Loving Edyth Swan
Chapter Eight

13/05/94

River Reyes and his spontaneous parties for no absolute reason.

The music was obnoxiously loud, causing the windows to shake. The graduating class of '97 were enjoying the stress free life before adding university to the mix.

Majority of people were already smashed off their faces and that was the beauty of it.

Jonathan Attwood had once disagreed but since Edyth Swan had entered his life, the parties kept on coming and so did the fun.

River and Kishan believed her to be great company, as she had a way of making Jonathan come out of his shell.

"Are we going to do shots or what?"

The scream came from Edyth's best friend, Rian Williams.

"Fuck yeah," River shouted back with a wink.

He had been hitting on Rian all summer in hopes she would be his last fling before heading off to college in August.

It didn't seem to be working.

Rian rolled her eyes, "Tequila?"

"I hate tequila," commented Edyth with a shake of her head.

She gestured to the still-full bottle of Vodka instead.

"This is the kind of shots I wanna be doing all night."

"Did somebody say body shots?"

"Shut up, River," shoved Jonathan as he began pouring everybody a tequila shot except the girl he was dying to ask out.

He was falling harder for her than he had ever fallen for anybody in his life. They had been hanging out a lot in the last six months, partying together all night long, almost every weekend.

And yet, Jonathan was still too scared to make her his.

"Got room for one more person?" Simona asked, looking over at Kishan.

He blushed, taking a step back. River had invited her to every party since school was out, in hopes Kishan would get over his fear or the crush he had - one of the two.

It looked like all the boys were having trouble with the girls they were after.

"Pick your poison," River remarked with a smirk, gesturing at the options on the table in front of them.

"Vodka, please."

"Here," replied Jonathan, handing her a shot.

He looked around at everybody, lingering a little longer on Edyth.

It would only take one more shot and he was sure he would be a blubbering mess but he was willing to risk it.

"Cheers!"

The chorus went around the party of six.

Edyth smirked after finishing her shot.

"I'm going to be the only one standing it looks like."

"You have the least tolerance to alcohol," Rian commented with a shrug.

"Vodka was a good choice."

"Did you wanna play beerpong with me?" River asked as he twinkled his eyes at her, sneaking a look from her toes to her head.

"In your dreams, Reyes," fired back Rian before taking off into the sea of the crowd.

"Rejected," Jonathan chuckled, patting his best mate on the back.

"You'll get her next time, I'm sure," Kishan commented, smiling widely.

"Come on, Kishan, I'll beat your ass in beerpong and show all these losers how to play."

Simona dragged him over to the table tennis table that had alcohol stains all over it and big, plastic red cups littering the floor around it.

Jonathan laughed, "Go find a partner, River."

"I will," he mumbled, stalking off to find the next prettiest girl.

It wasn't long before the party of six became two.

With a smirk, Jonathan poured two tequila shots.

"Try one, just for me?"

"And if I end up with my head in a toilet bowl?"

"I'll be there to hold your hair back," murmured Jonathan, smoothly.

The line made Edyth smile and nod shyly.

She turned around for a moment, getting the salt and the lemon. She cut up two little slices of lemon, to get ready for their chaser.

The two put the salt on their wrists and then grabbed their slice of lemon and the shot. Jonathan wiggled his eyebrows at her before licking the salt of the side of his wrist and then took the shot in one go as she followed suit.

Edyth's face contorted into a look of disgust before quickly sucking the lemon to reverse the harsh affects. She turned around to put the shot cup and the lemon down.

Still feeling the effects of drunken confidence, Jonathan got down on one knee and grinned widely, awaiting the two seconds it would take her to turn around again.

She turned adorning a look of surprise.

"Let me be the one who walks through life beside you. Let me be the one who holds your hair back when you throw up."

With a deep breath, he delivered the rest of his spontaneous, drunken speech.

"Let me be the one you go on Ferris wheel rides with. Let me be the one who makes you breakfast in bed on a lazy Sunday morning. Let me be the one who gets to watch all of tomorrow's sunrises with you."

Green eyes locked onto brown, staring intently and face mirroring all seriousness.

"And most of all; let me be the one who gets to love you till my dying breath, Edyth."

Loving her had never been his problem though - it was the commitment part.

The part about actually showing up every day to fulfil his end of the bargain. He was much too afraid to ever truly be with her wholly.

But alcohol makes you voice stupid questions anyway in the heat of the moment solely based on the passion you feel.

Jonathan picked up another shot of tequila, ready to drown it at any second.

"Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife, Edyth?"

And as soon as he had said it, he couldn't take it back.

No matter how intoxicated he was.

His love felt as if it was bursting right out of his chest. He was suffocating, and talking to her felt a little easier to breathe.

Loving her made it easier to find the air in his lungs.

As if her answer held the key to his survival.

Edyth Swan only giggled before quipping, "Maybe one day."

The answer had been good enough for Jonathan because he had laughed too and then looked back down at his next shot, as if he hadn't just asked the most life changing question of all.

"However, I don't think you need that extra shot, Attwood."