"How good is it?"

"What?"

He turned, pausing for our gazes to lock. Breaths catching, I struggled not to break eye contact. His eyes were so brilliant.

"The alcohol," he clarified.

"Um..." another breeze passed. This time, I broke eye contact with Parker to look down at my toes. Looking up at him again, I asked, "what do you mean?"

"People say alcohol makes you forget your sorrows." He thrust an index finger towards the bottle in my hand, making me look down at it. "That one's not doing its job."

My eyes flickered back up to his, an almost transparent smile playing on my lips, realization smacking me in the face. "You're not an alcohol person?"

"This is my first time drinking." He offered an equally transparent smile before going back to staring into space.

"What did you want to forget?"

The moment those words left my lips, I regretted them. His attention snapped to me so fast. It was a wonder he hadn't gotten whiplash. But just as soon as the regret had come, it dissipated when he smirked. I shivered, not because of the cold this time.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He lifted a brow. "What's your name?"

"Camsy," I offered in a breath. "Camsy Colbert."

He hummed, "Camsy." It was like he was testing the name on his tongue. And then his eyes lit up slightly, lips stretching into a dashing smile. "I like it."

Half of me wanted to remind him that you didn't get to like or dislike someone's name. You just knew it. I shoved that half aside because this smile-and maybe the alcohol-had left me unable to stir arguments. I leaned towards him so that from my new position, I could see more of his features. His lashes looked longer, and some strands of hair were sticking up because the sweat on his forehead had dried.

"What's yours?"

"Parker."

"Parker..." I repeated, my lips forming a drunken pout. "You don't look like a Parker."

I opened my eyes slowly, squinting when a burst of sun rays invaded my vision. With a hand still over my eyes, I got off my bed and went to shut the blinds, frowning.

In all honesty, I didn't know what to call that. A nightmare or a good dream.

My head ached as a picture of brilliant green eyes formed in my mind. I struggled to fight the image, a hand on my hip and the other against my forehead.

Suddenly, Mida burst into the room singing, "rise and shine, Cammie."

I winced at the sound of her voice and the stupid nickname. "Could you keep it down? I have a headache."

"Don't you dare give me that," she wagged a finger at me, coming all up in my space bubble, a scowl etched onto her lips. "You didn't tell me you knew Garth."

"That's because I didn't know he was the one you wouldn't shut up about!" My eyes widened.

"Oh?" She crossed her arms, wearing a look that screamed I don't believe you. "And that's all there is? That's the reason why you froze up on seeing each other."

I let a humorless chuckle leave my lips. "Oh, we go a long way back."

"I didn't ask for your sarcasm," she warned. "How did the two of you meet?"

At her question, my thoughts wandered back to that night, our small heart-to-heart, his lips on mine, the next morning. I frown.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You're so hard-headed!"

"Quiet, Mida," Simone snapped, bursting into the room through the door. She'd let down her brown hair, so it cascaded down her back with stands of it touching the front of her dress. Privacy was the last thing these two girls knew about. "How do you know Garth?"

"Par-Garth." The name felt strange on my tongue, now that I knew he was Parker. He looked less Garth than he did Parker. "He's a long story."

"Well, we don't have all day. The guests are starting to arrive," Simone grumbled. "You need to start talking before-"

Shawn burst into the room, causing our attention to snap towards him and me to groan inwardly.

"The wedding party is here," he said to Mida, whose eyes widened considerably in size. "We need to go, now." And then to me. "Hey, Cam."

I was more than happy about him not questioning Parker and me, so I smiled.

"We have no time to waste!" Mida shrieked, grabbing her husband's wrist and tossing me a glare. "We'll discuss this later. Come on, Simone, since Cammie stinks, I'll have to make do with your help," she said to Simone in a tone dripping with venom.

"Hey!" Simone and I snarled simultaneously

Mida merely shrugged, before grabbing Simone as well and tugging the two people out of my room, Simone shooting me a sad look all the way. I exhaled when the door clicked shut behind them, turning around and falling into my bed with a groan.

Well, these three days sure looked promising.

Mida had a dress made for me, specially for this event. According to her:

"My cousin can not look like a scallywag at my wedding."

I rolled my eyes at my reflection on the memory.

The dress was gold in color, the sequins on the top half of it reflecting the light from the bulb above me. A white choker necklace decorated my fragile-looking neck, standing as the highlight of my outfit.

My freckles stood out the most amongst my facial features, the small dots scattered over my nose and across my cheeks. All my exes always gave me compliments because of them. Usually, I would let myself smile, but in my heart, I hated my freckles. They stood out too profoundly.

Parker, however, hadn't said anything about my freckles on our first and only night together. He had been too bent on me helping him, and I'd been too bent on him helping me as well. He was right, after all. The alcohol wasn't working, and we needed each other.

After that night, we bumped into each other almost everywhere, held onto a civil conversation, and ended our encounters with either one of us eager to leave. Most times, it was because of work. Other times I just wanted to get the hell out of there, away from him. Because not once had Parker apologized for leaving me half naked and confused after our one-night stand.

But it was alright. It was just us helping each other forget.

Good. I sighed.

I had to keep reminding myself that if I was going to be able to stand these three days. I also needed to apologize to him for running away like that. It was inappropriate.

My hand went to tug on my dress once before I grabbed my clipboard and a pen off the dresser. I left the room, locking it behind me.

Once outside the safety of my room, the sounds of Indistinct chatter, laughter, and the start of a wedding party invaded my ears. I drew in a deep breath, chest heaving in the process. I took one step.

Someone crashed into me, causing me to fall back. The sound of my hammering heart replaced the chatter in my ears. I expected the impact of my back meeting the marble floor, but it never came.

Slowly, and one eyelid at a time, my eyes cracked open, an awareness wrapping around me.

The stranger had his hands wrapped around me, stopping my fall. What startled me most was the fact that my own hands were intertwined around his neck, steadying my frozen body.

That was when I saw them, the brilliant green eyes.

My first instinct was to yank him off me, but considering my position, that would have been a terrible idea. I did not want my beautiful clothes to get stained in my own blood and organs.

So I let him lift me to a standing position carefully, our gazes still locked, breaths heavy, chests heaving. My eyes searched his. Even when I was safe from the danger which was the marble floor, we still held on to each other, stuck in this trance. Everything burnt, but it was a good flame, one that was pulling me in.

I shook my head swiftly.

He smiled, a chuckle leaving his lips. "You okay?"

I detached my hands from behind his neck and flinched away so hard, you would think I was electrocuted. I felt like I had.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out, hurrying away from him. But just as I had gotten a few feet away, his voice halted me in my tracks.

"Why are you always running away?"

I turned back to face him. A sad frown graced his features. I shook my head. He still didn't get it. That night had left me feeling very out of it, and all these occurrences between us weren't helping. This had to stop.

"I'm sorry," I coughed out like a plea, spinning on my heel so swiftly I almost fell flat on my face. But I was able to regain my balance and scurry away like a cockroach caught in the light.