*****
I smiled from where I sat on the floor beside the keyboard as I watched Damien pluck at the guitar strings fast.
"How's that?" Damien smiled as he looked up from the guitar when he finished playing.
"Pretty good," Lyle admitted with a frown. I smiled as my Granddad chuckled from across the room; personally, I was just surprised Lyle had actually admitted that Damien played well. Damien frowned looking down and I wanted to pat him telling him it wasn't that Lyle didn't like him.
"So, have you considered playing at Prom?" that would be next month.
The boys' snorted at Zara's question and she rolled her eyes. I wondered why they were so opposed to it; they were great.
"Will you guys be eating in here?" Damien's mother asked as she walked into the garage.
"Yes, Ma," Damien replied.
"No." Lyle shook his head and I laughed as our grandfather agreed and they followed her back into the house.
"Let me play something," Elliott tried to grab the guitar but Damien shoved it behind his back.
"Uh, no. Go steal someone else's shine." We laughed.
We were at Damien's house, in the garage, with Zara (Victor's girlfriend) and Cassidy (Elliott's girlfriend) as the boys messed around on the instruments they had there and the keyboard Lyle had let us borrow for the day. Turns out, they were all really great musicians. Victor was great at the drums while Elliott's guitar playing was just amazing. I hoped I could play as well as he did one day.
It had been three months since I left the hospital, and things were pretty great. Lyle and I got to see our Granddad every weekend and I had met his family. They were incredibly nice, even though Lyle's mother was worse than him when it came to my eating and safety. She was really sweet and caring, and though I was still adjusting to the family and trust thing, I loved her.
I still worked at the diner and Keith and Jack had become really close friends to me, like Kristy was.
I had not seen my mother or Gerald and I wasn't sure if I wanted to, maybe I would sometime in the future, but it wasn't going to be any time soon. I couldn't hate them. Especially because they were the reason I knew my friends, they had made me get a job and I had met Kristy there. They had been the reason I worked at the club and that led to Keith and the others, I didn't like what they had done, but I don't think I would have changed it because I wouldn't swap my friends or my life right now for the world.
I was playing on the keyboard when the guys were busy with their own instruments. When they weren't, one of them was on the keyboard. Rick played bass.
Right now, we had all been hanging around just eating until Damien had decided to try to play one of Elliott's more advanced riffs, it wasn't bad - though it wasn't Elliott good either. I had been controlling the music which I played randomly as I made my way through the music on Damien's phone.
Everyone fell into conversation as we ate and Damien took a seat next to me on the cushioned floor.
I smiled as I clicked on Alice Cooper's Poison.
"You like this song?" He asked grinning at me.
"I love it." I nodded.
He nodded thoughtfully.
"What?" I asked biting my lip nervously feeling like he was judging my taste in music. He chuckled.
"Nothing. You have sauce right here." He stuck his figure on my forehead succeeding in placing sticky mustard on my forehead.
He laughed as I shoved him and we fought playfully for a few minutes before we joined everyone's conversation and tried to eat without placing food on each other's faces or playfully fighting, it wasn't really working.
-----
I let out a breath as I stared at myself in the mirror. My black hair was curly curtsey of Kristy's magic, my face was done up with natural-looking makeup that Kristy helped me with and had touches of gold on my eyes, and I wore a black long-sleeved dress that stopped above my knees. My legs were bruise-free, and I was shocked. I never wore short things because of all the bruises but now I could... and I looked good...
"Hannah? You alright?" Kristy called from outside of my room.
"G-good." Honestly speaking, I was terrified about whether Damien would think I looked nice. Kristy, Jack and I spent hours looking for this dress and I didn't know why, but right now, I was really hoping Damien liked it because I loved it...
I felt my breath catch in my throat hearing the doorbell ring. Despite how much time I had spent with Damien, I saw him literally every day, I still occasionally got incredibly bashful and nervous around him.
"Don't die," Kristy called through my door. I heard Jack and Keith laugh and I groaned. It surprised me how well they knew me.
I held my breath biting my lip. What if he hated it? What if he thought I looked weird? What if –
Stop, Hannah.
I shook my head trying not to shake the negative thoughts before I became completely overwhelmed by them and instead gave a laugh. Damien constantly called me cute no matter what I was wearing anyway.
I decided staying there staring at myself would only make my thoughts worse so I left my room, my fingers twisting the bracelet around my wrist nervously. I walked into the living room and smiled seeing Damien laugh as Jack told everyone something. He was wearing a fitted black suit with a golden tie. I knew that before the night ended he wasn't going to be looking half as pulled-together as he did. Damien didn't usually dress like this. The one date we 'dressed-up' for previously, he had rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and discarded his tie before we even arrived at the restaurant.
"Oh!" I gave a smile when Natalie yelled making everyone look at me.
I bit my lip seeing Damien's eyes widen a little and felt self-conscious as his eyes ran over me. I instantly regretted agreeing to wear a dress at all seeing his shocked face.
"Wow... You look..." He drifted as he walked over to me. I looked up as he took my hands to stop my fidgeting with the bracelet, he gave a small chuckle and I frowned, somehow he knew I only did that when I was nervous, "You look amazing.... more than usual..." he whispered. I felt my face heat as he smiled down at me.
"You look really good." I finally worked up a reply.
"Just good?" he smirked. I gave him a playful shove and he chuckled pulling me into a hug. "Seriously, you're so beautiful." He whispered into my ear before he let his hands slid onto my waist.
I glanced down for a second before I smiled looking at him, "Thank you." I replied glancing down to his lips. He smiled leaning closer to me.
"Let's go!" Lyle yelled. I laughed as Damien frowned and I got the feeling I wasn't the only one that had forgotten for a second that we were not alone before I took his hand and began leading him out of the apartment.
-----
We had our prom at a venue quite a while away from school. The hall was dark and decorated with mostly blue and purple lights and there was a massive garden outside.
Everyone looked amazing and the music was great so I stayed close to my friends, and we all stayed around our table as we danced and joked around. As I had guessed earlier, Damien had discarded his jacket and tie, unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and his sleeves were rolled up again. He still looked great, though. We watched Elliott dance and I shook my head as Damien broke out laughing even though he was trying to hide it by hiding his face in my neck as he hugged me.
"L, what are you doing? You'll hurt yourself."
We laughed as Elliott glared at Victor before we turned to the stage hearing the mike as someone tapped it lightly causing the music to stop.
"Hello, everyone! How's it going?!" Lyle's shout was greeted by a chorus of excited screaming and he laughed causing more yelling because everyone clearly loved him, "Alright, now I hope you guys don't mind, but there's this band of musicians I know..."
"No... Oh no..." Rick shook his head.
"He isn't... Please, please don't say –" Damien began.
"They're known as some of the best sportsman in our school, but for some reason they shy away from performing on stage."
"Fuck... He's doing it..." Victor muttered shaking his head as he looked at Lyle on stage.
"What the hell?! We're not prepared!" Elliott hissed mortified.
"So help me out here, and give it up for the Damien, Rick, Victor and Elliott!" The hall erupted in screams and cheers as the guys stared at my brother shocked while he smirked clapping on stage.
"Oh, God..." Damien whispered.
"Damien, what did you do?" Rick shot his friend a glare.
"Nothing!" Damien insisted before looking at me, "And you say he doesn't hate me?"
"He doesn't." I laughed, "He just knows guys play well." I added.
"We can't do this. We're not prepared." Victor shook is head.
"Calm down," Zara laughed as she kissed his cheek, "You guys are great." She said.
"What's taking so long? I know you guys aren't shy." My brother drew everyone's attention back to the stage and I heard Rick take in a sharp breath before nodded with a grin.
"Alright, let's do this." He said excitedly.
Damien turned to give me a nervous smile and I laughed not having seen that on his face often. I smiled and clapped resulting in him grinning before the followed his friends to the stage.
I watched Elliott let out a breath as he grabbed the guitar while Damien grabbed one too. Rick took the base as Victor sat behind the drums. The guys shared some whispers as everyone clapped excitedly before Elliott began playing the strings for All Time Low's I feel like Dancin' causing more screaming from the crowd and I smiled watching his nervousness visibly wash away.
I felt my smile grow wider as Damien began singing.
"Shorty said she wants to run away, says I look like a boy she used to date, took me by the hand and pulled me to the stairs."
"I'm not interested girl." I laughed at Elliott's change in attitude as he sang that while Cassidy swooned beside me with quite a few girls following her lead.
"Put her tongue all up in my ear..." I smiled as I watched the school's reactions to them. They seemed to be feeding off the excitement and I felt incredibly proud of the guys on stage.
My eyes drifted back to Damien and I felt my heart skip when he winked at me, immediately causing me to turn away. I felt my face flame and knew he would be laughing if he wasn't singing, he liked teasing me. It was so weird. I would never have considered that he could actually be mine... But he was... He was mine... and even more surprising to me was that he wanted me to be his, but here we were.
Everything seemed so surreal seeing them perform while my brother watched with the other teachers and Natalie at his side.
If someone had told me that this would be my life by the end of the year, I definitely wouldn't have believed them. It was insane, but I was ridiculously happy. I had friends, an amazing boyfriend and most of all family that I knew loved me. I smiled as Lyle glanced at me and grinned.
This was perfect...
I clapped as everyone screamed when the song ended. Damien turned around and I saw Victor nod in rely before Rick and Elliott nodded as well.
"Alright," Damien spoke into the mike once he turned around making the crowd's noise level sink, "Before I hand the stage back over to our DJ –" he pointed at the DJ who waved earning shouts, "I would like to play one more song, is that cool?" The crowd shouted in agreement, "Awesome. So, this is one of my girl's favourite songs." My eyes widened as people turned to me and I felt my face heat at the attention. He chuckled into the mike as he looked at me and I shot him a glare. He knew I didn't like attention!
"Oh my God! You're so lucky!" Zara yelled. I shrunk back slightly trying to hide from the people still staring at me.
I gasped as they began playing it and Damien smirked at me.
"Your cruel device, your blood like ice. One look, could kill. My pain, your thrill." I covered my mouth forgetting about my embarrassment at being the centre of attention as excitement filled me when the guys jumped around the stage hyping everyone up before the chorus, "I wanna love you but I better not touch!"
"Don't touch!" Victor's voice rose.
"I wanna hold you but my senses tell me to stop! I wanna kiss you but I want it too much!"
"Come on!" Cassidy grabbed my hands and pulled me from our table.
I laughed as we joined everyone else on the floor. I felt everything fade and just enjoyed the sound of Damien's voice along with his friend's playing. It was amazing. Their stage presence was absolutely incredible.
We all clapped as it finished and Damien yelled a 'thank you!' into the mike before they all joined us on the floor while the DJ took over the stage again.
"That was fucking awesome!" Kevin said high-fiving Rick as they met us.
I laughed as I hugged Damien and felt him hug me back tightly.
"So? You liked it?" He asked, I heard a trace of nervousness he had unsuccessfully tried to hide in his voice.
"'Liked it'? Are you serious?" I looked up at him and felt my stomach go crazy as a broad smile took over it. "That was... Damien." I let out a breath of disbelief. "That was amazing... Thank you."
He chuckled pulling me back into a tight hug before he took my chin with his thumb and forefinger tilting my face u to his. "I love you, Hannah." He said seriously.
My heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest. "I know." I smiled up at him. It was true. I loved him so much already, it scared me, but it made me happy at the same time. Especially knowing that he loved me just as much... if not more? He smiled, "I love you too."
He leaned closer to me but let out an annoyed half-laugh when someone spoke.
"Uh-uh. You're at a school event, and also that would be really uncomfortable for me to watch." I felt my face burn as I dropped it into Damien's chest to hide and heard him laugh as his arms circled around my shoulders tightly.
"Lyle!" Natalie's voice warned.
"Alright, alright. Dance with me, my love."
"Are they gone?" I felt Damien's chest vibrate as he laughed.
"Yes," he kissed my head. "Come on, let's pretend we can dance. I mean, we can't be as bad as Elliott." I looked up and Damien and I laughed seeing Elliott's dancing as we watched our friends.
"Yeah." I grabbed his hand and began pulling him towards them.
We joined our friends and danced – or tried to because only Rick and Kevin could actually dance – and I glanced over to see Lyle dancing with Natalie as she smiled up at him.
I grinned.
I knew things wouldn't always be as perfect as they were in that moment, but I knew I would be alright as long as I had them and my Grandad and I always would. And given the way he kept glancing at me as he danced with Zara and some other girls that asked him, I was pretty sure that went for Damien as well.
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THE END!
*****
I had so much fun writing this chapter and editing this book (though, there might still be mistakes cause I added some extra stuff) (14/01/20).
This chapter is dedicated to @cherrycherrylove, who voted on literally every chapter, thank you for the support :D.
Thank you guys so so much for reading this book, voting and commenting! Please check out some of my other work too :D