Chapter 30-2

Chase was standing near the bottom of the staircase with Emily and an elderly couple. Emily was clinging onto his arm as she laughs lightly and touches his chest. Chase lifts his glass of scotch, his usual go-to drink, and takes a sip just as his hazel eyes lock with mine over the rim of the cup. If it weren't for Michael keeping me steady, I no doubt would've face-planted and slid like a fucking penguin down the rest of the stairs. He swallows his drink hard as his eyes scale down my body, heating me from the inside out. Even from here I could see how hard his jaw was clenched as he doesn't pay a goddamn glance at the conversation happening in front of him. I could barely breathe under his scorching stare and yet I couldn't bring myself to look away. He looked at me like I was the only one in this  gala and I realised in that moment that it was possible to feel homesick for a person. Chase was my home. And right now, someone was trying to buy it without it being on fucking sale. "Hey, there's our table." Michael exclaims as I follow his pointed finger. Our table was to the side, next to the wall and I could see Vera, Levi and Hayley chatting together. Where Penn and Noah was I had no clue, but f I had to guess I would say trying to steal food from somewhere. Noah had smuggled in so many empty plastic zip-lock bags. "I can finally take this damn shoes off." I grumble as we reach the bottom of  the stairs and start to make our way to the table. "Hayden!" Michael and I both flinch and freeze at the overly-cheery call. We turn in slow motion to see Emily waving at us as she walks towards us, hand in hand with Chase. Her blue eyes scale down my body and her smile falters slightly. She's so bad at hiding her emotions that it's almost comical. "Hey...you two." I smile as I place both of my hands on Michael's shoulders—partially to keep me steady but mostly to keep Michael from pouncing on her. "Aww, you guys look so cute." Emily says in adoration as she retakes her position hugging Chase's arm. Was she a fucking boa-constrictor or something. "Thanks." I chuckle as Emily throws her hair behind her shoulder, drawing attention to her prominent collar bone. I read somewhere that it only takes five pounds of pressure to break a collarbone. Very useful information in my opinion. "You guys look amazing." "I know. I'm so lucky to be with someone like Everett." Emily smiles up at Chase who's intense gaze was solely on me. He looked deliciously gorgeous in his tight charcoal suit. His shirt underneath was a matte black and the top few buttons were left undone. His pants were cropped fashionably and her had a pair of dark leather Oxfords on his feet. Emily looked like an Ice Queen in her dress with her silverly-blonde hair. It was a really pretty dress but I'm kinda glad I went with the one I was wearing. It hugged my figure more and the open back finished just above my tailbone. Vera had put a slight wave in my hair and I left it down, trying to cover up the slight grazes on my shoulder and top of my back. "It's a shame we're not sitting close to you guys." Emily says with a slight pout and I nod even though I had no idea what was going on. Since Chase was Emily's date, he was sitting with her and her parents and apparently it was on the other side of the huge hall. "Well, if you get bored you can come over to our table." I tell her with a slight smile, but my words were meant more for Chase. "You'll probably be able to hear us anyway." "I'll definitely take you up on that offer. We're seated with all these old people that can only talk about how much they made last year." Emily rolls her eyes as she waves her hand, "Oh, also my parents wanted to say hi to you. So maybe I'll bring them over later." "Hayden I'm hungry!" Michael groans as I smile down at him, thankful that he figured out a way to end this. "Oh really? Well, we better get you some food then, master." I smirk as I glance back up at Emily and Chase, "You two have as much fun as possible." Michael then grabs my hand and leads me away to our table. Noah and Penn had found their seats as well as Spencer by the time we reach them and everyone lights up as they see us. "There you guys are!" Penn greets with a large smile as she takes a sip of champagne. If she was drinking that means Noah wasn't. But then again, he probably needed his full attention on stealing food. I take my seat next to my cousin who sighs dramatically, "Well don't look like your fifth millionaire husband just died under suspicious circumstances." "That's your dream not mine, Spenc." I chuckle as I pick up the chute of champagne and throw it back. "So I'll take that as you've seen Chase and Emily." Spencer chuckles as he crosses his legs. He looked very dapper in his grey plaid suit and crisp white shirt underneath. I nod my head, "...Yup." "So you're getting drunk?" Spencer questions as his grin begins to grow. I nod my head, "...Yup." "This night is going to be great! I'm absolutely thrilled." Spencer cheers as he claps his hands excitedly. I could only chuckle at his dramatics. I glance around at everyone while slowly coming to terms that I was going to have to change how I drink. I don't do fancy drunk. I do steal-the-keys-of-a-golfcart-and-ram-it-into-a-palm-tree kinda drunk. And yes, that most definetly happened when some poor soul from Penn's photography class invited us to their birthday dinner. I mean, sure it fucking sucked that Emily and Chase were here together. But I made this annoying ass but and now I shall lie in it.