Chapter 34: Party
Part 1

On the car ride to Gabby's, Ed barely said a word. He'd spent the week firing questions at me about the various people who'd be at the party. He thrived off preparation, especially with situations out of his control, this would be another job to him in some respects. I didn't challenge him on that, but I hoped he'd manage to relax at some point.

Mark and Danny dropped us off outside the flat, then circled around the block to find somewhere to park. Lacing my fingers through Ed's, I led us up the front steps and rang the bell.

"You okay?" I asked as we waited.

He squeezed my hand and flashed me an easy smile. "I'm good."

The latch clicked, and we drew our eyes away from each other to look forwards as the door swung open. My heart lurched, then dropped to the pit of my stomach. Becca stood on the other side, alone, one hand gripping the narrow edge of the door, the other holding a glass of prosecco.

Fiery red hair cascaded over her shoulders in loose waves, and the recognisable scent of Givenchy floated across the threshold. That's where the familiarity ended. Resentment darkened her hazel eyes as her gaze dropped down to our intertwined fingers.

Instinctively, I tried to slip my hand free from Ed's. He held on tighter.

"Becca," he said.

His voice lacked its usual warmth. Hostility hummed through the air as they stared at each other, neither of them backing down. Maybe he hadn't held onto my hand out of nerves, but stubbornness.

"Are you going to invite us in or leave us out here in the cold?" Ed then asked when she didn't move.

"Leaving you out there in the cold is my preference." Her response was instant and unapologetic.

Fuck. I knew she hated him for how he'd behaved after the concert, and I knew he hated her for manipulating me into screwing him over, but I thought they'd both at least try to hide the extent of their animosity.

Admittedly, Becca had never shied away from confrontation, but she used to adore the guy stood in front of her. For her to now feel such strong emotions in the opposite direction just proved how much he'd hurt her.

As for Ed, apparently whatever charming and easy-going persona he planned to put on tonight wasn't going to be wasted on her.

"Either let us in, or shut the door and walk away, so we can ring the bell again and wait for someone more hospitable to answer."

For a tense second, it looked like she might do just that. Her knuckles whitened around the door edge as she took a tiny step back.

Then a flash of blonde flew down the hallway, and Gabby's smiley-yet-slightly-panicked face appeared beneath Becca's outstretched arm.

"Hey! Thought I heard the bell! Come in, you two." Her white-painted fingertips curled around Becca's wrist to prise her grip from the door and tug her aside.

"Thanks, Gab." Ed's charming smile returned as we stepped into the flat. "Happy birthday."

He released my hand and leaned down to hug her. Pink tinged her cheeks as she rose up on her tiptoes and wound an arm around his torso. Without her heels, their height difference was almost comical.

"Everyone's in the living room," she said when they broke apart. "We're just waiting on Holly. Can I take your coats?"

We shrugged them off, and Gabby waited until Becca had disappeared through the door at the end of the corridor before setting her wide-eyed gaze on us.

"I'm so sorry. I think she assumed you'd be Holly."

"It's fine," I said. "It's not like we could avoid her for the whole evening. Broken the ice."

"She's not going to be an issue," Gabby said, this time to Ed. "Charlotte's read her the riot act."

Ed passed her his wool overcoat and winked. "Promise I won't be an issue, either."

Gabby took it as the joke he'd intended, but then she hadn't witnessed their clash at the front door and didn't realise that smooth-talking Teddy Stone had a colder side.

"Come on," I said to him, threading our fingers together again. "Let's get the weird introductions out of the way."

Muffled music seeped through the living room door, an upbeat track that I hadn't heard in years becoming louder as we advanced down the hallway.

"Sorry," Ed murmured under his breath. "Apparently my self-control has a limit, and manipulative ex-friends are beyond that limit."

I squeezed his hand. "Don't worry. I think she'll keep her distance for the rest of the night. She won't want to cause a scene in front of Mike."

"Hm. It won't be an issue either way. I handle myself better when I've got an audience. The performer in me comes out."

His face split into a mischievous grin, one that triggered an onslaught of goose bumps along the surface of my skin. Apparently my resistance to his charm also had a limit.

Shaking my head with a chuckle, I tugged on the living room door handle and led him through. My eyes first fell on Mac who, as usual, was the centre of attention as he downed a bottle of beer in one go while Charlotte and Becca heckled him. Not the remorseful friend from the last time I saw him. Nor the serious lawyer from the time before that. Just Mac. The Mac I knew best.

"Soph?"

A surprised voice to my left tugged my gaze away from the drinking game and onto another face from the past. I'd known he'd be here, and yet my stomach still twisted into an uneasy knot as a deluge of memories, both good and bad, surged through my brain.

He hadn't changed one bit, at least appearance-wise. Facial hair still dusted his defined jaw, neatly trimmed around full lips, and a grey t-shirt stretched across his broad torso, the fabric dipping in at his waist and finishing just below the waistband of dark denim jeans.

"I didn't realise you were coming. Becca never mentioned it," he said, voice reserved and cautious as his eyes raked over my body.

"Becca and I have fallen out of touch. Good to see you, though, Mike. This is Teddy, my boyfriend. Teddy, Mike. Mike, Teddy."

As if only just noticing Ed to my right, Mike's lips parted, and he blinked several times in quick succession.

"Nice to meet you, Mike." Ed's smile was relaxed as he extended his hand.

"Yeah..." Mike said slowly as they grasped hands, "Becca definitely didn't mention anything."

"So, how do you know Soph?" Ed asked.

I dug my nails into his knuckles, yet he didn't even flinch.

"Oh." Mike glanced at me and cleared his throat. "We, uh, we went to uni together. Not seen each other in a few years, though... Hence the, uh, surprise."

Ed chuckled. "Relax, man. I know who you are. I'm just messing."

Relief washed over Mike's face, then quickly transformed into concern as he no doubt considered just how much famous popstar Teddy Stone might know about him.

"Sorry," Ed added. "I was trying to make a joke so it wasn't as awkward. Guess I failed, huh?"

Bullshit. Or at least eighty percent bullshit anyway. Maybe he did want to ease the inevitable awkwardness, but that joke had been made with other motives at play, too: he'd wanted to watch my ex squirm.

"No, no. It's cool. It's really nice to meet you, Teddy." Mike slipped his thumbs into his pockets as his eyes shifted onto me. "How've you been, Soph?"

"Really good, thanks. What about you?"

He bobbed his head. "Same. Not sure where the years have gone. Feels like only yesterday we graduated, right?"

I smiled politely. "Right."

"So, what is it you do, Mike?" Ed asked.

"I'm actually working towards my PhD."

"Oh?" Ed cocked a brow. "Studying what?"

Mike opened his mouth to reply, but Mac chose that moment to sidle into our conversation. He swung an arm around my shoulder, bent to kiss my cheek, then ruffled my hair.

"Palmer."

"Mac." I took a deep breath and plastered on a friendly smile. "Nice to see you."

He flashed me a grin before whipping his gaze across to Ed. Apprehension sent my heartrate soaring as I watched the two men size each other up. For what felt like minutes, but was probably only seconds, deafening silence stretched between us all.

Eventually, Ed held out his hand. "Teddy. Good to meet you."

"Mac."

They shook hands, eyes steady on one another. Mike took a long pull on his beer, seemingly oblivious to the tension. Around us, the rest of the party continued, too, the other girls laughing, dancing, singing along to the cheesy tunes.

Everyone appeared totally unaware of anything being off, so maybe my nerves had caused me to imagine something that wasn't there. Either way, I couldn't help wondering just how long they could both keep up this charade of pretending they hadn't already met.

*

An hour later, Ed and I sneaked off to the kitchen in search of something non-alcoholic. Once inside, he wound his arms around me from behind and brushed his lips against my cheek.

"Mike's nice, but maybe I should've been more worried about your obsession with Derulo."

I swallowed down my smile. "Don't know what you're talking about."

"Mmhm..."

"They don't look that similar." I twisted in his arms to face him and looped my hands around his neck.

"As someone who's met them both in person, I assure you they do."

Despite his nerves about meeting my ex, he didn't seem bothered by this revelation. In fact, his eyes twinkled, like he was secretly amused.

Apart from that one joke earlier, he'd put on the performance of his life. Mike had taken a shine to him, and Ed had remained polite and engaged throughout their numerous conversations. To anyone else, they looked like two guys who'd known each other for years. Seeing him interact so warmly with my ex, knowing his inner thoughts were not aligned with his outer actions, somehow made him even more attractive.

"Can I tell you a secret?" I angled my body closer to his, leaning into his chest when his palm slid down my back to curve around my waist.

"Go on." His encouragement was laced with trepidation yet intrigue.

I pressed my lips to his ear. "I used to hate your poker face. Especially when you used it on me. But watching you do it here, with all these people who I know you didn't want to see... The self-control and discipline is so fucking hot."

The tips of his fingers bit into my waist as he drew me closer, and my nipples hardened against his solid chest.

"Yeah? Do you know what took the most self-control? Watching you and your ex check each other out, right in front of me."

"It's been four years since I last saw him," I said. "It was an instinctive reaction. There was nothing sexual about it."

His lips curved against my throat. "I'm just teasing. Compared to the way you look at me, it was very different."

"Oh, yeah? And how do I look at you?"

"Gosh, where do I start? Hm... Like clothes are a frustrating inconvenience. Like I'm the tastiest meal you've ever laid eyes on. Like you might combust if you don't touch me. Pure animalistic, primal need."

I bit my lip to withhold my smirk. "Your imagination is phenomenal. Maybe if this singing thing doesn't work out, you've got a future career as an author."

"Just saying what I see. And what I saw earlier wasn't that. Mike, on the other hand... He was definitely remembering you naked. Hence my little joke."

"Yes, it was hilarious."

"I could tell it amused you."

One hand left my waist to show me the red crescent-shaped nail marks spread across his knuckles. They'd almost faded to the point of invisibility, but I still dotted a path of gentle kisses along the curved line.

Four years might have passed since Mike and I had dated, but I could remember the way he'd looked at me back then. I wasn't convinced his appraisal of me tonight was anything more than mild curiosity—just like my own appraisal of him—but I wasn't going to wind Ed up by explaining how I knew that.

If he'd believed Mike had looked at me in that way, and his only reaction was a light joke, and then he'd spent the next hour engaged in conversation with him, that was even more attractive.

*

I'd suspected Mike had no clue about our messy history with Becca, and his good intentions all but confirmed that suspicion. Ed had been chatting to him about his neurology research, and when the conversation had inevitably turned to mental health, Mike's eyes had lit up with what I recognised as inspiration.

"Oh, you should really talk to Becca..."

As he spun on the spot to scan the room for his girlfriend, Ed scraped a nervous hand through his hair.

"She's starting up something really special," Mike said as he caught Becca's attention and beckoned her over.

Becca looked like she'd rather be in a hundred other places than this conversation with her boyfriend, his ex, and the guy she used to obsess over, but she still crossed the room with her head held high even if her frosty eyes told a different story.

"What's up?" she asked Mike, her gaze flicking across to Ed and me.

Something in her hard exterior softened, though, when Mike wrapped an arm around her waist.

"You should talk to Teddy about your work," he said.

"Not at a party."

He grinned down at her, brown eyes playful. "Come on. When else are you going to have the chance to talk to Teddy Stone about something like this?"

"Drop it, Mike."

With a good-natured grin—they were friends now after all—Mike turned to Ed and lifted a shoulder to shrug.

"She used to be obsessed with you, so she's probably self-conscious."

An awkward silence hung in the air, one that Mike did not seem to pick up on. Or, if he did, he just assumed it was because he'd embarrassed his girlfriend.

Fuck this. I owed Becca nothing, but this conversation needed to quickly progress before it became even more uncomfortable.

"Who wasn't obsessed with Teddy Stone, right?" I tipped my head towards Ed and tossed him a playful smile.

"You weren't," Mike said.

"Well, I am now." I turned my pointed smile onto Mike, then looked back to Becca. "So, your work, Becca?"

Her eyes lifted from the floor to meet mine. For a few seconds, she said nothing and just stared at me, accusation and hurt charging across the space between us. I didn't succumb to the instinctive feeling of guilt; I hated this conversation just as much as her, and yet until we got it over and done with, we'd just carry on standing here and hoping that Mike didn't cotton on to the awkward atmosphere.

Eventually, she released me from her glare and directed her focus onto Ed. "I've started a charity. It's very early days but the ultimate aim is to make mental health support more accessible to more people."

"Sounds great." Ed's voice was polite and neutral as his blue eyes pierced Becca's. "How do you plan on doing that?"

"Locally, to start with at least," she said. "A lot of online stuff, too, for people who don't feel comfortable talking to someone in person. I think that's the only way I can achieve any sort of scale. I'd love to open walk-in centres, where you can come and speak to someone at any time, whenever needed. But there are obviously a lot of costs associated with that. So, like I said, early days."

She broke eye contact with Ed and looked up at Mike again with a strained smile that seemed to suggest, happy now? Tenderness and awe brimmed in his eyes as he bent to kiss the top of her head.

"Sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to put you on the spot. You should be proud though, Bec. What you're doing is amazing."

"I know," she said shortly, "but I'm sure Teddy has listened to hundreds of mental health initiatives."

"Actually, I haven't," Ed replied.

"See." Mike pinched her side. "It's special. Also he has millions of followers so a retweet from him would help loads with your fundraising."

It was clearly a joke, but Becca's eyes flashed with anger.

"Mike," she muttered. "Not cool."

"Are you struggling with fundraising?" Ed asked.

"It's just slow." Becca folded her arms and drummed her fingers against the freckled skin below her shoulders.

"Not many donors?"

"Not many donors," she confirmed.

"Having a physical front would drain funds too," Mike said. "Rent, bills, wages. Donations aren't coming anywhere close."

"And where would be close?" Ed's tone was light, but I detected the insinuation that accompanied his casual question.

My eyes slid across to him in suspicion, an uneasy feeling settling in my stomach, but he remained focused on Becca and Mike, waiting for their answer.

"What did you estimate, Bec? It was something ridiculous like six figures?"

"Six figures isn't ridiculous," Ed said, in a way that only a millionaire could get away with saying.

He seemed to catch himself and panic flitted across his face, the first sign of emotion since this conversation had started.

"I mean it's not ridiculous to understand why you'd need that much. It all adds up."

"Yes, well, sadly the donations are not adding up at the same rate as the estimated costs." Her tone was sharp and dismissive.

Clearly he'd hit a nerve, and now she'd had enough of this discussion. She looked around the room, probably searching for an escape route.

But Ed didn't let it drop.

"How much more do you need?"

The insinuation was much more obvious this time. Becca's head snapped round to face him, arms dropping down to her sides. Even Mike's mouth had parted in surprise.

I cleared my throat in warning, but Ed stayed focused on Becca, his posture relaxed.

Standing up straighter, Becca held his stare. "Four hundred and eighty-five thousand. Roughly."

"There are a lot of expenses behind that number," Mike quickly added, as if trying to justify the insane figure she had just spat out.

"Naturally," Ed said. "Why don't you send me a list of them?"

Becca's eyes narrowed. "And why would I do that?"

"Becca," Mike said under his breath.

"No, it's a fair question." Ed flashed Mike a small smile. "I'd love to just transfer it over, but I need to justify it to my accountant. So, send me a breakdown, and—"

"Whoa, hang on." Mike held up a hand. "Look, that's so generous of you, but we didn't intend to come across as pitching for funds. I really was joking when I said—"

"I know," Ed assured him. "And I'm not promising anything. But this sounds close to my heart so I want to learn more, and if there's something I can do to help make the project a reality, then..." He shrugged modestly, like he hadn't just offered to fork out half a million pounds.

Becca was still staring at him, but her earlier hostility had caved to caution. She didn't like him, nor did she trust him, but she wanted to—for the sake of her charity.

"Thank you," she said eventually, her voice soft but business-like.

Ed's lips tipped upwards into a strained smile. "Of course."

And although there had been so many chances for him to make this more difficult for her, he hadn't. It just made me adore him even more. 

***

Thank you for reading :) xx

***

This party stuff stretches across multiple chapters. I'm not gonna lie, it's too long really. I've tried to cut out scenes, but some of it's quite fun, and I think we all want fun Ed & Soph after their long journey getting here! Excessive word count is a problem for future me during the edit :)

Thank you to everyone who commented about a potential Ed POV chapter -- stay tuned for more info later!