Rose

Chapter 13

I looked in the mirror and barely recognised the girl in front of me. The girl I was used to would never wear a slinky black plunge dress; neither would she cloud her eyes with copious amounts of black powders and gels. I scratched at the hair that had been clipped to my head; gosh I really didn’t want it there but in the words of my stylist ‘beauty is pain.’

            I was alone in this beautiful spa-like bathroom; everyone had left me and had gone to tend to Ava. Looking back on it, I suppose I really did look hideous. Like a child, I heard my jeweller say. I guess Mum just wasn’t honest when she bought it and Dad and Charlie were lying for my sake when I wore it for the first time.

            Just at that thought, the door thrust open to reveal Ava, and there aren’t enough words to explain how, well, amazing she looked. I thought I looked as though I had just come from the cover of vogue but now I felt like someone on a milk carton.

            In short, her dress was silver and much more revealing than mine, her hair was slicked back and fell like a waterfall down her back and her body seemed to shimmer and glow.

“What an improvement my dear,” she commented, scrutinising my look, “it’s time to go.”

When you think about going to a red carpet event, you imagine the limo with beautiful and happy people, holding bubbling flutes of champagne all listening to the best music and absorbing the wonderful life they have.

            My experience was exactly that.

I was the only one underage though, so I felt like the baby in the corner watching the cool kids elegantly puff on their cigarettes and drink their alcohol and talk about the people who ‘just won’t leave me alone!’

            Everything was a blur of dim light and forced laughter all the way to the venue. Now imagine getting out of a car and stepping onto the red carpet. Imagine it all. That’s exactly what it was like.

            I was the first one out of the limo and I walked down the carpet in between seas of flashing lights and excited chatter. Finally entering the event hall was another wave, the people here were all so… glamorous. I looked back for Ava, but she hadn’t gotten out of the limo yet. ‘Probably waiting for a big entrance,’ I assumed. I felt a dozen eyes on me as I strolled over to the bar stools, took a careful seat and ordered lemonade.

            Sipping on the cool beverage, I scanned the ballroom. There was nobody my age, literally nobody. Wait. There; there was one boy, but he was too far away to see. I recognised the blonde hair from somewhere, but I couldn’t quite place it.

Then he turned around. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. What was he doing here? I slipped off the stool and walked as fast as my heels would allow me towards him.

“Nate?”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Very short chapter, but so much more is going to happen in the next one. Sorry for the long wait, but thank you to those who've stuck around.

WhoSaidWeHadToGrowUp