Pieces of You | ON HOLD

Prologue

"Haven't you had enough of that for one night? The semester hasn't even started yet."

My hand's movements slowed as I averted my attention from the papers in front of me and up to my best friend, as she leans her shoulder against the door frame. She was wearing a sequin-covered dress with bell sleeves, and she's busy tightening the ponytail on top of her head. "Why don't you come to this party with me?"

As bad as it might have seemed at the time, I wasn't in the mood to party. Besides, I wanted to finish my graduation application before the deadline crept up on me. Before I could open my mouth to protest, Jane is making her way through my bedroom and towards my closet with a huff.

I'd known her since we were randomly selected as roommates the summer before freshman year, and she always kept up her habit of rambling through my closet to find an outfit for me (and sometimes herself). Honestly, she was like my sister.

"I didn't think I'd want to go to a party," I muttered, turning away from my desk. "there's more parties to go to over the semester."

Jane rolls her eyes and tossed a little black dress onto my bed. "Like you'd go to any of them," she scoffs.

She did have a point. Parties were never really my scene – if I wanted to hang out with my friends, I was more content with a small something at our apartment over a blown-out party in Buckhead. I shifted in my seat and dragged my lip between my teeth before I spoke again.

"Fine, I'll go, but only for a while. I'll watch the ball drop and then I'm coming home."

"Something's better than nothing, right?"

───

The party is thick with moving bodies and the stench of alcohol, but I attempted to appear as though I wanted to be there. New Years Eve parties might have been a recurring event, but it didn't mean I couldn't try to have a little fun. Jane thrusts a cup of some concoction into my hand, and a broad grin stretches across her face.

"I'm going to find Oliver!" she shouts over the top forty hit playing through the speakers. "Mix and mingle, my little wallflower."

I rolled my eyes with a short laugh as she disappeared into the crowd, singing along the way as she heads off to find our other friend. Soon, a bit of awkwardness overwhelmed me, and I was left to interact with the people I've had only a handful of courses with over the last four years. Some faces were familiar, and some had to have been from other schools, but it's a massive house on Paces – some of these people were probably from the neighborhood.

My fingers tugged on the hem of my dress as I leaned against the counter, still nursing the same cup that weirdly tasted like vodka and grapefruit juice (with more vodka than anything else). My head was swimming, but keeping the sips slow somewhat helped. A couple of frat boys attempted to talk to me, and in any other instance, I probably would have chatted with them for a while, but I wasn't in the mood to get my ear talked off about what team would be going to the Super Bowl or not.

I barely knew the statistics for the college's team, let alone anyone else.

I excused myself from Nathan, the guy before me with beer breath and a backwards cap and squeeze my way through dancing bodies in order to find at least one of the bathrooms in this place. There's something of a line to the guest bathroom on the bottom floor, so I make my way upstairs in hopes that one of the bedrooms isn't already occupied by a couple who can't wait until midnight.

My luck was the worst it had ever been, as I stood in the line that had formed up the stairs, leaning against the wall as I whipped out my phone again and caught up with Jane via her Instagram Story, as she danced with Oliver and screamed lyrics.

It made a small grin appear on my face – Jane had always been ridiculously outspoken and carefree, and a bit of her personality rubbed off on me over the years (contrary to popular belief).

"Having a good time?"

The smile on my face falters slightly as I averted my attention to the tall figure standing next to me. My thumb instinctively locked my phone. "As much as a single girl could have at a New Year's party." Why would I say that?

A breathy laugh falls from the stranger's lips.

He's clearly older than most of us undergrad and graduate students, but everyone needed a party at some point. "Think I could help with that?"

My head shakes slowly, and I soon find myself flustered. I would have been lying to myself if I said this guy wasn't attractive. Soon, the thought of going to the bathroom had been sucked out of my head, and I was spending most of the night with him. We had a few shared interests, and the same terrible sense of humor, so my face grew a bit uncomfortable from all the smiling I had done in his company.

There's a bit of liquor on our lips barely two hours later, but I can still think rationally while my hand was in his and the bedroom door closed.

His lips were soft, his hands were firm, and I nearly tripped over my own shoes as my body pressed flush against him. I'm on my toes and attempting to match his height as his fingers laced into the hair at the nape of my neck.

"Are you sure about this?"

The stranger's hands brushed my hair from my face as our eyes met. "I'm sure."