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As the five teens walk into the party, Liz already felt like leaving. Belly rubbed her arm as she realized how uncomfortable Liz looked. She smiled at her in appreciation.

"Oh, my God. Milo!" Taylor says as she runs off. Liz sees her go up to a boy with a blonde buzzcut.

"What the fuck?" Dakota mutters

"Oh, God." Steven sighs

"Thank God you're here." Milo says as he picks Taylor up causing the girl to laugh, "Come here."

Liz and Dakota cringe as Taylor and Milo kiss. Belly looks over at Steven who looks down at her in disgust.

"I'm gonna go find a drink." Dakota says to the three before he walks off.

"So I need to be able to see you when I'm up onstage." Milo says as he puts Taylor down

"Yeah."

"All right. So stay up close?"

"Okay. Yeah. Mm-hmm."

"Yeah?"

"My boy!" A boy says as they walk up to Steven

"Yeah!"

"Uh, you call this a party? Where are all the hot ladies you promised?"

"Uh, we're literally standing right here." Taylor says as she points to her, Liz, and Belly.

"Oh, uh, no offense. I'm into older women. Personal preference."

"Hey, babe, I'm gonna go help the guys finish setting up, all right?" Milo says

"Okay. All right. Bye." Taylor says as they kiss. She smacks him on his butt causing him to look back. She laughs as she turns back.

"Okay, well, have fun, everybody. I gotta go make the rounds, entertain the people. You know, host shit." Steven says

"Okay." Taylor says

"Come on, Spike." He says as the boy walks off with him

"You guys are so cute tonight, you know that?"

Belly laughs as Liz smiles, "Come on, let's go get some drinks."

"I can't drink, I'm driving." Liz says as Belly grabs her hand to pull her along.

"Okay."

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Liz was listening on as Taylor and Belly talked with their volleyball friends. Taylor taking shots with the girls and Belly laughing along with them. Liz looked around as she sighed trying to find the nearest exit.

"Bump, set, hit, spike. That's the way we like to fight!" Liz jumps as she turns back to the girls.

"Come on." Taylor says

"Come on, team..." Belly starts

"... let's hear you scream!" They yell as they start cheering.

"Yeah." Taylor says as they cheers, "And for you. There we are." She says as she and Belly cheers

"Mmm."

"Holy shit. Oh, my God."

"Fuck." Taylor says as they finish their shot.

Belly and Taylor watch as a boy passes keeping his eyes on Liz. The girl frowns as she looks down.

"Ooh, it's game point, Ms. Anderson." Belly says

"Bye-bye, Conrad." Taylor smiles

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"Hey, you still there?" Conrad says, "So... My roommate Trusky..."

"Oh, did he sleepwalk in his underwear again?" Liz stands upright as she throws her clothes in her basket

"No, he didn't, he didn't, thankfully. But we were talking, and it turns out he's a 5G conspiracist." He laughs

Liz laughs along with him before she gasps, "So apparently, that guy that Katie was seeing had a girlfriend the whole time. And it just sucks. Like, he didn't really seem like the type, you know?"

She finishes as she sits on her dryer, "Did you know my dad cheated?"

Liz frowns, "Adam cheated on Susannah?"

"Yeah. The first time my mom was sick, he had an affair with his secretary Kayleigh. I found out about it last spring on, like, the same day I found out about my mom's cancer coming back."

"How'd you find out?" She asks carefully

"Um, I came home early from school one day and... heard them fighting. She was crying so much, Liz. She..." He pauses, "I've never heard her cry like that before. So I left. I went back out, I drove around town for two hours and came back and pretended not to know anything."

"I'm so sorry. It sucks that you had to carry that secret for so long."

"Yeah, it was just exhausting. I-I couldn't turn my brain off. It was like if you do that, then this horrible thing is gonna happen, but if you do this, then, you know, this catastrophic thing will happen."

"Oh, my God, that sounds so stressful." Liz sighs

"Oh, goddamn it, it's 2:00." Conrad says, "You said you have that presentation early, I should let you go."

"Uh..." She sighs, "yeah, it's a really big one. I'm so nervous for it, but there's a rumor that someone at a big corporation will be watching to give someone a job opportunity."

"What? That's crazy. I'll definitely let you go. I didn't know that."

Liz stays silent before she smiles, "Five more minutes?"

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Liz looks up before she smiles, "I'll be back."

"Yeah." Belly nods sympathetically as Liz walks out.

Liz sighs heavily as she sits by a tree. She rubs her hands up and down her thighs as she watches everyone have fun around her.

Liz reaches in her pocket for her phone. The screen lights up as she unlocks and opens her messages. She hadn't realized how many she had unopened as she scrolled through them. She clicked on the contact she was looking for and hesitated before she starts typing.

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Everyone stood by the stage as Milo started performing. It seemed like the 100th reason as to why Liz wanted to leave. She looked around as everyone was dancing around her. She turned back with raised brows as she turned to Dakota who immediately downed his drink.

"You want to know something so romantic? Milo wrote this song for me." Taylor says

Steven scoffs, "It's a cover. Of that song from the movie Armageddon?"

"Oh. Well, it's still romantic." Taylor waves him off

"Right." Dakota says

"Okay, wait, don't make me beg you for details. What did you and Cory talk about?"

"Uh, the book I'm reading." Belly says

Dakota laughs, "I'm sorry, you suck at talking to guys."

"Okay, I'm rusty, and also, he's the one who brought it up. He spoke to me in French."

"Bitch, what? In French? Okay, that's so hot. Like, he sounds obsessed with you."

"Yeah, I don't know. I mean, that convo took so much effort. Like, is it supposed to be that hard? I mean, look at you and Milo. You guys just make sense."

"Well, Milo and I are soul mates." Taylor gushes as Milo watches her from the stage.

The band starts another song as the crowd cheers. They get even louder as Milo rips his shirt off. Liz scoffs as she and Dakota frown. Dakota looks over as he notices Steven isn't by his side. He looks around before he realizes that Steven is up on a platform.

"Dude. What are you doing?" He calls out

"Dakota. I'm gonna crowd-surf." He says as he throws him his t-shirt, "Hold my shirt for a second, and make sure no one spills anything on it."

"Dude, I don't want to hold your sweaty T-shirt."

"Whoo! Yeah!" Steven cheers

"I can not catch you solo, bro." Dakota tries. His voice falls on deaf ears as Steven jumps anyway. Liz gasps as Steven lands on Belly.

"What the hell, Steven?" Belly says

"Are you okay?" Liz says as she and Taylor try to help Belly

"Uh, Belly, I'm sorry." Steven says as Dakota helps him up

"No, yeah, I'm good. I'm totally fine. I'm just, uh... I'm gonna go get a drink." She says as she walks off

"Well, you're my sober driver, Belly Belle. Don't let me down."

"Dude." Dakota sighs

"Steven!" Taylor says causing him to look at her. Liz sighs as they turn back to the band.

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