🦋Don't worry about what you can't control. Our focus and energy needs to be on the things we can control. Attitude, effort, focus – these are the things we can control.🦋
When you arrived at your place you received a message from Emma immediately. She sent you the address and what they were wearing.
"Oh! This place is fancy, fancy."
"Do I even have something nice enough to wear?" You walked into your room and looked in your closet looking around desperately trying to find something to wear.
You didn't want to show up looking a mess. You wanted to impress your coworkers so you wanted to look nice.
So you decided to go run to the store. Just a quick trip. There wasn't one too far away from your house so you weren't going to use your car.
You walked down on the sidewalk, passing by a couple of people on your way. You tried avoiding eye contact speeding your way into the store.
"Hello!" Someone said greeting you.
"Hello," you said back without looking at the person. You went straight to the female side looking for something at a reasonable price.
"This looks... cute?" You picked up the shirt in your hand looking at it. It was a graphic shirt. Something that you did not need.
"Excuse me? Do you need help ma'am?" Someone said making you turn to the female.
"Uhh yeah! Hey I know you," you said recognizing the familiar face. "You're my neighbor. Y know I was the girl who you saw the other day." You said sticking out your hand for her to shake.
"You're the girl who woke me up from slamming your doo," she said analyzing you.
You laughed nervously. "Oh, umm I'm sorry about that. I was in a rush for work," you said awkwardly. "I'm Y/n, and you?"
She grabs your hand gently and shakes it gently. "I'm Gilda. Nice meeting you, Y/n."
'She doesn't seem so bad,' you thought.
"Well yeah, I need help finding something for tonight. Something that looks nice but affordable and something for dinner," you said looking around.
She placed and hand on your shoulder before grabbing the shirt. "I don't think that this anime shirt is fit for a place to eat for dinner."
"Yeah... I know," you grimaced.
"Follow me." She began walking over to a section and gathered a couple of dresses and guided you to the dressing room. "Try these on," she handed them to you and placed a strand of her dark green hair behind her ear.
You took the clothes and went into the bathroom getting ready to try them.
You went through a couple of them. A couple of them looked nice, some didn't compliment your body at all even though they were pretty, and the rest was just ugly.
In your opinion that should be a fact.
"I like this one!" Gilda said pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose while smiling. "It's not too extra nor too basic. It's simple, yet seductive in a way."
You looked at the mirror and smiled. "This is nice."
It was a black dress with straps that stopped mid-thigh. You had on some black heels to match and moved around a little.
"It isn't too pricy, so that's a good thing," you mumbled only for you can here. You were planning on getting a new place in the future so you were trying to save much as possible. Plus, your bills needed to be paid by the end of this month.
"I'll get there," you said turning to her.
"Okay, I'll meet you upfront," Gilda said before walking off to help other people in the store.
You went up front and paid for your things while talking to Gilda and another girl who's name is Jemima.
"Have a nice day," Jemima said waving you off.
"Thank you!" You waved back to the two girls.
You looked at the time and panicked. It was almost time for dinner. There was no way that you were going to make it on time. You didn't even get dressed yet.
"Okay, I might make it if I am a few minutes late." You jogged down the sidewalk and a couple of roads to get to your apartment complex.
You ran up the stairs finding the man that you saw the other day down the hall. He looked back to you with raised eyebrows. He started to walk faster to his destination but you were running which made him think that you were going to attack him.
"Leave me alone!" He said.
You slowed down with a raised eyebrow. "Huh? Who me?" You turned around to see no one was there and turned back around to see he was no longer in the hallway.
He slammed his door shut making you flinch.
"What is his problem?!"
You made your way to your door and opened it after unlocking it with your keys.
You walked in and closed the door. You went to your bathroom and took a shower from today, so you wouldn't have to worry about washing again once you got back home.
You got out of the shower and wrapped your dry towel around you going into your room. You dried yourself off and immediately gathered all of your clothes together.
You heard your phone rang making you question who it was. Face time?! Why FaceTime? You let the phone ring until it stopped. They called once again making you sigh. "At least they do not face timing me again."
You pressed your finger onto the screen, answering it and putting them on speaker
"H-hello?" You asked nervously leaning over the phone.
"Hey, Y/n! Where are you?" Emma asked in curiosity.
"Oh umm, I'm so sorry! I'm on my way now! Something had come up last minute-"
"Hey, Y/n!" You heard someone in the background. A light blush came to your cheeks.
"H-hey Norman!"
"Oh okay! Well, I and the others are going to be inside waiting on you," Emma said. You heard a couple more people's voices in the back making you question 'who else is there?'
"Well okay guys I'm on my way," you said pulling up your dress.
"Okay! See you later," Emma said ending the call.
You went to your dresser and put on some lotion and deodorant and put on your heels.
You did your hair making sure that it was nice and neat before spraying light perfume on yourself.
"Okay... I'm done." You grabbed a black trench coat and your purse, putting all of your things in. The sound of your heels clicked onto the floor making you smile. "Ouuu I sound like an important businesswoman," you said excitingly.
"I wonder if Ray is going to be there," you said closing the door behind yourself. It sounded like he was in the background along with someone else. "Who could it be?"
You went into your car and placed your purse in the passenger seat after locking your door. You cranked up your car and played some music to calm your nerves.
You took your phone out and put the address into your GPS.
You followed the directions down the road and finally arrived.
You sat in the parking lot nervous starring at the building ahead of you. Should you call Emma? So you can let her know that you were here?
You were already late. You didn't want all of the attention on you. You just wished it was you could just hang out with Emma at least. But honestly, you'd rather be home watching some of your favorite shows or dancing to some Japanese music.
You laughed lightly at your ridiculousness.
You grabbed your phone and dialed Emma's number. You bit lightly on your finger while holding your phone up towards your mouth. "Pick up... pick up..." The phone went straight to voice mail making you whine.
"Looks like I'm going to have to walk in alone," you grabbed your purse and put on your coat. You opened your door, closed it, and locked it back.
"Okay, this is going to be a good night. Let's not embarrass ourselves. Okay, Y/n?"
"Hey, Y/n!"
You turned around and looked at the person who called you. A smile came onto your face. "Hey, Anna!" You greeted her back waiting at your spot for her towards you.
You took in her outfit. She wore a gold dress that showed her back and had on beige hills with a bold red lipstick. She had her hair in a side bun and gold earrings with a hand purse that matched her shoes.
She was no doubt a pretty girl but tonight she looked extremely different, in a good way of course. She was gorgeous.
Now you felt nowhere as pretty as her. It wasn't like you weren't dressed nice but her? She was drop-dead beautiful.
"I had just got out of the restaurant to get something out of my car. I didn't know you were coming?" She asked.
"Oh yeah. Emma invited me," you said looking towards the sunset then towards the building. You turned back towards her before smiling.
"You?"
"Same. Did you bring someone along with you?" She asked. Both of you started walking going inside of the building.
"Ahh.. no actually. We were supposed to?"
"No. I just asked," she said before smiling warmly at you.
Your nerves went down now that you were walking with someone. Well, Anna. Both of you didn't meet too long ago. You weren't close but she was a decent person to talk to. Maybe both of you will become really good friends.
But what did she mean by 'bring someone'?
Did everyone come with dates?
A man up front greeted you and greeted Anna once again. She leads you towards the table while you looked around and walked behind her.
"Hey, guys! Look who I found," Anna said grabbing your hands and bringing you in front of her.
"Isn't she pretty?" Anna said laughing lightly.
You looked at the table avoiding everyone's gaze with a blush on your face.
"Oh my gosh Y/n! You're so pretty!" Emma compliments.
You looked up and looked around the table. There was Emma, Norman, and Ray.
"Hey guys," you said nervously.
Anna walked around you and sat beside Ray.
They all greeted you back and invited you to sit down. You sat beside Emma who was sitting on Norman's right at the rectangle table.
You looked around and noticed that they were together and you were... fifth-wheeling.
'Oh god. Why did I agree to come?' You sulked.
"I'm sorry Y/n. We decided to order already because we didn't know when you were planning to arrive.
"Oh no that's fine," you said brushing it off. You were starting to feel left out. It was a sign of rudeness that they didn't wait for when it comes to having company.
But you weren't going to make a big deal out of it.
'It's not like they mean it like that... yeah. They just got hungry is all. It is my fault for taking so long...'
All of them talked while you looked around trying to keep yourself occupied.
"Right Y/n?"
You looked towards Anna and seen everyone looking at you.
"Sorry, what was that?" You asked straightening up your posture now that the attention was on you.
"Is something wrong?" She asked with raised eyebrows.
'Oh my gosh. Why is she putting me on the spot?!'
You had to think of an excuse quickly. But it had to be something that sounds believable.
"Oh no. Everything is fine," you said waving your hand lightly with a smile on your face. "I was just taking in the scenery. I've never been here before. That's all." You said before clearing your throat.
She looked at you in curiosity to ask you something but the waiter came with a tray of their food.
He read out the list that was on a slip before setting down the food when everyone, except you, told him that he was correct.
The man noticed that you just arrived and came over to you. "Would you like to order Miss?" He asked.
You shrieked on the inside when you just realized that you weren't prepared and never bothered to look at the menu. Everyone looked at you and back towards their food before talking again.
You thanked God silently that the attention was now taken off of you as you scanned through the menu.
"Oh, um..," you turned slightly towards him and pointed at something that was on the menu. "May I had this, sir?" He repeated the order while writing it quickly down on a paper.
"And your drink?"
"I'll take a water," you mumbled.
"Well okay, I'll take this out of your hands and I'll be back with your food."
You turned back towards the table to see everyone talking.
Emma was laughing while Norman smiled. Anna was joking and Ray was eating.
And you?
You were just there.
You tapped your feet lightly on the ground, not knowing what to say or what to add to the conversation. You just listened.
Well, you couldn't say that you were the only one who wasn't talking. Ray wasn't talking that much either. He would add something to the conversation now and then and then go back to eating his food.
You took in his features silently, admiring him. His black hair, onyx eyes, slightly tanned skin, and stoic expression. You wonder what was underneath that wall that he put up. Was he like this because he wasn't much of a talker? Or does he just not like being around too many people.
He couldn't be that bad if a sweet girl like Anna was involved with him.
Anna took a bite from her shrimp Alfredo and took a sip from her drink. Ray noticed that she had some sauce on her face and turned her head gently towards him before wiping it off with his thumb.
"You're being messy Anna," he said in a flat tone.
Anna blushes and laughed lightly. "Oh, I'm sorry!"
"Oh gosh, guys. Not at the table," Norman said with a blush on his cheeks.
"I know right," Emma said with a mouth filled with food. "Get a room," she placed another spoon fool in her mouth, making some spit fly onto the table.
"Emma!" Norman said. "You're making a mess," Norman said turning his attention to her but she just ignored him; continuing eating her food.
You looked at her and took in her appearance. Her short orange hair was slicked back and she wore a dark green dress that was long-sleeved but revealed her upper portion of her chest and shoulders.
She looked adorable. You laughed softly to yourself at her carefree spirit.
You felt someone's eyes on you making your turn to see Ray. He stared at you for a few more seconds before turning when Anna called his name. "Hmm?"
"What are you planning to do tonight, after dinner?"
"I'm going to my place," he said before taking another bite from his food.
'They don't live together?'
"Here's your food ma'am."
You turned around to see the waiter from earlier placed the food down along with your drink.
"Oh. Thank you," you said smiling at him.
He nodded back and made his way back in the kitchen to hand out other people's food.
You looked down at the food and smiled softly to yourself. You haven't eaten since this morning and you were hungry.
You began eating your food silently while listening now and then while the others talk about nonsense. At least it wasn't about work.
You eventually finished your food leaving you satisfied.
"Hey, Y/n? You haven't talked this whole time!" Emma said looking to you.
"H-huh? I'm sorry-"
"I know what will get you talking." Emma grabbed a wine bottle and poured it into a glass handing it to you.
You froze on the spot looking at the glass. Was this a good idea?!
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