The days flew by and before I knew it was Friday, the day of Alexander's work party. The event at first felt like a cage, trapping me in my Mother's clutches. Now it was liberating, giving the band both exposure and a chance to just jam and have fun.
My Mother wasn't attending and that was part of the reason, Alexander told me she was to be moving out a week after New Year's, whether or not I was going with her was a completely different story. He also said he officially uninvited her from the ball, he wanted me to be able to enjoy myself. Honestly, while Alexander will never ever replace my Dad, I don't know where I would be without him.
That morning Thomas and I drive to school, me feeling finally happy for the first time in forever. With a skip of my step, I jump out the car and go to meet with the rest of the band.
"Eager?" Thomas laughs, keeping up with me due to his long stride.
"Yes! Today's the big day!" I smile before rushing inside.
Everyone's there except for Luke, but I try to pay little attention to that fact. Try being the keyword, we'd been in a good place lately and everything felt the way it was before everything happened. Only it wasn't, neither of us had made a move to get back together and I wasn't sure if it was going to happen.
"Today's the day!" Fiona squeals.
"I know right! I'm so stoked!" I reply, beaming.
"The best part is that we miss the dumb beauty pageant," Thomas adds. We give him a questioning look. "DIdn't you know? It's like right after school and we're not performing until after dinner, when the party part starts."
Fiona cringes. "Why did your Dad even decide to have a beauty pageant? What does that have to do with his company?"
Thomas looks hesitantly. "Uh Julia, Maya's Mom, insisted that there's a beauty pageant, something about if she's not going to do ballet and modelling was out the question then she had to do something," he says. "Besides, lots of Dad's employees have teenage daughters," he adds quickly.
It's silent. "Well at least we don't have to deal with that," Lucy perks up. There are mutters of agreement. "Anyway, we better get to class."
"Boy am I glad winter break starts next week," Adam sighs.
"Amen to that!" I say. "Anyway, I'll see you guys in music!" I call as I walk to class.
Luke still wasn't here, should I be worried? The final bell was due to ring in just a few minutes.
Almost as if on cue, Luke jogs up next to me. I breathe a sigh of relief and playfully slap his shoulder. "Don't do that! You were nearly late!"
He smirks down at me. "If I didn't know any better Maya, I'd say you were worried about me."
"No! I just about you! Just... if you got a detention and we have a show tonight!" I blurt.
His smug grin gets smugger. "Our show doesn't start until 7 but you keep telling yourself that." He then opens up the classroom door for me and gestures for me to walk in.
What's that supposed to mean? "Where were you anyway?" I ask as we take our usual spots beside each other.
"You'll see."
How cryptic. What could've he possibly been up to on a Friday morning?
The school day drags because of my anticipation for tonight. Whether it's anticipation for the show in just a few hours or because of Luke's cryptic message this morning, I don't know.
So when the final bell of the day finally rings, I rush outside to Thomas' car as fast as my legs can carry me, which isn't very fast. We'd all decided it would be best to get ready at our houses and meet Adam's for dinner so that way we could collect our equipment.
"You're really eager, aren't you?" Thomas laughs as eh unlocks his car. We both get in and wait for Abigail.
"What can I say? I just have a good feeling about tonight," I sigh and lean back into my seat. "Now where the hell is Abigail?"
"Calm down, school only just ended," Thomas says, clearly amused.
A couple minutes later and much to my relief, Abigail jumps into the backseat and we head home. Feeling like an overexcited child, which isn't far from the truth, I jump out the car and rush upstairs. I honestly didn't know what had gotten into me today, I just had a good feeling tonight. I loved performing and for what felt like the first time in forever, I got to do it again.
When I walk into my room, there's a white box on my bed tied with a red ribbon. An envelope on top of it, Maya scrawled on top of it in messy handwriting.
What's this? I walk over and carefully pick up the envelope, carefully tearing it open.
Maya, its reads.
I know we haven't been in the best place for a while but I saw this and thought of you. I heard Thomas talking about how your Mother got you some ridiculous dress to wear tonight and I know you won't be comfortable wearing some big fancy ball gown so I just had to do something
I know it's not much but I hope you'll wear it tonight. Not that you have to, I'll understand if you don't.
Love From
Luke
The note's short and sweet, yet I can't help but feel the familiar butterflies in my stomach and the soaring of my heart, as if I'm in cloud nine. I reach for the box on my bed and carefully undo the ribbon.
Inside is a dress, but not just any dress, the same dress I saw that day in the dress store that my Mother told me I couldn't get. How did Luke know, was this what he was talking about earlier? Was it really possible that he knew me better than I knew myself?
I stand in front of the mirror and hold the dress up to my body. The deep red contrasts my pale skin and dark hair, the black belt with the yellow buckle and the white, fluffy trimming making the dress perfectly festive. Barely able to contain a girlish squeal, I rush into the bathroom to take a pre-show shower.
After, I pull on the dress along with some white tights. It fits perfectly, like a glove. My cold, wet hair dripping down my back causes me to stop admiring the dress in the mirror to continue getting ready. After drying my hair and curling it, I apply my makeup and head downstairs.
Alexander's in the living room, he looks up at me with a smirk. "I see you got your gift."
"You knew about this?" I ask, gesturing down to the knee-length dress.
"Luke came by this morning," he states simply as I pull on a pair of black ankle-boots.
"Wait, shouldn't you be at the beauty pageant?" I ask.
"You really think I want to watch a group of girls give dumb answer to real world problems?" he asks rhetorically. "That was your Mother's idea, I have someone else handling it," he looks at his watch. "Speaking of, it's 5, I should probably head down there." He stands up and grabs his keys off the coffee table before heading outside to his car.
"Ready to go?" Thomas asks just a few minutes later.
I look up at him from my spot on the couch. He's dressed in a green button up shirt that has its collar popped paired with black skinny jeans. I jump up. "Is that even a question? Does Abigail need a ride?"
"Nah, Michael and his parents are picking her up." With that, we head outside and drive wordlessly to Lucy's house.
Thomas picks Lucy up on the way, effectively banishing me to the backseat and leaving me as a third wheel for all of ten minutes. After the lover exchange a quick kiss, we're on our way to Adam's house. Lucy and Thomas talk eagerly the whole way, but I don't mind.
When we arrive, Fiona greets us at the door and after informing us that Adam's parents are already at the event, leads us to the living room. Luke looks up at me when we enter, his eyes shamelessly roaming my body. "You wore it," he states.
I shrug. "Of course."
"Wait," Thomas says, anger lacing his tone. "Wore what?"
I turn to Thomas. "I know you're not his biggest fan but just please forgive him, I have," I mutter. "Luke got me this dress," I say louder.
Fiona aww's as Thomas' jaw clenches but he stays silent.
"So what's everyone want for dinner?" Adam asks.
"No pizza!" Fiona calls. "Too greasy and we're already ready."
"Okay then," Lucy says, wiping her hands on her deep burgundy dress. "How about you and I just cook something Fi? Take out's greasy and besides, we're not performing."
"Fine," Fiona sighs deeply. "But no band members in the kitchen and vlog while you wait guys!" With that, Fiona follows Lucy into the kitchen.
I grab Lucy's camera and press the record button before turning it to my face. The others all piling in behind me, beaming genuine smiles. "Hey everyone!" I smile. "Our first gig back together is tonight and we're stoked! I finally got these dorks to agree to sing for once-"
"If anyone's a dork, you are," Adam interjects.
"How am I a dork?"
"You can't even play guitar!" he argues.
'And you can't play piano!"
"Point is, I've never tried to learn piano but from what I've heard you've tried to learn countless times."
I turn to Luke. "What do you have to say for yourself?" I tease.
"It was too funny to pass up?" He asks with a shy laugh.
I hand the camera to Thomas. "Better run, Lucas."
"For the last time, my name's not- holy crap!" he sprints as I pounce at him.
I chase him up the stairs, laughing like a maniac as I chase after him. It was easy for him to out run me due to his longer legs but that didn't stop me from trying. Fortunately for me though, Luke's foot catches on the rug in the upstairs hallway, causing him to fall.
Because of the speed I'm running at, it's impossible to stop myself form falling on top of him. Luckily, he rolls onto his back and catches me, his arms encircling around the small of my back. I can feel his heart racing underneath me, matching his quickening breaths. His jet black hair's perfectly tousled as his crystal blue eyes flicker down to my lips for a split second before he swallows and his Adam's apple bobs in his throat.
I brush my hands over his red button up, sitting up with my legs either side of his torso. I grab onto his popped collar. Taking in his pink lips and flushed cheeks, I begin to lean in.
"I SAW MOMMY KISSING SANTA CLAUS!" Adam screams from downstairs.
I immediately jump back and notice Adam and Thomas standing downstairs, the latter filming us through the railing of the stairs. Thomas is smirking, letting me know that at least he's not mad that Luke and I were about to...
"Jackass," Luke mutters. I stand up, Luke standing up behind me.
"Dinner!" Lucy calls. Huh, that was quick.
I soon learn why, though. Turns out Lucy and Fiona decided to make a salad of all things.
"It's healthy," Fiona explains. "And besides, there'll be food at this thing, surely."
We all roll our eyes before piling the garden salad onto our plates and quickly downing it.
Before I know it, we're loading the equipment into Adam's parent's car and heading to the venue.
"Some important people are gonna be here," Thomas informs. "You guys ready?"
"Not after you told us that!" Adam exclaims.
Thomas looks sheepish. "Uh- not that important?"
"Nice try dude," Adam sighs and gets out the car.
We unload the car. Well, Adam, Luke and Thomas unload the car, at least for the most part. Lucy, Fiona and I handled the small things, like microphones and leads. I wasn't going to argue though, I was weak.
"You ready?" Alexander asks, holding a glass of champagne.
"Let's liven this place up!" Adam says eagerly, gesturing to the bored faces of teenagers sitting at tables while their rich, fancy parents mingle. That is, every teenager except Kayla, who's wearing the beauty pageant crown and has her 'look at me' face on.
Once upon a time, the sight would have disgusted me but now, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. People like Kayla are insecure.
"Ready as I'll ever be," I say, going over to the stage. Luke's already on stage and leans down, offering his hand. I take it and he helps to pull me on stage.
The classical music that was playing dies down as the lights in the room dim.
"Hey everyone! We're Dusk To Dawn and we're here to get this Christmas party started! Now before we start, we'd like to invite the winner of the beauty pageant up to the dance floor with her date for a dance!" I say.
Kayla saunters to the dance floor on the arm of Brad Tate. We play a slow love song, the boys offering their voices for backing vocals and harmonies. Kayla and Brad's movements are stiff and rehearsed and overall cringe-worthy.
We play a few more slow songs, this was meant to be a fancy dress event after all, before deciding to let the real party begin. Many of the adults and a few teenagers retreat to another room that Alexander has rented out to continue their rich-people socialising. I can't help but notice a woman dressed in a pantsuit standing at the back, beside the door, studying us intently.
We perform for another hour before calling it a quits and letting the DJ take over.
"Hey," I hear a soft voice from behind me as the boys are packing up.
I turn around and notice Hannah, her light brown hair pulled back into an intricate up-do, her makeup heavy and her dress more expensive then Luke's drum-kit. "Hi," I reply.
"I just wanted to uh- you guys did a good job," he smiles faintly before walking away.
"That was weird," I mutter.
"What was weird?" Luke calls over the loud music
"Hannah just said we did a good job!" I yell back.
"What?" he says incredulously.
"That's what I thought!"
After the car's packed, we're ready to enjoy the party. However, we're stopped. "Excuse me?" a woman asks.
"Yeah?" Fiona asks in her 'manager tone'.
The woman eyes her up and down before turning back to us. "My name's Sandra Watson and I'm an agent at Universal Music."
Excitement courses through me, a real agent! Luke's hand brushes against mine before finally grasping it.
She hands Thomas a card. "How would you feel about recording a demo?"
A/N Hey everyone! Sorry for being a bit MIA the past couple weeks. It's been a bit hectic lately and I've been busy with my own music and school. But everything's hopefully in order now so I should be back to regular updates!