Three years ago Haley had made a drastic change in her life.
She had gone from the well paved out road that her grandfather had created for her, and had decided to take the road less travelled, just doing her own thing instead of doing what was expected of her.
Leaving her post as CEO had meant that she no longer got to interact with a lot of people that she normally saw in the corporate circles. One of those people was Deacon Roth.
At the time Haley had not really thought much about him. To be honest over the years he had popped up in her mind from time to time but it had never been anything major.
Yet somehow seeing him that night for the first time in years had brought back all emotions that she had always associated with Roth.
The biggest among them being the need to best him in any way shape or form. It was why she had instantly started arguing with him in the middle of the dance floor refusing to leave. That very need to constantly pit herself against Roth was the reason that she was currently in the private booth with him, knocking back drink after drink and glaring at him the longer he stayed seated upright.
Looking as though all of the drinks they were taking down were nothing more than water.
'Keel over! Keel over you idiot!' Haley kept thinking over and over as more and more spirits made their way down her throat. But Roth ever stubborn, remained as he was, his posture perfect.
It was so very maddening and to take her mind off of it Haley continued to drink and drink. Hoping each time that when she put her glass down she would raise her eyes to find Roth fast asleep. Having been knocked out by the copious amounts of alcohol that they were consuming.
Unfortunately for her, she had no such luck, Roth was matching her drink for drink without batting an eyelid.
'Maybe this was a bad idea,'
The part of her responsible for all logical decisions whispered and Haley quickly shushed it.
Challenging Roth to a drinking contest instead of having a peaceful evening without him was a great idea, second to her decision to leave her good for nothing, borderline abusive ex, Prince Victor.
It was the second best decision she'd ever made.
By the end of the night she just knew that she would be the victor and Roth would be a rumpled mess. His perfect hairstyle ruined his normally flawless skin, covered in red blotches, with his silver tongue failing him. She would see the man wrecked, and she would enjoy it. That was the motivation that kept Haley going, going, and going...
When the bottle was half way through, Haley noticed her thoughts beginning to lose their crispness. The world going fuzzy in a way, that she knew signalled that she was reaching her limit. Normally, she knew to stop before she reached such a state.
But when she looked over at Roth and noticed that he was still looking composed, even if his shoulders were drooping a bit, she kept on going.
At some point they finished the first bottle and moved on to the second.
"You know Slater you can just give in right now, I will not blame you. Even though it will totally be your fault for challenging me to something in which I am far superior to you in. Mind you I am superior to you in all other ways as well,"
With the amount of alcohol that she had just watched him consume, Roth should not have been able to talk, let alone use such big words.
But it gave Haley a sense of satisfaction to notice that he was speaking at a slower rate than usual.
Being careful with the way in which he said each word, told her, the great Deacon Roth, was not as infallible as he pretended to be.
Her canine teeth peeking out, Haley gave him a genuine smile.
"You sure talk big for somebody who's about to keel over Roth,"
She raised her glass at him, struggling to steady her hand a bit, some alcohol splashing on her fingers.
Then Haley could only sit there and blink slowly as Roth raised his own glass.
He made to bump it gently against her own, but Haley watched with no small amount of amusement as the man missed. Nearly falling head first onto the table as a result.
By some miracle he managed not to spill anything, and Haley could not help but giggle as she put her own drink down instead of swallowing some more.
No doubt her liver was grateful to her for her decision to not partake in more poison. But Haley was not focused on that, instead all of her attention was on the blurry eyed man before her.
"You know Roth, for a man to make a good husband he has to be able to hold his liquor," There was no such saying. Haley had just made it up on the spot because she'd found herself unable to find anything to tease Roth with.
The man's brow furrowed, the alcohol clearly making it difficult for his normally sharp mind to pick up on the fact that she was making fun of him.
When he realized his eyes widened and he pointed to her left before squinting and then moving his arm until he was pointing directly at her nose.
"How dare you, I'm a very good drinker. Any woman would be lucky to have me as a husband. If I wanted to marry, even you would not be able to resist marrying me,"
"I am the great Deacon Roth after all," At that Haley could not help but laugh. Reaching out she gripped his still hovering hand and did not let go.
"Ha! As if! How can you marry me when you don't even have a ring for me?" That was not at all the argument that she should have been having against marriage. But it seemed to be the most logical one to her at the moment, so she just went with it.
Roth looked at her, his lip coming out in a little pout. The expression made Haley want to lean over and kiss it away. At that thought, she came to a silent realization.
She had never kissed Roth before, why hadn't she kissed him?
'Because he is your sworn enemy, you two do not like each other'. Her voice of reason was nothing more than a distant whisper. But it was quickly drowned out, by her not so sober thoughts. 'You didn't kiss him because you two are not boyfriend and girlfriend, but if he decides to marry you today, you two can kiss'
Ahh, that made sense.
But they couldn't get married! Roth didn't have a ring for her, she wanted to kiss those pouty lips, but he didn't have a ring, where was the ring, where was it?
"You can't marry me, and kiss me. You don't have a ring!" Haley wailed the last bit, her eyes stinging with unshed tears.
"I can get you a ring, then we can get married," Her tears instantly vanishing, Haley beamed at him. Oh, Roth really was a problem solver.
That was how instead of sitting across from each other, trying their best to obliterate their livers. The two of them ended up sitting side by side, with Roth's phone out as they looked at rings.
"That one, that one! I want that one," Haley told him as she finally saw a band that just called to her, looking from her chosen ring to her, Roth blinked, then he let out a little hiccup.
"You talk really, really loud,"
"I do not, I am very lady like in my tone," Haley told him, the only time she ever got really loud was when she was super drunk. But since she knew her limits, she was not drunk. She had just decided that she and Roth were going to get married in order to be able to kiss legally, that was all,
It was joy and excitement, that made her yell, not drunken loudness.
Rings picked, paid for, and already on their way. Haley was about to celebrate, but yet another problem became apparent to her,
"The jeweler is coming into the club with our rings, but we have nobody to marry us," Once again, Roth with all of his problems solving came through for the both of them.
"There is a wedding chapel right across from here, if we go, we can get married there, let me send a voice message to the jeweler so that they know to bring us the rings there,"
If they had already been married Haley would have already kissed Roth.
"You are the best, let's get married so that we can kiss,"
With that the two of them paid for everything, and then they made their way out of the club walking side by side, hands entwined. To a casual observer, the two of them looked perfectly sober.
But if it were somebody who actually knew them, they would have realized that something was very wrong at first glance.
For one Deacon Roth and Haley Slater were leaning against one another as they walked, relying on each other to stay upright without making it too obvious. A second thing, every so often the pair stopped and giggled at one another.
Smiling shyly before looking away. Behaviour that was completely out of the ordinary when it came to exchanges between the Slaters and the Roths. But there was no one who knew that in the club. So people just watched them walk hand in hand towards the chapel. Big smiles on both their faces.