There were no excuses for anyone to drink and drive.

People were slowly filling my house, and I tried not to be nervous about it, knowing that I hardly knew most of them.

Sophie like the amazing person she was, was playing the perfect host. She’d had a lot more practice at this than I had.

The girls and I attended parties here and there, but I was always so scared of my father finding out what I was doing that I often bailed early. It was the fear of him ripping away my dancing that scared me the most. He paid for everything, and I was constantly told that if I didn’t do this, then I would be letting my family down.

It did my head in. I was angry at myself for being so complacent, so easily walked over. It was like I knew it was happening, but I was so scared of losing the one thing that was most important to me, that any time I even thought of opposing my father, I froze.

I was weak when it came to him.

The people who were meant to empower me, and lift me up toward my goals and dreams, were the ones who had crushed every thought of even pursuing them.

“Who are you murdering in your head?” Sophie laughed as she wrapped her arm around my shoulders, drawing me from my daydream—or nightmare, I should say.

I chuckled. “I have a few people in mind. I’m just not sure where to start.”

She grinned, her perfectly white teeth and bright red lipstick lighting up the room. “Go for the jugular, Emmy. If they’ve done you wrong, you make sure they know it.”

“You’re ruthless,” Ava called out from across the kitchen, staring at Sophie in complete admiration. “I love it!”

I almost choked as I watched her mindlessly pour alcohol into what I was apparently meant to be drinking. “You’re going to kill me with all that vodka,” I told her loudly, raising my voice over the music that filled the house. People were mingling and laughing, and it brought a smile to my face to see everyone having such a good time.

Ava glared at me across the counter. “You’re going to drink this, and you’re going to smile and tell me you like it. So help me God.”

I held my hands up and giggled, knowing I would do just that rather than face her wrath.

“What did I tell you?”

I spun around to see Max’s smiling face weaving through the crowd. As I stepped away from Sophie he enveloped me in a tight hug, and I grinned as he pulled back.

“Yeah, yeah,” I told him, rolling my eyes before narrowing them. “Where are my balloons? You said there’d be balloons.”

He chuckled, leaning in and giving me a kiss on the cheek. “Sorry, I’ll bring them next time.”

I pouted for a second, but couldn’t help but smile when his face sunk. “I can go get—” He soon realized I was joking, and shoved my arm before making his way around to where Ava was still creating her concoction, and finding himself a drink.

It was so easy with my friends. Max, Ava, Leah, and Sophie saw me for who I was and were always there when I needed them, without fault. They gave me time to just be me, and in a world where I was always fighting to be what my father wanted, that was something I desperately needed.

“You want me to make you a drink, Emmy?” he asked, as he frowned at the glass Ava was mixing.

She quickly shot him a glare, and he backed away a step. “I’m making her a drink,” Ava snapped.

“You need me to find you some eye of newt to go in that?” Max asked sarcastically.

Ava seemed to seriously consider it for a moment, and I screwed up my nose in disgust. “Don’t even think about it,” I told her sternly, pointing my finger.

Sophie’s musical laugh filled the room as she grabbed my hand and pulled me from the kitchen. “Quick, let’s go find the keg before she poisons you.”

“Hey!” Ava protested as Sophie dragged me away out the patio doors, the both of us laughing while Ava abused us from inside.

She was quickly drowned out by the music, though, the large speakers we had sitting outside on my massive porch boomed around us. Guys and girls were dancing, laughing, enjoying themselves and it built me up.

We made a quick stop at the keg and poured ourselves drinks.

“I love this!” Sophie grinned excitedly, as we walked past the grinding and thrusting to a group of chairs by the pool. “These are my people.”

I giggled. “I’m glad they’re someone’s people because they aren’t really mine.”

She rolled her eyes. “What are you talking about, Emmy? Look at them dancing. You’re a dancer, too.”

I took a seat, holding my cup firmly in my hands, feeling it fizz inside. “I don’t dance like this. You know that.”

“Maybe you should start,” she said with a shrug. “Let loose, have some fun once in a while, without worrying how Mom and Dad will react.”

I sipped at my beer, the bitter taste matching the emotions that were furiously building inside me. I couldn’t squash them. “That’s easy for you to say when you can do no wrong.”

I regretted the words the instant they left my mouth. It wasn’t Sophie’s fault that my parents saw her as their golden child, the one who could go out and do whatever she wanted as long she kept her nose reasonably clean. Socialites were expected to party, they were expected to be a little crazy, and draw the spotlight to them. It was how they got noticed, and how they acquired jobs. People gravitated toward shows and movies that starred popular celebrities and actors.

She seemed to slump, and I scooted forward on my chair. “I’m sorry, Soph, I didn’t mean that.”

Soph tried to smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “It’s okay, Emmy. I know that’s how you feel, and you’re right. But don’t think I don’t feel as guilty as hell for it.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I see how much Dad pushes you, and I watch you sink back into yourself.” Her eyes looked up at me, a sadness within them that was rare on a face I always remembered being so beautiful and happy. “I hate it. I want more for you. I want you to follow your dreams and fight for what makes you happy. I know that’s dancing, not this stupid lawyer bullshit that you’re doing.”

I couldn’t speak. I knew that Sophie supported me, but I didn’t know that she felt so much passion about it.

“I’ve felt regret, Emmy,” she said so softly that I barely made out the words over the music that thumped in the background. I sat forward, needing to hear her. “I know how it feels to pass something up, simply because you don’t think people will approve, or because you know what kind of shitstorm it could bring. I don’t want that for you.”

I shook my head. “A shitstorm is exactly right. Could you imagine what Dad would rain down on me if I told him I wanted to dance instead?”

Her eyes sparkled, and she sat up straight. “Storms don’t last forever, Emmy.”

“Maybe you should take your own advice,” I threw back with a smile. I knew that when she was talking about a shitstorm that she was meaning, whatever it was she had going on with this guy. I could tell. My sister was strong, unfazed by almost anything. She held her head with pride and never let anyone bring her down.

But this was hurting her.

She threw her head back and laughed. “Like I said, little sister, that ship has sailed out of the harbor.”

“Best you start swimming then.”

Before she could answer, Ava called out to us as she, Leah and Max hurried over to where we sat. “Sophie! Tell me it’s true.”

They all fell into chairs around us, creating a small circle of the people I loved the most in my life.

“It’s not true,” Sophie replied quickly with a short, sharp laugh. Ava’s face sank. “Don’t believe any of that crap they put in magazines and on E!”

Leah and Max chuckled, but Ava looked like someone had just kicked her puppy. “But… but… they said you’d dated Nate from Recoil.”

I rolled my eyes, Ava had an unhealthy obsession with the boys from the rock band Recoil. They were all sexy as hell, and they damn well knew it, but honestly, who could blame them. They were the whole package, and they knew their craft well. As an artist, I could admire that. I think Ava’s heart was broken when she found out that they were all finally off the market though, her dreams were crushed.

“Oh,” Sophie hid her smirk with her beer, muttering behind it. “That one’s true.”

“Yes!” Ava crowed, leaping to her feet and throwing her fist in the air. “Three degrees of separation. You dated Nate, you’re Emerson’s sister, I’m Emerson’s best friend. I practically know Nate.”

Max held up a finger. “I’m pretty sure that’s not—”

“Quiet in the cheap seats,” Ava scolded, pressing her hand into his face as she looked at Sophie in complete awe. “So… are those other rumors true?”

Sophie raised a brow, and I shook my head, almost embarrassed but also very amused.

“What rumors would those be?” Sophie asked carefully.

“You know…” she drawled, flicking her eyes down and then back up. When everyone continued to stare at her in confusion, she did it again more pointedly.

Eventually getting frustrated, she threw her hands in the air. “Is his dick huge?”

“Ava!” I screamed, howling with laughter.

Sophie spat her drink out, coating Ava’s shoes and coughing frantically as she tried to take air into her lungs.

“Ava! You just killed Sophie Rossi,” Leah said in absolute horror.

“Oh my fuck,” Sophie wheezed. “Warn me next time… you’re gonna ask… how big someones, um… cock is.”

Max stared on in uncomfortable horror, while Leah rushed over and started to slap Sophie on the back.

Ava’s face didn’t change though, she was completely serious, staring at Sophie like this answer would change her life forever. “So?”

“I need another drink,” Sophie said quickly, standing and heading for the house, but Ava was on her heels.

“Please! I’m part of the Nate-tion, my people need to know the truth,” she pleaded as she followed her inside, leaving us still laughing.

The rest of the party went off without a hitch, people came, they drank, they let loose, then they went home safely.

It was so good to have Sophie around, to pull me out of my shell and remind me of who I really was. I knew though, despite her encouragement, that come Monday when she left, everything would return to normal. I heard what she was saying, I listened to the words, but when it came down to it I wasn’t ready to take the risk yet.

Dancing kept me alive.

I couldn’t risk losing it because I knew that if I did, I would die.