ROWAN •dobrik•

Chapter Twenty One

I cringed at my own thoughts, knowing that they were right. The grip on the shirt slowly loosened as I shook my head, hoping it would get rid of the scenarios playing on repeat in my head.

I slowly began to swipe through the clothes again, before my mouth dropped in pure disbelief. I pulled out the dress, that was nicely hung on a regular closet hanger.

It wasn't even in a fucking sleeve.

"Are you serious," I mumbled to myself as I tossed the dress onto my bed. I was literally just asking for trouble at this point.

I crouched down onto the ground to grab the heels that were laying in the very front of my shoe collection.

I quietly got dressed, hissing at Gabbie to say that I'll be out in a minute when she knocked on the door to yell at me. I slipped on the boots before pulling open the door in anger, only to be blinded by the flash of a camera.

I blinked, resisting the urge to violently rub my eyes as I looked at Gabbie. She smiled as she held her phone, showing me the picture.

"You look so fucking beautiful! Permission to post?"

"Cut my head out and we won't have a problem," I replied as I walked past her, grabbing my purse that laid on the kitchen. "Where's Casey?"

"Went home to change. Said he'd meet you there," Gabbie said quietly as she continued to stare at her phone. "This looks awful."

"Hey now, you're the one that decided to ambush me when I stepped out of my room," I reminded her as I leaned against the kitchen counter. Gabbie sighed and looked at me with hopeful eyes.

"Can we take another one outside?"

"Yeah whatever, sure," I sighed as my thoughts was lost somewhere else. "Just cut-,"

"Cut your head out of the picture. I know, Jesus," Gabbie muttered as she grabbed her keys. She walked over to the front door, but I couldn't move from my place by the kitchen counter.

"Gabbie," I said quietly. She turned around to look at me, kind of confused. "I don't know if can do this."

"Oh hon," she started walking back over to me. "It's all going to be fine. I promise, and if worse comes to worse, you have me."

I smiled a little at her, that did kind of make me feel better. That made me feel a whole lot better, honestly.

"I know, and I'm so grateful to have you in my life," I started, grabbing onto her hands. Gabbie squeezes them, smiling back at me. "But...when I walk out this door..I may not walk back in the same."

"I'm prepared for anything life wants to throw at me, you, or anything else that might happened. I'm here for you, always."

I hugged her, staring blankly at the wall behind her.

"Thank you," I whispered back quietly as we pulled away. She smiled at me before taking my hand. With every step I took, it meant even closer to the party. I even tried to maneuver back and run back to the apartment but Gabbie caught me before I couldn't get up three stairs.

I couldn't help but stumble into the lobby as I collapsed off of the final set of stairs. I leaned against the wall, trying to catch my breath and sanity so I could start the entire purpose over in the car.

"So I just realized it's 9:30 at night and dark outside so the lobby's lighting will just have to- are you okay," Gabbie looked at me as she held her phone for the picture. I gave her a small smile and held up a finger in response. I didn't want her to worry about me, especially after having that talk. I didn't want to think about it until I had to.

"Yeah totally, just give me a second to put on my facade for the camera," I breathed out as I fixed my hair. I leaned against the wall and struck a pose, waiting for this mini photo shoot to just be over with. I heard the camera click and I quickly walked towards the front doors of the apartment building. My knees were already getting weak with every step that echoed in my ears and making its imprint in my head.

He's gonna hate you.

They're all gonna hate you.

The thoughts in my head made me walk even faster towards the car. I leaned against the passenger side as Gabbie typed away on her phone a couple yards back.

"Stop being a typical social media influenced and get in the car," I shouted at her. She didn't listen to me. It felt like she was even walking slower just to piss me off. "Gabbie!"

"Chill out! Jesus Christ," she mumbled as she finally walked to the driver's side of the car. She pulled out her keys and clicked the unlock button then. As soon as I heard a click I sling open the door and got in. I slammed the door shut and stared ahead at the skyline of the city.

I felt Gabbie's eyes watch me worriedly, but she still didn't say a word. I didn't want her to. I didn't want to say or think about anything right now.

I heard the car rumble to life and my entire stomach dropped. My breathing rapidly picked up as Gabbie began to pull out of her parking space.

I guess she had noticed, because her hand reached over to grab mine and give it a hard squeeze. Neither of us said or looked at each other, we stayed quiet the entire ride.

Neither of us knew what was going to happen tonight, but we both knew we would be there to pick up the pieces of the entire plan fell to the ground.

1736 Words

Two more chapters left and I'm honestly so ready to get started on the sequel! Are you guys excited because I certainly am!