"This party kicks ass!" Derek shouted in Emily's ear.

Emily snorted, elbowed him. "You're fucking wasted," she informed him. "Because this barely counts as a party and it's boring as shit."

He just laughed. "You're just saying that because Beth's not here..."

She rolled her eyes. He was right. But she wasn't about to admit that to him...even if he wouldn't remember it in the morning because he was, in fact, wasted.

After things had basically imploded with Alex, Emily had decided to throw a party to celebrate being single again. Even if she didn't exactly feel like celebrating, she had no intention of sitting around moping and wishing for things she couldn't have.

Seeming to sense her sudden moodiness, Derek wrapped an arm around her shoulder and whispered something crude in her ear. She chose not to respond, but couldn't help the smirk that crossed her lips as she silently agreed with the sentiment.

"Want to dance?" he asked then, waggling his brows comically.

"No, absolutely not," she insisted. From the corner of her eye, she could see the colourful girl from the AV club who seemed to have a crush on Derek watching them intently. "But I think I know someone who would love to dance..." she said, gently shoving him in the girl's direction.

With a sigh, Emily wandered into the kitchen to refill her cup with whatever liquor was strong and plentiful. She'd thought having a party would cheer her up – or at least take her mind off her shitshow of a love life – but so far, she wasn't getting her wish.

She was surprised to find a straggler in the kitchen, looking awkward and entirely out of place.

"Spencer, right?" she asked as she filled her cup.

He nodded, but said nothing.

"Did Derek invite you and then abandon you?" she asked, familiar with her friend's M.O.

He nodded again.

Taking pity on the kid and his obvious lack of social graces, she said, "There's a library upstairs..." She watched his eyes light up. "Come on, I'll show you," she offered, gesturing for him to follow her.

"Why did you agree to come, if you don't mind my asking?" Emily posited to Spencer as she watched him scan the shelves of the library. She couldn't quite figure him out.

He shrugged. "Derek said I had to..."

"Surely you know better than to listen to anything Derek says is a good idea," she replied pointedly. "You're smarter than that."

"True," he agreed, "But he said he'd tell me how to talk to girls..."

"Ah," she murmured, nodding in understanding. "I'll let you in on a secret," she said seriously, "Derek doesn't know shit about girls. You want to know how to meet someone, I'll teach you. Don't listen to any of Derek's bullshit, okay?"

Spencer frowned. "Didn't you just break up with someone?"

She shot him an unimpressed look. "Yes, but in order to break up with someone, you have to first date them. Derek's never gone on more than three dates with the same girl, so...you tell me."

He nodded at that, but he might've just been too afraid of her to argue the point.

She sighed. "I'd better go back downstairs before Derek lights something on fire..."

He nodded eagerly. "Yeah, good idea."

She just couldn't make herself return to the boisterous chaos that had quickly overtaken the main floor, instead cloistering herself in her bedroom. A tentative tapping on the door, interrupted her moping, followed by the door opening a crack and Beth sticking her head inside. "I thought I might find you here," she murmured.

"You came," Emily said in relief.

"And I brought tequila," Beth added, brandishing the bottle. "I thought you might need it..." She gently settled next to Emily on her bed, bumping their shoulders together in a silent show of solidarity. "I'm sorry about Alex," she murmured. "I know you really loved her."

Emily nodded silently, took a sip from the bottle that Beth handed her, languishing in the burn of the liquid all the way down her throat. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

"Still," Beth pressed. "It's never fun to have your heart broken."

Downstairs, there came the distinctive crash of something falling and breaking, followed by Derek yelling her name. She shook her head, sighed. "I don't know why I invited everyone..." she lamented. "I just wanted you."

Beth tried to hide the smile that played about her lips at that.

Beth took a swig of tequila, passed the bottle to Emily. "Fuck...tequila always makes me so fucking horny," she declared.

Emily barked out a laugh, took a drink from the proffered bottle. "You're only horny because you haven't been fucked in like a month."

"Three months," she corrected pointedly. "And even then I didn't cum..." She rolled her eyes. "He was too busy thinking about his ex to find my clit."

"You sleep with dudes, you take that chance," Emily said with a smug grin.

"Bitch," she teased. "Think you're so much better than me because you don't sleep with guys..."

Emily shrugged. "They make vibrators for a reason..."

"And you're an expert on vibrators?"

She winked mischievously.

"You whore," Beth scoffed.

Laughing, Emily flopped back to the bed. Before she had even a moment to react, Beth was straddling her hips, pinning her wrists beside her head as she leaned down to capture her lips.

For the briefest of seconds, alarm bells went off in Emily's brain, reminding her of Alex. But only briefly before she realized that Alex wasn't her concern anymore. So, she returned the kiss with fervour.

When Beth released her lips, they were both panting and Emily could feel the heat pooling in her core, desperate and needy. She writhed beneath her, whimpering softly, eager for more contact.

Beth paused, sat back in her heels, stared down into Emily's eyes. "I want you," she breathed, almost shyly. "I want this so bad – but only if you want it too..."

Any hesitance she'd felt at first having long since vanished, she reached up to clutch a fist in the soft fabric of Beth's T-shirt, pulling her down into a kiss that said everything she needed to know.