''jackson, where are you going?'' she rushed after him as he walked really quickly and she had to practically run after him to keep up. one minute they were dancing and it was a rather pleasant evening. she couldn't get 'the almost kiss' incident out of her head and therefore she was a little more reserved than usual. well, even more. finally he stopped in front of a gorgeous redhead with his arms wide open and probably going in for a hug. perry stood next to him in slight discomfort, until it got even worse when her eyes settled on the redhead's company. oh shit. oh shit shit shit. ''oh, hi,'' she spoke up to the dark haired guy in front of her and she was about to present herself to the redhead when the lights went out and the big front screen lit up. dark canvas with white letters. the sentences changed in intervals of seconds. people were already shouting, a few slaps fell and she just read them. one after another. ''well. happy valentines,'' she murmured and then the screen flashed with jackson's name. and kael's and. well. so many people were listed there that she actually knew of. she quickly downed the remaining champagne in her glass and risked a look to the rest of the group, stopping on jackson. she only shook her head, her lips in a thin line. she asked him. she goddamn asked him about mindy. and he said she's just a friend.

there it was, finally! the evening of the dance and he was so excited because he was taking perry that he was almost capable of forgetting about mindy and the whole… thing. they weren’t exactly on speaking terms and he was planning to fix it somehow; he just didn’t know how yet and that was that. but right now he had other things to worry about. he had to find perfect flowers for perry and he made sure she felt comfortable and great and all that and now there they were, dancing and having fun. he noticed elliot – he had to still remind himself to call her that – and then he was rushing towards her to greet her. ”this is my friend ellie!” he announced and offered the explanation to perry at the same time. ”and she can tell you all about what a quiet and shy kid I was!” he laughed because she was his childhood friend; his first kiss even! he just nodded to acknowledge the fact that jean was there too. mindy talked about him sometimes; jackson never really got him. and then all of a sudden something happened and then there were little stories about everyone everywhere and perry seemed unhappy and he realized what she just saw. ”this? no. perry, don’t,” he said and shook his head. ”no, no, no,” he repeated and looked at elliot because she usually handled situations well. ”what is going on?”

She was incredibly lucky, because she got the hold of liquor pretty much as soon as they walked through the door. The moment she saw that big head full of curls coming closer, she was.. well, pretty drunk already. That was the only thing she could do at a stupid event like this – and she was still determined to make out with some random guy who came here with a date, just to provide some more chaos; little did she know that chaos didn't really need her help tonight. Jackson ended up next to her with a good looking date following him, and she smiled, waving him off, since she was way too wasted to show how much she didn't care for old memories. Then the lights flickered, then it was dark for a while and stories started flashing over the billboard and somewhere in between, she could find her own name with a story attached. She snorted loudly, looking at the pair next to them, then at Jean.

»I fucking hate gossip,« she declared, making it loud and clear that she would nevere ver touch that Vella asshole with a ten-foot pole. Which wasn't strictly speaking true, after all, she did sleep with him repedetly. But the mere thought of a relationship with the asshole he became - as if! »This is all fucking bullshit,« she murmured, handwaving again, looking at Jean, since he was the date of the night. »Don't even.. guys, this is all bullshit. Right?« Jean could confirm it. no doubt that that bullshit about him was just as made up as that about her.

jean was actually having quite enjoyable evening in company of elliot and glass of alcohol. he made sure that it was always full because it was the only reason that kept him on the dance floor and walking around bumping into people. he wasn`t fan of the parties like the one he was now attending; he preferred more private surroundings and being in company of small number of people, possibly without any disturbing in background. he was following elliot when she was greeting someone she knew and he just nodded towards the guy he heard quite a lot from mindy and then just when he was thinking about private area of local pubs suddenly she showed up in front of him; perry. “ hello to both of you, “ he said in polite tone and directing smile towards perry.

thinking that party is going to be boring and sugar-coated was wrong. the whole event turned in completely different direction. the lights went out and big screen attracted attention of everyone in the room-even his. the only reaction he could get from his line written was laugh. he and mindy ? people had really hard time believing in friendship between opposite sex. “ don`t look at me, “ jean reacted when he could felt the eyes on him, “ I can only talk in my name and no matter how flattered I would be dating mindy we are just good friends. “

she kept her eyes concentrated on the big screen. there was nothing else she could have done. she just stood there and read a word after a word. there were lies and there was truth. but as slides changed the distinction between them became unclear. what was real and what was not. ‘’stop saying no, jackson,’’ she murmured and then she looked to the redhead. ‘’you’re elliot?’’ it wasn’t even a real question. jackson presented her as ellie and chances were it was a nickname. ‘’you’re wrong. not everything is just gossip. the half of things up there are truth,’’ she corrected her and then she deliberately made a step away from jackson, pulling her hand away as she hugged herself around the torso. she still refused to directly look at jean. after all she told him, she might never again talk politely to him again. or stick her tongue down his throat. ‘’well, if elliot didn't date kael then I guess they’re right at least about him,’’ she waved towards jackson. ‘’you know. I had thought about it. and then I freaking asked you whether there is something more between you two. and you said nothing. you said she’s just a friend. but it’s written up there and it could be a lie but somehow I know it’s true. so… if it is, just say it right now,’’ she wasn’t looking at him, she kept a stand in a neutral zone, somewhere between him and jean, not really paying attention to anything but the screen. ‘’maybe everyone should just cough up their secrets before someone dies of a heart attack due to surprise. so I know jean from before. we almost screwed in a pub once. who’s next?’’

he wanted to agree with ellie, he desperately wanted to announce that it was pure bullshit and he had nothing to do with whatever the hell was written there but he just… couldn’t, they were right, somehow, even though he didn’t know how the hell did they even know. and the way perry looked right at that moment hurt him because she was pulling away, because she was doing her best to distance herself from him. she was doing what she told him she was best at. she was pushing him away. ”that’s not fair, perry,”he frowned, shaking his head no. ”there is nothing going on between me and mindy!” he announced and bit his lip; this was a weird conversation to have in front of ellie and jean, but he honestly couldn’t care less because he was upset. ”okay, fine, I might have liked her! she is my best friend and yes, she is an amazing human being and I spent a lot of time with her and it just… happened, but it wasn’t like she ever knew or anything! and then I met you and she doesn’t even matter like that and you are just… you can’t do that,” he frowned, a mixture of confusion and anger on his face. and then perry just went on talking and he found himself shocked and there was something else in his eyes when he looked at jean and then at perry. ”you did a what?”

She half-nodded to the girl in confirmation, although she didn't really feel like any was needed. Wasn't it obvious? And to be quite honest, she was drunk enough to not care what the brown-haired girly who was obviously – as more than half of the ballroom, by the way – taking this situation way too seriously. Bullshit on top of more bullshit. Why did they care? Oh, she needed another drink. Especially now, when the conversation they were having quickly escalated into a couple's fight and the only thing she could realize out of the bunch of completely unneccesary words was, that a mindy was strongly entweined between.. well, everyone, except her, obviously. She leaned closer to Jean and asked in a half-whisper: »Who the fuck is this Mindy?« she was pretty sure she knew no one by that name and in all fairness, she only wanted to know who she was to see what the fuck was so special about her. People were obviously losing their heads over her, so there had to be something.

»Oh, for fuck's sake,« she let slit between her lips as she rolled her eyes dramatically, »are we really turning this into a high school drama?« She didn't give a shit about who fucked who and she didn't give a shit about who almost fucked who and she didn't give a shit about relationships and crushes and she couldn't care less about what people were saying about her behind her back, either. And she was drunk, which made her a bit impatient about going around and actually causing some shit on her own. »I'm just gonna..« she sighed, then pointed to the table with drinks, then went to get some for herself, coming back a little while later with two glasses of white wine in her hands, one for her, the other she passed on to Jean.

jean was drunk enough to actually listen to couple`s fight between jackson and perry if that was what they were. what interested him the most was the main problem- his friend mindy. little did he knew that his brown-headed friend was so popular in life of different men not just his since it was his name right next to hers in big billboard telling everyone about their fake relationship. “ my really good friend. she is also best friend with jackson and judging from this fight we can tell that she is main problem of lovebirds, “ he whispered back to elliot while couple went going with explaining things on billboard. party turned into chaos- couples were fighting, people were upset because of things written about them reviling truth to others and there were him and elliot not caring what people are talking or what is written about them. they wanted to get even more drunk as they already were.

he was just about to move away trying to find another drink when perry talked and he just looked at her and then at jackson hoping that he is not going to play a curly rambo trying to hit him. “ hey, if you want to share just do so. I won`t, “ he said stepping a footstep back and putting his hands in front of him trying to protect from all the secrets, “ and dude nothing happened. few kisses and touches but no sex. there is no need for drama, right ? I think you are even now . you lied her about your feelings towards your best friend while she was screwing in toilet. “ he looked towards elliot but she was gone and he was stuck like a third corner of triangle feeling needless in whole situation but then elliot came back with a drink for him and he was happy that he was in such a good company. “ and since I feel this is not the end we should make a pact not to read what is stupid billboard saying and just have fun, huh ? “ he suggested smiling.  

note, tole je malce awkward spisano, ampak ker jacksona ni več na forumu sem ga pač stran poslala. ah. necessary god-moding what can i say. shite.

no. it wasn’t fair. it wasn’t fair to anyone. how someone dared to display everything on the screen in front of everyone. ‘’just stop talking, jackson,’’ she sighed as she hugged herself around torso. she wasn’t exactly in the mood to explain to him what exactly was she doing with jean a couple of weeks ago. she already regretted saying anything in the first place. and he did stop talking, but when she turned to glance at him, he was leaving the group without a word, walking away. ‘’and then there were three…’’ she murmured, suddenly caught in the presence of two strangers. she had no idea who elliot was beside the fact someone claimed she used to date kael. the slides on the screen changed, pictures were added. ‘’it is a little hard to have fun when the electricity goes out every few minutes and people are fighting all over the place,’’ she frowned and then searched around for a tray of champagne glasses. she grabbed one when she finally located the beverages and drank it in few second. ‘’good. I’m sorry, elliot, I know it’s none of my business, but I have to ask. you dated kael?’’ she tried to make her voice as neutral and detached as possible: ‘’it’s just that… he’s kind of a jerk. but I guess you know that already?’’ she was feeling so out of place with two strangers in the middle of chaos, but what could she do? with her tiny frame it was a little risky to even try crossing the room.