CHAPTER V. ASHES
Harry's golden grandfather clock read 10.42pm when our group, along with two girls at either side of Harry, was sat around the large dining table. He had fetched for his bottle of vodka, pouring it into each of our cups. I reached for mine once he had finished, but he snatched it back again and returned it to its spot on the table. 'For the game', he told me, and I rolled my eyes.

'Okay, who's going first?' Kian asked once each cup was successfully filled. The crowd were still dancing and chatting around us but we zoned them out. 

'Wait, does everybody know the rules? If you've done any of the things, you take a drink,' Harry explained, sitting down. 'Kian can go first.'

Kian took a moment of thought, he ran his hand through his short hair, before he said, 'Never have I ever been nude in public.'

He took a drink of his cup, Kendrick also took a drink, but nobody else did. Kendrick laughed when he put the cup down and Dua joined in. Harry had already neglected the game to talk to the girl beside him and the sight of Kendrick's cup caught him off guard.

'Wait, what was it?' He asked, glancing around the table.

'Nude in public.' Kian repeated to him. Harry's hand immediately reached for the cup, his arm snaking around the girl's shoulders once he was done drinking. I caught his eye contact, but he shook it off. The room seemed to begin slowly spinning and I found myself wishing to drink no more alcohol.

'Kendrick, you go next.' Harry stated.

Kendrick looked away from Dua before saying, 'Never have I ever had sex in a car.'

'Kendrick!' Dua yelped, hitting his arm, as Kendrick took a drink, before she herself took a reluctant sip of her red cup. It was no surprise to see Kian and Harry, along with one of the two girls, take their drinks too. I felt relieved at the prospect that Lana could have never had sex before, like myself.

I looked away from Dua, whom now looked flustered, towards Harry. He was already observing me but swiftly looked away once he caught my eyes.

'Dua's turn.' Harry said, throwing his empty red cup off the table and grabbing a champagne bottle instead. The cork made a loud pop as he unsealed it, taking a few gulps as soon as it was open. Dua gazed around the room for a few seconds.

'Never have I ever been black-out drunk.' She stated, and everyone but me took their cups. In that moment, it hit me that I could have been starting my English assignment at home but instead I was here, playing a cliché game in Harry's home.

'You haven't been black-out drunk?' Harry asked, and it took a moment to realise he was speaking to me.

'No.'

'You obviously haven't lived.'

'Well, I'm sat right here; pretty sure that's a heartbeat.' I touched my wrist, but he didn't find the sarcasm funny this time. My mood had completely changed, I didn't want to be at the table any longer.

'Who's turn is it?' Kian eventually asked.

'Lana's.' Harry said, though he was still directly staring at me. I looked back with narrow eyes, finding it difficult to keep my mouth refrained from arguing with him. 

'Never have I ever done things in the janitor's closet,' she said, Harry turned to her with wide eyes. Lana was the only one drinking.

'Lana!' Dua exclaimed. 'You've done things in the janitor's closet?'

'A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do,' she replied.

'That's disgusting,' Dua replied. 'Who with?'

'And having sex in a car isn't?' Lana chuckled, making Dua fall into a laugh. 'Just a jock. Nobody special.' Her eyes flashed towards Harry before glancing back to her near-empty cup.

'Adriana's turn.' Kian called out with a kind smile. I glanced down at the table with concentration.

'Never have I ever stayed up all night without sleeping,' I said the first thing that came into my head, watching everybody around the table drink. It was the night before a test in junior year, I had forgotten about it so had to cram until 5am.

'Everybody's done that, you couldn't have thought of something better?' Harry piped up once he had put the champagne bottle down.

'Not everything is about sex, you know,' I replied. I noticed Dua nodding thoughtfully from the corner of my eye.

'Life would be so shit without sex,' he chuckled, his arm still around the girl beside him who was laughing now too.

'Not necessarily.' I shrugged.

We continued holding eye contact as the girl beside him took her turn, 'Never have I ever had sex in a basement.' Harry, Kian and Dua drink along with the girl.

Something flickered over Harry's eyes and I was momentarily threatened by it.

'Wait,' he said. His green eyes turned dark and a smirk fell over his face. 'Never have I ever had sex.'

My heart sunk as I watched everybody, even Lana, take a sip of their drinks. Kendrick chuckled nonchalantly. Everybody around the table turned towards me.

'You're a fucking virgin?' Harry burst out laughing.

'There's nothing wrong with it. Shut up, Harry,' Kian told him, and I tried to grin towards him in thanks, but I couldn't.

'No wonder you're so stuck up.' Harry remarked.      

'Harry.' Kian warned.

'Having sex didn't make much difference to you though, did it?' I fired back, Dua and Kendrick laughed. 'Mr Obnoxious.'

'Wow, look at Virgin Mary acting all powerful.' He said, and I pushed my chair out, standing up. His hand grabbed the bottle as I stepped away and headed towards the front door. There was still a crowd of teenagers dancing in the hallway.

I suddenly felt a hand grip my wrist and turned to see Dua. Lana was beside her.

'Ignore him, Adriana. Don't let him ruin your night.' Dua said, pulling me into a hug. Lana sent a sympathetic smile my way before putting her arm around my shoulders.

'He gets like this sometimes, he'll warm up to you soon enough.' Lana added. I just nodded with a forced smile as they guided me back inside.

It turned 2am and I realised that I had been dancing for three hours straight. Slow music now boomed from the stereo and the hallway had cleared, leaving behind the debris of discarded paper cups. I wondered who would clean that up before remembering that Harry could afford a maid, maybe even multiple maids. Two teenagers were drunkenly sleeping over the steps of the large staircase. Another two teenagers were sloppily making out with each other beside me on the living room sofa. It was when I could hear somebody puking in a nearby bathroom that I stood up to go and find where Lana and Dua had disappeared to.

I stumbled to the kitchen, where one of the glass back doors was wide open. A glass table on the patio was surrounded by the group, including a drunk Harry. It was when I actually stepped outside that I noticed Lana was sat upon Harry's lap, this caused my eyes to roll. Kendrick and Dua were also sharing a seat but Kendrick was running his finger's over Dua's leg. Harry just looked damn uncomfortable.

My hand grabbed one of the seats nearby and the screech of the chair on the concrete slabs turned all of their eyes onto me.

'Hello.' Harry slurred immediately, his shining eyes locking onto mine.

'Hi.' I replied as I sat down.

'So, how was your first party in Bridgemont Valley?' Dua asked, it made me grin.

'It was... pleasant.' She patted my arm.

'There's plenty more to come.' Kendrick added. I noticed Lana reach out to touch Harry's lips with her fingers, but he didn't react to it. My eyebrow raised but I just assumed they had a friends-with-benefits type of deal.

'Lana, we should get going soon.' I said. She turned to me as though I'd only just appeared.

'Yeah, yeah, soon.' She agreed but there was a slur to her words too.

'What the hell is this?' Kian suddenly entered the garden holding a silver vase-shaped ornament.

'Woah, woah, put that back inside.' Harry immediately stood up from the seat, leaving Lana there alone. He hurried over to Kian.

'What is it, though? I found it on the fireplace.' Kian remarked.

'Just give it to me.' Harry put his hand out, though he was still stumbling.

Kian jokingly pretended to hide it behind him, but Harry seemed to be getting annoyed.

'Kian, stop being stupid.' He slurred, making a grab for the vase but before he could fully grip it, it fell from Kian's hands. There's a huge crash, the vase completely shattered on the concrete and to everybody's surprise, heaps of ash fell out.

'Ew, what the fuck?' Kian jumped backwards as Harry leant down, instantly running his hand through his hair.

'You fucking idiot!' Harry yelled. Dua and Kendrick leant forward to look at the broken vase.

'What the hell is that?' Kendrick asked, his eyes wide.

'It's my grandmother, Kendrick.' Harry replied with his head shaking, before heading inside. It wasn't long before he returned outside with a dustpan and brush. He began to brush the ashes into the dustpan, but he dropped the brush after the second attempt. He picked it up and dropped it again within seconds. I found myself getting annoyed by his drunken behaviour so stood up.

'You hold the dustpan and I'll brush it in.' I ordered, taking the brush from his grip. He looked at me for a moment, the shine returning over his eyes and his signature smirk finding his lips. 'Hold the dustpan.'

'Yes, ma'am.' He said, crouching down with the dustpan. I began to brush it off the concrete.

'Yo, this is some bad voodoo shit.' Kendrick told us from the table, 'We're all cursed for life.'

Dua hit his arm, 'Don't say that. That shit scares the life out of me.'

'Well, Kian sure as hell took the life out of that vase.' Kendrick joked and Dua giggled.

'Dude, that's my grandmother you're talking about.' Harry slurred but still chuckled. I even chuckled myself, making Harry glance up at me from his crouched position with a grin. I couldn't help but think that he looked quite sensual, his head at half my height, but I mentally slapped myself for ever thinking that way about Harry.

'I am really sorry, Harry.' Kian said from over by the patio doors. He was leant against the glass, because of his drunken state I presumed.

'It's okay, accidents happen.' Harry replied with a shrug. 'If accidents didn't happen, we wouldn't have you.' Everybody laughed through the silence of the dimly-lit garden, including Kian.

Once the ash was swept up, Harry stood with the dustpan in his hand but immediately stumbled. I grabbed the dustpan before any of it could fall again.

'Let me hold it.' I said with an eye roll.

'Okay, honey.' He giggled. But his hand flies up to the small of my back, his thumb moving circles onto the fabric of my dress. 'There's trash bags in the kitchen. Just put it in one of them.' I nodded and began to walk away but he grabbed my hand before I could, 'I'm, urm, sorry about what happened before. I wasn't thinking, and I shouldn't have criticised you in front of everybody. It wasn't cool.' A look of sincerity was in his eyes, a look I hadn't seen from him before, and I found myself examining his face for humour, but none was to be found.

'It's okay, Harry. We're good.'