joelle | d.m

43 | beer pong

February, 1995.

"Are you not drinking?" Joey peeked into his plastic cup.

"I am." Draco handed her the drink he poured for her.

"But that's non-alcoholic," she pointed out, staring up at him.

"Woah. Nothing gets by you," he razzed with a lazy smile.

"You don't want to drink?" she asked over the blaring music that bounced around the walls of the room.

Lights flashed rapidly and screams and chatter lingered in the air from other people. It smelled like every party did—sweat, alcohol, and weed. It was humid in the room.

"I'm not really fancying alcohol right now." He shook his head. "But you go on, okay?"

She frowned, muddled. "How are we going to play beer pong then? You're supposed to be my partner for it. Talk about a betrayal."

"Before you go on about any so-called betrayal, we can still play, precious," he insisted before he took a sip of his non-alcoholic beverage. "With water."

"Water pong?"

"Doesn't that just tickle you with excitement?"

"No, and if that tickles you with excitement," she interjected, "Then you need to find a hobby, because that's just sad. Water pong? That's sad, blondie."

"You're my hobby," he said serenely with a pleasant smile and a swift wink, which she refused to melt at despite her entire being faltering.

She gawked at him and a thought occurred to her. "Malfoy, I don't need a bloody chaperone."

"Did I say I was one?" He cocked an eyebrow up.

"No, but you don't drink or smoke anymore." She wasn't dumb. Of course she noticed. "Not around me, at least."

"Because I never feel like doing those things around you. I like the natural happy-high you give me by just being in my vicinity." He shrugged his shoulders, sliding his free hand into the pocket of his trousers. "But it doesn't make me your chaperone."

Holding his stare, Joey lifted the rim of her cup to her lips and tipped her head back to down the liquor in one go. The burn ran to her stomach as she held her cup out to ask for more.

Before taking the cup, he used his hand to cup her cheek as his thumb swiped off a dribble of alcohol on her chin.

"Jellybean, I thought you said you were going to pace yourself," Draco said in a husky voice as he held her empty cup with the hand he wasn't holding his cup in.

"I thought you said you weren't my chaperone."

A muscle in his jaw visibly pulsed. He placed his cup on the clothed table they stood by, which was the refreshments table. He went to pour her another drink.

He turned to hand her the cup he filled halfway with more Firewhiskey. She grabbed it with a smile and he picked up his own drink before they made their rounds around the party.

This wasn't the first time they'd gone to a party together. They had gone to another one, not including Pansy's houseparty. And at that party, other ladies didn't give a flying shit about the boundaries of someone else's relationship. Not one bit. Draco had girls left and right flirting with him still.

They were all so shameless about it. Joey could be standing right there with Draco's arm over her shoulders and a girl would have the guts to flirt with him. It made a ball of angered jealousy fester inside of Joey's chest, but she tried her best not to let her anger get the best of her.