The Quest for Epic

Chapter eleven

Sunday rolled around. I was still holed up in my room when Maya came barging in. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later, so I wasn’t all that surprised. I was however, surprised to see her all dressed up and fuming at me.
“Ellie. I’ve been calling you for days now. Days!”
“I’m sorry”, I offered limply
Maya looked like she wanted to whoop my ass.
“I would have come sooner but Ben suggested I give you your space and you’d call back eventually. Well, that sure as hell didn’t work”, Maya crossed her arms, still glaring at me “So what happened?”
“Noah has a girlfriend” I said sadly and looked up at her. Her expression was priceless; I watched the anger ebb away from her face, replaced with sympathy for her friend.
She came over to the bed and placed her arms around me. “OMG Ellie I’m so sorry”
“It’s alright”, I said, trying hard not to erupt into tears.
“No, it’s not alright. I really… I really thought there was something there. And then I pushed you to go for it. I’m such a sucky best friend”
“Hey. None of this is your fault, Maya”, I shrugged “I’m just unlucky”
“Did he have a girlfriend before or after meeting you?” Maya inquired
“He said they’ve been together four years” I replied
“Damn” was Maya’s only reply.
Yes, damn. I had no chance.
I shook my head, hoping to clear my mind of negative thoughts. “So why are you all dressed up? I thought Ben left yesterday”
Maya quirked a brow at me. “Yeah I dropped him off at the airport last night. Today is Sunday. Reunion, remember?”
Oh, wow. Noah had gotten me in such a funk; it had completely slipped my mind.
“Shit I’m so sorry. I totally spaced” I said regretfully
“It’s fine. I understand if you don’t want to go anymore. We can curl up together and binge on chocolate and throw darts at Noah’s picture”, Maya squeezed my shoulder reassuringly
I laughed a sad, airy laugh. “That sounds like fun but no”
“No?”
“Yes, I promised you we’d go to this reunion and have a blast. And you’re the organizer; you can’t miss it because of me”
“Ellie, you have been there for me and gotten me through more breakups than I can count on my fingers. You know I would totally ditch this reunion for you”, Maya said seriously
I knew she would. She was awesome like that.
“That won’t be necessary. I’m tired of being a sad slop over Noah so…” I managed to pull myself up off the bed “Let me go take a shower and we’ll go to this thing and we’ll have fun”
“Only if you’re up to it, boo”, Maya said, a small bit of worry still apparent on her face
“I’m up to it”, I assured her
“Okay. Well go take that shower, I didn’t know how to say this before but you kind of stink, Wyatt”
I laughed for real then, chucking a pillow at her head as I walked into the bathroom.
Ten minutes later, I was clean and dressed in the floral v neck dress mom had gotten me. I put on minimal make up and tiny earrings and Maya approved my look before we left. I insisted on taking my car instead of riding with her in case I wasn’t feeling it and wanted to leave before she was ready to.
We got to Hotspot, the karaoke bar located off the side of Donovan Street, not a long drive from my house actually. We found parking spaces and got out of our respective cars.
“Are you ready for this?” Maya asked me as we got to the entrance. I knew what she meant; I wasn’t the most social person in high school or anywhere for that matter. I knew a bunch of people casually but gatherings that involved socializing like this weren’t usually my forte. I was willing to try, though.
“Yeah I’m okay”, I said and she nodded at me and together, we walked inside.
The place looked like a scene right out of high school. Familiar faces gathered all around, talking in their respective cliques like time hadn’t passed at all. There were the popular people, jocks and cheerleaders, the artsy ones, musical theatre, art geeks and orchestra, the smokers and skaters at the far end, and of course my people, the normal boring ones and the science nerds. Time had made the 'boundaries' dissolve a little though, because everyone seemed to be mixing together and generally having a good time.
In the spirit of high school, they all turned to look at Maya first before their gazes eventually wandered over to me, some in surprise. I looked different than I did in high school and most of them hadn’t seen me in a while.
Stacey was the first to come over and pull us in.
“You guys!” she hugged each of us in turn, her designer perfume enveloping us “You look great, Maya. And Ellie I love your hair!”
“Thanks”, I smiled cheerily at her. Stacey was too bubbly, almost to the point of annoying. But she was rich and popular and she wasn’t a snob, so she was generally great.
“Stace, Is that Jill? Did she grow Double D’s in two years or something?” Maya’s eyes narrowed on Jill, one of her frenemies from the cheer squad, whose formerly flat chest was now filled out.
Stacey rolled her eyes. “Oh, please I know the name of her plastic surgeon. Come on guys, let’s sit”
Stacey led us over to where the cheer girls were sitting and everyone said hey and immediately started talking and gossiping among themselves. I immediately started feeling awkward, they were all friends and I wasn’t part of their clique. One of the downsides to being friends with a popular, I was cool only by association.
I ordered for a cider drink and watched as two guys I remembered as Tony and Clay, skater dudes rapped along to some Juicy J song.
"Clap that ass, light our blunt, baby, let’s get ig'nant
(ig'nant)
She’s strips with the Gs, breaks cash like Li, she got
double Ds, and ain’t shit free
Came with my goons but I’m leaving with a diva with an
ass like Serena and a face like Aaliyah
Redbone in some red bottoms, she ain’t finished college,
she a head doctor.
Bouncing ass while I’m getting high as propellers on a helicopter", Tony and Clay rapped prompting cheers and hootsfrom everyone.
I laughed. Okay, this was hilarious. Two white pot heads singing about strippers and bouncing ass was sure a crowd pleaser. Maybe, just maybe I could forget about Noah for tonight.
"So what's been going on in your life, Ellie?" Stacey had stopped talking about the 3 month cruise on the Mediterranean she had gone on last year and for some inexplicable reason, was now focused on me.
"What?" all eyes had turned to settle on me and I squirmed in my seat.
The waitress returned with my drink and I accepted it and took a long drag from my straw, hoping everyone would see I wasn't in the mood to talk.
No such luck.
"Well I've been interning at Stinson &Co. for about a month now", I offered wishing we could move onto the subject of Cece's new millionaire boyfriend.
They didn't look very impressed and were all ready to turn away until Annabel, the former captain of the squad spoke up. "Are you kidding me? I've heard the owner's son works there now. I've seen him around town and he's like the hottest guy I've ever seen. Ever"
All eyes returned to me again, interests piqued.
"Have you met him, Ellie?" Stacey asked
"Is he as hot as Annabel says?" Amber leaned in closer to me
"And he's probably filthy rich too" Leah, the undisputed gold digger of the bunch added, eyes sparkling
"Are you guys friends? Come on, Ellie tell us!" Stacey urged with her sweet smile
Stacey was great but in that moment I wished to slap the sweetness right out of her. I turned to Maya, with a save-me-please expression on my face. This was the last thing I needed, being reminded of Noah, talking about Noah. Ugh, I could feel my stomach churning.
"Well, I uhm... Yeah, he ahh... Umm..."
"Oh my gosh. Ellie I love this song coming up. We have to go sing that", Maya said, cutting in and saving me from this barrage of questions.
I wasn't so sure it was saving me though, because having me sing in front of my old high school class mates seemed like a horrible form of torture. But I'd take it any day over answering questions about Noah.
It seemed to work though, as the girls had disappointed looks on their faces as they watched Maya pull me up to go to the small podium in front of the roomthat had the mike stands.
"Crisis averted", Maya winked at me as we stood there waiting for the song to come up.
"Find a better way next time", I muttered at her, shaking my head in mortification.
Maya just chuckled. "Come on, you love this song. Shh, it's starting". And true to her word, the song started up. It was 'Chains' by Nick Jonas.
She was lucky I did love the song.
She started up. "With her wine-stained lips, yeah, she nothing but trouble. Cold to the touch but she's warm as a devil"
Okay, my turn. I took a deep breath. "I gave her my heart but she won't heal my soul. She takes 'til I break and I can't get more”
Maya beamed at me approvingly as she continued. “You got me in chains, you got me in chains for your love. But I wouldn’t change, no, I wouldn’t change this love”
I could feel the change in the atmosphere as people began to get into the groove of the song and started to sing along. Okay, I was feeling a lot more confident now.
“You got me in chains, you got me in chains for your love. But I wouldn’t change, no, I wouldn’t change this love”
We looked at each other, smiling as we sang in unison. “Tryna break the chains but the chains only break me!”
The room exploded with energy as we got to the chorus, everyone singing along till the song ended. The atmosphere was electric and I felt a strange high as we got off the podium once the song was over.
“Oh my gosh. I can’t believe we just did that”, I hugged Maya and we pulled away, still holding each other in excitement
“You sounded amazing, boo”, Maya said with a huge smile on her face. Then something behind me caught her attention and her smile began to dissipate.
“I have to agree. You sounded phenomenal”, a deep, familiar voice said behind me. My eyes widened in recognition as I whirled around to find its source.
Oh no, I couldn’t believe he was here.

A/N: I'm a bit obsessed with Chris Hemsworth. Short chapter guys. I'm sorry but I just wanted to leave that cliff hanger lol :). As usual, reads, votes and comments all welcome. Xoxo