Tiffany dove into the social rhythm of Jin’s party like a dolphin gliding through waves. From family parties to cheer competitions to weddings, she’d spent most of her life navigating these kinds of environments, learning how to interact with the crowd in a way that was natural and alluring. Her behavior here was automatic and unconscious, a setting as familiar to her as her bedroom. She smiled winningly, laughed in all the right places, drank like a two-hundred pound frat boy, and - as she always managed to do - won the room. Classmates and strangers alike were magnetized toward her. Boys with their awkward flirting, girls with their obvious attempts to bolster their social standing, all players in a game that they barely understood. Tiffany, on the hand, knew all the moves and tricks, knew the field from top to bottom, understood the movement of each piece and the best strategies for utilizing them. She shone like the star she was, and the others revolved around her, unable to deny the gravity that pulled them in. She was bright, she was beautiful, she was charming, she was perfect.

    And she was on the verge of breaking down.

    Within her raged a tempest of fear, lightning bolts of panic blasting out between a gale-driven sensation that she could only describe as impending doom. Beneath the thin veneer of her confident persona, there was a thudding heart, lungs on the verge of hyperventilation, and a stomach churning with butterflies. Between each interaction there were short intervals, time periods where she would retract into herself. It was part of the game, of course, the push-pull tide of a high energy social setting. Without those pauses she would seem desperate for attention, clingy even, perceived as someone who was “trying way too hard”. The pauses were necessary, but they left her vulnerable, battered by the winds of worry and hails of uncertainty. So, in those times, she found comfort in the bright, naughty little fairy who’d been drifting along beside her all night. Taeyeon Kim.

    Unlike Tiffany, Taeyeon clearly was not accustomed to the complex workings of a high school house party. She kept within Tiffany’s social circle, speaking exclusively to the people she was familiar with, sipping a Smirnoff Ice and staring around with those cute, innocent, doe-like eyes. Though Tiffany did her best to make Taeyeon feel as included as possible, the poor girl was too self-conscious to really make anything of those efforts. But that was perfectly fine; as bad as it sounded, Tiffany preferred to have Taeyeon to herself. Her fairy was so radiantly adorable that she attracted the attention of many hormone-driven boys, and even though Tiffany had just been and petting Taeyeon less than thirty minutes ago, that was just unacceptable. So she protected her defenseless paramour from the sweaty, grubby hands of the boys - and the few girls - that tried their moves on her. For Tiffany, It was a good distraction from the prospect of seeing her “ex-girlfriend” again.

    “Have we even seen her yet?” Taeyeon asked as they lounged together in the backyard of Jin’s home. Though there were a lot of people out here, most of them were either messing around in the pool or doing exactly what Tiffany and Taeyeon were doing right then: taking a break from the chaotic crowds inside. They picked a spot near one of the marble statues at the edge of Jin’s yard, just at the crest of the hill, where they had a great view of Diamond Bar. 

    Tiffany shook her head and took another gulp of champagne. She’d been slamming shots back to back since they’d arrived, and as a result, the world had taken on that flighty, wobbly, euphoric vibe that she’d need to get through the night. She’d hidden much of her drinking from Taeyeon, but the guilt she felt from that was worth being able to somewhat ignore the intrusive thoughts.

“Her and Seohyun stopped by somewhere to pick up more beer,” Tiffany said, echoing what Sunny had told her.

“Oh, okay,” Taeyeon said, casting a furtive glance over at Irene Bae and a few other seniors, who were playing beer pong and snorting lines of coke from a table, “What about Jin?”

Tiffany shrugged. They hadn’t seen their “host” at all yet, despite the fact that they’d been in his house for almost two hours now. “Either passed out drunk or smoking weed on the roof.”

Taeyeon laughed, then craned her neck to ogle up at the many balconies that lined the side of Jin’s house. The older girl rarely spoke of her home life, but when she did it was clear that she wasn’t used to the level of extravagance than some of Diamond Bar’s residents could afford. Having grown up here, Tiffany was used to it, but she still knew that it certainly wasn’t normal to throw high school parties in ten-million dollar mansions.

Tiffany watched Taeyeon over the rim of her cup, reminiscing on the way the blonde’s hand had felt as it ran across her chest. Such a depressingly short conjunction, but one that Tiffany was confident would sprinkle its magic across her dreams for the next few nights.

“Are you having fun here?” Tiffany asked, taking Taeyeon by the elbow and leading her onto the downslope of the hill. Here, they were in the shadow of the mansion, hidden by a row of hedges. “Be honest.”

Taeyeon pressed her lips together, swirling around the dregs of her drink. “Well, I don’t really know.”

“If you don’t know, you probably aren’t having fun,” Tiffany said, giving her meek fairy a pat on the shoulder.

Taeyeon grinned. “Not really. I actually don’t know. I’ve never been to a party this big or… fancy before. It’s kinda scary.”

“I can understand that,” Tiffany said, finishing her drink, “Maybe if you drank a little more you’d loosen up a bit.”

Taeyeon laughed hard at that, the notes of her mirth rolling through the night, blessing Tiffany’s ears with their sweet song. “Are you trying to seduce me, Miss Hwang?”

The seductive flavor that Taeyeon threw into her tone nearly made Tiffany’s knees wobble. But the words themselves, their meaning, were too close to the conversation she and Sunny had had earlier in the day. It reminded Tiffany of how downright creepy the inner workings of her brain could be, how sinisterly ual she was at heart.

Luckily, Tiffany was used to shrugging things like this off without a second thought.

“If there’s anything I’ve learned so far, it’s that I don’t need alcohol to seduce you, unnie.”

Taeyeon blushed. “Then I guess your intentions are pure enough. Would you mind escorting me to get a new drink, then?”

Tiffany gladly agreed, and together they headed back toward the house. Blaring speakers and different levels of chatter met them there, along with the splash of someone jumping into the pool. Tiffany imagined a scenario where she and Taeyeon had the entire mansion to themselves. They could get drunk and dive into the water together, feeling the hours flow by as they basked in one another’s company. Maybe they’d even go skinny dipping, if Taeyeon was comfortable with that. At the end of the night, when the sun was just kissing the horizon and Taeyeon was letting out those unconsciously adorable yawns of hers, they could take a long, hot shower together before tucking into bed. Just the two of them, in complete solace-

Tiffany’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She paused, halfway up the steps to the back porch, frowning at the screen. It was a text from Sunny.

“Jessica and Seohyun just showed up”

“You okay?” Taeyeon asked, turning back, just realizing that she wasn’t being followed.

Tiffany swallowed and looked up at her best friend. There was concern on her face, “Yeah, I’m fine. Jessica just showed up, apparently.”

“Jessica’s here?” Taeyeon whispered, eyes widening. Her hand flinched toward Tiffany as if she was going to reach out to her, but the blonde hesitated and drew back.

Tiffany mustered the most genuine smile she could, plastered it on her face like duct tape over broken glass. “No big deal. Let’s go get that drink.”

Taeyeon appeared unsure and did not move. Tiffany took hold of the blonde’s arm - gaining some comfort from just being in contact with her tiny goddess - and led the way inside.

 The kitchen was packed with people, and Tiffany grinned, giggled, and greeted her way through. She pulled Taeyeon along behind her, knowing that the older girl wouldn’t be able to make much p