It was apparent that allowing two drunk teens to splash around in a swimming pool unattended was a huge drowning hazard, and not a risk Frankie was willing to take. At least, that's what Lola was being told by Frankie, who was ranting and raving and criticizing Lola for getting wasted. Like Frankie had never gotten drunk before. She tended to like to play the 'holier than thou' part.
"But we're having fun." Lola whined, wrapping her arm around Yael's waist and pulling them close. "This is my best friend. I just wanna have fun with my best friend." Frankie looked offended that Lola had called Yael her best friend, but didn't say anything to confirm the impression.
"You know what, Frankie? You need to chill." Lola finally exclaimed. "Yael and I are just having fun. Spontaneous, exciting, spontaneous..." She trailed off, noticing that she was repeating words. "We're just having fun." She stated simply, saving herself the effort of trying to put together a complex sentence. She wasn't about to pass out or anything, but she definitely was less than coherent at this point.
Lola looked over to Yael, but their glance was elsewhere. They had locked eyes on Hunter, who was flirting with some girl with a short red bob and bangs. A little too reminiscent of the old Yael, even if their skin tones and facial features were completely different. Even though it'd been over a year since the two broke up, it seemed Yael just quite couldn't shake the feelings they had. Lola felt Yael wrap their arms around her waist and pull Lola closer. At first, Lola was perplexed, but then she was straight up shocked when Yael's wet lips met her's. They'd kissed before, when Yael was trying to figure out their gender and sexuality, but Lola had been told by Yael that it was a one-time thing and she wouldn't have to worry about any impromptu smooches from now on. However, Yael seemingly decided to break that promise in an attempt to draw Hunter's attention away from the hot girl he'd been working his moves on.
It took a few seconds of wide-eyed shock before Lola realized that pulling away from the kiss was probably the right move in the long run. Yael wasn't going to feel great in the morning if they found pics and videos of the two kissing all over FaceRange.
"Okay, guys. I think it's time for you to leave the party." Frankie said, using a damage-control tone of voice Lola had only heard from adults in the past.
Frankie motioned Baaz, Hunter and Vijay to come over to the edge of the pool and help get Yael and Lola out of the pool. Vijay extended a hand graciously, but Baaz and Hunter... not so much. Hunter reluctantly reached his hand out to help Yael get out of the water, but Yael reached and slapped his hand away.
"No! You don't get to pull me out of the pool." Yael exclaimed, and all eyes turned to them. "I want... Vijay." They slurred, reaching their hands out for Vijay to grab them. "Vijay never broke my heart, after all."
Lola watched as Hunter backed away, clearly hurt by Yael's rejection. But that wasn't really important right now. What was important was getting Lola and Yael, who were clearly too drunk for their own good, out of the pool and away from the party. Baaz pulled Lola out of the pool with ease. Lola was surprised by how strong his arms were. She'd never perceived Baaz as anyone who would have any sort of muscle definition at all. It was clear from the expression on Baaz's face, however, that he had no interest in being associated with this situation past pulling Lola out of the pool. In fact, as soon as Lola was back on her feet, standing on the concrete that surrounded the Hollingsworth's pool, Baaz walked away and pulled Hunter away with him, disappearing into the crowd of teens once again.
Vijay shrugged as he held up Yael, who was visibly more drunk than Lola was. "I don't know what Hunter and Baaz's deals are." He said. "Always moody and broody about something. What else is new?"
Frankie and Vijay carried Lola and Yael into the house, and somewhere between the pool and the house, Lola passed out.
Lola woke up groggily with wet hair soaking her pillow. The dampness of her hair indicated that she couldn't have been out for long, after all, she was still pretty fresh from the pool. Lola struggled to open her eyes, with a wave of drowsiness falling over her. The mix of alcohols must've been a bad decision. She finally opened her eyes and noticed a familiar surrounding. Her eyes had to be playing tricks on her, though, because if she was where she thought she was... She was in Miles's bed.
The silver haired girl began to sit up but froze when she heard familiar voices bickering from the hallway outside of the bedroom.
"I told you to spend time with her." Miles said. "You were supposed to keep an eye on her!"
Who was he talking to? Who had he assigned to watch her? Yael? In fact, where was Yael? Were they okay?
Lola wasn't about to get up. First of all, she wasn't sure if she was physically able. But second of all, she needed to hear what Miles was talking about. Any insight into what was on his mind was insight she appreciated.
"I'm not a babysitter. I graduated from high school today. This is my party. I was supposed to spend it having fun." Frankie said. It was Frankie. "It's not my fault you broke her heart for the third time and she turned to booze."
Miles started talking, his voice getting closer, clearly meaning he was heading toward the bedroom. Lola covered her head with the blanket, feigning sleep in order to get the most information possible. This conversation seemed important. She finally got the chance to be a fly on the wall and figure out what was going through Miles's head without the filter he was going to put on in order to save Lola's feelings.
"I didn't mean to break her heart." Miles responded to Frankie, his voice breaking slightly.
"But you did." Frankie said right away. "You hurt my best friend and then you just tried to back away. Even tonight, you just hid in your room while the party was going on so you wouldn't have to face Lola." That was why Lola hadn't seen Miles. He was hiding from her.
Lola felt herself sobering up. She didn't know it was possible that the drunkenness could just dissolve like that when crap got real.
She felt a sudden weight land on her feet and restrained herself from jumping out of her skin. Someone had sat on her feet. And based on the fact that the butt wasn't tiny and bony, she concluded that it was Miles. Just the touch of him, even if it was something as minor as him sitting on her feet... It drove Lola crazy. She just wanted to be next to him, as much as she was trying to deny it, and with everything that she was trying to throw away in order to save her own feelings... She just couldn't deny it.
"I don't know what to do. If I'd just came back by myself, maybe I would've had a chance." Miles said. "But I stupidly brought Vivian back and showed Lola that she was a second choice." He paused. "Again."
Frankie didn't speak for almost a minute. It was radio silence.
"Where is she anyway?" Frankie asked, and Miles let out a deep exhale.
"We'd been fighting for months. And I thought that bringing her home to meet Mom and Dad would fix everything." Miles started. "But it didn't. It just proved to her that I wasn't the type of guy she wanted. I wasn't the rich guy she wanted. She's a socialite. And me taking her to my little sister's community school graduation didn't exactly scream luxury. She clearly wanted me to show her how rich I was... Show daddy's yacht, or whatever. She bailed. And the worst part is, I didn't even care that she left. Because the moment I saw Lola again, I realized that I got with Vivian to fill a hole in my life. I didn't love her. Hell, I don't even know if I even liked her."
Lola felt Frankie sit next to Miles on the bed. Were they just completely disregarding the fact that Lola was in the bed? Had they completely forgotten that Lola was even there?
"Do you love Lola?" Frankie asked, and Miles hesitated.
The anxiety of waiting for Miles's answer rose from the bottom of Lola's stomach where the butterflies resided to the back of Lola's throat. Whether it was anxiety or alcohol, Lola couldn't hold it back. She rose out of bed as quickly as she could and darted to the waste basket she remembered being in the corner of Miles's room. However, when she went to throw up into the basket, it was too late to notice that the basket wasn't there, and Lola threw up all over Miles's floor.
"Lola?" Miles said, startled, dashing over to her and placing his hand on her back. "Lola, are you okay?"
Her eyes shut tightly, knowing that she'd probably been found out. There was no way Miles didn't assume she'd just eavesdropped on their entire conversation. She went to talk, but another wave of nausea overtook her and resulted on an addition to the vomit pile which was now on the hardwood floor of Miles Hollingsworth's room.