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| 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐞 |

The night of the party has come.

I'm busy applying make-up on my face while Riley chats over the phone that's on speaker.

"God I hope Cale's ready to fuck me again," Riley says.

"I thought you weren't interested in him," I say, coating my lips dark red.

"I'm interested in his cock," She says.

"Just the cock?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Mhmm."

"There are so many others with a better dick."

"How do you know? Have you fucked Cale?"

A grin spreads across my face. "Is that jealously I hear?"

"Whatever." I can imagine her flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Is British Boy coming?"

By now I'm tired of repeating 'he's not british' so I don't bother saying it anymore.

"He said you'll just have to see."

"Someone saying no to Holly?" Riley lets out a fake sound of surprise. "Damn it's too hard to imagine."

I shrug.

We chat for a bit more before she hangs up to leave and come pick me up.

By that time, dad was on my case, telling me to be safe, keep my phone switched on, don't drink too much alcohol and all other precautions and rules.

Thankfully, he leaves my outfit alone. I'm wearing shorts with a cropped white lace tank top.

When I reach the party with Riley, my blood is already pumped up with the excitement and thrill that follows listening to the loud music. Once we enter, Riley and I go our separate ways.

My muscles, always ready and amped up even to the faintest sound of music, urge me to start dancing already.

First, I need to get a drink.

My thoughts stray to Castle, and I wonder if he'll really come or not.

If not, I can always call my dad. Dad will come rushing even if I'm on the other side of the world. But I bet he does not want to see his daughter shit-drunk and probably with a few hickeys god knows where.

The time goes by quickly by drinking, playing freaky-risky games, dancing, flirting, and grinding, I don't even realize hours have passed.

Everyone's still here. I can party for another couple of hours.

I'm in the kitchen getting ice for my drinks. That's when someone walks up to me. It takes me seconds to get past the drunk blurriness to realize it's a guy from school.

He starts up a conversation with a flirty start and I return the same energy. Our conversation starts getting somewhere with hints to take it upstairs.

I'm just about to say let's get it before someone's face catches my attention at the entrance of the kitchen.

Castle.

My heart jumps.

He came.

It's a wonder how I recognized him with his hood over his head almost covering his entire face. Too bad it can't cover his height.

My legs take off on their own, in his direction, leaving the flirty guy behind confused.

My body sways a bit as I walk, otherwise, I'm completely balanced even after hours of drinking.

Castle looks so stiff with his body ramrod straight and shoulders high up.

At the last step towards him, my heel "accidentally" trips and I stumble into Castle.

His hands quickly come up to catch my fall.

I hide a grin, looking up at him. "You came."

"Hrg!"

I don't know what look was I giving Castle, but whatever it was, he's holding me at an arm's length away from him, his hands on my shoulders.

"Stop doing that." He hisses.

"I'm wearing heels and I'm drunk." I point out.

"Don't fuck with me. I know you still can walk on a tightrope perfectly fine in those heels and while drunk."

I can.

But how does he know that?

"Whatever. I can't believe you came." My words slightly slur. A giggle escapes my lips. "Did you come, Castle?"

He rolls his blue eyes. "Let's go."

"But I still wanna party," I complain.

"It's almost 12." He tells me.

"Don't worry. My clothes are not gonna turn into rags and I don't have a pumpkin carriage waiting for me."

"You told me to pick you up, and here I am." He narrows his eyes at me. "Do you know what you've done?" 

"Oh, I've done many things." I nod, finding it hard to stand for long with my light head and my body tired and swaying. "Which one are you talking about?"

"You told me to pick you because you were gonna be drunk." He mutters.

I nod. "I did, didn't I?"

"That means it's my responsibly now you get you home safe." He hisses.

"Oh," I say.

A grin splits my face. "So are you gonna get me home safe?" I lean in closer towards him. "Are you responsible?" I get closer until I can breathe him.

He looks down at me, lips pursed.

"Let's go." He says, before moving me away from him again by my shoulders.

I really wanted to stay and party but somewhere underneath all that buzz and energy was exhaustion and laziness.

Castle keeps me in front of him and guides me through the house with his hands on my shoulder. It feels like kindergarten when teachers used to make us form a line with everyone putting their hands on the shoulders of the kid in front of them.

I burst out laughing. "Why are we walking like this?"

"Because these people automatically make way for you so it's easier to get through the crowd."

"Ah, makes sense." I nod.  

He's still keeping me within an arm's distance but the way his long fingers have a firm grip on my shoulder is making my head lighter even more.

People passing by want to talk to me, but Castle quickly guides me away trying to dodge every person with a disgruntled noise.

After a lot of dodging, stumbling and sneaking, we're finally out of the house and into the open air.

Castle immediately releases his hold on my shoulder looking annoying as fuck.

"This is why I never go to fucking parties."

"Why not?" I ask.

"You saw the crowd in there?" He points a thumb over his shoulder towards the exit from where we just came out. "You can't even fucking breathe."

"That's the best part," I tell him. "People everywhere, wanting to be near you, wanting to talk to you, wanting you."

He straightens up. "It would've been the best part if it were to happen to me."

My smile drops.

"I didn't mean it as no one wants you," I say.

He rolls his eyes. "Whatever."

Beneath his indifference, I think I catch a flash of something else.

Before I can say anything else, Castle starts walking.

"Let's just get this over with." He mutters.

★・・・・・・★

We have a Castle's POV next!

Words: 1,100

Date of publishing: 15th March 2023