Out of Your League

Chapter 12

The Truth and Lie Brigade's annual Christmas masquerade arrived with the snap of fingers after that. I had been so preoccupied planning my reunion with Ed that I had missed a fair few of the meetings and planning sessions so I didn't know what was going to happen at all.

Three days before, I had been sent an invitation on creamy, thick card with gilded edges and written on it in swirly, decorative handwriting was this simple message.

You are cordially invited to an evening of festivities – black tie of course.

4th December

You know what time and where. Just be there.

Kindly, the T and L B

To anyone else, this invitation might appear strange, confusing. And that was exactly the intention: just in case some foolish idiot left their card lying around - such as Will. Don't get me wrong, I love him but he is so forgetful, it's exactly the kind of thing he would do. Anyway, in case someone found it who wasn't a member, they still wouldn't know what was going on or where. The reason they didn't need to say where was because for the Christmas masquerade, we ALWAYS met in the same location at exactly 11:05.

That evening, Maja came again to help me with my hair and makeup. We, with Belle's help of course, decided on sparkly silver eyeliner and eyeshadow to contrast with my long dark lashes. My lips were gently covered in colourless, sparkly lip gloss. And lastly, for my dress. I shouldn't be so conceited, but Maja had outdone herself with the dress. A strapless navy velvet clung to my curves before reaching my waist and slightly expanding to a gently flowing full length skirt with a slit that was cut to the top of the thigh. It was absolutely gorgeous, even Belle said so and she is very critical of fashion. She has been known to throw tantrums over a strap a few centimetres wider than she wanted and scream at girls who were wearing last season's shoes.

Once again, I used my masterkey to sneak out the house and then head to the pool. Similarly to the rest of Barton, the pool wasn't a half hearted effort. An Olympic sized pool had been built inside a gorgeous Victorian building. The outside was covered in vines and patterned bricks, the inside was simply a pool with a large tiled pool deck. For the Truth and Lie Brigade's Christmas masquerade, the elders always froze the pool to create a sense of ethereal winter and we began our evening with champagne and canapes on the frozen ice. Yet more fairylights were thickly strung around the ceiling creating a sky of twinkling beauty. Christmas trees were adorned in tasteful decorations in each corner and along every wall were tables laden with drinks, canapes and on one wall was the secret Santa table. None of this was a surprise to me – this first half of the evening was a long held tradition of the Brigade, it would be the second part that would surprise me. I saw Ed talking with Will on the pool so without second-guessing my decision, I headed over to them. Will, at least, seemed pleased to see me and easily complimented my outfit. Ed struggled more.

'C. You look... nice,' I shook my head at his failed attempt at flattery and as he gave me a feeble grin, my heart leapt in hope – that small gesture of friendliness meant that he didn't hate me. Which meant I still had a chance of getting back together with him.

Our conversation was polite, if a little stilted. Poor Will couldn't leave because it would be awkward, but didn't want to stay because it was awkward – me and Ed just stared at each other and even when Will asked one of us a question to keep the conversation flowing, we still stared at each other whilst answering. Stared at each other and pictured what we'd had, and what I'd bloody thrown away that night that it had all gone pear-shaped.

Luckily for Will, George strutted over in that moment and stood before us – not saying anything, just drinking in the attention, knowing full well were all focused on him and waiting for what he had to say. After he'd made us wait a few agonising moments, he took a breath and held a hand containing a champagne glass in the direction of a group gathering.