With a half-smile on her face, Ramona watched Nate down the shot of peach Ciroc in one swift gulp. Her eyes sparkled with excitement when he went on to grab the liquor from her hands and take a few chugs straight from the bottle. His eyes watered as he did so, and the look on his face after he'd finally put down the bottle made Mona burst into a giggling fit. Nate had proved himself, that was for sure. "I definitely thought you were gonna puke all over the place," the young woman said, trying to control her laughter as she poured another shot. "I probably would've. I hate the taste of peach Ciroc. Nasty stuff. I like dark liquor a whole lot better. I had some before I came here, which probably wasn't that great of an idea since my pops always told me not to mix dark and light liquor..." Ramona had to catch herself before she started rambling, one of the few negative effects of her drunkenness. See, Mona was what many people deemed as a Happy Drunk; it'd only be a matter of time before she'd be unable to control her laughter and over-friendliness.

When Jasper brought up the fact that she was hot, Mona simply nodded her head in agreement. "Now that you mention it, it is pretty warm out here. And I mean, I always get super hot when I'm drinking. I'm burning up right now..." As Mona spoke, her eyes began to wander around the party. She saw a bunch of familiar faces, one being her roommate Camilla. She was just about to suggest that they include her in whatever game they were about to play when she spotted Junie MacMillan not too far away from the rest of the crowd. Suddenly, Mona tapped her two friends on the shoulders and nodded towards an area of the lake a little ways away from where her best friend and Jasper's brother stood. "I think I know how we can cool off, if you two are up for it," Mona said as she started skipping away. "Last one in takes three more shots of tequila!"

It wasn't until after Mona reached the edge of the water that she realized she hadn't worn a bathing suit underneath her outfit. That, and she'd spent way too much time on doing her hair to even think about having it drenched in lake water. Under normal circumstances, that probably would've been enough for her to rethink what she'd been planing to do. Drunk Mona, on the other hand, couldn't care less; she pulled her skirt off in record time, and went running into the water without a care in the world.

For most people, trying to fight their way through a crowd of slightly inebriated university students would be a monumental task. Of course, most people didn’t get a lot of practice having to do it on skates for most of their life. Plus, they weren’t giant mountain men. For Kieran it was no issue, even as he made sure Lottie was perfectly balanced on his shoulders. Besides, that meant that Kieran had a lookout. “How we looking up there, Munchkin? Got a line on the cabin?”

“Got the target on site, Chief!” Charlotte cheerfully called out to him, her hazel eyes locked on the wooden cabin only a few feet away from them. From her privileged position on top of the broad, muscled shoulders of the living boulder that was Kiki, she had a clear view of the location they were scouting for. Lottie could see what looked like at least two people on the top floor- which didn’t bother her, though. With the size of the cabin, everyone could do as they pleased without getting in the way of each other. “I think there’s, like, two people in there. But they’re upstairs. I don’t think they’ll bother us.”

“Even if they try, you and I both know they won’t succeed,” Kieran confirmed as he lumbered towards the door. His focus was solely on getting to the promised land of the cabin, so much so that the faces on the way just became dark blurs, save for the one neon blur in the side of his vision. That was a little weird. It shouldn’t have stood out the way it did, but it did. Oh well. Bigger fish to fry. He knelt down beside the door to allow his paramour to climb down off his body… for the moment. “I believe this is our stop, Lotts.”

“Oh, but I don’t want to get down!” she whined and pouted, refusing to let go of Kiki and resting her head on top of his.

“As much as I would love to just have you on top of me all night dear, I can’t imagine my shoulders are going to be all that comfortable for a whole night.” He reached behind his back and did his best to pat Charlotte’s shoulder. “Besides, you know I can give you this spectacular view again any time you want.”

“Ugh, fine...” Lottie sighed in defeat, taking advantage of Kieran’s help to unmount from his shoulders. Once she was firmly planted on the ground once more, she straightened out her outfit, took his hand and dragged him into the building.

Upon first impressions, the cabin was a lot larger than it appeared to be from the outside. A few stray party attendees were floating around the ample room: mostly duos or small groups of people looking for a quieter place to talk. But lucky for them, the giant jenga Charlotte had spotted on her way in was still in the corner, miraculously unoccupied. Letting out an excited shriek, she quickened her pace and urged Kiki to keep up by pulling his hand.

When they had finally reached their destination, Lottie turned to Kieran with a smile. “Can I have a kiss for good luck before we start the game?” she cooed, wrapping her arms around him for the millionth time and pulling him closer to her.

A soft chuckle escaped Kieran’s lips as he bent down to allow Lottie to bring him to her. “I think I’m the luckier one in this case,” he noted as he planted the requested kiss on Lottie’s lips. “But hey, who am I to argue with that kind of superstition?” He started setting up the game, but honestly he didn’t plan for it to go on too long. Strip jenga could potentially take forever. Especially given how many different components of that outfit Lottie was wearing. After the tower was set up in a slightly haphazard manner, Kieran gestured to his lady friend. “Would you like to make the first move?”

“Of course!” Charlotte shrieked, excitedly clapping her hands together and turning her attention to the jenga game in front of her. Once she was one hundred percent concentrated on the game, it was easy for her to find a loose piece of the puzzle, and even easier to carefully pull the wooden piece out from between two others in the middle of the tower. The blonde clapped her hands again and gave little hops of joy before turning back to Kiki. “Alright, Viking! Shirt. Off.”

Kieran smirked as he obliged Lottie, slowly lifting his Hawks shirt off his body, revealing the well-sculpted physique that allowed him to be such an effective power forward on the ice and an effective piggybacker in the field. “I wouldn’t be clapping for too long there, Ace,” he warned the giddy blonde in front of him. He surveyed the tower quickly, trying to find another loose piece before finding one on the side. He deftly removed the block of wood and tossed it on top of the tower. “There we go! All right, Lottie. Um… that is all one outer layer of dress, right? Over the pink? I think you can take all of that off now.”

Beaming, Charlotte did as she was told, and happily removed her white mesh mini dress. Her cheeky neon pink bodysuit was in full display now, showing off her small, yet well proportioned body. Giggling, the blonde slowly turned around in front of Kieran, giving him a chance to enjoy her figure from all angles before turning back to the game. “My turn!” she announced, quickly finding and removing another middle piece sitting in one of the bottom rows of the tower, daintily placing back at the top and looking back at Kieran again. “Jeans! Off!” Man, this game was fun!

All Kieran could do is shake his head as he obliged Lottie, undoing the belt of his jeans and dropping them to the floor, revealing the checkered pair of boxer shorts he was wearing underneath “Starting to think I wasn’t as well prepared for this game as I thought! Ah well, this next pull is going to be worth it to see what you’ve got under that bodysuit of yours again.”

As the Viking rotated around the tower to try and get a better glimpse of an easy move to accomplish his new goal, that same yellow neon glint caught his eye that he noticed en route to the cabin. It definitely wasn’t moving as much now though, but when Kieran looked out the window, it was clear just what the blur was. The dyed hair under the pale lights that had been dragged out to this middle-of-nowhere field was a dead giveaway now that the hockey player was no longer ambling with purpose to a new location.

That was Joey all right. It hadn’t been that long since Kieran last saw her. After all, he had helped Lottie move in some heavier stuff she had acquired during the summer break. But Joey was grabbing hold of… another girl? It was hard to tell. The other person had a slight height advantage on Joey, but not enough to give the game away. “Lotts, is that… is that Joey down there? Because it looks like she’s not as interested in joining you and me as you thought. Unless she’s bringing that person in to make it a foursome…”

Frowning in confusion, Lottie shifted her attention to where Kieran was pointing to. In all honesty, she had been both completely absorbed in their game and greedily staring at his body as if it was the best creation in the universe to really pay much attention to their surroundings. But, yep, he wasn’t seeing things. That was Joey, all right: locked in a kiss with, of all people, their sorority sister Jade Scott.

The short blonde curiously cocked her head sideways. “Huh. I didn’t think she’d be into Jade...” Charlotte commented matter-of-factly, keeping her hazel eyes on the two girls until Jade broke the kiss. Then it was time to return to Kieran. “Don’t worry about Joey bringing in someone else, Kiki,” she reassured him with a smile. “She won’t. I mean: yeah, we have an open relationship. But from that to dragging a fourth person into our plans without telling me? No way.”

”That Jade Scott?” Kieran asked, well aware of another of Meadow University’s stars of sport. She was getting national team buzz already from the sounds of things, while Kieran wasn’t close to getting a sniff from the Canadian hockey team. It was a shame.

“Looks like it,” Lottie shrugged nonchalantly, clearly unbothered by what they had just witnessed.

“Well, maybe Joey does have a type, and that type is amazing superstar athletes like you.” Kieran should have probably touched on that whole open relationship thing that Lottie mentioned, but weren’t they technically in an open relationship too? Or at least a very strong friends with benefits situation. He couldn’t really be mad if Lottie was dipping her nets into more than one port. As long as it wasn’t some other dude. Heck, he was going to be taking advantage of it from the sounds of things.

Charlotte chortled at his compliment and observation. “Maybe she does,” she repeated, shrugging again. But after a moment of silence, the young woman quickly snapped her fingers and pointed to the jenga tower again. “Now stop buying yourself time and take your turn already! I know you’re dying to see what’s underneath all this…” she simpered, giving another little twirl.

There was another thing he had to take advantage of. He had decided on a move. Kiki was really going to put the pressure on by taking from the same tier he had taken from before. A single brick this early? It would really make Lottie think. But maybe Kieran was thinking a little too much as he made that pull. He definitely lifted on the block of wood too much and the side of the tower started collapsing on him and the shrieking blonde, the giant bits falling towards him as he caught a couple of pieces to the shins and Lottie gleefully celebrated in the corner.“Fuckin’ Jeezus!” he cursed as he brushed the wood off his legs. ”Well that backfired. ...I’m guessing you’re not just going to let me get away with taking my shoes off, eh?”

Lottie could only smirk in satisfaction and teasingly shake her head. “Not a chance!” she tittered, trying her best to appear seductive as she skirted through the wooden blocks of jenga while making her way towards him. “I could be mean, you know? Having you take these off right here and now…” she trailed off, hooking her thumbs on the elastic waistband of his boxers and biting her lower lip. “But I’m much too greedy to let anyone else see what I see. So, how about we take our business somewhere a little more private? I take these off-” she playfully tugged at the elastic band. “-and I promise I’ll let you take mine off too.”

Kieran nodded his head in agreement. "That sounds like a very fair compromise, Ace. Or should I say, world strip Jenga champion? Anyway, I’ll let you lead me wherever you want.”

The young man watched as the beaming Charlotte took both of his hands and guided him into the nearest empty bathroom, making sure to lock the door behind them before leaping straight into his arms and wrapping him up in a passionate kiss. K.O. knew he was knocked out of the Jenga battle. But in a way, it worked out well, because he’d definitely won the war tonight. Junior year was getting off to a great start.

Theo was near his boiling point.

Correction. He was past his boiling point.

He was tired of hearing Cassian’s voice belittle him, acting as though he was above Theo in any regard. He was tired of seeing him act like the pompous rich asswipe Theo had promised himself he never become. He was sick to death of seeing him get closer to Mac while he just stood in the back.

Theo lacked self-control some times and had a problem with his temper--scratch that! His temper wasn’t the problem but rather those who made him lose control of it. If it wasn’t Theo himself, then it was his father and mother; and if they didn’t make him lose his mind, then the kids he grew up with who teased his brother made him want to fight. There was always somebody who was to blame. There was always someone who made him see everything in front of him as red as his hair.

Honest to God, it was people like Cassian Lee that fed the beast inside Theodore.

When he belittled him, addressed him by his last name as if he was beneath using Theo’s name when he talked to him, and treating him like a child, Theo lost it. He didn’t hear anything but the thundering rage he felt. And, In an act that was otherwise blacked out, he hadn’t realized that he had rushed towards him and tackled Cassian to the ground until he was on top of Cass, aiming a balled fist towards the smug bastard’s face..

It was late in the evening when Lola Russo awoke with a start, suddenly jumping upright into a seating position in the middle of her king-sized bed. The lamps in her bedroom were still on, filling the otherwise dark room with warm light. In her semi-awake state, the scenes of her last dream played back in her head: a reunion, a good fuck, a party, and a love confession so heartfelt and sentimental it made her cringe just to think about.

Blake De Stefano had been the person on Lola's mind before her drifting off to DreamLand. It had been through secondhand sources that the blonde had found out Blake had accepted a schooling opportunity in Europe, and would be completing the rest of his degree there. If she was truly honest with herself, a part of her was sad to see him go, and would probably always what would’ve been had she bothered to give him the chance he deserved. But the predominant, rational side of her brain? It was celebrating. Blake being out of the picture gave her a peace of mind she hadn’t realized she’d been missing in the first place. His absence meant that there would be no more arguments about what they were or weren’t, no more trying to explain her reluctance to commitment, no more sneaking around with the other guys to avoid hurting him (even if they weren’t official), and no more feeling guilty about breaking his heart. Lola was as she was meant to be: free to do what and who she pleased.

Which shifted her thoughts to the man she was 95% certain had stolen her heart.

Once upon a time, in the beautiful port city of Los Angeles, Lola Russo and her Marymount friends had decided to celebrate their first girl’s night out in four months at Delirium nightclub. The last night of Los Angeles Fleet Week happened to be taking place that evening, and Delirium was filled with the brave sailors of the US Navy, each of them in different shades of gorgeous. The girls had been making their way to the bar when one of them collided with Lola… And, as corny as it sounded, it had been love at first sight. Their night together was definitely one of the fondest memories of Lola’s life, and his face and name would be forever branded in her mind like a tattoo…

United States Navy Seaman Brad Hart.

Bradley. Fucking. Hart.

Wait a second...

Hart…

The realization hit her like a ton of bricks, and she wanted to smack her palm against her dumb face. With her heart now racing, Lola snached her phone from the nightstand, unlocked the device and dove headfirst into her social media apps. It didn’t take long to find the answer to her question, in the form of a post on Joey Hart’s Instagram: a beautiful snapshot of the love of her life dressed up in his impeccable white uniform, with an excited little Joanna on top of his shoulders. "Big doofus! How dare u not come to Meadow with me! Who will protect me!? 😭 I kid! I'm proud of you brother! I know you're gonna make a great sea man! Float on, fellow twin of mine! 💞💕💖"

Lola stared down at the phone in disbelief. How could she have been so stupid? Why did it take her so long to make the possible connection? It wasn’t necessarily rocket science. All this time, wondering how she could stay in contact with Brad when they hadn’t exchanged contact information… And the answer had been staring at her right in the face.

She needed to find Joey. Now.

Now a woman with a mission, Lola threw on the first casual outfit she could put together (not like she’d be hanging around that swamp for long) and set out to find the answers to her questions. As she made her way down the instructed route, she was thankful for her choice in attire. Anything else would’ve made it a real bitch to navigate. By the time she arrived, the party was at its peak. Her foolish peers were at various stages of drunk, horny or just plain stupid, bringing a grimace to her face. She pushed and elbowed her way through the crowd, quelling any protests or complaints with a single death glare while keeping a vigilant eye out for the short, bleached blonde girl she was looking for. Her first sweep offered no leads, but something strange caught her attention on the second sweep.

A small group was huddled along a beer pong table: two alternative-looking blonds, a red-headed male, two Asians of opposite sexes- and the tension surrounding them was plastered all over their faces and body language. The furious redhead was seemingly confronting the smug Asian boy, while the average-looking girl intervened and the blond boys stared. Frowning, Lola put her ‘Finding Joey’ mission on the back burner and set out on the task of finding out what the hell was going on. She’d been just steps away from the table when Theodore Bonfamille tackled Cassian Lee to the ground and aimed his raised fist at her friend’s perfect face.

Joanna Penelope Hart had never been the type to initiate anything. For her entire life, she had always been the follower, the bottom to a top, and the sub in any situation you could think of. Whether it was taking a back seat to her three-minutes-older-than-her twin brother, Brad or obeying family law by being forced to move to London because of her sweet sixteen and what happened. She followed the leader for most of her life.

She even sometimes took a back seat to Lottie. She never cared because she realized that some people were meant to lead the charge in life and others were meant to follow the charging bulls of the world. Some were meant to have a fire lit while some existed to hold the candle to the open flame. But when Joey took some initiative and popped the E and drank until she felt her own fire being lit up, she knew this was right.

And what she knew to be right was kissing Jade.

When their lips touched, a magnetic explosion coursed through her body. For the first time in a while, she felt…alive. Maybe part of the reason was how hurt she felt that Lottie left her. And she knew it was wacky that she felt hurt by that. It wasn’t like they were together. They weren’t together. So there was no reason for her to feel like she betrayed anyone. No, there wasn’t any reason. Not only did she want to kiss Jade but she wanted to do it again, maybe even take it further than that.

“No, we’re not! She’s with Kiki. So, I’m not..”Joey turned around and saw up on the second floor where she saw someone at the window. For a moment, she thought she was seeing things but nope! She saw Kiki and a minute later she saw Lottie pull him away. Huffing, Joey pulled Jade into another kiss, though this time she began walking back. Slowly turning Jade around, Joey led her against a tree next to the table. She pulled away for a moment just to get some breathing room. “She’s up there with Kieran. And we’re not together.” So this could happen

Joey wanted to say to her but she stood there, just looking at how speechless her friend was. Joey was drunk, probably well on her way to being high and she was so, so, so confused. She felt like she was betraying Lotts but she was hurting so badly. “Jade, I don’t know what I want to do.”

That made two of them.

Jade wanted to be on the prowl. She wanted to be the same kind of person off the field that she was on the field. She wanted to be in control and taking charge of a situation and making the shot and burying the goal and getting the glory that she had yet to taste on a global stage.

She didn’t know she wanted this.

This was completely off the left flank. Joey was being so forceful. Jade didn’t know that the Hart girl had it in her. Seeing her around the sorority house, hanging around her roommate Lottie, following her tennis-playing best friend wherever she went. There was no way something this romantic should have happened like this.

And yet, here she was. The big girl on campus was pinned against a tree by a neon pixie. Jade was enjoying the hell out of it.

But it seemed like Joey was just as conflicted as Jade was. When Joey said that she and Lottie weren’t together, that her roommate was off with Kieran O’Connor… sorry, Kiki. Jade was never going to let him live that nickname down now that she was fully aware of it. Anyway, it did make sense that Lottie would choose to go after one of the stars of the Hawks’ hockey team. Note to self: ask Lottie if Kieran carries a big stick off the ice as well.

What did that mean for Joey, though? Here she was; lips quivering, the bourbon and the headbutt probably having done a number on her already, possibly having just realized that she was no longer in a relationship. Jade may literally have been the first person she ran into. Was it right to take advantage of such a situation? On the field, if an opponent made a mistake, Jade was more than happy to pounce on it for an easy opportunity to score. This was real life. The chance for error ranged far wider than just a missed shot on goal. She had to be responsible here.

Jade finally let her hand fall from the back of Joey’s neck and rest on the New York girl’s shoulder. “Joey… I’m not going to lie and say that this wouldn’t check something off a list for me that’s been there for a little bit, but you have to look at me for a second. Take a minute and take a breath with me, OK? I know you’ve already had more booze than me. I know you took a vicious hit to the head. I know you just saw your roommate with some half-naked dumbass jock. I just want you to take this minute, and make sure that you’re doing what you want, OK? Because if I’m truly what you want in that way, I’m more than happy to be that right now. But if you’re doing this because of all those other things, I don’t want you to hurt yourself like that.

Because I don’t want to be something you regret. I don’t think I can live with that. So Joey, I’m happy to stay here with you and we can do whatever you want. But you have to be sure that it’s what you, not the booze, not the concussion, not the hurt, it’s gotta be what you want. You get what I’m saying?”

As she brought herself to follow Jade’s advice, Joey took in a breath, which caused her to wince from the pain emanating from her forehead but she did it and a few more times, at that! With every inhale came a brief exhale and soon she was slightly less agitated than she had been and then she tried to process everything Jade had said.

If she was honest with herself right now, she was annoyed. She wasn’t annoyed at Jade (well not majorly so). No, her irritation was one-hundred percent directed at Lottie and KiKi. It was directed at how they were allowed to have fun and Joey, even though Jade did say she was fine with it if she was doing it for the right reasons (she wasn’t). But she didn’t know. Even now, as the usually bubbly girl sourily stared at the pair of enticing chocolate kisses and full lips she wanted to kiss again. She had enough of a buzz to know that maybe she shouldn’t but she wasn’t at the point to where Jade should feel guilty. Still, maybe that wasn’t the question she should be asking herself or Jade for that matter.

“I don’t know, maybe you’re right,” the girl spoke, biting her lip. “I don’t even know why I’m mad at them. Lottie and Kieran, I mean. There’s no exclusive anything, so it’s not like I have a reason to be buttmad at them, right?” She asked Jade, hoping for some outside perspective and maybe for someone to help her make sense of it all.

Jade slowly guided Joey to the ground, leaning her back against the tree that was not two minutes earlier was supporting Jade’s back for an entirely different kind of connection. She kept her arm wrapped around her shoulder though. She read enough teammates in the locker room to know that no matter what, Joey needed to feel that someone was looking out for her at this moment in time. “Well,” she started. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but until you told me you and Lottie weren’t together, I definitely thought you were together. I mean, you two are pretty much inseparable at the sorority. But even if you’re not, and my best friend ditched me to go hump some dumbass pucks-for-brains Canuck, I’d be pretty ticked about that. Course, y’all ditched me back at the house and I came here by myself, so who the hell knows anything?

“Anyway, the point I’m trying to make here is that you have a right to your feelings, Joey. You have a right to be really ticked off about how Lottie treated you tonight. Now, maybe she’s the type of girl who will make it up to you later, or tomorrow, or some time. But for now, your feelings are perfectly valid, and you have a right to be royally ticked.”

Jade wasn’t sure where she was going with this. A part of her brain still wanted her to add “And if fucking me under this tree will help you work out being ticked, then I’m happy to help.” But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She didn’t get that much vodka into her yet. Besides, Evil Jade was just a rumor.

“Oh my God!” She chirped, frowning almost instantly, appearing about as distraught as anyone could. “I’m so sorry! We didn’t mean to intentionally leave you behind!” Joey looked like a puppy dog who just got yelled at for the first time by their master. “I mean, there was a lot going on before the party and I swear it wasn’t intentional!” She spoke, knowing full well exactly what made her and Lotts forget Jade, which only made Joey feel worse about it. “I just..this whole day was a mess and that’s even before what’s happening now.” She held her head, feeling the headache was getting worse by the minute.“I need to sit down.” Not waiting for the chance to park it on one of the couches inside the cabin, Joey slid down and sat on the cold ground, her legs feeling the full brunt of the coolness she leaned against the rough bark of the tree where she had pressed Jade against a few moments ago.

She felt like the entire room was spinning, or maybe she was. It was so hard for her to deal with what was happening. She didn’t understand why seeing Lottie with him bothered her so much, nor did she understand why she felt like she was betraying her best friend by kissing Jade. The image of Lottie being mad at her made her want to die and that’s exactly where her mind went as soon as she pictured the conversation that they might have. She assumed the worst and it was starting to show as Joey curled her legs close to her chest and locked her arms over her knees, and started to lightly sob, whimpering somewhat.

Apparently Evil Jade was more than just a rumor. There was no need for the Colorado native to inject that petty barb in what was supposed to be a speech to make Joey feel better. Maybe she was in the vodka more than she thought. “Hey, hey, hey, Joey. Joey! Joey! Girl! It’s OK! I’m not really that mad! I’m kidding! Girl, come here!”

Jade didn’t have a lot of experience dealing with mental breakdowns, but she had seen enough comforting going on when looking over at opposing benches. She wrapped her arms around Joey and pulled her close. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you cry like that! I would never mean that! Fuck… It’s OK! It’s going to be OK! I mean, I can talk to Lottie and try and smooth things out? Or… I don’t know! Just please stop crying, Joey! I’m sorry…”

When Jade had mentioned she’d talk to Lottie, as if wanting the complete opposite, Joey clung to her for dear life, looking at her with a desperation in her eyes, glitter meshed with rainbow mascara and she slowly shook her head. “No don’t be!” She wiped her tears away and with it, an ungodly display of pixie dust transferring from her face to hands. “I’m okay! I swear! You don’t have to talk to her!” Joey masked an obvious cry for help under a smile that she had perfected. It was her go to when she wanted to prevent certain things from happening. Jade talking to Lottie was one of them.

“OK, OK, I won’t do that,” Jade affirmed. Whatever she needed to do to help Joey snap out of this state. “Joey, look. I can’t pretend to know what exactly the levels are between you and Lottie. Truth is, I don’t really have any experience with anyone that much. But, it’s obvious that this is hurting you in some way. And if I’m not going to talk to Lottie about it, then maybe you need to. You two need to figure out exactly what you have, because if you’re not together, and you’re not open, then seeing that maple-chugging beaver jockey with Lottie shouldn’t bother you to this point. I mean, you’re a freaking amazing girl! You come up with such great fashion designs those poutine-eating mountie huggers would have their minds blown. That Canucklepuck can’t compete with you!” She gave Joey an affectionate shake. “Now tell me that you got this, like the New York girl I know you are!”

Joey was a mess right now, but Jade got her to smile and giggle; not only did she manage that, but everything she said was correct. It wasn’t like Joey didn’t agree with her. But on some level, maybe she couldn’t bring herself to do that just yet - at least, not in the way Jade wanted her to. “I don’t know--” She caught Jade’s glance and perked up. “I mean, I got this!” She proclaimed with half the conviction she would have if she truly believed what she said.

Jade beamed, not sure if she totally got through to Joey but thrilled with the result either way. “That’s my girl!” She triumphantly leaned forward and planted another kiss on Joey’s lips.

I probably shouldn’t have done that. That definitely wasn’t smart. After all that talking. Why did I do that? Fuck! Brush it off Jade. Brush it off!

She quickly retreated from Joey’s face and looked at her. “I’m sorry, Joey! I got excited! That’s how we celebrate on the pitch!”

As she sat there, her eyes gazing upon Jade’s weary expression and still in shock -- well, not shock but more like she was caught off-guard. The more she thought about it, this must’ve been what Jade felt when Joey kissed her. Unprepared for the sudden union of lips and the pure electricity causing the heart to pump faster, because that’s what Joey felt as soon as their lips touched.

“I didn’t mind,” Joey smirked at Jade, somewhat fidgeting her fingers together. “You’re a great kisser, Jade Scott!” She giggled, nudging her shoulder. “I could use a dip in the lake. Need to rinse off all of this glitter and rundown makeup.” Joey stood up, brushing the dirt off her neon bodysuit. “Wanna join me?”

Crisis averted.

At least the initial one anyway. Still, Jade did manage to get Joey’s mind off her problems for the moment and if kissing Joey in a fit of excitement and potential passion was the way to do that, then who was she to judge? Things were great now! Joey was OK. Lottie could be dealt with once she was done sucking maple sap from that timbit-scarfing lumberjack. For now, some physical activity sounded like a great idea.

“You know, I didn’t bother wearing a swimsuit, but I don’t think that’s going to matter,” Jade answered. “Let’s get wet, Joey!”

The second Theo’s fist made contact with Cassian, Lola winced. It should’ve been a crime to put so much as a dent in that perfect face- and if it would’ve been her the one to get punched, she’d most definitely be filing charges against whoever it was. Yet she should’ve known better than to think Cass wouldn’t put his own combat skills to action. The red-head’s next punch barely grazed Cass’ cheek, and the Asian male went right into defense mode with a punch to Theo’s jaw, a maneuver to unlock himself from his straddle, and a kick to the chest that had Lola smirking to herself.

But it seemed Cassian wasn’t done with Theo just yet, because he took advantage of his opponent’s crippled state to deliver some verbal blows that were most likely far more hurtful than any physical action he could’ve taken. It was something both he and Lola had in common. They knew their words caused more damage than blows, and they weren't afraid to use them to their advantage as the ultimate means to an end. The first few sentences were said in a tone of voice far too low for the blonde to hear, but his next phrases rang as clear as church bells announcing the beginning of mass, and they made Lola snort and shake her head. As cringe-worthy as those dialogue lines had been, there was no denying that smug bastard really knew how to put on a show.

Lola’s judgement, however, was short-lived. In the blink of an eye, the man was back on his feet and stalking away. If it wasn’t for her quick reaction in racing after him, she would’ve lost him to the crowd in no time. Thankfully, she was fast enough to catch up.

“Seriously, Cass? ‘I’ll make sure to let you know how she sounds under me’? ‘Find me later when you want to play with a big boy’? Seriously?” Lola sneered loudly as she chased him, scoffing and rolling her eyes at how utterly ridiculous his statement had sounded… Almost as if he believed what he was saying to be something he wanted to go through. “God, that has to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard you say- and I’ve heard you say plenty of dumb things throughout the years. Clearly that tackle had you hitting your big head against the ground pretty hard, because only brain trauma would have you actually thinking that tomboy girl is even remotely attractive in any way, shape or form.”