#and the thing is y'all act like hes a saint for being “redeemed” but then dont want to acknowledge how much of a dick he was????

[jonathanbyersphd]

What do y'all think it is that compels them to bring up the camera discourse every 3 months? Like does an alarm sound in their head? Or do they get kicked out of the club if they don't remind everyone that their special little guy is the bestest?

[underthemoonlightofficial]

Chapter 5

Summary:  Saint is fascinated with the circus. When he receives a VIP circus ticket for Christmas, he couldn’t be happier. This ticket leads to a series of events, some good, some bad. Soon Saint finds his life spiraling out of control. When he gets his heart ripped out, he thinks it’s the end of the line for him. This book is the story of a broken man trying to put the pieces of his life back together.

Masterlist

“I’m home!” I joined my friends on the couch. “Tell us about it,” Dallon said, so I did. I told them about each of the acts in close detail, using the official program to help them visualize what I was describing. 

Then I told them about the tour and my conversation with Chris, leaving out the part about free tickets until a later time. “That sounds so amazing!” Steve replied when I was done. 

"It was!" I replied. 

"That's great! So guys, we should probably figure out what we're doing tonight." Moon said, and the rest of us nodded. "Any ideas?" Dallon asked. We shook our heads. 

Steve's phone vibrated, and once he was done reading the message his face lit up. "Eliza's best friend, who's a super rich private jet pilot, rented a big space and is having a party! She also told Eliza she could bring whoever!" 

"I'm in!" I said, Moon and Dallon agreed. Steve looked at me. "You can bring Laurey too, if you want." I pulled out my phone to text Laurey. 

'want to come with me to a friend of a friend's party?'

'i can't sorry. already have plans' 

'oh ok. what're your plans?' 

'a party at a co-worker's place' 

'cool! have fun.' 

 ----------- 

Turns out the party was at a humongous conference room in a fancy hotel. The four of us look around in awe. "That chandelier cost more than all of our lives combined," Moon joked. She was probably right, though. 

We walked through the the doors to find a hundred or so people already having fun. The lights were off and loud music was playing, but it wasn't so loud that it hurt or you couldn't hear the person next to you. There was a dance floor in the center, and surrounding it were tables and chairs. 

One portion of it was lined with tables upon tables of delicious looking foods and beverages. "Food!" Moon exclaimed and rushed off. We laughed. I don't blame her, though. It was 9 o'clock and none of us had eaten dinner yet. 

"I'm going to go find Eliza. See you guys later!" Steve said. 

Dallon and I joined Moon at the vast buffet. "It's going to take several days of exercising to recover from this but I don't really care right now." Moon said, stuffing her face with various chocolates. "I haven't had chocolate in so long," she moaned. 

I picked a random piece of chocolate. It was hands down the best thing I ever tasted. It was milk chocolate, with a hint of what I think was caramel and raspberries. It had just the right amount of sweetness. The chocolate tasted light, not dense and filling like many other kinds. 

My eyes widened and I stopped chewing, then stuffed more chocolates in my mouth. Dallon snickered at my reaction. "You go ahead and try one! See what your reaction is!" I replied once I finished swallowing. 

"Holy crap this is literally the most wonderful thing that has ever blessed my taste buds,” Dallon said once he tasted a piece.

"I know right!" Moon and I replied in unison, and then high-fived. A lady walked up to us. 

"Hey guys! I'm Mel, the host of this party." The lady was quite beautiful; I won’t lie. She had long blond hair and sharp facial features, with an angular jawline and prominent cheekbones.

"I'm Saint. This is Moon and Dallon." I gestured to my friends. "Thank you for having us tonight." 

"It's my pleasure. Can I ask what our connections are?" 

Moon replied this time. "We're the best friends and roommates of Eliza's boyfriend, Steve." 

"Oh cool! Steve is such a great guy." 

"Yeah," Moon agreed. "Wait a second- are you Melanie? An occasional instructor at the gym on 5th street?" I then noticed how incredibly muscular her biceps were. 

"Yep! I stop by whenever I'm in town. I live here but being a pilot and all I'm not around a ton. Now that you mention it, I remember you taking some of my classes." 

Moon and Mel being to have an in-depth conversation about exercising. "Why don't we go grab some drinks?" Dallon suggested. I followed him to a table filled with expensive looking beverages. 

Neither of us are too big on alcohol, so we decided to just get a small glass of wine each. "One, two, three!" I counted off as we took our first sip. Our eyes widened in shock. I think we're in agreement that like the chocolate, this was one of the most amazing things we've ever tasted. This wine was definitely the drink of the gods. Once we were done we both got a can of Coke. 

Moon and Mel walked up to us. "I saw you guys had some wine. That kind is my absolute favorite. It's from the Galapagos islands, I like to pick up several bottles ever time I fly a client down there. I don't drink often so it lasts my a while. Moon, you should try some!" 

"No thanks. I don't drink." 

"Oh, OK. Well, see you guys around!" And with that Mel went off to greet other guests. A little while later Steve and Eliza came up to us, hand in hand. "Hello!" Eliza said. 

"Hey," we replied. "Steve have you tried the chocolate here? You have to," Moon suggested. He shrugged. 

"Why not?" He went over to try some, leaving us alone with Eliza which was a mistake. 

"Hey Eliza. Ever heard the story of when Steve and I went jogging?" Moon asked. 

"No, I haven't." 

"This was back from when we were in college. We went to the track, and Steve saw a girl who he thought was really pretty. He was single at the time and said we should run faster so we could impress her. I agreed, I could run a lot faster than the pace we were going at. 

“He kept going faster and faster and ended up tripping over his own feet." We laughed. "And that's not all of it! He was so embarrassed that he challenged me to a race in a chance to redeem himself, but I beat him by a long shot. The pretty lady laughed at him too! Then we went back to my dorm and Steve spent the next hour crying and stuffing his face with ice cream." 

"What're you guys laughing at?" Steve asked as he joined us. 

"Nothing!" I respond. He shrugged. 

"You were right, Moon. That chocolate is REALLY good." Suddenly, a slow song on. "Liz we should go dance!" Steve suggested. They ran off. 

"They're so cute together," Dallon said. 

"Yeah. I remember when he was too shy to talk to her. And look at them now," Moon smiled. "I'm so proud of him." 

"Me too. Remember in 10th grade when he made me ask a girl out for him?" I said. 

"Yeah, that was funny. The girl didn't even know who he was when you asked her, poor guy," Dallon recalled. My stomach grumbled. 

"I'm kind of hungry, I think I'm going to go find some real food. Want to come?" They nodded. After five minutes of looking over the godly food, I decided to taste some of the pasta. Moon got ceaser salad, and Dallon got lobster. 

We then sat down at the nearest table and dug in. A little while later the DJ spoke into a microphone. "Alright alright, everybody listen up." The room turned silent. "Now, are you having a good time?" We cheered. "Good good. The time is 11:55. We've got five more minutes till the new year. Y'all partner up and get down here on the dance floor. I don't was to see anybody sitting down at a table! Come on now!" 

Mel came up to us. "Moon?" Moon nodded and they went to the floor. 

"May I have this dance?" Dallon joked."Yeah!" Once everyone was on the floor, a slow song came on. I assumed we were supposed to slow dance. I wrapped my arms around his waist, his arms came around my neck. 

"Do you have any new year's resolutions?" He asked me. 

"Not really. I mean, I'd like to get a new job that I actually enjoy doing. But that's probably not going to happen. How about you?" 

"The common ‘I'd like to work out more.’" 

"You should come with Moon and I some time! I haven't been to the gym in a week, I really need to go sometime. Tomorrow is Friday so I'm definitely not going to go then, but I'll go on Saturday I think. Want to come with me then?"

"Yeah! That way you or Moon can show me how to use those machine things. I haven't been to a gym in years." 

"I'm so excited, it's going to be great! You're going to be really sore, though. Moon doesn't like to go easy on people." 

"Yeah." 

My face lit up as I remembered something. "Also! You know how I was talking to that strap acrobatic guy named Chris?" 

"Yeah?" 

"He gave me two tickets to a circus performance on Tuesday! For free!" 

"Oh my gosh that's so awesome!" He beamed. I had been debating whether I should take Dallon or Laurey with me, but in that moment I made up my mind. "Do you want to come with me?" His eyes lit up and opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by the countdown. 

"10!" 

"9!" We join in. 

"8!" 

"7!" 

"6!" 

"5!" 

"4!" 

"3!" 

"2!" 

"1! Happy New Year!" Dallon and I hugged as the couples around us kissed. It was a close embrace, I could smell his cologne. It smelled like soft but firm cinnamon, fitting his personality. A few moments later we let go. "Happy New Year, Saint." 

"Happy New Year."