After Tom and Eva had left the private "party" room and had headed separately (at Eva's insistence), back into the safety of the main ballroom, Eva found Kirsty, who seemed to have gotten lucky with the footballer she'd found earlier, as they hadn't taken their hands off each other all night. Eva gave her excuses to leave, telling her she didn't feel well, and left the hotel; opting for a rather expensive taxi ride home.
She'd managed to leave whilst Tom was being distracted by his Father, who was now even more drunk than he had been earlier. His arm was draped lazily around his son's neck as he bragged to the group of his equally drunk business associates about how he was the heir to his entire "empire," whilst Tom stood and smiled politely, desperately searching the heaving crowd of masked faces, for Eva.
Benjamin was laughing loudly along with his friends, as he patted Tom on the back reassuringly, his eyes following Tom's that were still darting around the ballroom.
"Ah," Benjamin shouted, nudging Tom sharply in the arm, "I know who you're looking for; our lovely young Miss Winter! Am I right?"
Tom smiled insincerely at him and turned back towards the crowd, avoiding his accusing stare; his father let out another loud laugh and nudged him in the arm once again.
"I don't blame you son," he teased, turning once again to the men circled around him.
"Have you met Eva? Bloody gorgeous she is; I'd have a go on her myself if she wasn't such a frigid little bitch. Not like that other one; you know, that blonde tart, her over there with her tongue in that bloke's mouth," he nodded towards Kirsty who seemed to be engaged in a very intense game of tonsil tennis with the tall blonde footballer. "She'd let anyone have a go after a bottle of bubbly or two - and I'd know!" He and the other men then burst into laughter once again, the others raising their eyebrows and nodding in approval.
Tom, who before was doing everything he could to ignore his drunken slurs, turned sharply towards him, a dark frown formed on his face, amusing his father.
"Oh come on, Tommy boy, I'm only having a laugh! But you've got to admit, the girl's a fucking ice queen," he exclaimed, Tom's frown growing deeper. Benjamin leaned in towards his friends and gave them a sneaky wink, "I bet she's a right little animal in the sack once she gets going though," he muttered not so quietly, his associates grinning in amusement. Tom inhaled deeply, desperately trying to conceal his frustration.
"Have you ever considered, Dad, that maybe she doesn't want to fuck you, because she isn't like all the other brainless slags you go after?" Tom smirked, snapping his head back to lock eyes with his father. Benjamin smiled back, a mock expression of shock on his face.
"Oh look here boys, I think my son has a soft spot for our dear Miss Winter!" He was cackling loudly now, Tom's palms twitching in fury. No one but him was allowed to talk about Eva that way; to think about Eva that way. Especially not his own father.
"Go fuck yourself, Dad," he spat, as he left him, still chuckling to his cronies.
"Come on son, don't be that way," he called after him, "besides, she wasn't that great in bed!"
Tom froze on the spot and turned around, trudging back over to where his drunken father was stood. He squared up to him, his eyes reaching his as they both matched each other in height.
"I'm sorry," Tom said, almost mockingly, holding a hand to his ear, "I didn't quite hear that, would you care to say that again?"
His father wondered if maybe he'd gone too far, and that maybe his son really did feel for Eva. Who could blame him really? The girl was an absolute knockout. All that aside, he wasn't willing to be challenged by his own son in front of his associates, or anyone for that matter, and he definitely didn't appreciate his son's attempt to make a fool of him.
"It was a joke, son," he replied coldly, the smile now gone from his face completely. Tom scowled; his eyes boring into his, "what's this girl done to you, boy?" He asked quietly, "you used to have a sense of humour!"
Tom silently turned to walk away once again, having had quite enough of his father's "jokes.".
"Oh, and Tom," Benjamin called out, "I'd put her out of your mind if I were you, I don't think you're her type. It takes a lot more than a smile and a flash of the cash for that one, she likes a bit of rough, I reckon. Her legs are firmly closed to the likes of us."
Tom walked away quickly, knowing his father's words were solely to taunt him at having dared to go up against him in front of his friends. His face glowed red as the sound of laughter grew fainter; never turning back. If he had, God only knows what he might've done.
After what had felt like a lifetime, Eva was finally at her flat. She stepped inside and shut the door; breathing in the familiar scent of home. It was quite lovely; recently refurbished with a small stairway leading to the two bedrooms upstairs and the en suite bathroom; whilst downstairs was a large living room that led through to a spacious kitchen and another downstairs bathroom. They even had a little garden out back, where they'd often hold barbecues for their friends in the summer.
She used to think of it as her and Freddie's little "loveshack;" the home they'd made together. Really, all the decorating had been down to her, whilst Freddie helped out with the heavy lifting and a bit of DIY, but he had ultimately just left her to it. It was Eva that had made it the beautiful little place they could both call "home."
The flat was empty, as Freddie had gone off with his friends to a heavy metal festival up north at the last minute, declining his invite to be Eva's plus one for the masquerade ball. There was also the fact that he'd scoffed at the idea when she'd told him about it months before, telling her it sounded like "an excuse for posh rich people to drink expensive booze and kiss each other's asses," which although after pouting a little about it, she secretly agreed with, so she'd decided to go alone, and now had the flat to herself until Monday. She was glad for this now, as she definitely wouldn't have been able to face him after what she'd done earlier that night.
She shook the thoughts from her head and dragged her feet heavily up the stairs to the bedroom, picking out an oversized Smashing Pumpkins 2015 tour t-shirt from the drawer that Freddie had bought for her when they'd gone to see them in New York the previous year for her 21st birthday. That day had been one of the best in her life; she and Freddie were so in love back then. She smiled a little at the memory of how happy they'd been that night, and how they'd kissed the whole way through '1979.' They were the couple everyone wanted to be.
With that thought still playing dreamily in her head, she went through to the bathroom, where she washed the evening off of her body.
After she felt clean enough to finally get out of the shower, she pulled the shirt over her head and grabbed a pair of cotton black panties. She wasn't nearly tired enough to sleep, she felt wired and restless, so she went back downstairs and turned on the tv.
Eva hadn't realised she'd fallen asleep for ten minutes or so when she was awoken by a loud knocking on the door. She wearily pulled herself off of the sofa, and walked over to open the front door, still half asleep.
The smell of the grass and the dirt was strong from where it had been raining heavily. The cold breeze shook her awake as she rubbed her eyes to see that Tom was stood on her doorstep.
