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"Welcome to the party, party animal!"

"You're definitely drunk," I said as Olivia and I stepped around Cooper into Xander's house, but it was more so a mansion. Our words echoed off the marble-tiled floors.

"What! I'm not that drunk," Cooper slurred, shutting the door and following behind us as Olivia and I ogled the interior of the house. They mentioned his house was big, but they didn't mention that it was a freaking castle!

"It's literally 6pm, Coop," Olivia said and shook her head. "And you're drunk before the party even started."

"Where's Xander?" I asked, holding the birthday boy's gift in my hand just as Michael and the man himself entered the kitchen, along with Sabrina who arrived with Michael.

"Right here," he said with a subtle smile upon seeing me. At least I hope it was from seeing me.

"Happy 17th!" I shouted and wrapped my arms around his neck as his muscular arms slithered around my waist.

The action not only took me by surprise that I would suddenly break into his personal bubble, but it shocked the other four in the room.

"Thank you, gem," he said and laughed just as we pulled out of the far too intimate hug. I immediately missed the warmth and spark he gave.

"Ah, these must be your friends, Xander," a strong voice said from behind him. I looked past Xander to see a dainty woman and a man. Xander strongly resembled both. These had to be his parents.

"And your girlfriend?" His mother playfully smirked the same smirk as Xander. No wonder where he gets it from.

My eyes widened as I realized that she was referring to me. "No! No, I'm just a friend." I nodded rapidly, seeing her smirk grow even more. "We are just friends."

"I see," his father smiled softly, exchanging secretive looks with Xander's mom and with Michael. The accusations made a fiery red rise from my neck up to my cheeks. I never blushed, yet here I was.

Xander rubbed his neck and looked at us before back to his parents. "We really are just friends, you know."

"Uh huh," his mom laughed as they both approached closer to us in the living room.

One look at the couple, and you can majorly tell the difference. His mother was more witty and fiery, whereas his father was quiet but still powerful: a perfect balance.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Kings and Mrs. Kings," I said with a nod in their direction after the others introduced themselves, except Michael since he's already met them.

"Call me Roy." His father shook my hand and returned the nod.

"Ugh, please call my Beatrice! 'Mrs. Kings' makes me feel old," she giggled, shaking my hand. "And it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Aurora."

I scrunched my brows. "How did you-"

"This kid won't shut the hell up about you, of course." Roy chortled.

"Dad!"

"Don't be fond of lying, Xander."

Xander rolled his eyes, and sat down on the couch next to an embarrassingly drunk Cooper. I took the seat next to Xander, my gift bag in hand.

"Well," Beatrice started, looking around at the group of teenagers, "Roy and I better be on our way for Big Bear soon, so Xander open your presents now."

"Yeah, I ordered you a cake, by the way!" Cooper yelled for no reason. "I know you, man. You like your cake if you know what I'm saying."

Xander laughed half-heartily at the drunk joke and turned to the present being shoved in his face by Michael.

"I miss being this young. Don't you, Roy?" Beatrice said to her husband, a nostalgia filling her eyes as she put a hand on her chest, probably remembering her teenage years.

"Hey, Beatrice, you can always stay for the party!" Cooper slurred. His remark was followed by an eruption of laughs from us.

Michael laughed and nodded. "You two are the real party animals! You've had enough party experience to last a century!"

"We're in our fifties not our hundreds, Michael!" Beatrice scolded Michael as if he was her own.

Roy erupted into chuckles. "Now Michael, if this 55-year-old man wanted to party, it wouldn't be with you."

Michael slapped on a faux hurt expression. "Ouch."

"Anyways, open your gifts!" Sabrina said.

"Mine first!" Michael yelled like a child and shoved a box in Xander's face.

Xander rolled his eyes and proceeded to rip apart the tedious wrapping which I assumed Sabrina wrapped for Michael.

"A bottle of this?" Xander looked wide-eyed at the expensive-looking red wine while his parents rolled their eyes at it jokingly. God, they were literally the most chill parents ever.

"Hell yeah! Only the best," Michael smiled, doing that universal guy handshake with him.

"Thanks, bro."

Michael and Xander not only acted like best friends, but like brothers. Sure, they would probably deny actually caring for each other, yet they still treat each other like family. Even Xander's parents treated Michael as if he was part of the family.

"Now, you kids better not open that bottle until you're 21," Beatrice said but obviously knew they'd open it up long before the age of 21.

After fifteen minutes of the five of us throwing our gifts at him, Cooper's cake arrived.

Sabrina got him a hoodie, Olivia a basket of chocolate, and Cooper a rather inappropriate gift which had us all howling with laughter. It was finally my turn for Xander to open my gift for him.

"I swear to god, if this was overpriced, I'm making you return it," he said as he started to take out the tissue from the bag.

I rolled my eyes. "You aren't returning it, okay?"

He opened the small box and read the dog tag on the silver chain aloud. 

"Alexander: protector of man." He read the green-lettered engraving I got custom done on the the tag. I wanted to get something that had meaning. It took a little more extra money to get the engraving done quickly, but it was definitely worth it.

He went quiet as he kept scanning over the plate over and over. His parents and Michael cautiously looked at him as if he was made of glass, and our the other four seized chatter as they awaited his reaction.

Dear god, was the gift that bad?

"I love it," he finally breathed out, calming my thoughts. His eyes looked up at me and the glint was there again: the happy one. The one that had enough light to brighten up the stars at night.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He nodded, pulling me into another tight hug. "Thanks, gem."

"You actually like it?"

He rolled his eyes and put me at arms length, never taking his silver eyes off mine. "Obviously I love it."

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"Man, this party is great!" One of Xander's football teammates patted him on the back as we made our way through the crowd, the neon strobe lights momentarily blinding my vision.

Xander nodded in notice and continued our trek to the kitchen where the music was slightly muffled. His parents had already left to Big Bear, like they did every year I was told.

"You're seriously going to stay sober the entire time? On your birthday?" I asked Xander, leaning back on the counter. I scrunched my nose at the scent of alcohol mixed with sweat from the dancing bodies crowded in the center of the room. My head was already starting to pound and I didn't even have a teaspoon of alcohol.

He nodded with a grin. "Uh-huh."

I eyed him skeptically before my eyes made their way down to his dog tag around his neck. The feeling that he wore it proudly made me match his wide-eyed smile.

"Don't accept drinks from anybody, okay?"

"I'm not stupid." I rolled my eyes before I caught myself. "Well, not anymore." 

My clammy hands clenched behind my back when I noticed some guy looking me up and down. 

"I-I shouldn't have worn this," I sighed, looking down at my light pink body-con dress which ended a couple inched above my knee. "I look like a prostitute, don't I?"

Xander snapped his head around to make direct eye contact with the guy. "Eyes off, bud," he all but barked over the blasting music before turning back to me. "You're stunning, and it's way less skin than any other girl here. But what you wear doesn't determine who you are, nor does it make it okay for guys to automatically think you'll say yes." He sincerely smiled, making my heart pound even faster.

Ew, when did I become this pathetic fangirl of him?

I opened my mouth to suggest we get a drink or dance, but some kid on his football team beat me to it.

"Hey, Kings!" Xander turned around to see who was calling him in the crowd. "A game of beer pong, yeah?"

Xander sighed then turned back to face momentarily, deciding between playing or staying with me.

"Just go," I smiled and nodded in the direction of his friend.

"You sure?"

I nodded and pushed him to which he feigned hurt.

"I'll be back, gem!" he said and spun around to jog to the crowd where the game was. "You stay there!"

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After about half an hour, Xander was still busy challenging our schoolmates to games of beer pong, and I was simply observing.

It wasn't unusual for him to be surrounded by people all the time, really. Xander just had this gravitational pull that made anybody want to be around him. No matter how different he was from a person or what clique they came from, they would still want to be accepted by Xander and have his approval. He was just like that.

The music was still pumping through my veins, the scent of alcohol still wafted through the air, and bodies were still dancing in the center of the room. Energy was coursing through my body, and it seemed as if it was the only thing in the air with all the movement and activity.

Awhile ago, I decided to get a cup of water, just so nobody would offer a drink to me, and thankfully, it seemed to be working. Until now.

"Hey, sweets," a red-headed guy slurred, obviously beyond tipsy since the floor seemed to look as if it swayed under his feet.

I smiled a little and averted my eyes to my chipped nails just so I wouldn't have to make eye contact with him. "Uh, hi."

Where the hell is Xander? I thought to myself as I looked around and tried to spot his tall frame above the group.

"How about we get outta here n' have a good time?"

I snapped my head back to him and stood firm in my place.

"No thanks," I rapidly shook my head back and forth with my eyes wide.

He eyed me skeptically and downed more of the drink in his red cup. "I think you want me. I mean, who wouldn't?" He smirked playfully. If anything, this guy's smirk just made more chills arise on my skin rather than comfort me like Xander's.

I shook my head and attempted to get lost in the dancing crowd. Music pumped through my body, matching the beat of my heart. But my arm was grabbed and pulled back, temporarily hurting my shoulder.

"Ugh!" I grunted and yanked my hand out of the clammy hands which belonged to none other then the redhead.

"C'mon, babe," he slurred his words and led me to some quietened corner of the living room.

The bass of the music pumped below me as he kept placing one of his feet after another, me practically being dragged behind him. 

"I said no!" My voice shakily yelled as he started to kiss my neck against a wall.

My statement going unheard just led to more of the sloppy, disgusting kisses. I kneed his crotch, not allowing myself to freeze up again, and made a run for it, meeting Xander's seething glare which burnt holes across the room. He looked ready to kick some ass when he strode across to us and landed a single punch to the guy's jaw, causing a crack to echo through the now quiet room. 

All music seized. The chatter came to a halt. The only thing on everybody's mind was that hit which would undoubtedly lead to more.

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i do not condone underage drinking! these characters are pieces of my imagination, so the drinking is solely for the story and not real lol.

we're almost at 700 reads! oh my gosh, i love you! -sophia