Stella made sure to enter the party a few minutes after Eddie had arrived, not wanting to seem suspicious if the two had been arrived together.

Even though the two didn't necessarily like to hide their relationship from their friends, it was exhilarating to be in on a secret that only the two knew; it felt like a mystery with secret, little rendezvous.

Stella walked into the party wearing a little black dress, making eye contact with Eddie's who's eyes had widened at the sight of her. "You're gorgeous," he mouthed and she blushed, looking away since she didn't want people to notice. That's when she saw Camila. "Oh, my gosh, Cami!" She exclaimed, immediately going over to her and wrapping her arms around her.

"Oh!" Camila gasped, hesitantly hugging the girl back while glancing at Eddie while she did so. Eddie glanced away, taking a sip of drink.

"You've barely called me," Stella pointed out once she pulled away.

"I know. I-I've been busy with Julia," Camila told her and Stella poured before the others noticed her, greeting her warmly. The girl then saw Daisy walked in with Nicky. "Hi."

"Hi, hi," Daisy replied before the two hugged. "Oh, only you could get Billy to a party." Camila peered over at her husband as he awkwardly laughed, the situation somehow changing. Daisy must have noticed since she gestured to her husband and said, "You remember Nicky?"

Stella glanced over at Eddie, who's lips formed in a thin line at the interaction. "Yes, hi, Nicky," Camila said to the man, giving him a hug.

"Hi. How are you?" He asked.

"I'm great. How are you?"

"I'm good, I'm good."

"It's nice to see you."

"Would you like a drink?" Nicky queried.

"Yes, please. Thank you. I would really love a drink." She then wrapped her arms around Billy. "Oh, guys, I've missed you. I really have." Nicky then handed both Camila and Billy a drink. "Thank you," she said before taking the drink out of Billy's hand, sending him a smile. "So...start from the top. What have I missed, hmm?"

"Oh, I'm not so sure you wanna know," Stella answered with a laugh and Billy gave her a scary look. "Just kidding, I'll tell you everything." That also didn't please Billy.

Throughout the party, everyone was doing lines and drinking, except for Billy since he was sober. Since neither Stella or Karen wanted to out their relationships to people yet, they decided to dance together while they smoked.

Camila also joined them before she said, "I'm gonna get a breath of fresh air, okay? I'll be back in a second."

The brunette walked outside and shut the door behind her, not knowing that Eddie had been standing on the balcony before she turned. She gasped a little since she'd been trying to avoid him all night due to the circumstances.

"Hey," he spoke first, slowly nearing her.

"Hi," Camila said with an awkward laugh.

"Hey."

"Hi." She then took a drink, flipping her over her shoulder as she tried avoiding his gaze.

"So, can we, uh...Could we-could we talk about it?" He questioned because he wanted to clear up any loose threads since he was now dating Stella. "Please?"

Camila shook her head, "We don't have to talk about it."

"Well, it's...I-I would feel better, you know," he pointed out, not wanting to feel guilty.

"Why? Because you're dating Stella now?" Camila outright said.

Eddie's mouth dropped a bit. "Wha — How-how do you know that?"

"She told me. Right before you guys left for the tour." Camila crossed her arms, being careful not to spill her drink. "Don't tell me you cheated on her with me, Eddie."

"No, no! I didn't," he denied.

"Oh, really? So when did you two become 'official?'" She asked, not believing him.

Eddie sighed, contemplating whether or not he should tell her because even though he didn't technically cheat, it still looked bad on his part. "The day after we—"

"Oh, my God, Eddie," Camila cut him off since she already knew what he about to say, placing her head in her hand. "And she doesn't know?" She looked up.

"No. And I intend to keep it that way since I didn't actually cheat," he told her, not wanting Camila to go tell her since he was having the best time of his life with Stella. Every time he would get pissed due to Billy, Stella would always be right there fore him. He didn't want to lose that support, the only support he only ever really received.

Camila's eyebrows raised. "Yeah, but you had sex with another girl right before you asked a different girl to be your girlfriend," she spelled out for him.

"I know it sounds bad, b—"

"It doesn't sound bad. It is bad. If I would have known that you and her were having these feelings, I would have never even thought about doing what we did that night. She's one of my best friends, Eddie. I would have never done that to her if I'd known," she explained, looking down guiltily. "Why did you do it, though? Why hook up with me when you were clearly in love with Stella?"

"Because...because...she kept on denying her feelings for me so I thought if I, I don't know, hooked up with the girl that I had been in love with for years that maybe the feelings would go away but they didn't. They only got stronger because I felt guilty so I wanted to fix it. And I did. And now we're together," he described and Camila sighed, looking away. "And I wanna keep it that way, so, please, Camila. Don't tell her," he pleaded.

Camila looked back at him, debating on what to say before the door opened. Eddie immediately jumped back and looked over to see it was Stella, with a drink in her hand, a cigarette in between her lips, and a smile on her face.

"Cami, you said you'd be right — Eddie?" She noticed her boyfriend standing there, taking the cigarette out of her mouth and blowing out some smoke. "What are you doing out here?"

"Oh, I was just getting some fresh air," he told her, which was true before Camila decided to walk out.

"Yeah, and then I walked out so we decided to chat," Camila shrugged, playing it off nonchalantly which made Eddie almost breathe a sigh of relief.

"Not about me, I hope," Stella teased, stepping onto the balcony with them.

Camila laughed. "No. Not about you. I mean, why would Eddie bring you up?" She teased back to remain normal, sending the girl a wink. Stella chuckled as she looked at her boyfriend, who didn't seem to be laughing. She furrowed her brows a bit. "Anyway, uh, I'm gonna head back inside and find Billy. Have...fun."

Camila left the two of them there and Stella fully turned towards Eddie. "You told Camila about us?" He asked, not wanting Stella to pry about what their conversation was about.

"Guilty," Stella admitted, placing the cigarette back in between her lips. "And I may have also told Karen."

Eddie scoffed at her, but there was a small smile growing on his lips as he tried to forget about the conversation he just had with the Alvarez girl. "Weren't you the one adamant on not telling anyone about us?"

"I know, I know. But I just had to tell them. They're my girls," she responded as he blew out smoke,
and Eddie felt his heart drop a little, knowing how Stella would feel so betrayed by Camila if she ever found out. "And besides, Karen was the one that kinda saw the 'sexual tension' between us so I had to go ahead and give her credit."

"Oh, really. She saw sexual tension between us?" He voiced, raising his brows. Stella nodded with a shrug, a lop sided grin on her face. He then looked her up and down. "Well, I can see why," he smirked.

Stella smacked his arms, making her give him a look.
"Keep it in your pants, Roundtree. I don't want the whole party knowing the truth," she joked.

"Fine, fine," he held his hands up. She smiled before she looked out into the night sky, placing the tip of the cigarette in her mouth and blowing out more smoke. "You know, this reminds me of the first night we met."

She glanced over at him, not expecting him to say that. "Does it?" She challenged, throwing the cigarette onto the ground and stepping on it with her heel.

"Yeah. You and me alone outside at night on a roof-type thing of some sort. Seems pretty similar," he pointed out with a shrug.

"Well, this time you don't want to jump off, do you?" She inquired with a knowing grin, remembering that night like it happened yesterday. She would have never guessed that she would see him again, but she was glad she did.

He shook his head. "No. Not tonight. But, you know...you're still, like, really beautiful. Like, really beautiful," he complimented her, using the same one from that very night.

She felt the blood rush to her cheeks, not knowing how she didn't immediately fold when he said that to her the first time. "Thank you, but I have a boyfriend," she repeated teasingly, stepping toward him.

He laughed softly, knowing that he was now the boyfriend. He didn't know how he got so lucky. "I assumed that. I thought I'd just...let you know 'cause why not?" He said the same thing, also stepping closer. He glanced toward the door, making sure no one was there before he pressed his lips on her's for a few quick seconds, not being able to resist.

Stella giggled into the kiss before they both pulled back, not wanting to get caught. She stared deeply into his hazel eyes while he stared into her green ones, neither of them able to glance away.

She then grinned, finally looking away. "You know, I lied to you that night."

He furrowed his brows. "You did?"

"Yeah. I've been lying." He didn't seem to understand what she was getting at so she said, "My real name isn't Stella."

His eyes widened. "It's not?"

She shook her head. "No, it's not. It's Margaret," she revealed, hoping he wouldn't be made that she'd been hiding her real name. "The reason why I told you my name was Stella and stuck with it was because I thought the name 'Stella Stone' sounded more rock-starry than 'Margaret Stone.'"

"Oh, wow," he breathed out, not knowing what to say.

"I hope you're not mad. You're the first person I told and I don't really wanna share it with anyone else."

"No, no, I'm not mad. Just surprised," he truthfully said and she nodded, relieved. "Margaret," he then said with a smile. "I like that name. And I also like Stella. Both suit your undeniable beauty."

She shoved his arm playfully. "Oh, shut up."

"What? It's true," he responded, gesturing to her entire frame.

She rolled her eyes at him before she grabbed his wrist. "Let's go back inside before they start to get suspicious."

The two walked back inside, quickly letting go of each other before anyone could notice, to see Nicky telling a story while everyone sat around and listened, "...and everything got slow and I looked at Daisy, and the moon was like — it was like it was in her hands, and she was placing it there in the sky."

Stella and Eddie plopped on the couch next to each other, a certain Dunne brother narrowing his eyes at the two since they seemed to be gone together for a long time. It seemed like his suspicions were starting to gain evidence as to why they were true.

"The Italians have an expression..." he started speaking in Italian before he translated, "'You're my twin soul.'" Stella noticed that Daisy and Billy had been looking directly at each other when Nicky had said that, which made her frown a bit.

"And then we smacked into the water and I thought we were dead." They began to laugh at that. "Which is, you know, a little bit less romantic," he added with a short chuckle.

authors note
i really liked writing this
chapter so i hope you guys
enjoyed it!!!