After having a breakdown in the guest bathroom at the Meleri estate, I forced myself to cover up any trace of the tears I once shed. I had to redo my face of makeup and this time adding extra concealer under my puffy eyes, which I can play off for being tired. I peeled my previous clothes off my body before pulling on some Levi ripped jeans and a thick dark orange long-sleeve shirt.

I reluctantly head downstairs knowing I've been gone for too long, given that my dad and Liam are now back upstairs. Their cigar smoking and scotch drink usually last up to an hour, but I'm sure it's not a big deal or Sebastian would've texted me. Voices echo throughout the house, and they manage to grow louder as I approach the kitchen.

Liam and my dad are seated at the kitchen island while my mom and Kate are finishing up the Thanksgiving feast that's already partially set in the formal dining room with an arched doorway leading into it. My brows furrow when I notice Sebastian conversing with an unfamiliar raven-haired woman outside on the back deck. Sebastian's face grows with a smile before I hear his muffled laugh, while the raven woman's body shakes slightly indicating she's laughing as well.

"Oh Vina, that's Cayden—you should go out and introduce yourself," Kate suggests as her brown eyes peer over to me. I somehow recognize the familiar name of the woman, knowing that Sebastian has brought her up a few times.

My mom tilts her head, "Avina, did you fall asleep? You look awfully tired,"

I'm slightly offended, but it's better than it being obvious that I was crying.

"Val that was harsh," my dad buds into our conversation, "Though you do look tired," he adds.

I raise my brows as I click my tongue against the roof of my mouth, "I'm going to head outside with Sebastian," I declare tightly before exiting the room to the large porch that gives the perfect view of a large yard with perfectly green grass and a sustainable clear pool with a hot tub attached.

"Vina," Sebastian smiles as I walk out of the warm house causing the raven-haired woman to turn around.

I blink a few times as I take in her shiny black hair tied into a sleek high bun as some small curls hang out. A paper airplane tattoo is inked on the outside corner of her right eye along with a queen of hearts tattoo lining the front of her right ear. Whatever remaining tattoos the woman has is unknown due to her black turtle neck that's tucked into black leather pants.

"This is Cayden Dela Cruz, my longest friend—childhood friend actually," he introduces her and I instantly can conclude from her last name that she's the one he's mentioned here and there.

Cayden smiles revealing a gold cap on her sharp upper left canine tooth with a silver diamond placed in the middle of the blinding gold and a singular shiny small diamond on her other canine tooth.

I pull my light eyes from her straight white accessorized teeth, "Nice to meet you," I address her as I meet her dark eyes.

The woman's eyes trace my face before nodding, "I'm surprised Sebastian hasn't mentioned me," she turns her head back to the blonde man, "I mean I'm offended Sebby," she mocks him by placing her hand over her chest, displaying her short nails painted in a shiny black.

Sebastian rolls his eyes playfully, "I've mentioned you a few times, but it's hard to introduce you two when you're so busy—I mean you never come visit, and keep in mind we live in the same fucking city," he points out as I walk to stand beside him.

She lives in New York too?

Cayden shrugs, "It's hard running a business at our age, perhaps one day you'll find out what it takes," she points out.

I furrow my brows, "Wait are you the same age—"

"As Sebastian?" she asks with an amused smile as her dark eyes dart to mine, "Yes, I just decided to skip the whole college experience," she declares as I subtly take in her more masculine appearance.

I hum not being able to form any words under her intense stare.

"You make it seem so bad," he playfully scoffs.

Cayden pulls her attention away from me, "Because it is," she points out as she stares back at Sebastian.

Watching the two long-term friends interact I can see why they became acquainted. They use somewhat of the same slang, dress similarly, and Sebastian manages to have the edge that Cayden has except she seems way more intense—given her tattoos and style.

The conversation that I'm silently observing is cut off when one of the double doors opens, "Dinner is ready," Kate announces displaying her white smile. This might sound wrong, but I'm honestly surprised that she manages to be okay with Cayden's numerous tattoos and edgy presence. Though Kate just gives off a judgemental vibe—It's shocking that she even allowed the two to be friends once they made it to high school, given that's probably where the two made their transformations.

Cayden's head turns to the door I once came out of illuminating the tattoo lining the front of her left ear that says 'Espíritu Libre'. I pull my eyes away from the woman and follow her and Sebastian into the warm house. We all get seated at the long dining room table with Sebastian sitting next to me while Cayden sits on the other side of him. My parents and Sebastians sit across from the three of us with Kate passing out the circular white plates lined with shimmery gold.

As we ate we discussed random topics, but the topic of Cayden is what oddly held my attention. From what I've gathered she owns a clothing company, she just had a birthday which means she must be twenty-two since Sebastian and I are both twenty-one, and she's attending Thanksgiving with the Meleri's because her parents had business out of town. While Sebastian's parents aren't terribly stuck up, Cayden still manages to bring out a refreshingly new side from the pair and even my own parents.

"Who's ready for dessert?" Kate asks with a smile as I finish the rest of my red wine.

Everyone nods consecutively before continuing back to their side conversations, leaving me to my own thoughts.

My mom rises from the table, "I'll grab another bottle of wine," she declares.

Three bottles of wine later and a finished pumpkin pie, everyone finally decided to call it a night. While Sebastian grabbed another bottle of red wine and headed up to our room, I decided to take a breather outside. I wrapped my body in a furry blanket since it was colder at night, knowing my jeans and long-sleeve shirt probably weren't going to suffice.

My eyes visibly widened when I notice Cayden leaning over the cream balcony of the back porch while the moonlight streams onto her glowing face. She pulls the lit blunt from her lips before exhaling a cloud of smoke and turning to face me as if she felt my presence. A small smile crawls onto her plump lips as she extends the blunt to me while her dark eyes remain on me.

She tilts her head as I walk closer to her, "Oh my bad... do you smoke?" she asks cautiously as if she were naive to assume so.

I shrug, "Not often, but yeah," I take the blunt from her fingers.

I make sure to not graze her soft fingers since I know I'll easily drop the lit blunt at the contact. I take a small drag from the blunt since my only goal is to relax a bit rather than get extremely high. I've been so tense since we left the city... well, who am I kidding? I'm always fucking tense, so this was clearly needed. As I blow out the thick cloud of smoke, my mind swirls with the thought of sharing the same blunt with Cayden. How our lips touched the same thing, but at different times... I need to stop. She's Sebastian's closest friend, and I'm seeing her in some weird sexual way. In her mind, I'm off limits considering the situation, and I'm not quite sure that would change even if Sebastian and I weren't together. For all I know, she could have a girlfriend.

"You good?" she chuckles softly as her dark eyes peer down into my chocolate eyes.

I let out a deep breath as I carefully hand the blunt back to her, "Yeah-yeah," I nod a few times.

She raises one of her sharp dark brows—drawing my attention away from her eyes briefly before I drop my focus back down to the paper airplane tatted under her right eye. As I stare intensely at the tattoo coating her smooth face, I begin to wonder what it means, but I quickly snap out of my daze when I realize I've been staring for longer than I should be. I briefly glance at Cayden's dark eyes which are staring at me with an unreadable expression. I turn my head fully to the front to help restrain myself from staring at the woman in such an obvious manner.

Cayden hums, "Caught you,"