Chapter Twenty-Four
The party was way better than the one for my birthday. At least it seemed that way, now that Leon stood by my side talking to me rather than at me. He'd still drank his fair share, and there was a fresh beer in his hand now, but he was holding a conversation that I was interested in.
"So, come on." It wasn't quite a slur. "You're really telling me that Cinderella is your favourite ballet? Are you sure you're not just taking your act really far in the hopes that they'll give you the lead part or something? It's really not that good."
I stared at him, aghast. "I really hope you're just playing devil's advocate to get a rise out of me, here. Cinderella is the best. It's got everything. The gorgeous music, the romance, the lifts. It's perfect."
"It's so clichéd," Leon complained. "Poor girl gets the handsome prince. Do you not think?"
"Yes, I absolutely think. It's one of the reasons I love it. Clichés exist for a reason, c'mon. Every girl likes to think about her Prince Charming at least once."
He rolled his eyes. "You're a cliché."
"Hey!" I complained. "I'm not that bad. I just like a good clichéd love story every now and then."
Dean approached then, before Leon could get his words in, and I knew this was my best chance. I'd been planning to wait for everyone to get completely wasted and then for me to tease the information out of him whilst he had no idea what was going on, but maybe that wouldn't be necessary.
"Hey, happy birthday!" I grinned, the couple of beers I'd had myself spurring me on.
He gave me a hug, surprising me, and I realised he must be completely out of it. It was his eighteenth, after all. "Thanks. I'm glad you're here. I wasn't expecting you to be."
"Yeah, Leon invited me." I smiled and he held up his empty beer, before sidling away. I stared at it in awe. It had been full a few minutes ago. "It's a good party. You enjoying yourself?"
"Yes." He swayed a bit and sent a lazy grin in my direction. "I may have had a bit too much to drink."
I chuckled. "You deserve it. I guess this doubles as a celebration party for what went down at the chemical plant, huh?"
"For sure, man." He'd turned into some kind of surfer dude after a few drinks. "It's a shame you and Liliana fell out about that. What even went down? She said you weren't into the cause."
"I was just scared and paranoid afterwards. I'm not as into it as you are, but it doesn't mean I don't care about the environment or anything."
"Yeah, I'm down with that. I appreciate the low core fans too, you know? As long as you're not doing anything against the environment, then I don't have a problem with that. I think she's just annoyed you lied."
"Yeah, I wish I hadn't, too. It was stupid."
"It's not a big deal between us, though, right? Still friends?"
"Of course." He gave me another hug and I chuckled. People were always entertaining when they were smashed. "Have you got anything in the pipeline?"
"Yeah, man. We've got a meet-up in London next weekend. We're sneaking out to go to it. All the people who really care are getting together, I can't wait." I could hear the elation in his voice as he spoke about it. Finally thinking that he was making a difference.
The amusement at his drunken state was quickly replaced by guilt. I had no idea what my blackmailer was going to do with this information, but it wasn't going to be good. I was betraying someone I'd just said was my friend. I was the one who had wronged them the first time, not the other way around.
I was a bitch. A selfish bitch.
"Sounds great. I almost wish I cared about something that much. To constantly feel like you have a purpose."
Dean's was smiling, but it was a faraway look in his eyes. "It has its ups and downs, but yeah. I think it's good, too."
He spotted someone across the party and his eyebrows shot up. "All right, man, I have to go speak to that really hot girl. I'll hopefully see you around."
"Yeah, you too, man." I copied his accent and everything, but he didn't notice. He just gave me a wave and disappeared.
Stood by myself, a half-drunk beer in my hand, I searched the crowd for Liliana. I hadn't seen her yet, but I'd also mainly stuck to the edges of the party. I didn't want to run into her, not really, but I was also curious what her face would look like when she did see me; whether she really hated me or not.
I turned away, downing my beer, and debating my next move. My drive to party had completely disappeared at the reality of what I'd just done. I was betraying people I cared about, even if they didn't really like me anymore.
That wasn't okay.
I made sure to put my empty bottle back in the crate so that it would save them some trouble during clean up the next morning, and wrapped my coat tighter around me. I had to say goodbye to Leon before I disappeared.
I thought I did, anyway, until I caught sight of him across the party with this lips at a girl's ear. She was giggling. My lips lifted, and I turned to leave. I'd send him a text instead. I definitely didn't want to get in the way of that.
***
When I checked the news the day after the trio had been at the conference, I was greeted by a headline that an underground environmentalist terrorist meeting had been raided in central London. I clicked on the article and skimmed it. People had been arrested. There'd been evidence that they'd been planning a number of attacks on power plants across the country.
I shut the lid to my laptop and closed my eyes. I was glad. Part of me was glad that they weren't going to get away with violenceâeven if it was violence against inanimate buildings. I didn't believe that was the way to get what you wanted. Not that I had an alternative to offer.
But I'd caused this. People arrested. No one was hurt at the raid, thankfully. I hoped my friends weren't among those currently sitting in a jail cell.
This was my fault.
Laying back down on my bed, I abandoned my plans to spend the Sunday practising in the ballet studio. My energy had been sapped. I curled back into my bed and blinked back the tears.
I was a pawn in a war that I didn't want to fight. It was my own fault, for getting involved in the first place, I knew. But that knowledge didn't help. I just wanted it to be over. To get on with my life. For it to just be me, Ethan, and ballet.
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I've hit #500 in romance. I can't believe it! Thank you so much everyone <3