There was no way of getting out of it. Not this time. Lexa had already heard every excuse in the book slip from your lips countless times before, she wasn't going to let you weasel your way out of it this time. It was as if she held some sort of power of you in that moment, with the sly grin on her face as she laid next to you on your bed, her head propped up with her right hand. She was going to get what she wanted, she knew it. Lexa was very smug, and she had every reason to be. You knew that she had called Ilian a few days ago, having stolen his number from your unlocked phone while you went to get yourself a drink, but when you asked them both what it was about, neither one of them confessed. Of course, it was just your luck that you had to go and make friends with two very stubborn people. Lexa, being someone who always got what she wanted in the end, was very hard to crack, you knew that much, which was why you had turned to Ilian in the hopes of getting the answer you were looking for. But, lo and behold, Ilian had turned the tables and surprised you. He wasn't known to be someone who kept secrets from you, in fact, he would usually tell you things before you even had time to believe something was going on. He was one of your best friends after all. Second, of course, to Lexa, who you shared an apartment with. So, when he kept this a little secret, it was a surprise.

-

Ilian kept his most of his body turned away from you while he remained hunched over his desk in his room. His curtains were barely open, but even so, you could still make out that he had a nervous look on his face while you laid on his bed with your laptop in front of you. Ilian had been messing around with his lamp, trying to fix it after he accidentally knocked it off his desk the day before. He could feel your eyes glaring at him as he did so. You were just waiting for him to crack like he usually did, it never took very long—but this time it did. From the corner of your eye, you could see the text cursor blinking continuously, waiting for you to continue typing up the rest of the paired essay you had to complete with Ilian for your class. You were almost done, which was why you weren't too concerned about it, the file had been saved as you went along, and you could easily finish it off yourself if the situation kept going the way that it was. Ilian cleared his throat awkwardly, quickly glancing over at you to see if you were still looking at him—you were—before he turned back to his lamp.

"Are you seriously not going to tell me?" You asked, cutting the silence.

"Tell you what?" He mumbled as he tried to concentrate.

You breathed in deeply. "About what Lexa called you for."

"It was nothing." He shrugged.

"Hmm," you hummed, not believing him. "Which means it was something."

"Pfft," he scoffed, sitting up straighter in his desk chair as he looked over at you, pushing his long hair from his face. "No, it doesn't." You didn't respond. "No, it doesn't!" He repeated, this time in defence. "It's not important."

"Then why can't you tell me why she called you?"

"Look," he sighed. "Would you just-Could we just finish our essay?"

With one last look at him, you huffed and turned back to the laptop screen. Ilian sighed in relief and began reciting the final sentences of the conclusion for you to type up and finalise while he went back to the lamp. He was hiding something. They both were. But, you knew you couldn't press any further, you were getting nowhere, even with the world's worst secret keeper. The rest of the study session was filled with you reading the essay out loud to Ilian to make sure you were both happy with it before you sent it off to your professor. By the time you had finished, it was late and Ilian offered to walk you back to your place. The walk back wasn't awkward, like you had thought it would have been, as Ilian managed to fill it with a few secrets and stories he had been wanting to tell you earlier, wanting to get your input on all the situations. You could have sworn that he was almost as bad as Lexa was when it came to gossiping—almost being the key word in that sentence. When Ilain was finally sure you got back safely, he waved goodbye and left you to enter your apartment on your own so you could go to bed.

-

While laying on your freshly made bed, reading one of the many unread books you had taken from your bookshelf, Lexa, not knocking—she never did—opened your bedroom door with a strange, overly chipper mood. Her left hand held onto the doorframe as she opened the door with her right, swinging it open with a content sigh. It was still at this point where she didn't make eye contact. You, still laying on your back, with your aching arms holding the book up in front of your face, began to lower the book and peer over the top to look at her with your eyebrows furrowed, and a twinge of fear. Lexa's behaviour was abnormal, and you had the nagging feeling in the back of your mind that she would waltz in and reveal that she had a knife in her left hand to kill you with. But, alas, she simply smiled dreamily and walked on in, not bothering to close the door, it was only the two of you. Lexa had a hop in her step and she made her way over to your bed, jumping onto the empty space beside you, her body slowly shifting to get comfortable while you covered the lower half of your face with the book, only your eyes on show as you looked at her.

"Uhh, Lexa," you started, your voice waving in fear and confusion, "you okay?"

"Never better," she replied with a smile, her eyes locked in on yours.

"Did, uh, did you need something?"

She shrugged. "Maybe."

"M-Maybe? What does that mean?"

"There's a party tonight," she answered.

"Oh, okay. So, you won't be here for dinner then?"

"Neither will you."

"I'm getting real serial killer vibes from you, Lex."

Lexa laughed lightly, shaking her head. "I'm not going to kill you," she spoke in a tone that put you on edge. "No, you see, if I were to kill someone, I would kill everyone else around you, making sure that I was the only one left in your life." She brushed her left hand over your cheek softly. "I'm the only one that you need, after all, don't you see that?" The corners of her lips twitched and she breathed out of her nose quickly trying to stop herself from breaking character.

"Lexa!" You yelled.

All she could do was laugh loudly, finding her sick humour to be the world's finest comedy. "I'm kidding!" She continued to laugh, her eyes squeezed shut, and her mouth open wide. "I'm kidding." You had to hand it to her, she played the serial killer part well, until, of course, she took it a little too far and made herself laugh just a little bit.

"You're insane," you mumbled, turning back to read your book.

"No, no." She shook her head. "But in all seriousness, you won't be having dinner here. You're coming to the party with me," she told you. "And no 'buts' either, okay?" She pointed at you, speaking quickly so you didn't have the opportunity to worm your way out of it. "C'mon, it's a New Year's Eve party, you skipped out last year because you were 'sick'." She raised her fingers to air quote.

"I was? I was getting my appendix out?"

"You never went to the Fourth of July party with me, or any break parties, you somehow got out of the Halloween bash that just passed, and I had a really great costume idea for the both of us as well!"

"My sister was having her baby?"

"What, did she give birth over and over again to the same kid each time there was a party? I don't think so. So, you have to come with me to this one, someone had to stop me from doing the beer keg competition, and you're the only one who cares enough about my health to do so. Besides," she shrugged while speaking, "it will be fun."

"That line is so often used but rarely ever true."

"Great!" She grinned. "We're leaving in an hour!"

-

By the time Lexa had found the house, where the party was being held at, there were people already passed out on the grass outside, random drunk people making out along the path, clearly too intoxicated to realise what they were doing, and rolls of toilet paper covering one of the large trees that leaned over into the neighbour's front garden. Lexa grinned and took hold of your hand, pulling you up the path and up the front porch and into the crowded house. The bass music already began to make you feel dizzy and drunk, while the flashing lights and smoke machines made you feel like you were about to have a brain aneurysm. However, despite all that, Lexa kept her grip on your hand, seemingly unaffected by it all, and pulled you towards the kitchen, eager to get both of you a drink to help ease you into it all. The speakers thumped loudly, to the point where you could barely hear the actual music that was playing, and it seemed as if no one actually knew the song either and they just jumped, swayed, or were grinding up against random people.

"Here!" Lexa yelled over the deafening sounds, holding out a red solo cup that was filled to the top with a dark liquid that sloshed around as she was jostled by the crowd in the kitchen. "Let's head outside!"

"Okay." You nodded, taking the cup from her, squinting as the lights flashed into your face. She grinned and took hold of your hand again, pulling you along with her, making sure you weren't going to be separated.

Despite it being the middle of winter, it wasn't as cold as you first thought it was going to be. Although that might have been due to the many shots Lexa made you do with her before you left the apartment, so you couldn't really feel the cold as much as before when the alcohol began to take effect, that, and the host of the party had placed multiple space heaters in the garden that blasted warm air everywhere. As you made it out to the garden and onto the wooden decking, there were two tables for beer pong on either side of the back door, crowds were already gathered around both of them. Someone, who was clearly drunk, tried to grill a deflated football despite the grill not being on. Down on the grass, there was a cluster of beer kegs just off to the side—a bunch of jocks surrounding them in their varsity jackets, some of which you had known from lectures, who weren't that bad to hang out with, a little loud perhaps, but decent people nonetheless. While a bonfire was off to the other side, someone had thought ahead and was making s'mores for everyone—you knew he was definitely high, the weed was sticking out of his breast pocket of his short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt.

Lexa dragged you over to one of the beer pong tables, pushing her way through to the front with you by her side. "Uh, oh," Lexa sarcastically spoke as she looked over at you. "The maths geeks are at it."

"So?" You laughed, taking a sip of your drink. Whatever the hell it was, it was strong.

"They did this last year," she commented, "they tried measuring the angles before they threw the ball, it got very intense." Her laugh carried off into the air with a cheer as she watched one of the players successfully throw a ball into his opponent's cup.

"I thought beer pong was meant to be fun? Maths isn't fun."

Lexa laughed again, taking a big swig of her drink. "Don't let them hear you say that!"

"What are they gonna do? Pi me to death?"

"Ooo, pie sounds real good right now!" Lexa rambled.

With a small shake of your head, you laughed, taking another sip. You weren't surprised that Lexa was already beginning to slip just a bit, she had double the amount of shots you did before you left. "Try not to get too drunk, Lex. I'm not dragging you back home."

"Ilian can come pick us up!"

"No, he can't."

"Why?"

"Because he's over there drinking with the jocks!" You pointed over to the group of boys.

"Good for him!" She cheered again, somehow getting the rest of the crowd to cheer for no reason.

"You're going into the New Year's drunk off your ass!"

"You will be too when you finish that drink off!"

"I hate you."

"I hate you too." She grinned, raising her eyebrows quickly before her attention was brought back to the game.

-

The rest of the night went by in a blur. You had finished the drink Lexa had given you long ago and went to top it up about six more times after that, not including the drinks you downed during your game of beer pong against Ilian. Everyone began to pair off or split into their friendship groups as someone yelled something about the countdown. It was happening all too fast, but luckily for you, Lexa had pulled you away from one of the larger crowds and towards a relatively open area where only a few people had taken up. She bounced on her feet, excitedly, not caring that some of her drink spilt over the edge of the cup. She wasn't nearly as drunk as you thought she would be, it must have been because she was used to drinking while you weren't, due to her actually attending parties while you tried getting out of them. She glanced over at you with a grin before she turned back to face where the fireworks would be displayed, and the countdown began.

"Five!"

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

Just as the countdown got to one, and everyone around you began to cheer, Lexa dropped her cup to the floor, the alcoholic liquid spilling over the wooden decking as she turned her body to yours, her slightly cold hands cupped your face and pulled you closer to her just before her lips pressed against yours. You could taste the alcohol she had just drunk. It wasn't perfect, it took you a while to register what was happening, but you kissed her back, dropping your own cup as your hands instinctively went to her waist, balling the fabric of her coat in your hands tightly. It was sloppy, no thanks to the alcohol, your teeth clashed against each other's and your noses were mushed against the both of your faces. As Lexa slowly pulled away, she kept her hands on your face, her eyes slowly opened to look into yours while her bottom lip was pulled between her teeth.

"What was that for?" You asked loudly over the rest of the people cheering from the countdown.

Lexa shrugged, smiling shyly, something you didn't see much from her. "It's tradition to kiss someone you want to spend the rest of the year with."