Author's note: I apologise again for the long wait, school has been keeping me very busy. Thanks to my friend Isabelle for the pizza guy joke! Thank you so much everyone still reading, I hope you like this chapter, and please review with your thoughts on it :)

Jo's POV

I woke up without a hint of a clue of where I was. My eyes were no longer full of tears as they were last night but I could feel the run-down mascara on my cheeks. Mixed with eyeliner it made patterns like frozen rivers on my face. The results of last night suddenly appeared in the form of a huge stabbing headache causing me to squeeze my eyes shut. After waiting a few minutes for the pain to subside, I pushed myself up from the bed I was on and looked around the room. It was definitely not anywhere that I found familiar.

I dragged my tired body out of the bed and walked towards the closed door, tripping over some empty bottles in the process. As soon as I opened the door and was about to step outside, I remembered where I was and the some of the events that took place at the party last night. The image of a sleeping Patrick slumped against the edge of the door brought back images that I wished I could have forgotten with the copious amounts of alcohol that followed soon after. Quickly I stepped back inside the room and shut the door promptly turning the key and locking it. Unfortunately, what I wasn't expecting was to look back inside and see Nick lying on the bed.

~The previous day~

Jo's POV

A 'small-ish' party he said. Yeah right. As soon as Patrick found someone who volunteered to throw a bigger party because their parents were away, the deal was made and maybe more than half the school was invited. Currently I was at Sam and Patrick's house getting ready with Sam. Patrick was at the house where the party was going to take place setting up and he managed to convince Charlie to help him, allowing us girls to have some time to ourselves before the party. Sam somehow got me sat down in a chair and was doing my make up for the party even though I told her repeatedly that I was planning to do my usual routine. To be quite honest I was quite nervous because of all the glittered products she put on me.

"It's gonna be dark in the house so glitter will make you stand out and look just awesome." She said trying to assure me.

"Okay fine just tonight." I laughed a little at her perseverance. Soon she was done and we went onto outfits.

"Do you think this dress will be right for tonight?" She asked holding up a navy, short sleeve dress that went down to mid-thigh.

"I think it'll look great on you." I said honestly. Sam could pull off anything and everything. "Any suggestions or ideas for me miss stylist?" I joked making both of us laugh.

"Actually, I bought this dress the other day but didn't think it was very me in the end. Let me just look for it I think you'd look amazing in it."

She shuffled through her closet and quickly pulled out a short black dress with a gold sequined pattern over it. I quickly put it on and we both gave each other some compliments before the pizza delivery guy arrived. Yes, we ordered pizza before the party because both of us knew that there won't be much food to eat later and drinking on an empty stomach is the worst thing possible. Sam spoke from true experience.

Sam and I opened the door to get the pizza from the delivery guy.

"Damn, are you a freshly baked pepperoni 'cause you're smoking hot!" The guy surprised us with his pick up line causing us both to start laughing almost uncontrollably.

"Well, that was cheesy." I replied feeling more confident in my outfit for tonight.

"Ah, I see you're trying to be punny, I like that.' He laughed with us.

"Wait, don't we have history together?" Sam asked whilst giving him the correct change.

"Yeah, Sam and Jo, right? I've seen you two around. Damn, seems like all the good ones are clearly taken. If you guys need anything else just call and ask for Josh."

He sent another wink in our direction before walking away from the house.

I closed the door as we walked back in and Sam carried the pizza back into the kitchen where we ate.

"So… how are you and Patrick?" Sam teased.

"We're good. He's good." I said dropping my head and smiling as I felt my cheeks heat up with a blush.

"I'm glad it worked out with you guys. I remember the day after he met you and you guys went out a couple of times and he was so nervous and confused because he liked you but he was so sure he was fully gay. It was tough on him you know, with Brad and everything and then you came along and at first it was strange but it all worked out. I'm so glad he has you."

"Wow, I… thanks Sam. That means a lot. I am so grateful for him and unbelievably lucky what with my past as well. He's incredible really, and for accepting all the crap I've dragged along with me. I'm really lucky."

Sam stood up and gave me a long, reassuring hug. I was so happy to have people like her and Patrick in my life. After a few more minutes of conversation Sam and I finally drove to the party.

Before we even got out of the car we could hear the sound of the music blasting from the huge house. We walked up to the house and the moment we knocked on the door it opened almost instantaneously revealing a hallway crowded of people some of who neither Sam or I could recognise.

We made our way into the living room and saw Patrick and Charlie standing in the kitchen talking to a group of guys whilst Bob was preparing some drinks. Bob preparing drinks was already a sign of trouble. We went over to them and said our hellos.

"And here, gentlemen, is my beautiful girlfriend, Jo Harvelle." Patrick introduced me to a couple of guys I've never seen before so I assumed they didn't even go to high school with us. He threw his arm over my shoulder and gave me a kiss on the cheek before leading me into another room to find Mary Elizabeth who was in charge of the music.

"Hey Jo, you look great." She quickly greeted me. "Got any requests for the DJ?" Mary Elizabeth was happy if she was in charge of these things because she had the idea that 'half the morons at our school can't differentiate between actual music and shitty noise'.

"No thank you I think you're creating a great atmosphere though." I replied honestly. Looking around the room you could tell everyone was either dancing or just enjoying themselves in general. A few people may have had a little too much to drink.

We heard a crash coming back from the kitchen followed by a few swear words.

"Crap. If something else gets broken then I'm gonna get killed." Patrick said before walking into the direction from which the sound came from.

"Go out there. I've got it covered here." Mary Elizabeth said to me and I laughed before walking away.

I was walking through the crowd hoping to find a familiar face when I felt a tap on my right shoulder. I turned to see who it was only to find no one there. A laugh sounded from my other side making me spin in the opposite direction to find an amused Nick. The nerdy glasses were gone and his hair was gelled back making him look very suave in his black skinny jeans and dark green checked shirt.

"Hi! What are you doing here? I didn't think parties were really your scene." I joked, lightly bumping his shoulder with my fist.

"Well, I thought about what you said and decided maybe it's not so bad to try something new once in a while, right?" He answered.

"No, of course. You look so different."

"Good different or bad different?" He smiled.

"Defnitely good different." We both laughed.

"Do you wanna go get a drink?"

"Yeah sure." I replied.

We walked to the bar area where we found Bob.

"Jo! You gotta try one of these. I named it The Explosive Surprise. It's amazing!" Bob has clearly had a bit too many explosive surprises so he wasn't going to make it easy for anyone to refuse him.

"What's in it?" I asked cautious.

"It's called a surprise for a reason." He said with a large grin while pushing the strange but not bad looking concoction towards me.

"Alright fine…" I took a sip and understood where the 'explosive' part of the name came from as a mixture of tastes burst in my mouth.

"This is actually really good." Bob took a bow in his moment of glory with a proud look on his face.

Nick asked Bob for a simple beer as he wasn't ready for another new experience just yet. The three of us sat and chatted while I drank my second and third Explosive Surprise. Either this drink wasn't very strong or the effects haven't taken their toll yet… With Bob's drinks it was probably the latter.

Someone's hands suddenly covered my eyes and the words "Guess who?" were whispered into my ear.

Already knowing who it is I played along.

"Hmm. I'm not sure. What do you look like, stranger?"

"Well I'm quite handsome if I do say so myself and quite the charmer."

"Oh, of course, you must be Charlie." I joked. I heard a mock-gasp and the hands came off allowing me to turn around and give Patrick a quick kiss.

"I can't believe you said Charlie is a charmer." He pouted.

"I don't know. I'm kinda more interested in this other guy. Black hair, dark brown eyes, great kisser." I said leaning in.

"He sounds like a great guy." Patrick said leaning into me and I completely forgot about everyone else in the room as I wrapped my arms around him and we kissed.

Bob cleared his throat behind us causing us to pull away and Patrick gave Bob a mischievous look whilst I blushed trying to hide myself in Patrick's chest.

"Do you wanna dance?" Patrick asked and I nodded excusing us from Nick and Bob. He slipped his hand into mine and pulled me towards the dance floor. He quickly let go to go to Mary Elizabeth before returning and putting his hands around my waist. I wrapped my hands around his shoulders in return as a slower song started playing. We moved to the sound of the music.

"Have I told you that you look absolutely stunning tonight?"

"Have I told you that you look very handsome tonight?"

"Are you saying I don't look handsome every night?"

"Are you saying that I don't look absolutely stunning every night?"

Patrick laughed. "God, you're amazing." He said as he spun me around. He then pulled me closer to him and I gave him a slow meaningful kiss before I put my head on his shoulder.

"My parents are away tonight if you wanna stay over." I said.

"Yeah, sure." He gave me a cheeky smile and we kissed again. Our kiss was however interrupted by someone.

"Brad? What the hell are you doing here?" We stopped dancing and Patrick's expression fell. I squeezed his hand letting him now I'm sticking by him.

"We need to talk. Please." He sounded almost desperate. I say almost as I wasn't fond of the guy for obvious reasons and I was surprised he decided to come to this party.

"What's there to talk about? There's nothing left to say. Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna dance with my girlfriend." Patrick said with an evident tone of resentment in his voice.

"Patrick please. Just for a minute. I just want to talk." Now he was really desperate.

"Patrick." I said softly making him face me. "Maybe you should just hear what he has to say."

Patrick seemed to consider it. "Alright fine. Let's go find somewhere quiet." They walked away leaving me by myself. I decided to walk back to the bar and get myself another drink.

"Jo's back!" Bob shouted excitedly. His enthusiasm for everything made me laugh quite a lot for some reason and I realised that those drinks must be causing me to act a little giddy. He placed a shot of vodka in front of me and said, "Here, you look like you need it."

I quickly drank it and asked him to pour me another one which he obliged to very happily.

Soon the alcohol took over my inhibitions and I cursed myself for being such a lightweight drinker. Somehow, I found myself dancing drunkenly with Mary Elizabeth and Sam who were finding my state completely hilarious.

I didn't know how much time had passed since Patrick left so I decided to go look for him. I walked back to the kitchen where Charlie was sitting talking to Bob but unfortunately neither of them had seen Patrick.

I slowly and carefully made my way up the stairs from the main hall and opened the first door in my way only to find it empty. I then tried the next two only managing to find a bathroom and a study but no sign of Patrick. I arrived at the last door in the corridor and tried to open it but stumbling over my own feet in the process. Somehow this managed to get the door open to my own embarrassment as I accidentally walked in on two people kissing.

My hand flew to my chest and I quickly apologised before trying to grab the handle and leave. However, when I turned around to apologise again I noticed who the two people were and felt a sudden shortness of breath.

"Jo, I can explain…"

Patrick said immediately looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

Before he could get another word out I somehow sobered up enough to slam the door behind me and run into another room where I locked myself in and slid down the wall letting the tears escape my eyes.