Megan yelped as Brooke snatched away her glasses.
"There. Better. You actually look pretty when you're not wearing glasses," she said.
Megan shot her a glare and snatched her glasses back.
"You look pretty too when I'm not wearing glasses," she grumbled and I burst out laughing.
Brooke gaped at her then rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever. Be like that. I was only trying to be nice."
Brooke stomped over to the mirror, pushing me out of the way.
"Hey! I was..." I trailed off when she shot a glare to me.
I huffed and sat on my bed.
"Do we have to show up?" I asked. I lay my head on Megan's shoulder when she sat beside me.
"I wanna go. There are all kinds of sexy boys down there," Brooke said touching up her makeup.
Megan shook her head, making me sit up straight.
"Seriously Brooke, with the way you act I feel like you're having problems in your relationship with Dave."
She turned around, her hands on her hips.
"We're fine. It's just that I don't see him much," she sighed.
"Anyway, you have to attend. What's a birthday party without the birthday girl?" Megan piped up. It was more of an attempt to change the subject. Nobody wants 'no fun Brooke' in a party. Though, I still doubt that's possible.
A knock on the door came before I could reply.
"It's open," I called.
My dad poked his head through a crack. After he was sure we were all decent he came in.
"Hello Mr. Anderson," Megan said, standing up to leave.
"Hello Megan. How are you doing?" my dad said smiling at her.
"I'm fine. Uh Brooke we should go," she said pointing her thumb towards the door.
I stifled my laugh as I watched her. My dad made Megan uncomfortable. She couldn't believe he was my 'real' dad when she first met him.
Dad sat beside me on the bed when they both left.
"Hey pumpkin," he said.
"Hi Dad," I said.
We sat in silence for a while. I was waiting for him to say something. It hadn't been the same between us since... well, since I found out about my mom. And how he hid it from me. I had forgiven him. But it was hard to get over it.
"Uh I... I got you something," he said and took out something from his pocket.
"You shouldn't have. It isn't even my birthday today," I said.
He gave a half smile. "Trust me, you wouldn't want to celebrate your birthday like this," he said.
He was right. I was sure I didn't know half the people down there. It was more like my first step into the business world than a birthday celebration. My birthday was tomorrow.
He took out a letter.
"What's this?" I took it from him.
"It's from your mother," he said gruffly.
I looked at it then looked at him.
"No, I don't want you to read it. Honestly, I wasn't even going to give it to you. But Eleanor made a deal with me that I couldn't deny," he said.
"What deal?" I managed to say. Right now I felt like my world was revolving around that letter and that letter only.
"That's not important," he waved it off.
"I want to know," I said in a tone that left no room for negotiation.
He sighed.
"She'll leave the city and never come back. For real this time."
My heart dropped to my stomach. Do I want that? It'd been months since I came to know about her and even now I couldn’t bring myself to face her. What I wanted was a choice. A choice that would be mine. I didn't know if I wanted her in my life yet. But it would be nice if I had a choice.
I began to open it, my hands shaking.
Before I could tear it open, my dad put his hand on mine.
"You don't have to do this right now," he said. The feeling of his warm hand calmed me down a bit and I nodded. I walked to my dresser and kept the letter inside a box. I wasn't ready to know what she wanted to say yet.
My dad came up behind me. I turned to face him. He stared at my face and a small smile formed on his lips.
"My baby is a grown up now," he said and I looked away, blushing. Not again! Why was everyone saying that. First Grandma then Linda and now dad.
"I can't believe it's your eighteenth birthday tomorrow," he said wrapping his arms around me, squeezing me to death.
"If you keep this up, I won't be able to make it till tomorrow," I said with difficulty.
He let me go and caressed my hair with his hand. He kissed on the crown of my head.
"Let's go and get it over with already," he said. My dad didn't like these kinds of parties either. But it was important and all that so, yeah.
"Yeah let's go," I agreed.
****
"A toast," Ashton started lifting his glass. My friends from school were hanging out near the bar when I approached them. Guess they found something to keep them entertained.
They stopped talking and paid attention to what Ashton was doing. My eyes involuntarily moved to where Asher was sitting on a stool. He had really kept his distance these past few weeks. It's like there was nothing going on between us. Ever. I couldn't say the same for me. I thought about him a tad more than I was willing to admit. And it really shouldn't bother me that Rachel Summers was standing between his legs and being all kinds of close with him. But God, all I wanted to do was stab her eyeballs out with the back of my heels.
I forced myself to look away. It was wrong. It was me who pushed him away. So I had to deal with it. No matter how miserable and psychotic it made me.
I tried to focus on Ashton and what he was saying.
"Now that I have your attention," he muttered to me and I blushed a deep shade of red.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and we both faced the other people, including Asher.
"A toast to my friend here who as of today, is richer than all of us combined," he raised his glass and they all cheered. Noel whistled.
Asher finally looked up from Rachel as if realizing for the first time that something was happening.
"I wish I got 15% shares of one of the biggest companies of the world as a birthday gift. But alas, all I get are some shitty concert tickets," Greg said faking a tear and all laughed.
Even Asher laughed and my heart stuttered.
I averted my eyes, cursing my heart. I thought if I stayed away and he did the same this feeling would go away. But all I had managed to do these past weeks was fall deeper.
"I would go to a concert any day rather than boring myself out of my wits in this party," I said.
I saw Rachel wrap her hands around Asher's neck from the corner of my eye. Good. Now Asher would push her away and she would finally leave. I waited for this to happen. It didn't happen. Asher made no move to push her. Instead he leaned into her.
I couldn't stand it anymore. I turned to leave when I ran into a waiter. The trey fell down, crashing to the floor. I was horrified.
"I'm sorry," I apologized hastily and ran out of there.
I went inside the first room I could find and slammed the door. My eyes burned from humiliation and anger. I plopped down on a bed and tried not to let my tears fall.
A knock sounded on the door.
"Anderson, are you alright?" a voice came, muffled by the door.
I took a deep, calming breath. He was here. He chose me. I could still make everything alright.
"It happens all the time. There is no need to get so embarrassed about running into a waiter," he said and there was a hint of amusement in his voice.
What?
My eyes widened as I realized he had no idea. He had no idea why I was sad. He thought it was because of some broken glasses? It made me angry.
"Go away!" I threw a pillow at the door.
"Anderson," he turned the knob.
I threw another pillow.
"Go away, Asher!"
It was silent for a moment then I heard a sigh and I knew he left.
He actually left.
I didn't want him to leave. I wanted him to come inside and break all my wall down. I wanted him to want us again. Only if he had stayed and didn't leave.
I didn't realize when the door opened bed dip beside me. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned to look at Brooke.
I couldn't help it. I wrapped my arms around Brooke.
"I messed it up. I messed everything up," I cried.
Brooke rubbed my back soothingly.
"He doesn't want me anymore," I said.
Brooke leaned back and looked into my eyes.
"Who said that?" she asked.
"I know it! He wouldn't have left me here if it weren't so," I said, rubbing under my eyes.
I felt so pathetic crying over a boy, but there was no way I could help it.
"That's bullshit!" she said.
"But that girl, Rachel," Even her name sounded like a swear word coming from my mouth. "She is all over him and he doesn't do anything thing about it."
"That's because..." she thought for a moment but when couldn't come up with anything shook her head. "You're gonna go out there and show him and everyone who he belongs to," she said with so much determination that I nodded without even meaning to.
She grinned. "That's my girl!"
My eyes widened as I realized what she was telling me to do.
"What? No!"
"Oh, come on! But first we have to do something about... " she waved a hand towards my face.
****
I can do this.
I chanted that again and again in my mind. I started walking towards him before I could chicken out. He was talking to someone I didn't recognize and Rachel was standing on his side. God, that bitch was stuck to him like glue.
Not anymore.
His back was to me when I approached him. I tapped his shoulder and he turned back. He raised an eyebrow when he saw me.
I didn't give myself time to think it through and talk myself out of it. I grabbed his lapels and pulled him towards me. I closed my eyes and pressed my lips to his. I heard several gasps and a few cheers. At first he stood frozen for several seconds as if he couldn't believe it was happening. Then he gave in and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer. The warm and tingly feeling started in my stomach and traveled all the way to my whole body. I kissed him with all I had and more. My heart felt like it would explode any second. My hands moved to the back of his neck as we kissed.
I pulled away for breath. When I looked into his eyes they were shining. He gave me a crooked grin.
"You lose," he murmured.
I pushed at his chest but he didn't let go. Instead, he kissed me again. My heart went crazy as his lips moved against mine. My hands fisted the front of his shirt as I lost myself in the taste of his lips.
I don't know for how long we kissed. It felt like hours and mere seconds at the same time. When we broke apart I finally realized we weren't alone. I looked around, red covering my cheeks. Someone please dig a hole for me.
"That won't be necessary," Asher said kissing the top of my head. I felt warm all over.
He grinned at everyone as if he had won a lottery.
"About freaking time," Megan said and laughed with everyone following after her.
What could I do? I laughed along.
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-K
P. S. It's not over yet... 😉