Ivory eats her steak and tries not to puke, the joint they smoked earlier made her dizzy and she reaches for her water taking large gulps.
"You okay, Iv?"
She glances at her sister and she nods with a small smile "All good"
The water did make her feel slightly better so she decided to move the food around in her plate and just stick to drinking water until she felt like she could eat again. She glances around the table and she can't remember the last time she sat at a jam packed table like this. Bluedale is a boarding school in West London so most nights it's spent with the girls eating either in the dining hall with the rest of the students or in one of their rooms. Her eyes land on her mother who pretends to laugh at a joke but is actually just watching her husband. Ah yes, they haven't told anyone yet that they decided to get a divorce. The only reason Ivory knows about it is because she noticed the tension between them and overheard them speaking about it the other night.
Nesta Reed is your typical housewife, cares for the kids, cooks, attends pilates while looking absolutely stunning doing it.
Corbin Reed is one of the best lawyers in the country and happens to be business partners with Garrette and Benjamin.
It's kind of crazy how the girls wouldn't have been this close if it weren't for their fathers. Hell, they probably would never have met. The only reason they all ended up attending Bluedale is because that's where Ivory's parents sent her to follow Xavier's footsteps. Sydney and Daphne had convinced their parents to send them to the same boarding school so they could be closer all year round and not just on summers. It also made a great deal that Bluedale has a great education rate.
Garret and Corbin actually attended the same college but hated each other's guts because they liked the same girl but they weirdly became friends when they realized she played both of them. And that Benjamin was their common friend.
Ivory's eyes dart to Daphne who seems to be inhaling her food and she resists the urge to laugh. Daphne could eat a whole buffet if she's high, Sydney spills random facts about history and Ivory just feels like sleeping. The three of them are completely different from each other but seem to make complete sense. Like bread, peanut butter and jam. Ivory hears a soft chuckle from her other side and glances at her brother to find him watching Daphne too but he quickly looks away when he realizes Ivory is watching him.
"Don't even think about it." she says soft enough only for him to hear but loud enough so that he can hear her over the noise of the other conversations at the table.
Xavier gives her a sideways glance "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Your man-whore ways, keep it far away from Daph"
His body goes rigid and lets out a scoff "Christ, I would never try to get into Daphne's pants. Or Sydney's"
"Good. Keep it that way."
She shoves food into her mouth and relaxes when it doesn't feel like coming up again. She feels something tickling her bare legs and she glances down to find Missy pressing up against her leg, she takes a piece of meat and sneaks it to the cat underneath the table. Arian catches her though but she just winks in return and he shakes his head with a small laugh as he continues eating his food.
".....party boat"
Ivory catches the last words of Mr Wallace's sentence and she sits up straighter "I'm sorry, I didn't hear that."
He repeats "I saw a flyer in town yesterday, apparently there's going to be a party boat from tonight until Sunday."
Her eyes catch Daphne's who wiggles her eyebrows and Sydney asks "Is there an age restriction?"
Ivory tries not to wince at her question but it'll definitely raise suspicion of the parents and Sydney's dad doesn't miss a beat "None of you are allowed on that boat. You have to be twenty-one so don't even think about it."
Xavier pipes up "I'll be twenty-one in two weeks so I don't count, right?"
His mother gives him a pointed look "When Ben said 'none of you' he was referring to you down until Liliana and the twins"
Damn. They are serious.
Later that night when the girls were in the kitchen eating ice-cream, Daphne said "I could get us fake IDs and tip the bouncy a generous amount to look the other way"
Sydney's face pulls in the way it always does when she doesn't agree with something "I think maybe we should skip the party boat. If the age restriction is twenty-one then there are going to be tons of older people and I don't think it's safe."
Ivory had to agree with that and judging by the look on Daphne's face, so does she. Xavier walks into the kitchen but stops short when he sees them "Is that ice-cream? Nice."
He takes Ivory's spoon from her hand and she rolls her eyes as he digs into the ice-cream, Daphne frowns when she gets a good look at him, taking note of his change of outfit "Are you going somewhere?"
"Yeah, a few buddies from college are here so we're going to a bonfire on the beach"
They all three practically perk up at that and Ivory says "Take us with you"
"No." he hands her spoon back to her but she doesn't take it and he says "You girls stay here and watch a movie like you always do"
"That's boring, take us with you, Xav" Ivory practically begs
He opens his mouth to refuse again but Daphne cuts him off "If you don't take us with you then we're going to go by ourselves"
His green eyes, the same as Ivory's narrow on her "You wouldn't."
"Try me." she challenges with a tilt of her head.
Sydney chimes in "Come on, Xavier. Four peas in a pot?"
Ivory can practically see the fight leaving him when Syd utters the last sentence. Everyone on the internet refers to the girls as The PowerPuff girls, because they are always together. But everyone in their families refer to the four of them as Four peas in a pot. Rare but thick as thieves.
"Fine but take drinks from no one who is not me."
*
Daphne blinks her eyes open against the harsh sunlight coming through from the window and she groans before yanking the covers over her head. She pauses when she realizes that one, she is butt naked and two, there is someone in bed with her just as naked as her.
Her heart starts racing as she rakes her brain for what happened the previous night but her head is pounding so badly and she reaches for the water bottle she always has on the nightstand but there isn't anything. She raises her head slightly and groans again when the pounding in her head gets worse and she does a double take when the walls of the room are blue and white and not decorated with different flower paintings like her room.
She's in Swanton.
She relaxes when she realizes she probably just fell asleep next to Ivory but that doesn't explain her being naked. She swallows before turning around; she cringes when she sees the bare back of a guy, who's clearly not Ivory. She raises the sheets again and the guy laying next to her has a really nice ass. She curses quietly when she realises she's getting distracted which makes him stir and she feels like throwing up when he turns around to face her.
Xavier Reed.
His eyes widen when he sees her and he practically scrambles away "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I was hoping you could enlighten me." she says dryly as she rubs her forehead, she feels like this is going to be a long morning.
He raises the sheets and looks like he's about to faint "Christ, did we….?"
"Judging by the soreness between my legs, I'm guessing we did." she sits up and uses the sheets to cover her "I don't remember anything though"
"Me neither" he presses the heels of his hands into his eye sockets before sharply looking back at her "Was last night your first time?"
If she wasn't feeling like shit then she would've laughed at the look on his face "No. You're good."
He lets out a sigh of relief then realises he shouldn't at all feel relieved, because he still slept with his sister's best friend. Shit, her father was going to kill him.
"I need coffee"
She couldn't agree more. "I should head back to the main house before everyone wakes up"
"Good idea." he continues staring at her and she raises an eyebrow. "Oh, right. Sorry" he turns around so she can stand up and get dressed, she notices that she wore a bikini and a beach coverup instead of underwear "The bonfire." she mutters to herself
"Did you say something?" Xavier asks, continuing to look away from her.
"Yeah, I'm all done." she says after a moment and he turns to look at her "The bonfire on the beach with your friends."
He rubs his eyes "I'm really beat right now, Daph, I don't remember shit."
That makes two of them.
She looks around his room "Do you see my phone anywhere? Or my purse?"
He stands up and her cheeks heat up when he doesn't bother covering himself as he looks around "What colour is your purse?"
"Fuck, I'm not sure. I just know I don't go out without a purse."
They continue looking but don't find anything and Xavier says "I'll continue looking for it, you should go to Haarton before someone sees you here"
She nods before picking up her sandals and heading to the door "Daph." She stops and turns to him "Can this stay between us?"
"Of course." she says without hesitation and offers him a small smile that he returns before walking out of his room. She tiptoes past Ivory's room but it's quiet on the other side so she must still be sleeping, she heads downstairs and ducks when she sees one of the staff in the kitchen.
You've got to be joking.
The staff are the biggest gossips ever and the last thing she needs is one of them seeing her. Sure, they'll probably just assume she slept by Ivory but she'd rather be safe than sorry. She crawls around the couch and darts to the door, letting out a heavy breath when she makes it out without being seen then heading to the main house. She knows she'll have to eventually tell Ivory but right now she at least want to reminise that she had sex with Xavier fucking Reed. Even though she can't remember it. Haarton seems to be dead quiet and she thanks her lucky stars that her parents like sleeping in on summers. When she gets to her room she tries locating her phone but not finding it there. She plops down on her bed and closes her eyes as she rubs her aching forehead.
What the hell happened last night?
*
Vodka.
That's the first thing Sydney tastes on her tongue before blinking her eyes open, taking in the painfully white room which is a stark contrast to her purple walls.
This is not her room and for a second she thinks she's in the hospital but then she takes in the beautiful gold chandler. Okay so not the hospital but also not her room.
She forces herself not to panic and tries to get up but a heavy arm around her waist holds her down and she tenses before grabbing said arm and pushing it off her then jumping out of bed quickly. She clutches the bedside table when she feels dizzy and shuts her eyes for a moment before slowly opening it, she's naked as the day she was born. She has had her fair share of hook ups in the past, she has never been a relationship type of girl because her education always came first. But she always remembered what happened, not now though. She licks her dry lips before moving the sheets away from whoever is laying there and she lets out a gasp of surprise and outrage at herself.
Roman Dawn.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. How the hell did she end up in bed with her arch nemesis? She didn't even know he was in Faircoast, or did she? She doesn't have time to question it because she quickly gets dressed before he can wake up and annoy the shit out of her. She looks for her phone but has no luck finding it and she throws one last glance at Roman's sleeping form before walking out. Luckily for her, Roman seemed to have booked a hotel not far from the beach houses and she walked over there. She thinks back to the previous night but can't seem to place a single thing and her head feels like it's about to explode. When she reaches the gate, she can see the guards and she cringes so bad at the thought of having to explain where she's coming from at this time of the day. And she knows they'll notify her parents which she does not want.
It still seems pretty early with the sun not fully out so she heads around back and throws her shoes over the wall before climbing over it. She almost twists her ankle but manages not to and speed walks over to Woodsford. She pauses when she hears the sound of the television being on coming from inside and closes her eyes as she takes a deep breath.
The twins.
She'll never understand why her brothers are excited for summer just so that they can play PlayStation the entire night without their parents having their asses, when they have a pool in the backyard and a beach not that far from the house. But then again, summer is different for everyone. She's not in the mood to face her younger brothers so she decides to just fucking climb up to her room.
Great.