Warnings: Mentions of alcohol use, drunken behavior, angst (I'm sorry)

Word Count: 2104

Author's Note: I know I don't usually post three chapters in a row, but today is an exception! It just makes sense for how the rest of the chapters get paired together. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter :)

"How do I look?" you asked.

Josh looked up from where he was sitting at the dining room table. His eyes scanned you top to bottom and then he smiled, "You look fantastic, Y/N/N."

"Thank you," you beamed. "Is Tyler going to be here soon?"

"Yeah, he texted just a few minutes ago."

"Perfect. You excited for tonight?"

He shrugged, "It will be nice to see everyone, but it feels kind of weird to go to a party celebrating me."

"Then don't think of it like that. Think of it like hanging out with friends."

"Good idea," he nodded, smiling at you. "I'll do that."

You were interrupted by a knock on the door. Seconds later, it had swung open and Tyler was making his way inside the house.

"Come in," Josh said sarcastically.

"It's freezing out there and I wasn't about to wait for you to come open the door."

"I would have gotten it!" you chimed in.

"Still not as fast as me walking straight in," Tyler said, pointing a finger at you.

"You've got me there,"

"Are you guys ready to go?"

"Yeah," Josh said, standing up from his chair. You nodded.

You stared out the window for most of the drive, listening to the boys talk and admiring the scenery as you drove past. Being away from Ohio for tour had caused you to appreciate it more. Columbus was a beautiful city, and you were happy that you got to spend some of your time here. It was almost starting to feel like home.

"This is it," Tyler announced, pulling up against the curb in front of an average looking house.

You hopped out of the car and followed Tyler and Josh up the stone steps that led to the front door. Music was just audible inside, but the party didn't seem like it was too out of hand. Maybe Josh was right about you having fun.

"Hey! It's Tyler and Josh!" a guy called as the three of you walked into the house.

The announcement of their arrival was followed by cheering and people walking up to clap them on the back and give them hugs. You were mostly ignored, save for a few people from the tour crew that recognized you and said hi.

"Come on," Josh smiled, grabbing your hand and leading you further into the house.

You allowed yourself to be guided by Josh as you looked around the house. Whoever was throwing the party had taken the liberty of printing out dozens of pictures of Tyler and Josh, the band logo, and stills from the most recent music videos and taping them all over the walls. You recognized some of them as pictures that you had taken on the last leg of tour. It was hard not to smile at that.

"Want anything to drink?" Josh asked.

You hadn't even realized that you had arrived in a kitchen, you had been too busy looking at the "decorations".

"What do they have?" you asked, looking over Josh's shoulder into the cooler.

"Lots of stuff."

"I'll have one of those," you said, pointing to a brand of beer that Matthew had always kept in the fridge.

Josh let go of your hand so that he could reach down and grab it for you. He shook some of the ice and water off before he handed it to you.

"Thanks," you said before reaching for the bottle opener.

Your hopes of a lowkey party soon dissipated as a large group of people came through the front door. The noise in the house immediately doubled and you were struggling to hear the music over the sound of conversations.

Josh had wandered off somewhere, so you decided to locate Tyler. You found him in the living room, talking to someone that you vaguely recognized. He turned and smiled at you as you walked up to him.

"Y/N, this is Ryan. We played basketball together in high school."

"Hi," you smiled, reaching forward to shake his hand.

"Nice to meet you," he said. "You do the tour photography, right?"

"Yep," you nodded, knowing that wasn't the last time you would be asked that question tonight.

"I've seen your photos. They're fantastic," he grinned.

"Thank you," you said, taking a sip of your beer.

Tyler and Ryan finished up their conversation and he walked off, leaving just you and Tyler.

"Are you having fun so far?" he asked.

"There's a lot of people," you said, taking a moment to scan the room. "But it's not as terrible as I expected."

"Yeah, these things are really more for Josh than me. I do appreciate everyone getting together, though. It's a nice opportunity to catch up with people I don't get to see often."

"Maybe I would appreciate it more if I knew more people in Columbus," you laughed, picking idly at the label on your beer bottle.

"This is a good chance to meet them!" he smiled. You shot him a look and he began to laugh, "I know, not your thing."

You nodded and took another sip of your beer. Josh suddenly appeared, beer bottle in one hand and a huge smile plastered on his face.

"Y/N/N!" he smiled as his eyes landed on you. He walked over to where you and Tyler were standing in the corner. "What are you guys doing over here? There's a whole party going on!"

You could smell the alcohol on his breath from where he was standing. He couldn't be more than tipsy yet, but you could easily see what path this was taking.

"We were just talking since Y/N/N doesn't know many people at this party," Tyler explained.

"But this party is for us, man," Josh said, clapping his free hand down on Tyler's shoulder.

"I can still talk to Y/N/N," Tyler laughed.

Josh nodded and turned to you, "Y/N/N, did I ever tell you how nice you look tonight?"

He reached out and placed a hand on your arm, meanwhile you tried not to blush too hard, "You mentioned it, yeah."

"Good," he grinned. "Because you deserve to hear it a million times."

"Thank you."

"Tyler!" Josh practically yelled. "You look so handsome. I like this jacket."

"Thanks," Tyler laughed.

Josh nodded and walked off into the crowd. You and Tyler shared a look; getting him home was definitely going to be a challenge, but that was a problem to deal with later.

"What do you say we go outside and see who's out there?" Tyler asked.

"Great," you smiled, following his lead.

Firelight danced in front of your eyes as you sat on the stone ledge. There was a beer bottle in your hands, but you weren't paying it much attention. You had already had a couple beers and you weren't interested in getting plastered tonight. These were Tyler and Josh's friends, and you weren't about to make a fool of yourself in front of them.

Tyler was sitting next to you, talking to a couple other people who had gathered around the fire. You chimed into their conversation every now and again if you had something interesting to add to the little bits of conversation that you caught, but you otherwise stayed quiet. Sitting quietly by the fire was enough for you right now.

You leaned over and tapped Tyler's shoulder, waiting for a pause in the conversation so that you could talk to him. He finished what he was saying and turned to you.

"What's the time?" you asked.

"Don't you have a phone?" Tyler laughed as he pulled back the sleeve of the hoodie he was wearing. "Ten minutes to eleven."

"I didn't want to pull it out of my pocket," you giggled. "And thanks. I didn't realize it was so late."

"Yeah, we should probably get going soon. Do you want to head inside and find Josh?"

"Sure."

You set your bottle down on the ledge and stood up, dusting a bit of dirt off your back. Your stomach twisted at the idea of walking back inside alone, but the alcohol gave you just enough confidence to take the first step.

It was crowded inside as you stepped through the sliding door. People walked around the house, carrying their own drinks and talking with people that you didn't recognize. Music blasted as you moved slowly throughout the crowd, looking for the familiar head of red hair.

You hadn't seen Josh for most of the night, aside from the few times that he came outside to talk to you and Tyler. He had been increasingly drunk each time until he eventually just stopped checking in. The last time that you had seen him was an hour ago.

You finally found him in the kitchen. He was in the middle of a conversation, so you found an empty space along the wall and waited for him to finish talking so that you could go up and tell him it was time to go.

You watched as Josh stepped closer to the girl that he was talking to. Your stomach twisted in discomfort, but you pushed it aside. He probably just couldn't hear her over the music and other conversations that were happening around them. At least, that was what you wanted to believe.

His hand reached up and brushed a strand of her hair out of her face, causing her to smile up at him. You started to take a step forward, but stopped yourself. Josh was free to flirt with whoever he wanted, and it wasn't your place to intrude.

Your foot tapped impatiently on the linoleum floor as you waited for them to stop flirting with one another. It was getting harder to watch and all you wanted was to be getting home right about now. If they weren't done talking in the next few minutes, you were going to go over there. It may not be your place to intrude, but Tyler had told you to go get Josh, right?

You stood against the kitchen wall for a few more minutes, trying your hardest to not just blatantly stare as Josh flirted with someone else. Tyler was going to start wondering where you were, so you figured now was as good a time as any to interrupt.

Just as you were about to walk up to the two of them, Josh reached out and put a hand on the side of her face, pulling her towards him. You stood frozen in shock as you watched the two of them kissing, unfazed by all the people surrounding them in the kitchen.

You turned and stormed back outside, not caring if you bumped shoulders with anyone. It felt like any trace of alcohol had been wiped straight out of your system, stripping you of any confidence you once had. Tears were already starting to pool in your eyes, but you were determined to somehow tell Tyler where you were going and get to the car before you fully broke down.

"Did you find him?" Tyler asked as you walked back up to him.

"He's in the kitchen. I didn't talk to him. Can I have your keys?"

"Yeah," Tyler said, furrowing his eyebrows as he dug around in his sweatshirt pocket. "You're not going to drive off, are you?"

You shook your head as you snatched the keys out of his hand.

"Hey, are you ok, Y/N/N?" he called after you.

You ignored Tyler and walked straight through the house. It was getting harder to keep from crying as the image of Josh and the girl replayed over and over again in your head. Fallen pictures crumpled under your feet as you made a beeline for the front door.

You got into the passenger seat of the car and immediately buried your face in your hands. The car was cold, but you couldn't be bothered to turn the heater on right now. All you could think about was the way that Josh had pulled that girl towards him, completely unaware of you standing off to the side and watching the entire thing happen.

There was no way that Josh felt the same way about you. All of the supposed flirting had probably just been you reading too much into things. You two were together constantly, of course he was going to be more comfortable with you than the average person. It didn't make you special.

You leaned back against the seat and wiped a few tears off your cheeks. How could you have been so stupid?