'll see you later, 'kay?"

Julia nodded weakly and as Elliot headed over towards where Will was sat at the back, she visibly relaxed, hanging her head tiredly before tossing her drink back. I then began to notice that Julia's eyes looked shadowed and her cheeks were sallow as if she'd not been eating properly.

"Does it really frighten you that much?" I asked her.

"What?"

I put my drinks glass down. "Marriage."

Even in the crowded, noisy room the silence between us hung heavy in the air. Her blue eyes were filled with such anxiety, fear and desperation that she didn't have to communicate the truth to me. She was fucking terrified and we both knew it. I let out a long sigh before gesturing to the bartender to refill our drinks glasses. He took our glasses and Julia's face hardened as the refilled glass was slid back over to her. The dark liquid bubbled up to the surface and I could tell that she was struggling to remain composed.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why does it scare you?"

"Let's not talk about it," she replied irritably. "Drink with me." She raised her glass to her lips and took a long sip.

"Tell me," I pushed, not wanting to let the issue slide.

She tapped her glass on the table angrily, causing it to slosh over the edge. "I don't want to tell you alright?" Suddenly regretting how she'd snapped at me, she said, "Sorry... I just... I don't really want to... Look, I'll tell you if you drink with me a bit."

"I don't like drinking," I replied with a frown.

"Well tough, I ain't telling you then."

Annoyed, I raised my drink to my lips and drained the glass before slamming it down on the bar with a loud tick. "Now tell me."

"Hey, can we get another two drinks here?" Julia asked, gesturing to our empty glasses. "In fact, keep it coming. Let's have a little contest, shall we?"

"No, let's not," I replied as the bartender shot me an inquisitive look.

"If you win, I'll tell you everything," she said. "If you lose then... I won't tell you jack."

"If I can even remember to ask when I win," I said with a groan as the bartender served up two more drinks. I raised mine up and she chinked her glass against mine before downing it in one. I watched her hesitantly before realising from the resolute look in her eye that she was completely serious. She had no intention of telling me. I wondered if maybe I should just wait to see if she'd spill the beans after having a bit more to drink, but decided against it when I remembered that she was actually a tight-lipped drunk. The only way I was going to get anything out of her was to win against her fair and square.

"Fine," I said before draining my second glass with a grimace.

I can't even remember how many drinks I poured down my throat that night. Our pace started off relatively slow, but as the passage of time seemed to speed up, so did our drinking. I lost count of how many glasses of rum and coke I'd drunk after the tenth glass, though I can distinctly remember that my throat burned and my limbs began to feel like jelly. My body moved as if I were a puppet on a string and someone else was controlling me. I went drink for drink with Julia for quite a while, eventually drawing quite a crowd as word spread around the room that we were competing to see who would last the longest. The sound of the music was eventually drowned by the cheers from people watching us drink each round and I found my vision beginning to spin as I kept drinking what the bartender kept giving us. I felt stupid and horrible and I thought I could hear my liver crying out in protest, but I was so focused on my goal of beating my friend that I almost forgot the reason for competing with Julia in the first place.

Eventually, Julia's pace began to slow and finally she put her glass down shakily as her body quavered in disgust. I knew I'd won when she threw her hand over her mouth to stop herself from vomiting and she dashed off to the toilets as a roar of laughter and cheers went up. I felt my back patted, rubbed and stroked by several people as I finished my last glass and put it down clumsily. I'd won, but I couldn't remember why I was happy about it. The room span and the faces of the townspeople and Will's friends blurred around as me as I tried to push away from them. Unsteadily, I stumbled away from the bar and landed on someone's hard chest before a pair of arms were wrapped around me.

"What the hell Chelsea," I heard Skye grumble angrily. "I leave you alone for a short while and you turn into a raging alcoholic."

"Shup," I slurred, trying to push him away. I could smell a woman's perfume on him and he felt sweaty from all the dancing he'd done with Lanna. "Where's Juliaaahh?"

He kept a tight hold of me as he leaned into my ear and said, "I need to get you home." I shook my head childishly. He then squeezed me tighter and said menacingly, "If you're not careful I'll take advantage of you right here. You can barely stand upright and I doubt you'd be able to protest."

"You wouldn't dare," I said challengingly, thumping my balled fist against his chest.

I felt him chuckle at this and he kissed the top of my head before pulling my arm over his shoulder so that he could support me as we walked towards the door. As was passed the large clock hung on the wall nearby I was shocked to see that it was already past one o'clock in the morning. Had I really been drinking with Julia for that long? We'd arrived at the party at nine thirty and already almost four hours had gone by without me realising it.

"Lightweight, I am not!" I roared, pumping my fist into the air triumphantly before finally my memory went foggy.

Maybe the alcohol had kicked in late, or maybe exhaustion finally took it's toll on me again, but I can't remember anything that happened after that. I think Skye managed to carry me outside and down the dock to the island, but that's it. It's almost as if my memories were a train that had run out of rail tracks.

I wasn't prepared for what I woke up to the next morning.


Hi everyone! I hope you had a good new year and you're all ready for 2013! I know I'm not! I actually went up to London to see the fireworks on NYE and holymoly, it was amazing. I've never seen fireworks done like that before. Maybe I just don't get out enough, but they seriously gave me an eyeboner. See the YouTube video of the fireworks to see what I mean.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter. I had to POV switch to change it up a bit, which is why it's longer than usual. Hopefully it wasn't too hard to understand the change.

SpringBorn: Sorry it was hard to read! I try my best when I do read-throughs before posting, but I can't always do it perfectly. I have to admit though - the last chapter wasn't one of my best. I had to write it for plot purposes, but I didn't feel particularly inspired when I was writing it.

Pelkasauras -Cherry3456: Thanks for saying that. :D I'm not creeped out, though I'm not sure I am worthy of such admiration. V_V" But I really do appreciate the comments you leave, they're great morale boosters! Seriously!

blacksunset1214: Yeah, I didn't really want Jill to pass away, but he wouldn't have turned out the way he has if she hadn't. As you can imagine, having your first love die before you could tell her your feelings is enough to mess anyone up and drastically alter their personality. In my head, Skye wasn't as much of a playboy as he is now.

ShadowBloodNinja: Yeah, that was one part of Harvest Moon DS Cute that really irritated me. Finding all the sprites! And you should go to Japan! I don't think you even need that much knowledge of Japanese if you go to an international boarding school there – they will most likely teach in English. You can learn Japanese when you're out there.

Thanks for all your reviews! Keep them coming, I really appreciate them. I'm sorry if I made this chapter a bit too long, but it was kind of needed to set the scene for the next plot arc I have planned. Especially the next chapter... :D That's going to be soooooooo much fun to write. Teehee!

Till next time!