It was Saturday, which meant that you stayed over at Sarah’s, your best friend. It was already past midnight, and after a deep talk, the sleepover became boring, so you needed to have a bit more fun.

You two decided to sneak into Ward’s cellar, which was full of alcohol. You made your way downstairs and found a whiskey bottle in the cellar. You told yourself you would only drink a little, but it ended up being too much.

You two made your way back upstairs after drinking a whole bottle of Ward’s expensive whiskey, and that was definitely too much for you.

You stumbled back into her room and lay on the floor instead of the bed because it felt ‘funny’. You switched topics every five minutes, telling each other unfunny jokes, but they felt funny to you because you were drunk.

Sarah pulled out her phone and started scrolling through TikTok. She stopped at one video and grinned. She turned the phone toward you to show the video — a girl was dancing to “Toxic” by Britney Spears.

“Oh, you should definitely do that,” she said, grinning at you. She was definitely hyped.

You raised an eyebrow at her but stood up anyway. Sarah got on her knees and pointed the phone camera at you.

You played the song from your phone, and Sarah started recording the moment you gave her a nod. Then you started dancing part of the choreography, just like Britney did. In that moment, you lost yourself in the music and felt confident, carefree, and brave.

When Sarah stopped recording, she asked if she could post it on her ‘Close Friends’ Instagram Story. You told her yes because you knew only her close friends would see it. But Sarah accidentally posted it to her public story so everyone could see it, and neither of you noticed.

One of the people who saw it was Rafe, Sarah’s older brother and the boy you hooked up with sometimes. Of course, Sarah knew that, but she didn’t really care.

He watched the video on repeat, admiring your dancing skills and your look. His eyes traced every small detail — the rhythm of your body, the expression on your face, the way you smiled like the world around you didn’t exist. He probably even loved it.

Later that night, when Sarah fell asleep, you walked, or rather stumbled, into the bathroom to wash your face. You turned on the light. It was almost too bright, and you splashed water on your face. When you looked up at yourself in the mirror, you froze.

Behind you stood Rafe, his gaze meeting yours through the reflection in the mirror. He didn’t say anything at first, just placed his big hands on each side of the bathroom counter, caging you in.

You slowly turned around to face him. He wore nothing but grey sweatpants, showing off his perfect athletic build.

“You know I saw the story, right?” he said quietly.

Your eyes widened, realizing that Sarah didn’t post it just for close friends, and maybe, just maybe, you didn’t mind at all that he saw the video.

“{{User}}, you looked so hot dancing like that,” he leaned down, his breath brushing against your skin.

Your breath caught and you didn’t know what to say. Your heart beat faster against your chest. Before you could react, his lips crashed against yours, hard and messy. His hands gripped your waist, lifting you up and sitting you on the bathroom counter as if you weighed nothing.

He pulled away, resting his forehead against yours. “Guess the story wasn’t such a mistake.”

Before you could respond, his lips were on yours again, slower this time, not rushed but not gentle either. Just the right way to let you feel how much he needed you.