A drunk brute of a Lycan walks around Heather who stands in front of the table of refreshments. "Hey princess."
Heather smiles politely, looking off to her left to check for exits. "I'm an heiress actually."
"Are you calling me stupid?" he moves towards her, trying to use his height and strength to intimidate her.
"No, I was just simply stating a fact." Heather had not realized how close he had gotten to her but when she does, she shrinks away from him.
"Give me a kiss." he slurs his words and can hardly stand up straight.
"Excuse me?"
"I bet you want to kiss me." he giggles. "I bet you have a crush on me."
"No, sorry, I don't want to kiss you." Heather tries to escape, apologizing again. "Sorry."
The Lycan grabs her arm and drags her back. "No, where are you going?"
"I said I don't want a kiss, so please let go of my arm."
"You think I'm ugly don't you? Is it the scars, because they ain't my fault baby?" The Lycan's iris shift, his amber eyes are oddly bright underneath the purple and blue room lights.
"The Heiress said get lost." Zarion grabs his arm, squeezing until he hears a the bone fracture. "Now leave before I tear your throat out with my bare hands."
+/+
Roan stands inside the Vector Tube and waits for the door to close. "Wait, keep the door open!" a not too distant voice calls.
Roan does not see who it is at first but manages to catch the door on time.
The elf runs up to the door, sweating and panting heavily. "Thanks." he pants whilst bent down next to Roan.
"No problem." Roan waits patiently for the door to close knowing that Heather and Zarion are waiting for him. "Aren't you the guy that fell into your food?"
The elf adjusts his glasses and noticeably begins to blush. "Yeah, that was me. I'm Charles by the way."
Roan hums. "I'm sorry people are such assholes."
"It isn't your fault...unless you're an asshole too?"
Roan laughs. "No, not me...not all the time anyway."
The door starts closing when Charles turns to Roan. "Do you know how Vector tubes work?"
Roan shakes his head. "No, not really, how do they work?" he does, in fact, know but he reckons Charles could do with the confidence boost.
"Well, space energy is collected by the Space elves and stored inside the Vector tube in capsules about this big and then the Mind elves created this machine here." Charles points at the door panel. "You just press a button, and it reads your thoughts and takes you onto that floor."
"That's pretty neat."
Charles snorts. "Yeah, pretty neat." Roan's words sound odd coming from Charles but he decides to ignore it. "Up we go."
+/+
Zarion takes Heather outside and the two of them sit with their feet in the pool. "Thank you for that. You were very brave back there."
Zarion shakes his head, brushing off the compliment. "He was a member of the Ren pack back home. If you don't want any problems with them then make sure your bark is a little louder next time."
"Should I threaten to rip out his throat next time?" Heather jokes. "Is that something Alphas do often?"
"No, not me."
Heather thinks his answer was vague at best but decides its best not to question him about his meaning. "I'm sorry you are spending your first party here outside with the likes of me."
Zarion grins leaning into Heather to lighten the mood. "I'm with good company, that's all I really need."
"You're a smooth talker Zarion of the Micah pack."
"Why thank you, Heather of Varian." Heather and Zarion laugh together and watch the fireworks in the sky going off.
Zarion kicks up a huge wave of water. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Why is Roan the only friend I've seen you with?"
"Simple, I'm the only child of Juliard Vensharigh, which probably doesn't mean much to you but to every other elf it means the world. My father...he intends well...but as the High Priest of Harmonia he is always busy spreading her message."
"I spent a lot of my childhood travelling around with him which means that it was hard to make friends. They only saw me as the daughter of the High Priest blessed by the goddess with her otherworldly beauty."
"So you've heard what they say about you?"
Heather sighs, closing her eyes and focusing on the chilly night air cooling her down. "I just wanted someone who would treat me like a normal person."
Heather smiles, thinking back to the first time she met Roan. "I found Roan sleeping in a chapel we were visiting. He smelled like fire and his eyes were sealed shut from crying himself to sleep. To be honest I thought he was dead."
Zarion leans towards her, his interest in Roan's back story peaking. "Then what happened?"
"Well he woke up and I could tell he was hungry so I gave him a Velu pie."
Zarion scratches his head. "I don't know what that is."
"It's a pie made of Velu berries, they're purple, you've probably seen them everywhere...anyway he ate half of the pie before giving me the other half and running away."
When Heather laughs, tears of joy spring to her eyes. "Even now people give me stuff because they want something from me but Roan wanted absolutely nothing to do with me."
"So you let him run off?"
"What? Oh, no. I ran after him. Believe it or not but Roan used to have crazy short legs so he didn't make it far. I dragged him back to my father who sent him to the healers. It was only later that we found out that his mom was murdered for being a Draven."
"And you weren't worried that he would also be a Draven?"
"So he told you already?"
"Eh, yeah..." Zarion pinches himself, how could he be so clumsy?
"There isn't any proof that being a Draven is passed on genetically, even if some radicals would like to argue that point. My father believes people are innocent until proven guilty and I'm just relieved that Roan isn't one of them."
Zarion turns away from her, the irony being too much to handle for his liking.
Heather moves her hair out of her eyes when the wind picks up. "I begged my father for thirty days to adopt him and let us go to the same school and every day he would say no until, eventually, he said yes."
"Just like that?"
"Well, I also had a little help from my mom." she tells him honestly.
Zarion slowly takes his feet out of the water. "You're just as stubborn as someone else I know."
Heather bats her eyelashes. "Yeah, well, who do you think he learnt it from?" Heather takes a deep breath of fresh air.
"Roan was the first person to talk to me who didn't make a big deal about the way I looked. I felt like he could see me for who I really am instead of who everyone thinks I am." Heather brushes her hair behind her when it falls over her shoulders. "I think you can see me too, Zarion, its why I like you."
There is a toxic energy at a party, that tastes sweet when the air is warm and the music of the party fades in the background. That fatal moment of attraction when, even when you know it is wrong, you cannot help but reach for it.
When Zarion and Heather lock eyes, she feels a rush of bravery surge through her body. She leans in and places a kiss on his lips before either of them can stop it from happening.
"Is this an inconvenient time?" Roan stands in the open doorway with Charles.
Zarion turns around and feels a part of his soul die inside. "Roan."
Heather opens her eyes and spins around to see Roan standing behind Charles with a blank expression. "Wait Roan I can explain."
"There's nothing to explain. Enjoy the rest of your night." Roan takes two steps back before spinning around and heading for the exit.
"No, Roan." Heather chases after him, her wet feet leaving tiny puddles behind her. She runs until she catches up with Roan waiting for a Vector tube. "Roan, please, talk to me."
"I am talking to you, literally, the words are coming out of my mouth, and you are responding, this is what conversation is."
Heather rolls her eyes. "Oh, come on, don't be like that-"
"Like what-"
"Hiding! I tell you everything but you never open up to me, never talk about the future or your dreams, never complain, never tell me if you're in pain, never tell me if I'm being a bad friend! You just bottle it all up, making me feel like I'm just a passing breeze to you!"
Zarion catches up to them, placing Heather's yellow scandals on the floor for her to step on. "Okay, Roan, before you start, it's not her fault okay, we were just talking and then one thing led to another, it was just one big misunderstanding."
Neither of them is listening to Zarion; Heather stands in front of Roan and waits for any sign of emotion or anything from him. "No, this was all her fault." Roan feels a fire inside of him and instead of forcing it to fizzle out he throws gasoline all over it.
"It's always Heather's fault because it's always about Heather! I'm tired of being your flower boy, I'm tired of being told I should pray more and I'm tired of feeling like I owe you for saving my life!"
Charles slowly approaches the three of them around the time that Roan starts crying. "I never tell you anything because everything I have ever loved has been taken by you and then thrown away as soon as you get bored, the internship-"
"I said I was sorry about that!"
"Belladon-"
"I didn't know Velu berries could kill your pet!"
"Him!" he roars, thrusting his hand at Zarion.
"You love him?" she asks, lowering her tone in shock realisation.
Roan licks his lips, shaking his head at the absurdity of the situation. "Why do you keep doing this to me Heather? You already have everything."
"You don't get it...I have nothing. I'm not strong like Zarion or smart like you...I'm just Heather. All I am is the daughter of a culture, a religion, following the rules of a religion that I don't even recognise sometimes."
"I'm Heather, I'm just a pretty face but you're a fighter Roan, a survivor...your my best friend."
When Heather takes a step towards him, Roan quickly backs up. "Roan, believe me, I didn't mean to do those things. I...why didn't you tell me before?"
"You're right, I did this to myself." Roan whispers, wiping away his tears away. "Heather, I can't be your friend anymore." It feels like a sucker punch to both, with neither side winning the battle.
"What?" Heather uses her cardigan to wipe the tears out of her eyes which turns her cheeks rouge. "But you see me...you're the only one who sees me."
"Maybe you were right," The Vector tube opens, and Roan gets in alone. "Maybe the blonde girl is always the villain."
The door closes on the three of them before Roan closes his eye and smacking the back of his head against the Vector tube.