Jackson and I had been living together for seven months and although sometimes we found ourselves annoyed with one another, we made quite the great pair.  It was new for me to feel so comfortable around a guy that wasn’t Key.  Jackson really surprised me with how well he knew me.  Like he knew that I would go through random obsession with a certain type of cereal and then the next month it was on to a different type.  He even knew how to wake me up without making me angry, which is something no one has mastered.  Whenever I would tell Key anything about Jackson, he would say that I was starting to like him.  I don’t really know what it was I felt for Jackson.  I knew I liked hanging out with him and when I needed to I could confide in him.  Isn’t that just a good friendship though?

While I had been thinking about whether or not I had feelings for Jackson, he threw a chip at me.  “Don’t be mean in front of the food, it’s disrespectful” I said throwing the chip back at him.

“Sorry I was just making sure you were paying attention to me, it looked like you were zoning out.”  Jackson stuffed a handful of chips in his mouth like a gentleman.

“Well I totally wasn’t listening, what were you saying?” I asked.

“Just what time you’ll be back tomorrow so we can see the new X-Men movie…” he explained.

“I don’t know.  Knowing Key he probably has some after birthday spa day planned for us.  He’s really excessive when it comes to his birthday.”  I saw Jackson pout while I said this.  “You’ll be fine…” the doorbell interrupted my sentence, “speaking of which you’re friends are here.”  I said as his friends raided the kitchen, giving me kisses on the cheek while they passed by.

“Effie are you sure you can’t hang out with us tonight?  Your absence will make the teams uneven!”  BamBam whined.  The guys made fun of how he was attempting to convince me to stay with his cuteness.

“I can’t, it’s my best friend’s birthday.  You guys have fun though!” I said before heading upstairs to get ready.  When I came back downstairs I saw the guys getting all competitive over video games.  “Okay guys I’m going to head out, promise me you won’t kill each other while I’m gone.”  I waved goodbye to the guys and headed to the door when Jackson yelled for me.

“Eff, if you get too drunk tonight you can call me to get you” he spoke.

“Yeah right, I’m an adult I can handle my alcohol.”  I called back before getting in my car.

                At the club where Key was celebrating his birthday I was allowed into a reserved booth where all my friends were waiting for me.

“There she is!  How could you be late on my birthday?”  Key gave me puppy dog eyes.

“Kibummie!”  I squealed while pulling him into a tight hug.  “I love you and happy birthday!”  I said before handing him his gift.  Key’s face lit up as he took his gift.  I looked over at everyone sitting down and greeted them, “hey guys!”  Jonghyun came over to me and kissed me on the cheek.  I sat down next to Taemin and stole a sip of his drink.

“Effie!  Get your own!”  Taemin shrieked.

I laughed and noticed someone else arriving.  “Woohyun!”  I yelled before storming over to the guy I hadn’t seen in so long.

“Effie Moon!  I haven’t seen you in like a year!  Key told me about your wedding, I’m sorry I couldn’t make it…” Woohyun apologized.

“Yeah what's up with that?  You don’t come to my wedding but you come to Key’s birthday party!”  I jokingly yelled at him.

“You know that the princess would kill me if I didn’t come to celebrate his birthday!”  Woohyun argued back.

Key came over and put his arms around us, “look at this beautiful sight, my two best friends!”  Woohyun and I rolled our eyes at how dramatic he was being.  “Let’s take shots!”  Key shouted and everyone else cheered.

Several shots and cocktails later, everyone was pretty wasted except those who were the designated drivers.  We danced to basically every Beyoncé song ever and I was exhausted.  I sat back in the booth and laid my head on Taemin’s shoulder.  We both nodded in unison while Minho was talking about the upcoming world cup soccer tournament.

“Do you understand what he’s talking about?”  Taemin whispered over to me.

“All I hear is noise, so much noise” I said tiredly.  I stood up, “I pretty pooped I better go home…” I started to walk away before Jonghyun held me back.

“Maybe we should call Jackson to come get you, there’s no way you’re driving back home… drunko.”  Jonghyun pulled out my phone from my purse and dialed Jackson’s number.  When he answered Jonghyun started explaining the situation before I grabbed the phone from him.

“Jackson?  Jackson!”  I wailed into the phone.

I heard Jackson laugh, “Eff?  Mark’s going to drive me over there so I can drive you home, okay?”

“Ugh but I’m tired and it smells like feet here!” I fussed.

“Eff I’m leaving right now, I’ll be there soon” Jackson said before hanging up the phone.

I walked over to Key and sat down on his lap, “Jackson hung up on me.”  I said before I passed out.

                I woke up suddenly with the thought that I had to go home soon, only to find that I was already in my room.  I looked around and saw that it was eight in the morning.  Jackson came out of the bathroom and saw me looking around all confused.

“Eff… how do you feel?”  He asked me slowly.

“Well now that you mention it…” I then got up and ran to the bathroom to puke.  Jackson came in behind me and held my hair.  I felt so crappy while puking I started tearing up.  I then rinsed my mouth and brushed my teeth before I saw how horrible I looked in the mirror.  This made me start to cry, “I feel so gross!”  I shoved my face in the sink and started scrubbing my leftover makeup off.  When I was done I saw Jackson standing behind me with some water and Advil.

“Take this for your headache” he ordered while handing the pills to me.  I sniffed while drinking down the water.  “I thought you said you could handle your alcohol?”  He joked.

I frowned at him and punched him in the shoulder.  “I totally embarrassed myself didn’t I?”  I asked him hesitantly.

Jackson thought back to when he picked me up from the club.  I was sleeping in Key’s arms like a baby.  Jackson carried me out of Key’s arms bridal style and started heading for the door.  The whole time he didn’t notice that I still had a drink in my hand and was leaving a trail of alcohol on the dance floor.  People started slipping on it and started getting angry looking for the punk that poured their drink everywhere.  Jackson gulped before he ran out the door and placed me in the car to go home.

“Jackson?”  I asked again shaking him from his flashback.  “Did I embarrass myself?”

Jackson laughed before answering, “Of course not honey.  You were as flawless as always.”