Facetime, Travelling, and The Vamps

Chapter 21

Hey guys, please read until the end, I have a few things to say.

It approaches rapidly, like a storm on the horizon. Distant one minute, looming the next. Generally annoying.

Homecoming.

I have to say, I'm excited about it this year. I may not have a date, but I'm fine with that. I'm going so I can have fun. I've got a great dress too, black lace over a nude lining. Very vintage. I don't have much jewelry either, just black stones set in gold. Shiny black heels, a small purse with a gold strap.

Alli is letting Kat and I get ready at her house. I drive there, my dress swinging from hooks in the back of my car. The gate opens, and I twist and turn through the neighborhood to her house. I grab my things and knock on the door.

"Hi, doll," I say to Kat, who opens the door.

"Right on time, as usual." She grins. "Alli's upstairs." She shuts the door behind me, and i climb the stairs.

"Heyo chickie!" I say at the top.

"Hi!" Alli comes out of her room and gives me a hug. "So we have a few hours, so we can paint nails and watch a movie and stuff."

"Cool." I drop my things on Alli's bed. She ushers me into the hallway, where there's a bin that holds all her nail polishes. She, Kat and I pick out colors, and stampede down the stairs to the living room, where snacks are set up. We pick Warm Bodies, a favorite since Alli's birthday a few years ago. We chat a bit over it, skimming over the topic of the boys back in England. Our nails are done about half an hour into the movie, so we let them dry and snack while it finishes. Then we rush upstairs to do hair and makeup, with only an hour before we have to leave.

We do hair first, and I curl mine in ringlets and twist them together. Kat straightens her normally curly locks, and Alli straightens hers so it won't go wavy in the middle of the night. We have to coax Kat into makeup, but when we finally finish, her eyes are accentuated and her lips are a rust red. Alli and I put on our normal makeup, Alli opting for cat eye eyeliner and I for edgier eye shadow than usual. Alli applies red lipstick (think Taylor Swift color almost) and I apply a soft pink.

We change into our dresses then. Kat's is dark red with velvet detail, and Alli's is a red high-low skirt with a black bodice. We all have black heels, a detail completely coincidental, and Alli and I have black clutches. Kat's parents come over to Alli's house, and they and Alli's mom take pictures of us before we leave. It's just the three of us tonight, we're meeting friends there. The three of us are finally released from all the picture-taking, and we all get in my car and I drive to the school, where the dance is held every year.

We pull up, I lock my car behind us, and we show our tickets at the front gate. We walk into the building, just like we did when we met the boys at the Denver airport. Just the thought of the boys makes my heart beat faster. I wonder what they're doing right now? We drop our things at a small side room manned by a teacher for safeguarding, and head into the gym, the main room for the dance. We pause for a moment inside the doorway.

"Hey!" A female voice sounds off to the side. We turn and look for the source.

"Lauren!" Kat squeals, and runs to hug our friend, who's just a bit taller than Alli.  The brunette is wearing a white lace dress with a black sash and black flats. Her hair is pulled back into a French twist and her side bangs are curled, ending right at her cheekbones.

"Hey Kit Kat," Lauren laughs, hugging the redhead back. "Looking good." She smiles. "And you two as well, little missies. Oh, and Dylan's here too." Alli's boyfriend taps her on the shoulder, and she whirls and hugs him.

"Hi Alli," Dylan says, and kisses her before putting his arm around her shoulders. The brunette boy looks good in black jeans and a button-down shirt, the lights reflecting in his eyes. Alli can't keep her eyes off him. I laugh.

"Go on, lovebirds." I push them away. Dylan flashes a smile in our direction before heading off with his girlfriend.

 "They're so cute together," the girls coo. I just laugh.

"Come on," I say. "Let's go have some fun, yeah?"

"Yeah!" Lauren says. The music changes to something very similar to the first song, some club mix of some song that makes it unrecognizable. We shrug and join the mass of people dancing in the middle of the room, just having a good time. Dylan and Alli come back after a while, and we decide to gather a large group of all our friends and have our pictures taken.

"You look so cute here!" Alli says to her boyfriend afterwards.

"Not as good as you do." He gives her a quick kiss. Kat just smiles, and I can tell she's wishing Brad was here with us tonight. We make our way out to the main room again, the girls and I take off our heels since our feet are killing us, and we go back to dancing. After a while, I'm thirsty.

"I'm gonna grab something to drink," I shout-say to Lauren. She nods.

"I'll come with you." We motion to the doors to the rest of the group and leave. "Stay here." Lauren leaves to go get us each a small water. I lean against the wall, closing my eyes against the bright lights. "Here." I open my eyes to see Lauren with two water bottles, and I smile before finishing half of it. We stay outside a little while longer to finish our waters, then pick our way through the people to throw away the empty bottles.

"I feel like I'm a mess," I say.

"Same. Let's go assess the damage," Lauren suggests, and we head to the bathroom. The sight waiting for us isn't too bad, and we clean up some of the makeup that's smudged. Satisfied, we leave to head back to the dance. We just make it through the doorway when I hear familiar voices behind me.

"Are you sure they're here?"

"Of course I am, Alli said they would be." I rush in, frantically looking for Kat. I finally find her.

"I think they're here," I say in her ear so there's no way she can't hear me.

"Who's here?" I give her a look I hope she sees in the strobe lights. "Oh." I nod. "Oh! Brad!" She runs through the doorway and into Brad's arms, with me trying to keep up with her pace, the look on his face first shocked then loving as he kisses her. I stay just inside the doorway, hoping the darkness of the room behind me will obscure me from view. There's only one thought on my mind as I scan the crowd.

Connor.

I find him, as well as the rest of the band, leaning against a wall, like I had not 10 minutes before. I shrink back into the shadows a bit to make sure I'm not seen. I can see his eyes looking for me, and I wish with all my might that he doesn't find me.

His eyes find mine and stay there.

Okay my cookie monsters. 2 months. That is not okay, I wanted to have this up sooner. But I'm here now, and I'm motivated. I know where and how I want this story to end, because yes, it must end.

I'm so sorry I haven't updated. My life is a mess right now, and when I actually have free time, I'm spending it sleeping. I don't have a lot of free time, please understand that. I know you all like this story, and I know you want me to update, but I just can't do that all the time. I try, I really do, but I know it doesn't make up for the lack of updates.

As such, please, give me at least two weeks after each update before you ask for one. And when you do, please don't be mean about it. I love you all and it hurts when you think of me as just a profile that posts stories. There's a person here, and I get tired.

If I told you I would do something, as I know a few of you have asked, I'm sorry, but I just can't do them. But I know that you all read strong writing, and I have confidence that you can write too. So please, don't hate me if I have to back out of a promise, I just can't do it right now, and please don't be mean about this.

Sorry lovelies, Happy New Year, #surprisevisit