What could have been.

- Chapter 3 -

Two hours, an array of dance moves later, four vodka sprites down and Liam has finished his set. We head towards Liam who's setting up the DJ booth for the next person. Jocelyn explained that there are four DJs, each with a two-hour slot for tonight. when we reach him all three of us congratulate him, with hugs and a long embrace from Jocelyn.

Liam's friends, join us, along with a few party-goers to give Liam praise.

"I need the toilet." I blurt out, going unnoticed as everyone's focus is on Liam, I slip away from the group and head to the bathroom, I will only be a minute, I'm sure no one will realise that I've gone.

Thankfully the queue to the bathroom is short so I don't have to wait long. I take a handful of toilet paper to line the toilet with, before sitting. Hearing the music being played, I sway and sing quietly enough for only my ears to hear how out of tune I am. The toilet's at these type of parties are always disgusting, I can't think too much about it otherwise I won't use them at all, so I sway and dance to distract myself.

I can hear shouting on the other side of the door, but I don't pay much attention. I grab my lipstick from my bag and reapply. I take one last look in the mirror, quickly brushing my fingers through my hair and wiping away a small amount of smudged mascara under my eye, before leaving the bathroom to rejoin the party.

The women in the front of the queue that has now doubled in size, mutters "finally." when I open the door, budging her shoulder against mine as she passes to go in. Clearly I took longer than I thought I had.

I can feel my phone buzzing in my bag, I reach to grab it and Eden's face covers the home screen, she must be wondering where I am.

"Si-sienna? Are you there?" Eden shouts through the phone

"I'm coming back. I went to the bath-" I don't finish my sentence as a body crashes into mine, causing me to slam against the wall and drop my phone.

Two guys are pushing and shoving one another, the taller one of the two men has the other by his shirt collar, with his fist reared back ready to punch. In an effort to avoid getting backlash from the punch I crouch down.

Pinned against a wall by the multiple people now cramming together in the narrow corridor to stop the fight, I decided my best bet of a getaway is to crawl.

The floor is sticky which is only making me want to gag. I don't particularly want to get body-slammed again and I have to find my phone that decided to fly through the crowd- I guess this is my only option.

I manage to crawl far enough away from the crowd that had gathered because of the fight, as I lift my head, I notice a pair of black boots in front of me.

"Walking would have been an easier option." a hoarse voice says, my gaze rises from the boots, continuing up the body and settling on the face behind the voice.

Meeting his gaze, I feel embarrassed to find Liam's friend Cole staring down at me. "I-I lost my phone." I manage to say, trying to maintain minimal eye contact.

He doesn't reply, I manage to catch a glimpse of the corners of his mouth turning up ever so slightly as I sit on my knees. Cole reaches his hand down to help me get up from the floor, only having to pull me once for me to land back on my feet. "Thanks." I whisper while rubbing the dirt from the floor off of my knees.

Once I've straightened up he says he'll help me find my phone.

Every time someone bumps into me or comes near where I'm stood looking for my phone, Cole pushes them away or uses his body as some sort of human shield, by standing directly behind me, but not touching me. I'm a little relieved, despite how embarrassed I still feel, that we bumped into each other. I don't think I could have lasted another second in this corridor on my own without being pushed, nudged or back on the floor crawling away.

The guys that were fighting have been separated, each being pinned against one side of the opposite wall.

I don't understand where my phone could have disappeared to unless it's grown legs and ran off it should be here somewhere. After a few more minutes of searching, Cole tells me to follow him to the bar, maybe someone has picked it up and handed it in.

Being only 5'5, I'm easily lost in the crowd of people dancing. I notice Cole's frustration each time he looks back to find me struggling to fight through the crowd. He walks back towards me, grabbing my wrist and pulling me to walk ahead of him whilst he keeps ahold of my wrist.

For the remainder of the walk to the bar, my eyes stay glued to his hand wrapped around my wrist. His grip on my wrist is not tight at all, almost as if his hoovering over rather than holding it.

We reach the bar and Cole talks to the bartender regarding my missing phone.

"SIENNA!" Eden screams before running over to me, giving me a lecture about disappearing whilst hugging me. "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GO."

"I lost my phone."

"We found it. We kept calling you back and eventually a random girl answered, Jocelyn, is grabbing your phone from her."

I'm relieved to hear that my phone has been found, I have years worth of memories on there, I need to remember to download them elsewhere so that I have a copy in case anything like this happens again.

"Here, for your hands." Cole passes a wet cloth I can only assume he asked the bartender for. I had forgotten about my little crawling endeavour, I look down to see the grub off the floor is now covering the palm of my hand.

Eden takes the cloth from Cole to wipe the dirt off my palms. "what happened, did you fall over?" Eden asks. I shake my head.

My focus is on Cole stood leaning back on his elbows against the countertop, chuckling away, to my miss fortune I can imagine.

"Two guys were fighting so I crawled away." I say, now realising how stupid that sounds since saying it out loud.

What?" Eden laughs

"Nevermi-"

"Can you believe she wanted me to pay to get your phone back, what a bitch." Jocelyn interrupts, thankfully holding my phone in her hand.

Liam joins us at the bar, he invites us to go outside as a bonfire has been lit. We head outside and join Jeffery, Clementine and four other guys I haven't been introduced to, that are sat around a fire. We spend the rest of the evening talking and listening to the music playing from Liam's speakers.

In 'we' I mean everyone aside from Jeffery and Cole. Jeffery had his eyes closed for a majority of the conversations, only opening them when asked a question directly. While Cole stared into what felt like my soul. He didn't speak much, maybe because he had a cigarette in his mouth ninety-nine per cent of the time.

Something tells me he is not the type of guy you want to get involved with, already with the one encounter we have had I'm completely confused by it, so much so I wouldn't know how to even approach ever trying to engage with him. One minute his being nice and the next he tries to communicate with me through telepathy as his facial expression doesn't give anything away yet he stares at you as if waiting for an answer.

He isn't bad to look at though, his eyes are a deep blue and he has the cutest of smiles when I've managed to catch a quick glimpse. His hands, I wonder what he can do with those hands.

Sienna. Control yourself.

Boys are completely off my radar until I've graduated, with no distractions.