Liam set aside his glass as led me to the middle of the living room, where a bunch of other people had began to gather, slow dancing. We joined them, near the center of the room.

I sucked in a deep breath when he placed his hands on my waist, while I placed my hands on his shoulders. Shivers crawled up my spine just from his touch.

"You know, I still remember all the dances from back then," Liam started as we began moving to the music. I didn't know what dance we were doing, or if anyone even knew how to dance, so I was glad Liam was leading me along. "Like the Polka."

"Really? Which one are we dancing to right now?" I asked, glancing up at him curiously.

"I don't know, I'm just swaying to the music," he shrugged and I pressed my lips into a thin line, unimpressed. "I'm not just going to break out into the Polka, that's weird. And it's the wrong music for that." Liam defended himself, letting out a small laugh.

I couldn't help but follow along, chuckling, "That's true I guess."

We stayed silent for a few moments as I followed Liam's lead across the dance floor. Now I knew, we were just swaying at random.

"I don't remember any of the dances anymore," I said quietly, sighing.

After that day the royal Guards took my parents away, I ran off. I'd survived by passing through random villages, always paranoid that the King would find me. Dancing was the last thing on my mind. I also passed away five years later, from some disease that was going around, not that I had much to live for anyway.

"Well, aren't you lucky you have me to lead you?" Liam smirked, overconfidently.

"No," I lied immediately, feeling my cheeks begin to heat up. He was definitely the best dancer I'd ever been with, not that I'd ever admit that to him.

Avoiding Liam was definitely going to be harder than I thought. I didn't even know why I bothered at this point. My eyebrows knitted together when a Liam's glass of champagne sprung to my mind.

"You were drinking just now weren't you?" I asked and Liam nodded, nonchalantly. "Aren't you underage? My mom will kill you if she knew."

"And how would she know?" Liam tilted his head, challenging me. "Are you going to tell on me?"

I scoffed, "As if, I don't care. If she found out she might kick you out."

"Aww, so you do care about me?" he teased, his lips curling up as he watched me. He spun me around smoothly, catching me with a hand around my waist again. This time, he pulled me closer to him, my chest just inches away from his.

"N-no, I don't want your parents to be embarrassed by you," I fibbed the first lie that came to mind. I wanted to scoff again — please, as if I actually cared about Liam.

"Sure, I totally believe you,"  Liam said sarcastically as he laughed at my lie. "It's fine. I'm 21, completely legal."

"You're older than me?" my eyes bulged out of their sockets.

"Yes, Ophelia," Liam rolled his eyes, smiling. "I'm older than you in this life and in the last one."

"Darn," I grumbled under my breath, to which Liam chuckled.

Two centuries ago, he was also older than me. Given, it was not that much older, just a couple years. I was lucky then that I wasn't arranged to be married with someone years older.

"You know, you haven't changed much from back then," he said, so quietly that I almost couldn't hear him. I lowered my gaze, suddenly very interested in my heels.

I swallowed, not knowing what to say. I didn't know what Liam meant by that.

"Still so willing to help," he continued.

"Well... if you can, why not?" I shrugged.

We moved our feet in unison with the music, bringing me two centuries back. For a few seconds we remained silent. Finally, I glanced up, my eyes meeting his dark ones. Suddenly, it was as if no one else existed around us.

His hand left my waist as he tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. Tingles spread from my ear and down my spine. I felt my cheeks burn from the contact and I swallowed hard, freezing up.

Liam's eyes darted from mine to my mouth as he leaned in. Instinctively, I leaned away from him, keeping my gaze on our feet.

I felt his hands move from my ears down to my chin. With a finger, he tilted my head up, demanding my eyes to meet his dark ones.

The bright lights in the living room casted shadows along his face, and I couldn't help but admire him. From the pools of honey in his eyes, to the few freckles he had splattered across his nose, and to his sharp jawline. All the way to his soft lips.

This was the closest I'd ever been to him and yet, he moved even closer to me. His lips were just centimeters away from mine, his breath fanning over my cheek.

My eyes fluttered shut, waiting as my stomach performed multiple backflips.

The classical music faded and the crowd erupted in murmurs as they left the dance floor. Pop music filled the room once again.

My eyes shot open when what Liam was trying to do finally hit me.

Immediately, I loosened my arms from his shoulder and escaped his grip, earning a perplexed expression from him.

"W-we can't do this," I didn't wait for him to say anything. Instead, I rushed off, dodging groups of guests and out of the living room. I heard Liam's voice faintly as he called after me, but I ignored it.

When I made it out I let out a relieved breath, leaning my back against the wall. The hall was empty since the main event and of course, all the food was in the living room. I could finally take a breath, away from everyone and Liam.

I brought my hands to my cheeks, groaning at how warm they felt. The butterflies in my stomach finally subsided.

What the hell just happened? I thought, in disbelief. More like, what the hell had almost happened.

I should not be doing anything like that with Liam, not after what he'd done. I shouldn't even be talking to him. I should be hating him and yet I wasn't. I didn't even want to move when he was about to kiss me. Why didn't I want to stop him?

I shook my head slightly, biting down hard on my lip. For the rest of the night, I needed to avoid him.

"Hey, what're you doing out here?" Avery's voice snapped me back into reality. She approached me, a glass of wine in her hand. Her face was slightly flushed, letting me know that it was not her first glass.

Avery had been caught by my mom before but surprisingly, she was not kicked out of my house. It must have just been because we knew Avery so well.

"I needed to breathe," I answered simply. Avery nodded in understanding.

"Come on, let's have a drink," she suggested with a mischievous smile on her lips.

"You've had many already I'm sure," I shook my head, even though the idea was tempting.

My mom's temper on a normal day was bad. I didn't want to know how much trouble I'd get into it she saw me drinking at an event.

"Please, I'm so bored. No one at this party is cute or pays any attention to me. We can be sneaky about it," Avery begged, her lower lip jutting out as she tugged on my arm.

I was not surprised that Avery was out searching for other cute boys and dejected that there were none. A mischievous smile of my own slithered onto my face. It wouldn't hurt to let loose a bit, especially after what went down with Liam. I needed to forget him, and those annoyingly pretty eyes.

"Fine, but if my mom sees us, it's on you," I pointed my index finger at her.

Avery nodded her head, "I promise."

Together, Avery and I made our way back into the living room. We stayed out of my mom's line of vision as we moved stealthily around the guests until we arrived in front of the wine bar.

Avery poured herself a full glass of whiskey — with a champagne glass. I opened my mouth to tell her it was the wrong cup, but she beat me. She downed the whole thing before I could get a word in.

I shook my head, resisting a laugh as I poured two glasses of champagne. One for right now, and one for later.

"Come on," I tugged on Avery's arm as she poured another glass of whiskey. She nodded at me, setting the bottle back onto the counter.

"Maybe I should just take the whole thing," she pondered as she stared at the bottle.

"Avery!" I scolded, even though I muffled my laughter. "Let's go." I said again, more urgently.

With full glasses, we successfully sprinted back out of the living room. I felt a lot like Jackson, going against my mom. He was the king of pushing my mom's buttons because he knew she wouldn't do anything.

Avery and I leaned against the wall, sipping our drinks as we talked about everything and nothing. From school all the way to Liam.

She tried to bring up Liam a couple times, which I shot down quickly. If I told her what happened while we were dancing, she'd freak out, and then everyone would catch us drinking in the hall. Everyone meaning my mom.

Before long, I'd finished both glasses of champagne. But a new problem arose — I needed to empty my bladder. It was nearing ten o' clock at night, and knowing my mom, it would be at least two hours until the guests started to leave. I definitely couldn't hold it in for two hours.

"I'll be right back," I told Avery, setting my glasses down on the floor against the wall.

I hurried towards the bathroom on the main floor, rounding the corner. Thankfully, the hall was empty and I made it there in record time.

The bathroom door was shut, which I was not surprised by that. My parents liked all the doors closed when we had guests over.

I placed my hand on the knob and turned, swinging the door open.

I was taken aback when I realized the bathroom wasn't empty. Then, when it finally hit me, I let out a shriek, pressing my eyes shut.

Liam had stood near the sink with wide eyes, his pants half unbuttoned and his shirt sitting on the counter.

★★★

𝐻𝑖 𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑠! 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟! 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑒, 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒!

𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑘𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝐿𝑖𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑎??

~ 𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝐼𝑛𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑡