Rose kicked at a lone pebble as she and Tilly waited for their taxi on the roadside in front of their flat. They would normally wait inside, but tonight Tilly seemed extra eager to get to Daniel's birthday party.

As time ticked by, she got the feeling Tilly was regretting giving her driver the night off. He was attending the birth of his second child, so he was well deserving of it. Nevertheless, it was terribly inconvenient. She would normally use her father's driver when hers was indisposed, but she was adamant that her father did not know she would be at Daniel Dashwood's house for an entire evening. She'd never hear the end of it if he found out what she was up to.

"What is taking so long?" Tilly said, looking up and down the street, shuffling from foot to foot.

"Why so eager, I wonder?" Rose scratched at her chin as if pondering one of life's many mysteries.

"You, be quiet. I am not eager. It's just chilly out here."

"I'm more than happy to cancel, if you want to head back inside and snuggle up under a blanket on the couch?" Rose was teasing. She couldn't help herself, considering it was a pleasant and warm spring evening.

"I know what you're doing and it won't work. You just want to avoid Ethan and that she-devil. I, for one, think a night out at a posh party could be just what you need. Lord knows it's what I need. An evening in the company of people who haven't been browbeaten into asking me out-hopefully, and lots of booze."

Rose hated to admit it, but Tilly was probably right. She had spent way too many evenings bingeing Netflix since she had arrived a couple of months ago. Although she was becoming increasingly worried about Tilly's drinking. If she wasn't out on a date, she was at home consuming bottle after bottle of wine. And that wasn't healthy. Just as she was about to say something, the taxi finally rolled up.

An hour later, they were pulling up to a rather large wrought-iron gate.

"Whoa, is this Daniel's place? It's massive," Rose asked.

"No, it's his parents. He mentioned they are spending the week in Madrid on business, so he's pretending he's the big fancy millionaire instead of his parents. He's going to need to swindle a few more pensioners to get to that point, though."

She just nodded and smiled. Tilly had been talking about Daniel a lot recently, and she knew exactly what was going on. Tonight was going to be very interesting indeed.

After the rigmarole of finally getting through the security gate, they were ushered through an enormous front entrance. Flanked by two rather large, burly security guards. They then made their way to the man of the moment, who was welcoming his guests next to an indoor fountain.

Rose looked up at the ceiling and turned full circle, admiring the crazy massive chandelier that occupied the entire upper half of the front foyer.

"Hideous, isn't it?" Daniel said, before kissing Tilly on both cheeks. Another thing she thought was odd. They weren't in France. Yet all the rich, English people she had met through Tilly couldn't seem to get enough of kissing each other's cheeks, sometimes even going in for a third. Like they're trying to one up the French.

"Oh, I don't know about that. I think it has character-it's definitely unique," Tilly said as Daniel moved onto Rose.

"Mmm, you smell lovely this evening, Rose." He lingered, inhaling her perfume after the third kiss.

"Alright, move it along. I don't want to stand here all night while you indecently assault your guests," Ethan announced, standing in the doorway .

"Oh, yay. My brother's here." Daniel rolled his eyes, and Rose couldn't help but smile.

She often wondered what it would be like to have a sibling, but her parents had trouble conceiving and we're only blessed with one daughter. She knew they had spoiled her terribly as a kid, but they were also strict where it counted and taught her to always think of others-which was where her passion for nursing started.

"And I brought the wicked witch with me as promised." Walking up the steps behind him was indeed a witch. Victoria looked gorgeous in a tight, very short, shimmering silver dress.

Suddenly, Rose felt very underdressed in her floral maxi and strappy sandals. She was used to looking like a hobo next to Tilly. But with Victoria, it just irked her to the extreme.

Rose watched as Victoria walked up to Daniel, pulled him in way too close, and kissed his cheeks four times-show off! Then added, "I'm no witch, but I'm definitely wicked." She then threw in a wink for good measure.

"I think I just threw up in my mouth a little," Tilly whispered in Rose's ear.

Before she could stop herself, she laughed-snorted in front of everyone. She glanced around the room, and to her horror, everyone was looking at her. Most with amused expressions, one was staring daggers and one-Ethan, to be exact, was trying so hard not to laugh.

"Would you ladies like a drink?" Daniel asked, clearly trying to ease Rose's embarrassment.

"I thought you'd never ask," Tilly replied. "Please, lead the way."

Victoria wrapped her arm through Daniel's and clung on like a bloodsucking leech. Tilly and Rose fell in behind, followed by Ethan.

"This is going to be a long night," they heard Ethan mumble. Rose rolled her eyes at her friend. Unfortunately, she had a feeling he might be right. It was going to be a long night, and it was only just beginning.

A few hours later, after the candles had been blown out and everyone had sung happy birthday in a most unharmonious tone, Rose was alone. She sat on a rather uncomfortable antique looking couch, watching Tilly doing her best 'I'm not drunk', drunk dance. How had this evening gone from a semi-enjoyable one to her being stuck chaperoning Drunk Tilly and making sure she did nothing stupid?

Oh, that's right, it was bloody Victoria's fault! It had become rather obvious to her that Tilly did indeed have a major thing for Danny-as Tilly likes to affectionately call him. And the more Victoria flirted with him, the more Tilly drank.

Ethan was nowhere to be seen, either. Earlier in the evening, he witnessed Rose trying to wrangle a tequila shot from Tilly's clutches and instantly turned on his heel and exited the room a little too swiftly. Which annoyed her to no end.

Right, she'd had enough. She walked over to Tilly, avoiding her flailing arms and whispered in her ear, "It's time to go."

"What... why?" Tilly moaned, not even taking one second to stop her appalling dancing.

"I'm tired, I'm bored, and you are embarrassing yourself. Twerking is not your forte and you have to promise me you'll never attempt it ever again, as long as we both shall live."

Tilly stopped dancing abruptly. "It wasn't that bad, was it?"

"It was!" No need to be polite about it, she thought.

"Fine, but I need the loo first."

"Fine, but hurry up. And if I see you gravitate back towards the bar, I'll pull you out of here by your hair."

"You wouldn't?" Tilly's eyes bulged.

"Try me!"

"I like feisty, domineering Rose. You should bring her out more often," Tilly said, laughing.

"Trust me when I say nobody wants that. She only comes out when absolutely necessary," Rose said, her hands on her hips.

"She has a point. Bossy Rose is kinda sexy." She turned to find Ethan standing right behind her, looking all smug.

"You're drunk too, go away."

"Definitely sexy." He smirked.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed Tilly by the arm. "I'm taking her home before she flings her underwear across the room, which, before you say anything, has happened before. Now where is the closest toilet?"

Ethan bit his lip, clearly trying not to laugh, and pointed them towards the hallway. "First on the right."

"Thank you and good night Ethan."

She dragged Tilly to the first door and jiggled the handle. Locked. They continued to wander through the house, trying doors here, there and everywhere, until they finally found an unlocked bathroom on the second floor. Unfortunately, this one already had an occupant, two to be exact, and neither were using it for its intended purpose.

Before Rose could push Tilly back out, her eyes lazily looked up. Then they went wide, then they went narrow, then her mouth opened and there was no holding her back then.

"You disgusting whore. You couldn't have Ethan, so you move onto his brother."

"Hey!"

"Be quiet Danny. You know what I mean. She's a horrible cow who has been treating my best friend like shit at work. I thought you had better standards than that!"

"Now, hang on a min-"

"Why you-" Victoria cut Daniel off, jumped off his lap and launched herself at Tilly. Knocking over Rose.

"Ethan!" Daniel shouted.

Rose was on the floor, rubbing her shoulder, when Ethan arrived in the doorway. Daniel was already trying to pry the two girls apart, and in an instant Ethan was trying to do the same by grabbing Victoria around the waist.

"That's enough, Victoria. I'm taking you home, now!" Ethan yelled, trying to get her to stop kicking him.

He dragged her down the stairs, and then Tilly stopped. "Come on, you two, I'll take you home," Daniel said.

"We can get ourselves home," Tilly spat.

Daniel helped Rose up from the floor and turned to Tilly. "I'm sure you can, but I said I will take you."

Rose could tell he was angry, so she just kept quiet and wisely, so did Tilly. They all solemnly made their way to the front door, Daniel letting his security know he was taking them home and to monitor the place.

The ride home was painfully quiet. Tilly in the front seat, looking out the window and refusing to look at Daniel. Rose in the back watching Daniel's concerned looks at Tilly. He liked her, too. When they pulled up to Tilly's flat, Rose thanked him for the ride and slipped inside after he asked to speak with Tilly privately.

Exhausted, Rose went straight to bed. She thought she heard giggling at one point, but was so tired, she was dead to the world for the rest of the night.