Do not open until Ahtnamas.

Alecis got bored real quick sitting by the food. She could only eat so much. So she decided to go talk to Lior, who looked extremely bored.

As she walked over, Alecis noticed Charlie and a clio who must have been the new guy. Poor Rowan.

Alecis pushed that as far out of her head as it could be, and continued the walk to yet another Overloridian.

"Hey, Lior," Alecis said, hoping he wouldn't mind talking to her.

Lior looked up. Oh my god. He had to look terrible. He must've.

He offered her the soberest smile he could muster. He remembered when they were so close, and saved her in Theodore Lane that night. Lior set down his drink.

"Hi, Alecis." Of course he wouldn't mind talking to her. And he was buzzed, so the next thing was completely logical. "I missed you."

And he meant it. He looked down at his lap quickly, his hair falling in his eyes. Then back up at her, "I'm sorry I look so horrible."

It had been a while since Rowan had left the two to be alone, but there were only a few times that he actually left her thoughts. Charlie thought it had been enough time, and she turned to Lesley.

"I'm gonna go walk around a bit," she said, kissing his cheek.

"Alright, I'll catch up to you later," he replied. He was in the middle of a very interesting conversation with a clio from another Eilemaiden, and he didn't plan on leaving just yet. Charlie knew this would happen, and she nodded, walking off to find Rowan.

It didn't take long, since not many clio were hanging out with themselves. She pulled out a chair for herself at the table he was sitting at and sat down. She looked him up and down...he really didn't look too good.

"Hey," she said softly, knowing he'd hear her anyhow.

Rowan looked up at Charlie, then quickly back down at the table. What did she want? By the looks of it she didn't seem mad at him or anything. Though at the moment, Rowan wasn't sure which would hurt worse; her anger or her pity.

"Hey," he mumbled, hardly audible. He realized she was alone. "Where's Lesley?"

Lumi wrote:Lumi looked over at the girl who approached. "Hello there," she greeted. "Are you a friend of Quinn's? Careful--" she lowered her voice into an extremely audible whisper. "He kills clio."

Rose turned to her. "Excuse me? I cant seem to beleive that" she giggled "Quinn is so nice and even if he did then me and him would be alike in another way"She smiled at Quinn "I guessed that much." she smiled "No worries Quinn Shes just drunk right? " she smiled and walked off

"He's talking to some clio," she said, looking down at the table as well. It was so sad that they had to be like this, all awkward and sad and stuff. She really didn't like it, but at least she felt she could come up and talk to him.

"We really did appreciate the apology," she said, looking to him. Though Lesley hadn't acted like it after Rowan had left, Charlie could tell that he did. "I think it was really good of you to do that."

Eli finally showed up to the party, gift in hand and daemon at his side. He looked around at all the clio (damn, he was really late, huh?), trying to find Lucas. The gift in his hand was crappily wrapped, but at least you couldn't see the tin can with cookies inside of it. The present wasn't even from him, it was from his mom, "Mama Harpe," as she was called, and they were for Lucas for being "such a sweetiepie."

Eli headed into the crowd, glad that he was fairly tall so he could spot clio better...actually, it just made him easier to spot, since everyone else was pretty much around the same height.

Damn, this is gonna take forever, he said.

Nah, Lia replied. It's not that big. We'll find 'im. Eli nodded, continuing his search.

Rowan cringed at the way she said "we."

"I'm glad to hear that," he lied. While he did feel slightly better having apologized, at the same time he wanted to take it back and punch Lesley again. Why did Charlie come over to talk to him anyways? He already knew they were happy he'd said sorry. He was very close to just asking, "What do you want?" but didn't. He just stared at the table an waited for her to either talk or leave.

Rose grabbed a drink.Am I stupid?she asked herself.She bit her lip. Well you did just say to a guy you dont know much not to mention a overlordian that you killed someoneJezabel commented. She scowled It just popped out okayshe smashed the shot glass on the table after she drank it . You do realize that your situation is much different then a murder? She remembered the words and what happened and cringed .Just enjoy the party...Jezabel noted to her.
Rose shook her head.She felt dizzy If I can try
Jezabel commented out loud "Please dont drink to much you know the concequences" he said and padded away

"Mm," she said, looking down at the table for lack of anywhere else to look. She didn't know what to say...Rowan had become really hard to talk to. So she figured she'd just get to the point.

"I'm...worried about you, Rowan." She just kinda...spit it out onto the table. No talking around the subject. She wanted to tell him like it was. "I'm sorry that this upsets you, you deserve to be upset, really...but I just...I'm worried for your well-being."

Rose staggered around. Wasnt it amazing how much a woman could consume in fifteen minutes.SHe let out a a giggled hiccup. She couldnt walk much more.She fell hard actually onto a couch luckily.

Rowan flinched. Was it that obvious what a mess he was? Charlie hadn't even seen him at the Tavern yet (thank god) and she could still tell that he was getting himself into trouble. Did he really look that terrible?

"I'm fine, Charlie," he said quietly. He didn't want her pity. Alecis's pity he could handle. Lumi's pity he could handle. Charlie's pity was suffocating, and it just made him loathe himself even more than he already did. "You don't need to worry about me."

The thought of Charlie knowing that he was becoming a borderline alcoholic was almost too painful to even imagine.

Henry was the first to see Eli, the LOVE OF LUCAS' LIFE. He waved his hand to get his attention, hoping his brain wasnt to fried from Lucas' electrifying kisses. Not that Henry would know, its just how Becky assumes they would be. Lucas is a babydoll.

"Hey, Eli!" Henry made his way over to the boy, carefully pushing past drunk and sober clio, not giving a second thought to who might just be flying home tonight. He smiled at his joke.

When he finally caught up to him, he tugged on his sleeve. My was he tall. Henry wasn't short, but Eli was just so tall. "Hey, Eli," he said, relatively loudly. "Remeber me? I know where Lucas is if you want me to bring you to him. I know it'd be hard to find him in here."

Rose woke up lazily. It was strange how a woman could also recover from alcohol this wa to.She looked for the door outside. She saw Quinn. She staggered over to him and grabbed his sleeve "I need to talk to you " he slurred

"I can't really help it at this point, Rowan," she said. It was really obvious that Rowan wasn't okay, especially since Charlie had seen him when he was. This, the man sitting in front of her, was not the same man (or even close to the same man) that she fell in love with, and it was just pushing her away from him more.

"I know you're not okay, you don't have to pretend like you are. I just think you're makng things worse for yourself by being this way. As you can tell," she said, looking around. "No one really wants to talk to you. I remember how inviting you used to be. To me, at least."

Shit, what the fuck was she doing? She was making everything ten times worse.

"You know, I'm sure I'm not helping. I'm sorry. I should go."

Eli spotted Henry as he tried to get his attention, and he was thankful for it. "Of course I remember you, Henry. And yeah, that'd be great, thanks." He followed him as he lead him to wherever Lucas was, trying to make some small talk on the way.

"How've you been? I hope we Earalasians haven't been too much trouble," he said with a laugh. It really wasn't funny, but he felt he should talk to the guy. Plus, he wanted to know how he was doing. :] He was his Overloridian, and his boyfriend's bestie.

"Maybe you should. You feeling sorry for me isn't going to help," Rowan snapped, and immediately regretted it. What was the matter with him? He shook his head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just..."

Just what? Was it really Charlie's fault he had sunk to this level? Or was it his, for not being strong enough to handle his own problems?

"It's not that I don't think I need help, it's...There's just nothing you can do," he amended quickly. "So you might as well not waste your time worrying about me. Just go on and have fun with Lesley."

He was surprised at how bitter he sounded. Was he jealous of Charlie's happiness?

Henry nodded politely. "It's not a big deal," he smiled at him. "He's just right this way." He listened as the other asked him a few questions.

"I've been good, thanks," he grinned looking over at Eli. He laughed empathetically. "Nah you guys've been great." He knew Eli was older than he was and it always felt awkard to rule over many clio older than he was. "Hope it hasn't been to warm in Earalas for you guys." He laughed at his own joke, knowing full well the temperature in Earalas was just beautiful.

"How've you been? How's Mama Harpe?" Henry felt like he knew the woman after all the times Lucas told him about going to her house and kissing Eli inside the flower hoppe. "Lucas told me all about her." Understatement.

Quinn watched a drunken Rose aproach him and grab his sleeve.

"I need to talk to you"

"O-okay," Quinn said a little confused.

"Look, Rowan," she said, ignoring any bitterness that came her way. "I was stupid for just throwing you out of my life and giving up hope for you, but that never stopped the thoughts about you. It's not like I just forgot about you some day. I tried to make myself better, happier. I succeeded with Lesley, but seeing you like this completely defeats the purpose. I don't know if it was worth it.

"But I don't think getting me back now would change you. Plus, I don't know how easy it would be to love a guy who just gives up like that."

What the fuck am I doing? she asked Mae. Mae had no idea either. She was just having word vomits...but she guessed it didn't really matter, since she didn't plan on getting back with Rowan anyhow. He needed to make himself better on his own; she couldn't cure this.

She pulled him outside. "About what I said...killing someone...I think..." she slurred
She pushed herself against the wall. "I didn't mean it..." she mumbeled "And yeah..dont tell anyone that I DID say that..."

"Charlie, I already told you I don't want you back," Rowan reminded her, even though he wanted her back so badly. Finally he raised his head and looked her in the eyes. He felt the suffocating pain that made him feel physically sick. "You gave up on me before I gave up on myself."

Eli laughed at Henry's clever joke, not bothering to ruin it with a witty response. "Mama Harpe's been doing really well," he said happily. He was glad to hear that Lucas had been talking about her. "She's so excited about me and Lucas, it's pretty funny." He smiled, looking at all the clio around. He could tell that this was gonna be a really fun night.

Peyton was stoked, he liked parties, but he was mostly stoked because he had come with Charmaine, his bestest frannnnn in the whole wide world! He was about as high as Charmaine was, probably because they had gotten high together, and Charmaine was stooooned. George was sitting upon Peyton's head, flatening his crazy hair a bit.

Charmaine whispered in his ear, and it made him shiver, mostly because she was whipereing in his ear.

"Okay, lets," he whispered back.

Charlie didn't believe him hen he said he didn't want her back. She couldn't, ther was no way that he didn't. And she wasn't trying to be conceited, but really. They were Charlie and Rowan. What they had can't just go away. She didn't push it any further, though, since she knew it wouldn't make anything better.

"I know I did. You didn't deserve that, and you don't deserve this," she said. She wasn't sure what "this" was referring to, but she figured it might as well be anything. His current mental state, or having to see Charlie and Lesley together. It couldn't have been easy on him, and Charlie hated herself for it. She knew she couldn't do anything about it, which made her feel worse. She just wanted to help him, but she didn't know if she could.

"I wish I could help you feel better," she said, looking right back at him. "And if staying away from you would help me do that, then I will. Lesley and I can stay in Adhbhar, there's tons to do there. You just deserve so much better in life. You really do."