If I thought a party full of student volunteers was going to be less rowdy than usual, I was mistaken.

Turned out, they could party as hard as anyone. Once a few hours and countless games of beer pong—not to mention drunk Cards Against Humanity—had passed, they were as loud and raucous as anything I'd seen in welcome week. And what may have started as a semi-quiet night in one apartment definitely didn't finish in the same way.

Somewhere around midnight, the news traveled that there was another, bigger party just a couple of streets away. By then, most people were way past comfortably tipsy, leading to a sudden surge of chaotic agreement that it was time to move on. Cue a scramble of people downing the contents of their cups, trying to relocate their friends, and clumsily tapping the address into Google Maps.

Josh was one of them.

"You coming, Morg?" he asked, retrieving his leather jacket from the back of a dining chair and shrugging it over his shoulders.

I didn't want to disappoint him, but the hesitation must've shown on my face. "I—"

"Come on," he said. "You can't leave Jay Gatsby without his Daisy. With this outfit, I'll just turn up looking majorly overdressed. What do you say?"

What else could I say?

"We don't have to stay too long," he added. "Whenever you want to go home, we can go. I promise."

So that was that. I nodded, and before long I was letting him hold up my jacket as I slipped my arms inside. I downed the last of my Coke like the extra caffeine might give me the kind of buzz I needed. The whole time, I was in two minds: part of me wanted nothing more than to be cozied up in bed in my dorm (preferably with Josh beside me), but the other part clung to the jolt of electricity I felt when he took my hand and led me away.

I would try to have a good time, I decided. It would be a self-fulfilling prophecy if I turned up expecting to want to leave. The least I could do was make an effort.

But that didn't last long.

The other apartment was definitely more than a couple of streets away. Perhaps the others were too drunk to notice, but Dean and Cat—who took charge of the navigation—were definitely taking us around in circles. I also really needed to pee; the final dregs of Coke had gone straight to my bladder, and if we didn't find the place quickly I was going to have a serious problem.

We got there eventually. The elevator reeked of weed and had way too many of us packed inside, but after thirty uncomfortable seconds we bundled out and reached the front door. Once inside, I broke my hand away from Josh's.

"I'm going to find the bathroom," I told him, exaggerating the lip movements as the sound disappeared under thumping bass from the speakers. "I'll come find you in a sec."

The full-to-the-brim apartment was complete sensory overload. The music was so loud it threatened to burst my eardrum, the distinct stench of alcohol clung to everything, and the thick, humid air from so many people crammed into a small space made it hard to breathe. I had to elbow my way through the crowd just to make it to the hallway, and once there, I was faced with a multitude of doors. Any one of them could've been the bathroom. Feeling a stab of urgency from my bladder, I reached for the handle of the first left and struck lucky.

After peeing, I allowed myself a moment to take a breath and compose myself. Someone was knocking on the door and yelling for me to hurry up, but I ignored them, instead peering into the mirror to inspect my reflection.

Hair: a little frizzy under the feathered headband thanks to the humidity, but passable.

Make-up: still mostly in place, although I did have to correct a not-so-subtle lipstick smudge.

Expression: visibly overwhelmed, even when I tried to hide it. Needed work.

The knocking started up again, more insistent this time, which left me with no choice but to vacate the bathroom. I took one last deep breath, pulled a face at myself in the mirror, and opened the door.

"Morgan?"

"Hanna?"

She was the last person I expected to see, though now she was here, it felt like a huge relief. Dressed in costume, the Sexy prefix to her Sexy Cat outfit was obvious without explanation. Really, it was little more than eyeliner whiskers and a very daring high-legged bodysuit. But that hardly mattered when she turned heads everywhere she went.

An expression of momentary surprised crossed her face, then disappeared as she dived into the bathroom and shut the door behind both of us. "Sorry," she said, already yanking at the bodysuit's zipper, "I'm still part of this conversation, but I really have to pee."

"Wait, what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," she said, as I turned my back to avoid getting an eyeful of something I really didn't want to see. "I didn't know you were out tonight. Didn't you say you were going to a volunteer group thing?"

"That's where I started. It was supposed to be low-key. But this place was supposed to be bigger and better so everyone kind of... relocated."

"Huh," she mused. "I heard the same thing, so here I am."

There was shuffling behind me, and once I heard the flush of the toilet I took this as my cue to turn back around. As I did, something seemed to occur to her.

"Wait," she said. "That means you're here with Josh, right?"

"Yeah."

Her entire face lit up, and from then on I should've known she was onto something dangerous. "I want to meet him!"

"Hanna—"

"It's practically a crime that I haven't already. I know so much about the guy, and the most I've seen of him is his Facebook profile picture. This is the perfect opportunity for you to introduce us."

I wasn't sure why I was so hesitant. It was inevitable that Hanna and Josh would meet one day soon, and obviously I wanted it to happen. They were my two favorite people. Maybe it was because she was drunk, and he was somewhere out there also drunk, and not only was I as sober as a judge the whole situation just felt loud and chaotic and out of my control. But Hanna was looking at me expectantly, her eyes pleading under thick false lashes, and there was nothing I could do.

"Okay," I said. "Come find him with me."

We left the bathroom together and headed back into the living room. The already sparse furniture had been pushed back against the walls to create more room, but it made no difference when this many people were crammed into such a tiny space. In the dark and the smoke, picking out one individual seemed impossible—so how the hell was I supposed to find Josh?

But then, weirdly, I did. In a matter of seconds.

Like I had some kind of radar.

He was on the other side of the room, talking to someone. At least that was what a two-second glance suggested. When mine stretched longer, I realized there was more to it than met the eye.

He and the blonde, curly-haired girl weren't just talking. In fact, the longer I stared, the more obvious it became that their defensive stances and frenzied hand gestures weren't the stuff of polite conversation. If anything, it looked more like they were in the middle of a heated argument.

I could hardly stroll over and interrupt, let alone take Hanna with me and choose this moment for an introduction. But it didn't matter anyway. The girl only stuck around for a few seconds longer, and after what looked like one last angry retort aimed right in Josh's face, she turned on her heel and stormed off into the crowd. He didn't go after her. He stayed exactly where he was, running a hand through his hair and blowing out an exaggerated breath.

"Hey," Hanna yelled in my ear, "isn't that him?"

She pointed exactly where I was already looking.

Of course, I had no choice but to go over then. The stress was visible on Josh's face the whole time we elbowed our way through the crowd, but the moment he saw us, it disappeared like magic.

"Hey!" he said brightly. "There you are."

I should've known that I wouldn't need to introduce Hanna. Not only was she perfectly capable, she was also very eager. "Hi!" she yelled, sticking her hand out for him to shake. "I'm Hanna. The best friend. I'm assuming you've heard a lot about me, and if not, I'll be taking it as a personal offence. You must be the one-and-only Josh."

Given time, his smile had now grown even wider. "Don't worry, I've heard a lot. Enough to terrify me, anyway."

She grinned back. "Good. That's exactly what I was hoping for."

But the introductions weren't going to distract me. "Who was that girl?"

"What?"

"That girl," I repeated, when he leaned in closer to hear. "The one you were talking to a minute ago. It looked like you were having an argument or something."

Something seemed to click then, and I watched the flicker of realization cross his face. Either he genuinely realized what I was talking about, or realized I'd seen enough to mean I wouldn't let go.

"Oh, you mean Elle?" he said, with a strained laugh. "That was a misunderstanding. I know her from one of my classes last year. I may have helped myself to a shot from an unattended vodka bottle, thinking it was fair game, but it turned out to be hers. She wasn't happy."

"That's all?" I asked.

"That's all." He looked me straight in the eye, and in that moment, I made the conscious decision to believe him. His attention turned back to Hanna. "Morgan's told you a lot about me, too, then?"

I flushed as Hanna's eyes glinted wickedly. "Only a normal amount."

"All good things, don't worry," she said. "I am obligated to give you the warning, though. Nothing personal, I'd say it to any guy, but... I've been her best friend for a long time, and even if you're here for the long run, I'll be in the picture for longer. So if you screw her around, I won't hesitate to kick your ass."

Josh held his hands up in defence. "Consider me warned."

"Good."

He glanced at me. "Tough crowd."

"Caring crowd," Hanna corrected, before I could say anything. "She's lucky to have me."

"She definitely is," Josh said. "Hey, Morgan was telling me you're in the process of setting up a new student magazine, right?"

Her face lit up, as it did nowadays when anybody mentioned her pride and joy. Hanna's big idea for a new all-female, intersectional feminist publication had come a long way in a few short weeks. After recruiting three other team members—all disgruntled female creatives from The Davidson Daily who were sick of being overlooked—and securing temporary use of a study room on campus, her ideas were rapidly transforming into tangible reality. Her ability to make things happen was unmatched and impressive. "That is right. First issue is due out at the end of November, and I'm equal parts excited and ready to have a breakdown. But if getting it ready in time does actually kill me, I'll make damn sure it's worth it."

"It sounds like it's going to be a hell of a piece of work," Josh said. "Maybe I could help you out. I don't know how much progress you've made on the distribution side of things, but the group has a few connections that might prove useful. Libraries, community groups, independent bookstores—that kind of stuff. Both on and off campus. Some of them would definitely be interested."

"Really?" Hanna looked flattered. "Okay, yeah, we can definitely talk about that."

And that was it. As if by the snap of her fingers, the pair were deep in conversation like they'd been friends for years, with me nodding between them. I could already tell they were going to get on well. It was hard to believe an introvert like me had been the one to bring these two confident extroverts together; for that, I felt a small swell of pride.

Why had I even worried? It was all going to be fine.

In the midst of it all, the encounter I'd witnessed a couple of minutes beforehand—with this so-called Elle—was soon forgotten. 

-------------------

So there we have it: Morgan's realised where she recognises the waitress in the diner from. But what were she and Josh arguing about? And why was he so keen to play it down? With answers only come more questions...

As always, your comments mean so much. Reads and comments always shoot up once you mark a story as completed, which means engaged readers who follow an ongoing story are like gold dust. So if you're reading this (which means you also take the time to read my rambling author's notes), THANK YOU. You do so much for us writers' motivation on Wattpad! Be sure to give me a wave by voting or commenting (I reply to all comments!)

Until next time...

- Leigh