Daylight

Chapter IV - Back to December

December 31, 2018.

For the first time in her life, she regrets that she is not a smoker.

The room is full of her friends in fancy costumes and in between copious amounts of pizza and crudités, bottle after bottle of booze and the music playlist everyone seems to be putting their own spin on, she thinks she might be okay. 2019 might be off to a good start in a few hours. Joe is in charge of ice ('But not the cups' – a reference that had gone over his head and made her feel silly for a split second) and she needs the ice. Ryan has dug up some Jack Daniels and despite the fact she'd never disgrace it with a mixer, she does need it on the rocks.

"Ice!" Joe grins, slamming a bucket down on the table.

Seconds later, she clinks her glass against Ryan's and takes a large sip of the drink. It's cold and it burns down her throat when she swallows. Tempted to have another when Blake joins them and sits on Ryan's lap.

"Don't get him wasted." She smirks at Taylor before kissing Ryan, "You having a good time, babe?"

"As long as nobody takes unexpected pictures of me, I'll be grand."

Right away, Taylor is transported to the memory of sitting in Tom's lap and the subsequent torrent of shit the media had bestowed on her the next day. Her parents had laughed it off, Tree had gone into a frantic damage limitation mode and Taylor had spent that entire day in 2016 lounging in her living room, eating Maltesers.

"You should definitely get a picture." Blake punches him in the shoulder gently, "Look at you. And look at you," she grins at Taylor, "the prettiest Ariel I have ever seen."

They both try to change Blake's mind for a few seconds but she's already on her feet, digging up her phone and making people walk around her as she backs up. Next to her, Taylor can hear Ryan sigh.

"Here," he mumbles, handing her an almost empty bottle of Jack's, "bottoms up."

They both do their best to look unimpressed as they take the final swigs of the bottles and after the flash has blinded them, Blake is happy enough to let them enjoy their conversation in peace. Ryan quips about her crab purse and Taylor retaliates by saying something about his shirt and the banter that happens after relaxes her enough to feel at ease again.

---

"Your parties are ace." Joe grins as he wraps an arm around her waist loosely. "Well done, babe."

Ace.

"Do you think there's enough food?" She glances at him, suddenly impressed by his profile, "Should I order more pizzas or something?"

In classic fashion, she had invited dozens of people – a built-in back-up system in case people wouldn't show up or cancel and she'd dress up for maybe five people. The joys of being a famous introvert. While there had been a dozen people a few hours ago, the number had steadily gone up and she wouldn't be surprised if there were currently about 50 people having drinks and mingling in her house.

"C'mon," Joe says as he grabs her hand, "let's see what we can find in the kitchen first."

There's only so much that is in that fridge and she knows it. She leans back against the kitchen counter as Joe opens up the fridge door and stares inside.

Hummus.

"Jesus, there is so much hummus here."

Chicken tenders.

"Oh, and chicken tenders."

Salad.

"And... salad. Okay yeah, you may wanna get some pizzas in."