"As if there's much left to share! Let's get this down the hatch!" She took her turn from the bottle, chasing after it with a hit from the blunt. Passing it over to Gabriel again, the smoke thick as fog in the humid atmosphere of the party. It was getting around that time that folks had left or were crawling over the furniture, curling up like animals for a snug place to pass out. She shrugged her jacket back on over her shoulders, the music muffled in the effects of Nadine's decision to start cross fading. Continuing to embrace the encouraging influence she had over her friend, her hips swayed in her path out of the kitchen, slinking like a cat amongst the troupes of folks wading in and out of the house. She caught a glimpse of Cassie, shirtless, bra soaked in alcohol that the birthday boy was clumsily tugging to unfasten. Nadine giggled and looked back at Gabriel, sticking her tongue out with a wink, an audible slap across Mike's face sounding as he sat on the dining table. Cassie was about to take care business since he was too drunk to handle himself.

"I guess Cassie wants to check-in here for tonight. Ready for the long road out of this hell, Gabriel?" The front door was already open, swinging lightly as people wavered out on the patio, some smoking others sagging over on the sides of the house.

Walking home from a party out on the rim of town was a frigid, silent trek she was content making alone. But having him there, under the light of the stars. as the party's chaos faded away, kept Nadine chuckling softly in between their staggering. Like the moment they had earlier, she indulged to enjoy this sphere of privacy between them, hardly perceiving how it could be created with someone she had ceased to know for months. They passed through a line of trees, the dirt path devoid of sight. She curled her hand around the crook of his arm and they meandered together closely, the woods a short passage back into civilization, but none the less eerie. "How far is your place from here? Do you think you would mind, walking me back to my complex?" Her voice remained calm despite the sliver of sexual frustration. Cold air quelled the primal instinct from being too obvious in her behavior. She wondered how observant Gabriel was this late into the game.