Disclaimer: I am not condoning underaged or irresponsible drinking. The drinking age in my country is sixteen and in some other countries that is also the legal drinking age for the alcohols mentioned in this chapter. With that in mind, all the characters that will be consuming alcohol in this chapter are seventeen or older. 

Kai's POV

"I brought you a chair," Jax says, setting a plastic chair down behind me and sitting in another one.

My lips curve up into a smile, and I thank him and sit before my eyes drift back over to my boyfriend. Raziel and Declan just scored their first point in beer pong and are celebrating.

"You and Raziel are pretty cute together," Jax states after a minute, and I gasp, immediately turning to face him. He releases a nervous laugh before taking a deep breath. "I think I should stop thinking that you two will break up and you'll go out with me. I'm sorry I was pushy. I really will try to get over you, and I wish you nothing but happiness."

"Thank you, Jax. That means a lot, and I hope you'll find happiness too," I say as a wide smile spreads across my face. Jax returns my smile, and we both return our attention to the beer pong game unfolding before us.

"Yes!" Declan cheers, after sinking the ball into Ayaan and Milan's cup. He holds out his hand to high five Raziel, and Raziel frowns at the raised hand. Declan laughs it off, and I watch as he teaches Raziel how to respond to this gesture.

My angel grins and walks over to me, staggering slightly as he approaches. "Kai! Kai! Look at what I learned!" He holds out his hand, and I giggle and give him a high five.

"We don't have all night, Raziel," Milan yells, giggling and clinging to Ayaan's arm. Raziel rolls his eyes and pecks my cheek before returning to the table.

"Raziel is cute when smiles. He's always scowling at school," Jax says, and he chuckles and raises his hands when I turn to glare at him. "Don't worry, I know he's yours. I don't think Raziel has eyes for anyone but you. The world could be on fire and I don't think he'd care as long as he's with you."

A tiny giggle escapes me, and I refocus on the game just as Raziel turns to wave at me.

"What's the deal with that curly haired boy? The one that hugged you when he came in?" I peek at Jax to find his gaze focused on Declan with a look of interest. "Is he single?"

"He's single as far as I know, but there's someone who has been in love with him for a long time, and I'm really rooting for them." A frown forms on my face by the time I'm finished talking as I realise that I'm actually not entirely sure if Declan is interested in guys.

Jax releases an exasperated sigh. "Wow, is my type taken guys or something?"

I giggle and Jax joins in as well. We spend the next few minutes watching the beer pong game and chatting about school. Jax cheers for Milan and Ayaan while I, of course, cheer for Raziel and Declan. Raziel's team wins and now word has spread of Raziel being some sort of beer pong guru and heavy weight drinker.

Some students that I don't know approach Declan and Raziel and after talking to them for a few minutes, Raziel excuses himself and heads towards me.

"I'm going to find Hunter, I'm not sure where he disappeared to, later Kai," Jax says and leaves just as Raziel reaches me.

He plops down onto the chair Jax just vacated. "Kai, parties are so much fun! Those humans want to play King's Cup with me. Do you want to play?" I shake my head, and he sulks for a second before continuing. "I'll miss you, but I really want to play, so I'll be over there playing with them." He points to the corner of the room where a few people are wiping a table and setting up some plastic chairs around it.

Raziel presses a kiss to my lips, and I taste a hint of the beer he had, mixed with his usual faint taste of freshly baked cookies. It's an interesting taste and when he breaks the kiss, I pull his head back to mine. After nibbling on his lips for a few more seconds, I release him and send him on his way.

No sooner is Raziel gone than Declan appears and sits in the once again empty seat. "What's up? Not drinking?"

"Nope, someone's gotta take care of Raziel when he finally passes out from all that alcohol," I reply with a giggle.

"I didn't know angels could get drunk."

Raziel chooses a seat that is facing me, and waves once he notices my gaze on him. I blow him a kiss, and he looks puzzled for a split second before he grins and copies my gesture, making me giggle.

Refocusing on Declan, I check my surroundings to verify that no one is listening before saying, "Raziel told me earlier that if he had his wings, the alcohol wouldn't stay in his system for more than an hour at a time, but without his wings, he suspects that he'll be able to get as drunk as any human."

Declan hums a response before we lapse into silence, and I decide to use this brief pause in conversation to subtly ask about Lance. "You know a lot about my love life but I don't know much about yours," I say, sipping on my juice.

"Why are you asking? Do you have someone to set me up with?"

"No, nothing like that."

He grins and releases a soft huff before his face falls and he sighs. "I never dated anyone. Most of my free time growing up was spent hanging out with Lance, and I preferred it that way. He's so cute and fun to be around. I could be myself." A sad smile spreads across Declan's face as tears gather in the corners of his eyes. "I thought maybe we'd be good together and was actually going to ask him out, but he died before I could." His voice cracks, and he rubs the tears from his eyes before they can fall.

I reach over and pat his back, receiving a tiny smile in response before he continues. "I was heartbroken and angry for a while before he showed up as a ghost. When he came back, I was thrilled. I started skipping school so I could spend more time with him. He let me at first, but when it started to affect my grades, Lance began disappearing during school hours.

"I started to resent him for disappearing on me and some irrational part of my brain even resented him for dying and leaving me all alone. That's when I started spending more time with Brandon and Kyle. Of course when Lance insisted that they were bad news, I continued being friends with them out of spite." He huffs and rolls his eyes. "I'm a stubborn idiot, I spent so much time being angry at him and ignoring him, and now I think maybe he hates me."

A melancholy cloud settles over Declan, and he ducks his head because he can no longer hide his tears. I continue patting his back and gently ask, "Why do you think he hates you?"

"I can feel him pulling away. We got into an argument before I came here. He seemed sad when he came back from hanging out with Raziel and Zorander, and when I asked him what was wrong, he started suggesting that I should find someone to date. I tried to talk to him to find out why he wanted me to date all of a sudden," Declan scoffs, "but he ignored me and kept listing people that he thought would be a good match for me. I stormed out before I said something I would regret."

He inhales a sharp breath and dries his eyes with his sleeve. "You're easy to talk to. You must know all of Raziel's secrets." He grins and playfully elbows me.

"I don't. He won't tell me why he was banished," I mumble with a pout before shaking my head and refocusing on Declan. "Are you ever going to tell Lance how you feel?"

He sighs and runs his hand through his curly mane. "I want to. It's dumb and weird, and I know I can't touch him, but I want my first date to be with him. I just don't know where to take him or if he'll say yes," his face scrunches up as if he tasted a lemon, "and I don't want people to think I'm weird since it'll look like I'm talking to myself."

Before I can respond, Raziel stumbles over to me and leans over so that he can whisper in my ear. "Kai, the world is spinning."

I giggle and slide out of my chair so that Raziel can sit. "I think we should get you home."

Raziel immediately shoots up out of the chair, wobbling a little before wrapping his arms around my waist. "No, we haven't danced yet!"

After trying and failing to convince Raziel to leave, the two of us end up on the dancefloor, while Declan goes off to talk to some of the seniors. I seem to have found the one thing that Raziel is bad at because my angel cannot dance to save his life.

His limbs don't move together and his head sways wildly, but he is wearing an excited smile and laughing and having a good time, so I join in, copying his baby lamb walking on ice dance routine. Ever so often he spins me around or takes my hands and shakes them above my head. It's completely ridiculous, and I'm sure they're a bunch of videos of us by now, but it doesn't matter because we're having fun.

"Wild moves!" Ayaan yells, grinning as he approaches us with Milan, Hunter and Jax trailing behind. Raziel beams and holds out his hand to high five Ayaan. Raziel seems to quite like them because he doesn't protest when Hunter and even Jax high five him.

Raziel seems to wear himself out after a while, and we bid farewell to our friends. Milan sobered up quite a bit throughout the night, and after promising that she can get home by herself, I call an Uber for Raziel and I before scanning the crowd for Declan. I find him dancing with some people near the couches, but he leaves when he spots me.

"I have the best video of Raziel's dance moves!" He chuckles and pats a now very tired Raziel on the back. "You two leaving?" I nod and Declan offers to help me take Raziel home. I readily agree remembering what a feat it was getting Raziel up the steps when he passed out from standing outside in the cold.

Raziel falls asleep on my shoulder in the car, and once we arrive at my house, Declan has very little trouble carrying Raziel upstairs to his room. I tuck in Raziel before seeing Declan out.

"Let me know when you get home," I insist, and Declan chuckles and nods.

"It was nice talking to you. I don't really have anyone who I can talk about Lance with," he mumbles.

"Any time," I respond and embrace him in a hug. He returns my hug and heads out the door, and I take a quick shower before crawling into bed.  

Thank you for reading! ❤

Raziel certainly had a lot of fun at the party. What did you think of the chapter? Do you think Declan and Lance will get their date? 

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