[dahliental - carnival] how good it can be. [tag; diederik]

and I've been holding out for love ever since I had a heart.

The warm fuzzies were starting to wear off.

But the party was in full swing still. A group of people were breathing fire and from her position, she could hear the whoops and cheers of the crowd. The good thing about having a party of such a colossal size was that everyone was too busy to notice her and she got some time by herself. Great.

Zara sat on a bench away from the main body of people, somewhere in the grounds. It was quieter here. As much as she was enjoying the party and everyone there, it was all a bit…much? Over the top. It was loud and sticky and her alcohol buzz was fading and she felt a bit sleepy and down. The music was far away, a song she didn't know but she could see dancing silhouettes inside of the big circus-themed tent.

It was getting dark gradually. The russet sky was turning decidedly more purple and the temperate was starting to drop. The watercolour clouds had started to disperse and turn a deep and inky blue. Zara liked dusk. Had she been artistically inclined, she'd set up an easel and paint. She sighed softly. Her long, carefully constructed blonde curls were starting to unravel and droop, sending them down her bare shoulders in gentle waves. She should have brought a jacket.

Reaching up, she gently unpinned her golden top hat, pulling a face as the pins got caught in her curls and winced as they tugged on the delicate follicles. The party was far from winding down but Zara was tired. She'd been here for hours. Well before the party started, she'd been here, helping. Hanging fairy lights, cleaning up, making sandwiches, blowing up balloons, the works. Not that she minded. This was Prosper's night and she hoped he was having fun. Minus the Zoé hiccup. The short blonde frowned as she sat alone, her big blue eyes focused on her bare knees as the cool breeze ruffled her feathers.

Things were considerably less fun now that she was sobering up.

Next to her on the bench was a paper bowl filled with half eaten birthday cake. It was scrummy. Golden sponge with what tasted like damson jam and little sparkly bits. It was lovely but she wasn't really that hungry. In her left hand, she was cradling a half full glass of champagne. She'd been steadily sipping it through out the evening and she had no idea how she'd managed to drink nine glasses plus a few of those pink fizzy drinks that tasted like raspberries.

With a grunt, Zara kicked off her too high heels and let out a sigh of relief as she wiggled her fingers deep into the grass that was now faintly damp with dew. She was sore. Then again, this insane get up was nothing compared to the stuff she wore for ballet and theatre work. Her feet hurt the most. Her toes were sore and red and she'd spent the last hour or so limping so when her shoes were removed, it felt gorgeous.

Her head snapped up sharply as she heard someone. Two people came stumbling out of one of the circus tents, laughing as they hugged. Zara frowned. The laugh sounded familiar; it sounded a lot like Diederik. She hadn't seen him at all tonight. He hadn't even complimented her outfit. It was a bit late now after all, she looked a mess. The laughed continued and it belonged to his female companion. In the advancing darkness, she rolled her big expressive aquamarine eyes.

She didn't really know what the inside joke was and honestly, she didn't really care. "Whore," Zara grumbled as she stared at the shadows before raising glass to her lips, downing the contents and letting it fall to the grass gently.

Diederik found himself stretching far and wide throughout the entire place of the party. From brotherly hugging Prosper and saying happy birthday and tossing him his present, to greeting various other friends and watching the performers do tricks here and there. He came as one of those strong man performers as Prosper instructed he had to be in a circus costume. It was the easiest costume he could ever pull off. There was no way the seventeen year old was going to be a clown. It wasn't a lot to take in - the party - the Papillonlisse had a bunch of energy today to keep up with everything. That even included Prosper's speech and the birthday boy kissing his cousin. Ouch. The slap had to hurt, though it seemed that Prosper was intoxicated enough to shake it off. Diederik knew he'd have to pull the boy up and dust him off a little later on once the realization set in. He was pretty sure of it. Diederik did try to follow Zoe but she seemingly disappeared, and he needed another glass of whatever was thrown his way at him. Where was it?

He was whimsically dragged into a tent by a good friend of his before he had much of a chance to find the drinks table. She shared one of her delightful surprises that she was asked out by the boy she liked, thanking him for the simple nudge to go for it. Right. He half listened to her gushing words, pretending to be interested while simply staring into his empty cup. Meh. He helped lead her out of the tent, as she wobbled too and fro, she had a lot to drink. She was clingy too as she squeezed him. A drunk cling - like lint. Giggly too.

He wanted another drink. The boy looked up briefly seeing Zara sitting by herself. He was gentlemanly enough to laugh at his friend laughing at herself over her little trips as he directed her towards chairs... and the drink table... to get her to sit. Diederik passed her some water, pouring himself another mystery drink of some kind, he didn't pay attention to the alcoholic trends these days. He poured another glass, telling the girl to go friend her best friend. It was the proper thing to do, considering telling her to find her newly turned date was kind of a bad idea. Even his partly intoxicated brain told him too. He was a boy after all, she was clingy - he really didn't want to be responsible for watching her and making sure she was safe. Her best friend would. It made the most sense.

He made a beeline for Zara the moment the girl reunited with her best friend. He quickly approached her, sitting down beside her without much thought. The boy looked down at the cup before looking back to Zara, "you? Littering? I didn't think you'd be the one to litter." He chuckled to himself. "No matter, I got a new one for you," he handed over one of the cups in his hands to her. "What are you doing over here, off in the distance, all alone?" He took a quick sip of his drink, animatedly throwing a hand in front of him to scan the scenery in front of him, "you should be wandering around..." doing whatever girls loved to do at parties, he thought.

The corset she was wearing was starting to hurt her. Aimee had done a beautiful job making her costume but the fine boning was cutting into her flesh, squeezing, pushing down. The lacing had been pulled terribly tight but the finish was worth it. It had emphasized her already teeny waist and pushed her pert little breasts right up and created curved she wouldn’t have without it. She frowned, pressing her fingers into her hips and winced. Pain. So much pain.

She was drunk and she was miserable. What a nasty combination.

Not to mention she was cold. Her skimpy little outfit was rather revealing and typically, Zara hadn't thought ahead to bring a jacket or a cardigan. She supposed she could always ask Prosper's mum if she had anything she could borrow but she looked so happy. She could suffer in silence for a little while longer.

Zara wiggled her small toes into the damp grass, the nails of which were painted a shimmering gold to match her corset. She put a lot of effort into her costume and the worst part? No one was paying her any attention. She hadn't been felt up or anything so far tonight. Even Antonio, the hot waiter (who she was sure was eighty percent gay) hadn't come over to her yet. All of her flirting had been totally wasted. He had to be gay. Clearly. What kind of man wouldn't want this? Her father had already grounded her for a week for wearing this and she didn't even get anything out of it.

Sat in the darkness, she frowned at her feet as the dull bass of the music drifted out, drowning out the sound of cheers and laughter. She didn't really know what to do now. Seeing Diederik with another girl hurt. She was an emotional, highly strung and overly dramatic teenage girl but it felt like a punch to the gut every time. Did he not know what he was doing to her? Did he not see the way she looked at him? Duh. Of course he didn't. He was beautiful and smart and popular and like Prosper, he was drowning in single girls.

So utterly stuck in her own flurry of thoughts, she didn't see her crush sit beside her until she heard the bench creak beneath his weight. She jumped, the colour draining right out of her face before rushing back as she blushed hard, uttering a silent prayer that it was dark.

Littering? What? "Oh," she whispered, hastily bending over to pick up her rubbish and deftly crush it between her hands, imagining it was Diederik's new friend's head. She squeezed and twisted, pushing the paper cup together as she felt herself getting worked up and to stop herself, she placed it in the space between both of their legs. Hm. Super. Yay. Great. Friggin' wonderful.

When offered another drink, she took it, feeling dazed. Deep down, she knew it was for that other girl but it was rude to not accept it. "Thank you," she grumbled softly, looking every inch the sullen toddler as she swirled the drink around the cup. She hadn't had nearly enough food to soak up all of this lovely, sweet, fruity booze. This was killing her. She had no right to be mad at him but she was. Murderous, really. What was wrong with her? Did he not think she was pretty? Why was he not falling at her feet? Why was no one adoring her?

"I just needed some fresh air," she responded, raising her gaze to look at the tent. From her seat, she could see a bunch of inebriated boys singing some Quidditch chant and bouncing around in a circle. "And I'm not really in the party mood any more," the petite blonde, offering him a ghost of a smile as her plump lips up turned just a fraction of an inch. "To be honest, I was just heading home," she said quickly, feeling awkward. That much was sort of true. Her home was literally two minutes away. Prosper and his family were her neighbours. She could really hop over the back fence but the last time she did that, she broke her left arm.

"I'm always alone anyway," she said breezily, lifting the proffered cup to her mouth to take a small sip. Unlike Prosper, she was not a happy drunk. She was quiet and moody and sad. "What are you doing out here?" Zara asked gently. "Have they started having piggyback races yet?" She joked. Boys were so silly. If it wasn't play fighting, it was piggyback rides and if it wasn't piggyback rides, it was partial nudity. They seemed so keen to disrobe.

Speaking of disrobing. "You look great, by the way," the blonde offered but she didn't look at him as she spoke. She spent most of the night watching Diederik like the creepy little pygmy troll that she was.

She shrugged quickly, the cool breeze that kicked up the ends of her long blonde curls making her curl up into herself a little tighter for warmth. "Nah," she said dismissively. "Couldn't find the birthday boy," she explained. "I was just hanging out by the food, to be honest," she admitted, sounding really rather pathetic. "The food is great. Did you try the vol-au-vents?" She asked. "They're super." Shutting up, she took another sip of her drink before continuing. "I didn't really have anywhere else to go anyway," Zara concluded as she swallowed. The party started out so great and she was having so much fun and then…she got inside her own head and psyched herself out. As usual. Yay.

Feeling a bit awkward, she picked up her paper plate with a barely touched slice of birthday cake on it and stabbed it with her plastic fork with more force than was really necessary. "My feet are ruined," she said suddenly, trying to keep things light. "I don't think I'll be wandering anywhere. I'm not even sure how I'm going to make it home."