As it turned out, going to Josh and Ginny's before the premiere party to get ready wasn't the smartest idea we'd ever had.
One hour before we were supposed to leave for the party, Ginny, Lana, Bex and I were all crammed in the bathroom upstairs, feeling pretty useless as Nikki and Riawna were juggling to get everyone's hair ready. Riawna was doing an amazing job braiding my hair in a fishtail, managing to keep a firm grip while laughing every two seconds.
Meanwhile, Josh, Bobby, Colin and his dad, Robbie and Fred were all waiting downstairs. They were starting to get a little bored and kept yelling nasty remarks — which only made it harder for us to stay still.
When we finally got downstairs, all of the boys were slumped on the sofa. As soon as they saw us coming, they started whistling approvingly. I kept my eyes fixed on the ground, grinning broadly and turning slightly red, until I couldn't avoid him anymore.
Our eyes met, and my smile got even wider.
"You look beautiful," Colin said. His gaze ran the length of my body, from my floral sheath dress to the fishtail braid on the side of my head.
By the time his eyes were focused on my face again, I was blushing so fiercely that I had to look away.
A few cabs took us to the venue were the premiere party took place. Everyone was so pumped that the atmosphere in the room was exuberant — and extremely loud. We spent the first half hour trying to greet everyone from the cast and crew, and some of the family members who flew over for the premiere.
By the time we were finally sitting down to eat, I was pretty much starving. About ten people could fit at the round tables, which were neatly set with gleaming tableware. We helped ourselves to food from the buffet and we were chatting excitedly about the premiere when I felt a nudge against my leg.
I looked up and fixed Colin with my eyes, right before he looked away with a smirk on his face. My jaw dropped; knowing he wouldn't be able to hear me over the noise in the room, I quickly grabbed my phone out of my purse and started typing.
Is that your way of flirting with me, Mr. Hook?
My heart was beating way faster than it should be, but I sent the text and tried to keep a straight face as I took a bite of roast potato.
Seconds later, he got a sparkle in his eyes. He looked down and shot me a meaningful look before pulling his phone out of his pocket. I watched as his entire face lit up when he read my text.
Suddenly I was completely oblivious to the half-eaten potato on my fork.
He started typing with an evil sneer on his face, and I absentmindedly fiddled with my fork in a way that hopefully wouldn't arouse suspicion from the others at our table.
Well, if they hadn't noticed anything yet, they certainly did when I pulled my phone out a little too eagerly as it started buzzing.
"What are you two up to?" Lana said, nudging my elbow.
"Oh, it's nothing," I said, smiling like an idiot. "Colin's being a five-year-old once again."
She grinned. "I see."
I focused my gaze on the screen of my phone, where his message popped up.
You know me too well, Swan.
I covered my mouth to stifle my laugh, but I didn't quite manage. Lana's head jerked back in my direction and I just giggled.
You could probably say Colin wasn't the only one acting like a five-year-old. But he proved to be the absolute worst when he wiggled his eyebrows and pointed at my phone.
Another text popped up:
P.s.: one of these days...
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
I looked up at him, frowning, but just as I was about to send a text, the end of dinner was announced. Everyone in the room got up, and before I knew it he was lost in the crowd that was heading to the other room, where everyone had to gather around a big projection screen.
* * *
We spent the first part of the premiere live tweeting while everyone else was discussing the episode. We got a lot of positive reactions from the people in the room, but on social media the fans were screaming fans with excitement.
As we got nearer to the end of the episode, most of them had died from all the feels.
The room erupted in loud cheers and applause when the episode was over. Adam and Eddy and some other members of the writing staff came forward and thanked everyone for the support. After their speech we all emerged in the other room to get a drink.
Lana grabbed my arm as soon as Colin was off talking to his dad.
"So, what's going on?"
"What do you mean?" I sounded a little too innocent, and I couldn't keep a straight face when she raised her eyebrows.
"Are you kidding me?"
"I don't know what's going on," I said, looking over her shoulder to watch Colin introduce his dad to Josh and Ginny. I turned back to Lana and lowered my voice. "Is it that obvious?"
"Please, you're acting like puppies. Both of you."
I grinned. "Look, I'm going to say hi to Colin's dad. Want to come?"
"You go ahead, I'm going to find Fred and the boys." She squeezed my arm and turned around. Fred was already coming up to her, and once they'd linked arms and were striding off, I went to Colin and his dad.
"Mr. O'Donoghue, how nice to see you!" I said cheerfully.
"Jennifer! Please, you can call me Con." He smiled and gave me a quick hug. "So how have you been?"
"Great, really great." I smiled at Colin to involve him in the conversation. "It's been a busy few weeks, but that's how we like it, don't we?"
"Absolutely," Colin said, scratching behind his ear.
We stood there talking for about ten minutes, and after I'd snapped a picture of the two of them, I headed to the bathroom. I pulled my phone out of my pocket when I was in the stall, hesitantly spinning it around in my hands.
Should I...?
Oh, screw this, I thought and I started typing.
You still owe me the rest of that sentence.
I squeezed my phone after I'd sent the text, part of me excited like a five-year-old. The other part doubted whether this was such a good idea, but I tried to ignore it.
I still hadn't got a text back when I was washing my hands, but that was probably because he wasn't worrying about his phone right now. I headed back to the party room, where I came to a sudden stop.
I spotted Colin pretty easily, but there was now a pretty, blonde woman in his presence that I'd never seen before.
I shook my head to organize my thoughts. What the hell was I thinking?
Of course he had family other than his dad, and it wasn't so peculiar for them to attend the premiere.
"Hey, we've been looking for you," a voice said in my ear when I was about to head over to Colin.
I turned around to see Josh and Ginny, who were smiling. "It's pretty busy, right?" I said.
Josh nodded, taking a sip of his drink and passing it on to Ginny. She just stared at him wide-eyed. "Oh, right," he said, chuckling and pulling the drink back.
I looked suspiciously from Josh to Ginny, but my attention was drawn back to the woman. "Do you guys know her?" I asked, pointing her out.
Ginny rose to her tiptoes. "That blonde woman with Colin?"
"Yeah."
'No idea', she said, but Josh nodded.
"I just met her. I think they went to high school together... or something. I don't remember her name..."
My gaze went back to the woman, who just put an arm around Colin's shoulder. She said something to his dad, causing the three of them to burst out laughing.
I felt my excitement shrink to the size of a pea.
"Why d'you ask?" Josh asked innocently.
"Well— I don't know." I sounded a bit too defensive, but then I forgot about everything and watched in horror as she leaned into him.
He leaned into her.
And they kissed.
I gasped, but neither Josh nor Ginny had noticed; Josh just got a huge, I've-just-remembered smile on his face.
"I think her name was Helen. Yes— yes, I'm pretty sure."
♡Dun, dun, DUUUN! Who saw that coming? 😏 I originally wanted to post this chapter right after the premiere of season six, but Monday was my first day of uni, so I've been pretty busy stressing out about that 😂. Leave your thoughts, I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading! ♡