WANT (completed)

ch. 1 | Charity Gala

"Don't you have to get ready for the charity gala? Might I remind you, this is an extremely important event for you?" my father raises his eyebrow at me, as if he is posing a question when what he truly means is 'go home, get ready, and don't fuck this up.'

I bite down on my lip to keep myself from saying something that I knew would only come back to bite me in the ass. My eyes flicker from my father to Zac, who quickly looks away from me and back at the papers in front of him. Things have clearly changed between us. It's so so obvious that Zac has gone from being the one defending me to the one always agreeing with our father. 

In the last six months, since he decided that he wanted what I had worked so hard for, our relationship had changed for the worse. He was once one of my best friends, yet here we are, barely speaking of half of the things that we used to. 

"Right, how could I forget?" I let out a forced smile, shaking my head as if I was the delirious one. Getting up from the chair, I grab my bag and quickly walk out of there, trying to hold back the fury and sadness that quickly fills my heart, but I refuse to make a scene of this. 

"Dad, seriously? We talked about this. You can't talk to her like that," I faintly hear Zac mutter to my father right before the door closes shut. I feel my hand tightening around the strap of my shoulder bag, faintly smiling to myself as I'm glad to hear that Zac can still have my back at times, but even then, I know that things aren't the same. 

How could they ever be? Our lives aren't what they were before, and there is no way of changing that. 

- - -

I stare at my reflection, pursing my lips together and gently running my finger over my plump bottom lip to thin out the clear gloss that I had just applied. 

"Is he here yet?" the gorgeous blonde next to me asked as she washed her hands. Camara was much taller than me, standing at 5'7", plus the heels that she had chosen to wear tonight. Her long blonde waves fell over her shoulders and cascaded down her back, covering some of her back that was exposed from the red open-back ballgown she opted for tonight. The complete opposite of me, yet she was my best friend.

"I don't think so. You know how he is, always late," I shrugged a bit, washing my own hands to get rid of the lip gloss that stickied my fingertip, grabbing a paper towel to dry them before I ran my fingers down my silky emerald green ballgown. I turned to check my appearance in the full-body mirror beside me. My skin was a light tan, which complimented the dress perfectly, the slit on one leg of the dress exposing my smooth leg, making me look much taller than I was at only 5"2'. I always wore heels, and tonight was no exception, as I paired the dress with some black jimmy choos.

"Let's go find our table?" Camara asked, gaining a nod from me before I followed her out of the restroom. We made our way through the large open hallway, which was filled with numerous people that were partaking in drinking and conversation before the night ahead.

"We should be towards the front," I express over the loud noise of chatter and background music, following close behind Camara as we walk through some large double doors that were propped open, into the enormous banquet hall where the dinner and dancing portion of the evening would take place.

We make our way through the room, trying to avoid as many people as possible, neither of us in the mood to make conversation with the people here tonight, mostly business men and women, and their significant others or plus ones. I could recognize many of these faces, having attended this charity gala twice a year since I was just a little girl.