"You were born an original. Don't die a copy." —John Mason
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MY BIRTHDAY wasn't something i celebrated every year if not at all sometimes, i think as a child it was much more fun to get into a celebration mood because you would wake up to a bunch of new toys and the whole day was dedicated to you. After you hit a certain age your toys become clothes, your clothes become a few pairs of socks. Your friends are what try to make it special but don't have the money to throw a party for you; your parents gift you with whatever you want during the year that when it comes to your birthday nothing is special it's just another day. Last year wasn't even a party for me it was Randy's house party that Delilah and Penny dragged me too; this year i had enough friends to actually have a party even if i didn't want it in the first place.
It was nice to now have a small group of friends whom i had a good connection with; for the longest time it was just Delilah, Penny and I -plus Randy on occasion-. But now we have Jackson, Bailey, Rachel and many others, my goal is to hang out with them more often then i do. I felt bad that my time has been about studying, Price or some other shit that manages to pop up before i can make plans with them. For the last two weeks i had devoted my time to studying and trying to keep my mind off of Price and the fact he was gone, i spent all day yesterday with Penny as we were looking online for ideas for outfits for my birthday party tomorrow night; we invited Jackson to come shopping with us today since i figured he'd probably want to get something for it as well.
I hadn't heard from Price since i texted him last week after my P.E lesson; not even a call on my birthday. It shouldn't bother me as much as it did, but when i woke up to no text from him but from my family and friends i sat in my dorm room sad waiting for him to message. Assuming he forgot not that he had to remember anyway, we aren't together i reminded myself. I got out of bed to go have dinner with my family and Penny Wednesday night; it was nice to be surrounded by them but my mind kept going back to Price as i kept checking my phone to see if he had messaged yet. I didn't want to be the first to message him to seem to eager considering the fact that my constant telling him he needs to leave me alone because a relationship between us was wrong was now finally happening and i fucking hated it.
Now i had kind of gotten used to him not being here; the familiar tingle now replaced with a known loneliness feeling. My best friend Penny had filled in the hole quickly when she noticed something was up with me; she kept pressing me to go to parties but i stayed in instead which she quickly forced out beds together so we can watch movies all night.
Tomorrow nights party was masquerade themed; it was a fancy red and black colour themed. So today was a mission to get the fanciest red dress i could find; even though i had so much love for the one i wore to the charity ball. Via the internet i had found two dresses that i was really into so we decided to head to that store first so i can get my dress out of the road. Penny hadn't decided yet -which was very unlike her; usually she had a whole list of dresses she wanted to try on but this time she didn't- and Jackson just needed a simple tuxedo; Jackson drove us to the store i needed and i tried on both dresses for them both to see.
The first dress was called the Ethan dress; it was a corset red dress with a sweetheart neckline; it had a knot on the skirt that was tied right near the top of my thigh offering a very opened display of my left leg. It had small sleeves that sat just below my shoulder; it was simple and elegant an easy choice. Dress number two was something Jessica Rabbit would wear; it was strapless and sparkly. The dress was a mermaid style reaching the floor and slightly splaying out behind me; a slit like the first stress that stopped at the top of my thigh showing my leg off. I made a note to pick up some self-tan as a lot of my skin was on display; the top of the dress tightened-in a lot making my body look hour-glass shaped. My breasts sat at the top; i pushed them down slightly scared i would pop a nipple.
After some thoughts and opinions from Jackson and Penny; we decide on the Jessica Rabbit dress; it was gorgeous and out there. 'Perfect dress for the birthday girl' Penny said, 'You'll stand out' Jackson says. Thankfully Penny, Rachel and Bailey took over the party planning and made it a coloured themed birthday party which made it easier not just for me but everyone else to find dresses. Penny ended up liking the other dress i had and tried it on; she bought it right after.
"Maybe we should invite Delilah?" Penny asks; i give her a 'really' glance, "What?" She laughs, "We could prank her?"
"I'll crop dust her," Jackson chimes in, "Or Penny and i can just dunk her head in the toilet bowl."
"She'll probably be there anyway since this is happening at Randy's place," I grumble.
Jackson clicks his tongue and shakes his head, "Not anymore, us party planners discussed it and we chipped in," he looks at Penny who gives him a serious face, "Sorry your father chipped in greatly for us to book an actual hall in town instead. So it's everyone from class, a few other randoms and some people Penny invited."
"Please don't tell me my parents are coming," I groan; if my father and mother found out about a party that was being thrown for me they would make it their mission to come.
Penny smiles, "I told them they can't come because it was friends only but i promised them i would drag you to the next work thing they have."
I slap her arm, "You didn't, you know i hate those things."
"It was either that or have your parents come," she says throwing her hands up in defence; she looks at Jackson, "So Jack, you bringing anyone tomorrow night?"
We were sat in the food court in the mall having lunch, the last thing we needed to get was our masks. He takes a bit of his burger, "Didn't think i had to bring anyone."
I shrug throwing a fry into my mouth, "I'm not."
"Not even the guy you were seeing last week?" Jackson asks; i pause for a moment this was the first time Price had been in my mind in a while. He slowly had left the longer he was the away the more i stopped missing him; i shake my head.
"Didn't work out," I tell him; it wasn't the truth but it also wasn't a huge lie.
Jackson's eyes widen, "Oh."
"Maybe you both could go together," Penny suggest nudging Jackson's arm; i laugh at her.
Jackson rolls his eyes, "I think Zoe and i can agree that we are only friends."
I nod, "I can agree with that."
As amazing as Jackson is; i would happily date him but over the last two weeks our friendship has grown and we had become close sharing stories about our lives. I decided on the fact he was my guy best friend and nothing more.
Penny frowns, "Ya'll would of been cute."
Jackson and i look at each other and burst out laughing; it was moments like this i wish i could of framed forever. Just me and my best friends eating and laughing without partners and worries. After twenty minutes of eating and talking shit; i look at the time on my phone and see we had an hour before the shops started to close, we quickly throw our rubbish in the bins and make a beeline to the costume shop to find masquerade masks.
"This one?" Penny asks pointing into a glass case; her eyes on a beautiful black lace mask, "I think it's pretty."
"It's gorgeous," I tell her, "And it will blend well in with Zac's suit."
Her eyes light up, "So true!"
As i look around i find a beautiful red sparkly mask; it had a black strap to go around my head so i didn't have to hold it in place with one of those sticks. It was kind of fun to have the masks in play, you could get away with no one recognising you unless you looked hard enough. Penny and Jackson would know who i was easily now that they've seen what i would be wearing. I decided to go with the mask i had found, it complimented my dress nicely and it was stunning.
"So are you ever going to spill on who it was you went on a date with?" Jackson asks making me jump, i hadn't realised he was stood next to me.
"Fucking don't sneak up on me like that," I laugh, "And no, nothing came from it so you don't need to know."
He eyes me suspiciously, "You would of told Penny any other time, what was so different about this guy?"
I shrug, "Just wanted to see what would happen if i kept it to myself."
He hums, "That's fair well i hope he either mans up and sees you again because he's missing out on an awesome person or you find someone who appreciates what you've got."
"One day," I laugh; we finish off and head back to campus thanking Jackson for taking us. I was surprised when Penny was staying in again considering she usually goes out with Zac most nights.
"How's everything going with Zac?" I ask her; she looks up from her phone.
"Good," she smiles, "He's out of town but he will be back tomorrow."
I nod, "Thought something might of happened since you've been here a lot lately."
She laughs, "I wanna spend time with you anyway even if he was here, i'm sorry i haven't been around a lot. I hadn't realised how much of my time he had taken up, he's just so addicting."
"I understand," I tell her, "Don't apologise for having a life."
"I feel bad though," she says, "we should have like a friend day, like every Thursday we do something or just watch a movie and eat popcorn."
"That sounds great," I pipe up, "We can start that next week if you want?"
Penny claps her hands and sits up in her bed, "Fuck yeah."
Our laughter echos through our room; we decide to plop on a movie and watch it to kill sometime before we fall asleep. I was half asleep when i hear my phone go off; i wasn't going to bother to check it until i thought about who it could be. I pick up the phone my eyes adjusting to the brightness of the screen; his name sent the butterflies in my stomach fluttering.
Price
Hope you had a good birthday, i'll see you soon. x
I don't reply, i lock the phone and roll over in my bed. How dare my body react to a simple fucking message and how dare he message me after this amount of time acting like he had bothered to message me during the time he was away. Does he expect for things to be back to normal when he gets back? I was going to leave him on read, this whole time i had been thinking he just didn't give a shit about me anymore; he's probably away fucking other ladies or even seeing someone else. Not that it should matter to me anyway we weren't even together. I understand his business is important but after that date i figured maybe i could give it a try even with him being my professor, the feeling in me just made me not care anymore about the other shit. I drift off to sleep thinking about tomorrow night hoping it would be a night to remember.