[Open] When We Drink We Do It Right

[Cady Marie Hastings]

Cady filled her cup up with Jack Daniels and took a sip as she looked around the kitchen. Who to mingle with first? There were a few people for her to choose from, but she decided on Faith and Destiny. She wasn’t really all that close to either of them, so why not be friendly and get to know them? As she made her way over to them, she spotted Kyle over talking to some guy. “Hello ladies.” she said with a smile. “You guys look great. Faith congrats on the engagement. Sorry I’m so late.” Faith just smiled, “Thank you. I love your dress.”. Cady returned the smile and placed her cup on the counter as she began to take her jacket off. “Kinda hot in here with all these people.” she said with a small laugh. She picked her cup back up, “Excuse me ladies while I go find Kyle to see where I can put this. See you guys later.” she gave a small wave and made her way towards Kyle. “Hi.” she said politely, “sorry to interrupt, but is there a place I can put this?” she asked gesturing towards the coat hanging on her arm.

outfit

[Cody Jensen Cavanaugh]

Cody licked his lips as he watched Claire walk away before he looked over at Bailey. They never really talked..ever. Actually, now that he thought about it he wasn’t sure he actually had spoken a word to her at all. But as she started speaking, it was like the rest of the party drowned out around them. “ What?” he questioned, but it wasn’t like he actually needed her to repeat herself. He lifted his head up, scanning the crowd for Carrie. Where had she gone? She had told him to mingle, but where the hell was she? And Anthony? Cody handed his drink off to someone without looking at them before he started to push his way through the partygoers. First door opened, nothing. The second was a bathroom. Some drunk couple was behind door number three. Cody turned the handle on the next door, finding it locked before he clenched his teeth. Cody took in a deep breath before taking a few steps back and ramming his shoulder into the door with everything he had. “ Are you FUCKING kidding me?” he yelled out at the scene that was happening in front of him. Cody felt like he crossed the entire room in a span of about two steps, waiting as Carrie moved away from Anthony before he threw all of his strength into a punch against Anthony’s face. “ You’re fucking my girlfriend?” he spat out in anger at him. Cody lifted his hand up into a fist again before taking a step back and taking in a deep breath. “You two deserve each other,” he said, taking a step back out of the room and back into the group of partygoers. Cody shook his hand out, grabbing the first plastic red cup he saw before taking it from some dude’s hand and taking a long drink as he made his way to the living room.

[Carrie Anne Price]

Carrie smiled as Anthony pressed her against the door, saying it would be nice to not have to hide anymore. That was true. Especially since him and Bailey had called things off. It was just a matter of time really. She wasn’t even sure what was keeping her from breaking up with Cody – aside from the fact that him and Anthony knew each other. It wasn’t like they were best friends, but they’d hung out it in the same group. Carrie wrapped her hands behind his neck, biting down against his lower lip as they walked closer to the bed. It wasn’t like she was actually going to sleep with him – not here anyways. And especially not during a party, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t make themselves comfortable. Carrie moved to kiss the side of his jawline before she heard someone trying to turn the door handle. She turned her upper body to face the door, with her arms wrapped loosely around his waist before suddenly the door came busting open. “ Jesus Christ,” she said quickly, moving out of the way as Cody came barreling towards them. “ Cody!” she yelled out at him after he had struck Anthony. But he was pissed ; she could see it in his eyes. And judging by his snide little comment before leaving, whatever relationship they had was over. “ Oh my god,” Carrie said, placing her hand gently as possible on Anthony’s cheek. “ Are you okay? You need ice, I am ..so sorry..” she said as an expression of concern came over her.

[Kyle Jeremy Jergens]

Kyle took a drink from his cup before nodding at Liam and looking around, “ Yeah… Yeah this is me and my roommate’s party. Anthony..” he said, figuring that Liam would at least know the name because of Bailey. It was strange, being the same age as the kids in his home, but still feeling like they were kids and he was so much older than them. Sort of came with the turf of his job he guessed. You couldn’t exactly clock in for a 9-5 job as a hired assassin and not feel like you were ages beyond your peers. Kyle looked over at Cady as she approached them, offering her a small smile. He’d been trying pretty hard to get to know Sutton, but Cady had been on his mind a lot lately. He lifted his eyebrow slightly before looking over at Liam with an apologetic grin. “ It was a pleasure to meet you, man. I gotta help the little lady out. I’ll see you around. Relax.. enjoy some beer,” he said, tapping his hand against the side of his arm gently before Kyle turned his attention to Cady, placing his hand on her lower back and leading her down the hallway. “ Hang on a second,” he said, hearing the commotion going on from Anthony’s room before he watched as Cody stormed away. Kyle peeked his head into the bedroom. “ You good?” he asked, waiting for the thumbs up from Anthony before he gave a nod of his head and went back to Cady. “ You can leave that in here,” he said, opening the door to his bedroom before he stepped inside, shutting the door behind them. He watched her as she walked into his room, trailing his eyes from the bottom of her legs up her body as he took a sip from his drink.

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan smirked at the conversation between Stefan, Talia, himself and Hillary. Yeah. It was strange that he was getting married. And talking about it. Ethan kept his arms wrapped around Talia’s shoulders as Claire came bouncing in, making some comment about weddings being ‘so 2012’. He rolled his eyes slightly without saying anything before he kissed the side of Talia’s hair. “ I’m gonna go see who else is here real quick,” he said to the group, giving a slight wave to everyone before he picked up his drink from the counter and headed away. Ethan narrowed his eyebrows as he saw Kyle moving away from Liam. He recognized that guy. Anyone who watched the news would. Only soldier to make it back from his troop. Everyone else died except for him and another soldier, who was overseas as a POW. The only reason this guy wasn’t was because they thought he was dead and left him there. He must feel so out of place at a college party. But.. he was a fellow Nicholas Sparks guy from what he knew. And considering Ethan was a fellow Sparks actor, he figured he might as well chat it up. “ Hey,” Ethan said, making his way over to him before he held his hand out, “ Ethan Fox… You’re Liam. You’re in the new Sparks movie with Bailey…. We’re the unfortunate assholes who will probably be typecast as love interests,” he said with a playful smirk. He wanted to ask him for advice – Ethan was playing a soldier in one of his movies coming up. But he didn’t want to just jump into that right away, and seem like an asshole. But who was he kidding? That wasn’t the type of thing that just went off your mind. He was probably thinking about it all the time. “ Mate I don’t want to seem like a dick. But I’ve seen you on the news, I know who you are, I know your history. Is there any way you could give me some advice on being a soldier? I’ve got this role coming up.. and.. what better soldier to learn from than one who has been through everything you have? I mean to come home after those experiences… your best friend a prisoner of war.. you’ve got to have some serious shit going on in your head,”

[Hillary Rachelle Jones]

Hillary couldn’t help but smile as Stefan kissed the side of her hair. At least it felt normal to be around their group of friends. Talia and Ethan were perfectly themselves, Claire was bouncing around making comments, Anthony was off…doing god knows what. Yup. This was her group. Hillary looked over at Talia, offering a quick smile. “ Yeah.. Everything’s fine,” she said, looking over at Stefan as he offered to get her something to drink. “ Maybe some pink lemonade..” she said quietly before standing on her toes to kiss his cheek. Hillary looked over her shoulder as Stefan managed to get her a drink, waving her fingers towards Faith in a greeting before she looked back over at Talia who no longer had Ethan by her side. “ Maybe the brides to be should go find some dance music,” she said, reaching out to take the cup from Stefan. “ I love you darling,” she said, placing her hand on the back of his neck as she stood up on the toes of her left foot to give him a kiss. Hillary smiled at the end of it, giving him one last quick one before she lowered her hand to Talia’s and took it, leading her towards where it sounded like the music was coming from.

[Noah Rylan Renner]

Noah smiled as he watched Kristen’s friend head towards the kitchen. He lifted his eyebrow as she spoke about the music she listened to earlier. He let a slow smile spread across his lips. “ I like the image of you lounging in my room far too much to just give up my music to you,” he said as he looked down at her features, the way her lips curved against the cup. Instinctively he licked his lips as he watched her. “ …. Drink that up,” he instructed, turning his head to listen to the music. Noah smiled as he looked over at her, bringing his hand up to the side of her neck where he traced his thumb against her jawline slowly before using it to press her chin back so she would gulp her drink down. “Look at that,” he said quietly , taking the empty cup from her before setting it down. Noah reached down, taking her hand before he pulled her into the crowd. It wasn’t exactly his type of music, but he had to admit it seemed like a lot of girls were dancing. Once he felt they were submerged into the crowd enough, he moved his hand away from hers, placing it on her hip before he turned her so that her back was to him. Noah smiled as he gathered Kristens hair off of her neck and pushed it off to one side of her shoulder. He moved his fingertips down the side of her neck, looping his finger gently under the bra strap that was poking through the sheer top before he easily made it fall to the side as he leaned down to kiss the soft skin of her shoulder.

[Bailey Grace Prestley]

Bailey brought her hand up to her forehead as Cody bolted away from her. This is not what she intended. What the hell did she even intend? Did she know? “ Fuck,” she said under her breath. She just felt that someone should be honest with the guy. No one had been honest with her until it was too late. Bailey pushed her way through the crowd, looking for the nearest bathroom before she let the water fall into the sink, splashing some against her face. She was not going to cry. Not here. This wasn’t the point of coming here. But that didn’t stop the tears from coming. Bailey closed her eyes as tightly as possible, doing her best to not let them fall. After a few deep breaths she washed her face off again, shaking her hands out. Bailey reached her hands up, fixing her hair and cleared her throat before she moved out of the bathroom. She made her way back over to Liam, slowing as she heard what Ethan was saying. “ That was you?” she asked quietly, but judging by the fact that Ethan had looked away from Liam and was staring at her, it was loud enough to be heard. Bailey looked between Ethan and Liam before shaking her head and taking a step back. “ That’s great. You made assumptions about who I was the first time we met.. and you can’t even be honest with me about who the hell you are?” she asked before she scoffed and moved away from both of them. “ Hey Bailey girl, you got something to drink?” Willie asked as she past him. “ Not now Willie!” she said as she pushed her way past him. “ Wooowie, she’s madder than hell. That little lady seems more pissed off than a greased down pig in a pool of chocolate pudding. Or what I call ‘Weight Watchers Meetings.. six months later’. “ he said drunkenly before Bailey was able to slam the apartment door behind her and start making her way towards the elevator.

[Liam Edward Bradford]

Liam looked away as a girl approached himself and Kyle, asking Kyle where she could put her coat. Liam really didn't know what he was doing here. Not much longer, he and Bailey could stop pretending and he wouldn't end up at parties like this. Liam offered a polite smile, "It was nice meeting you too," he added as Kyle headed away with the girl. Liam looked around, shoving his heads in his pockets, looking for Bailey over everyone's heads. Perks of being tall. The last person he saw her talking to was that Cody guy. He hadn't seen her since. But he did see Cody storm through the party, whether he was going somewhere or leaving somewhere, he wasn't sure. Liam looked over when he heard someone approach him, holding his hand out. Yeah Liam recognized him, "Oh hey, nice to meet you Ethan." Liam chuckled a bit when Ethan talked about them being love interests, "Well, I guess it just comes with the package." What he wasn't expecting was for Ethan to bring up his military days, but Ethan meant no disrespect. And it was always a good idea to know more about the role you're about to be in. Liam rubbed his thumb over his eyebrow, looking around, "Uh, yeah, it's not the easiest..." but before he could finish Bailey had come back, hearing her say that that was him, the guy form the news. Yeah. He was, unfortunately, the guy from the news. Before Liam could even respond to her she had gone off. Well so much for acting like they got along. Apparently the acting was all out the window, even though she'd been the one wanting to keep that going, for the movie's sake. How could she seriously be mad at him for not wanting to sit down and talk about what had happened over seas? It wasn't his most fond memory, and though he didn't want to just forget about, some because he couldn't remember half of it and some because he knew there was someone over there he could never forget about, but he also was trying to get his life back to some kind of normalcy. He didn't want to be 'that guy from the news', he didn't want those pitiful looks people gave him. he was alive and on home turf, he didn't need to be felt sorry for. Surely Bailey could understand that. And that was when he realized it wasn't him she was mad at, because no he hadn't been honest, but come on. Liam sighed and looked at Ethan, "I'm very sorry, if you could excuse me..." he trailed off, walking away to find Cody. Last person she had talked too and he had looked pretty peeved a few minutes ago. Liam found him, gripping his shoulder to get his attention and turned him around roughly, not even realizing what he was doing, "What did you say to her? What did you say to Bailey?"

[Cody Jensen Cavanaugh]

Seriously how in the hell did he not realize that this was happening? Cody finished off the drink quickly before tossing the cup towards what looked like a pile that had once been a pyramid. He felt the hand grip against his shoulder before he was being whipped around. Part of him was expecting to see Anthony. Fine, you want some more? “ What the fu-“ he started off before he noticed it wasn’t him, just another party goer. Actually, not just another party goer. It was him. That soldier who came home and started work as an actor. Cody bit the edge of his lip before shaking his head. “ I didn’t tell your girlfriend anything,” he said before he brought his hand up and shook it over his head. “ She told me that Carrie and Anthony have been hooking up,” he said before shaking his head and taking in a deep breath. “ Look.. sorry if I… upset her. I just… look, sorry. Okay?” he said with a slight lift his eyebrow before he started to back away.

[Liam Edward Bradford]

Liam let go of Cody, letting him explain. Carrie and Anthony... Anthony was Bailey's boyfriend. Well, guess ex-boyfriend nowadays. Well that all made sense. Liam could put two and two together that Carrie was probably Cody's girl, hence why Cody was pissed. Liam wasn't even going to bother denying that he and Bailey were not dating, it wasn't important at the moment. Liam nodded in Cody's direction, "I understand, my apologies," and turned to go find Bailey. So Anthony had cheated on her. It was no wonder she was upset. Liam made his way into the hallway and found Bailey waiting for the elevator, but he quickened his pace as she got in and the doors began to close behind her, grabbing the door before it shut completely. The door slowly opened back up, revealing Bailey standing there and Liam stepped in. He stayed quiet while the doors closed, hands in his pockets and stood beside her. He started straight ahead and finally said as the elevator started to descend, "It's not a walk in the park for me to tell people about it. I don't remember half of it and the parts I do remember are difficult to think about." Liam looked at her calmly, "I would imagine you could understand that. Having things in your past you don't like to revisit." Liam shrugged, "I'm sorry you felt I wasn't honest with you. I'm still dealing with things myself."

[Bailey Grace Prestley]

Bailey brought her hand up to her hair, pushing it behind her ear as she pushed the button to go down to the lower level. But it seemed just as her sight on a getaway was happening, it was crashing and burning,too. Bailey sighed as someone’s hand stopped the elevator and tilted her head with her arms crossed as she looked up to see that Liam had been the one to run out. Couldn’t really blame him. If she wasn’t there, then there was really no point for them to ‘pretend to get along’. “ Perfect,” she said under her breath before taking a step back and resting her hand against the rail on the side of the elevator. When he stepped inside and pushed the button, she mimicked his silence, staring straight ahead as she kept her eyes locked on the little numbers that lit up as they went downward. When he started talking, part of her softened. Which honestly.. annoyed her. Bailey took in a deep breath and sighed while rolling her eyes before she pushed away from the side of the elevator and went over, pushing the ‘stop’ button and wobbled slightly when the elevator came to a halt. She didn’t know a lot about the situation. The news wasn’t really her thing. But she’d heard about it over various dinner conversations. Soldier comes home alone after an ambush, he suffered memory problems. He’d been treated in the media as a hero. Her experiences didn’t really compare to that. “ I get it,” she said, lifting her eyebrow at him. “ Okay? I get it. We don’t need to talk about it. We don’t need to talk about a lot of things. And we sure as hell don’t need to pretend anymore. Got it? It’s fine. That’s over. We don’t need to pretend to get along. We don’t need to smile and be someone we aren’t. People don’t know when to stop pretending to be someone they aren’t anymore. So you and I? Fine. We’re actors. We get paid to clock in and tell someone else’s story for a day. But I’ll be damned if my story is prancing around some red carpet with an as-.. “ she started off before taking in a deep breath and placing her hands on her hips. “ We made a movie together. You don’t owe me anything. I sure as hell don’t owe you anything. We don’t need to hash out during a story hour.. and I think neither of us want to pretend anymore that this is something it isn’t,” she said before she lifted her hands up, “ You’re free. I’m done pretending. I don’t even care if you want to keep doing it and I end up looking like a bitch for the last stretch of our interviews.”

[Hanna Lynn Atwood]

Hanna held her arms infront of herself as she kept her hands tightened around her clutch. Riley had been riding her pretty hard at the office during her internship and what better way to let off some steam than to head to a party? And like perfect timing Anthony and his roommate seemed to take it upon themselves to provide just the occasion. She scanned her eyes through the crowd before doing a double taken. “….Kristen?” she questioned to herself in almost disbelief as she looked at the spectacle that was Kristen and the British Invasion. “ Hoolllly… Shit” she said before placing her clutch underneath her arm and then deciding it would be best to try and find Faith. Thankfully, she was right where Hanna expected her to be ; in the kitchen getting a drink. “ Hey ha-“ she said before she stopped short and looked at Destiny. Hanna blinked, standing perfectly still as she looked Destiny up and down and the fact that she was covered from head to toe. No skin? No slutty dress? No pursing the nearest drunk guy? “ Okay so… your sister is a nun.. and have you seen the porno being shot in the living room? If not maybe you could get a special screening since you know the main actress.. Yeah Kristen is in there getting down with London’s …bridge..” she said with a lift of her eyebrow. ”….Wait am I dreaming?” she said as though suddenly it all made sense. “ Where’s Johnny Depp…” Hanna said as she set her clutch down and began to look over her shoulders before puffing out her cheeks and starting to make herself a drink.

Outfit

[Shane Alexander Madden]

Shane moved through the party, still adjusting his shirt and brought his beer to his lips. Not a lot of his close friends except Ethan but Claire knew mostly everyone so that was alright. Not to mention he'd literally just gotten home from tour and hadn't seen anyone except Claire and the little man. He could surprise Ethan. Shane stopped to talk to some guy about the music they were playing, convincing them to put on a song Claire liked. Give it 30 seconds, she'd be out on the dance floor. After Shane went and got a refill, a glass of Captain with a shot of coke, he moved back into the crowd of people, seeing Cody walking past pretty pissed off, "Hey man, everything alright?" Cody seemed to wave him off as if it was just dandy, Shane wasn't about to ask, but instead saw Ethan and headed in his direction after seeing a tall guy excusing himself. Shane punched Ethan in the arm, and held his arms out wide, "Hey bro, long fucking time, no see," he grin, giving him a hug and stepped back, taking a drink. "I see you are alone, where's you lady at?"

[Liam Edward Bradford]

Liam took a deep breath and let his arms down by his sides, staring over at her incredulously, "Stop pretending? That's it, you want to stop pretending," Liam shook his head, letting out a short huff of a laugh, "You've got to be joking." Liam looked down at her, turning to face her slightly and rested one hand on the handrail. "You want to stop pretending? You're pretending right now. You think I don't know when you're pretending and when you're being real? Bailey I've been working with you on a movie for almost a year, I'm probably the only person you've been real with since we started working together, and it isn't this. You think you're real with your friends? Because we both know you do a damn fine job of lying to them, you just did upstairs at the party, pretending to get along with me. Even this," he motioned to her frustratingly after pushing the button for the elevator to keep moving downwards, but keeping his tone level, "This isn't you. Even this is an act, these walls you just put up and I don't know who the hell you;re doing it for," he looked around the elevator, "There's no one here. So who are you trying to fool? Because it kind of seems like the only person you're trying to fool is yourself. And even you don't look convinced," he said raising an eyebrow. "When you decide you want to stop the act, because I imagine it must be exhausting, you know where to find me." And with that, the elevator had reached the ground floor, the doors opening with a ding and Liam stepped out.