FAE

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

“Your love should never be offered to the mouth of a stranger. Only to someone who has the valor and daring to cut pieces of their soul off with a knife, then weave them into a blanket to protect you.”
—Hafiz

C

 

I took time that evening.

I took time picking what I was going to wear, actually changing four times before finding the perfect outfit. I took time drying my hair and even borrowed mascara and lip-gloss from my mom, who had been unable to hide her joy over the fact that I was asking for makeup. She had even gone so far to ask if I was trying to impress someone special that evening.

I had told her no. But only I knew that was a lie. I wasn’t dressing for myself. I was dressing for him. I wanted to look my best, be the most confident I’d ever been because I had something to prove to two people tonight.

Myself and Devilyn Reilly.

I was about to walk into a den of sharks. A den that I had successfully avoided for my high school career because I knew that I had no business being a part of it. Since I clearly hadn’t attracted much attention during the past few years, I was growing more and more concerned that what I had picked to wear from my tiny closet wouldn’t cut it tonight at the party.

I moved over to the bed and touched the pair of dark blue skinny jeans. I shook my head in despair as I thought about my ridiculous predicament. I would think back on this day and laugh. I repeated the words over again in my head, I would think back on this day and laugh. Hysterically, I hoped. Unfortunately, I felt that by the time this day would actually be funny to me, I would be old and gray.

I shifted through my closet, staring at my carefully folded sweaters and found a nice cowl neck gray sweater and threw it on my bed next to my jeans.

“Alright,” I said with a deep sigh, satisfied with my selection.

I changed into the outfit quickly. Time was flying by, and Teddy was bound to show up at any moment. The last thing I wanted to do was keep him waiting and have to suffer through his jokes about how long it took me to get ready for the party.

As I put my black boots on, I heard the doorbell ring below and the sound of my mom’s voice greeting Teddy. I took one last look at myself in the mirror, grabbed my jacket and shut the door to my room.

Teddy and my parents had gathered in our kitchen and their voices carried up the stairs. I quickly descended them and turned the corner to find them sitting around our kitchen island. It was obvious from their huge grins that my parents were overly excited. It wasn’t like me to go out on a Saturday night, especially to a party. My mom was positively beaming. Had been since the moment I asked for lip gloss.

Most parents would be nervous about their children attending an event like this. But mine were just the opposite. I guess they had always secretly hoped I would eventually step out of nerd-dom, and tonight’s party definitely was, in their eyes, a step in the right direction.