The day of the dance was a frenzied blur of school and rushing to appointments. School, thankfully, let out earlier than usual and while my mom drove me to the hairdresser, I quickly changed in the backseat.
My hairdresser is a friendly and extremely talented woman named Nicole, and we had decided to go with my hair half-up in a type of braided bun, and half-down in curls. Yesterday I had gone to different shops and we found a few very pretty flower-shaped diamond pins (fake obviously) and she placed them in different spots on my head once she was finished.
However, my hair had taken a little longer than I anticipated, resulting in me being late for my make-up appointment. That, at least, only took fifteen minutes. Ruth had done my make-up for my sister's wedding, so I knew how it would look when she was finished, but it still didn't stop me from almost not recognising myself when I looked in the mirror.
Even though the make-up looked very natural, with a bit of a smoky technique to enhance my eyes, it was still a shock to see because I was so used to hardly wearing make-up.
Then it was a rush to get home and dressed without messing up the work done by my two previous appointments. I was busy shimmying down the tight fabric over my hips when I heard the doorbell chime then clonk and I knew Richard had arrived with his family.
My sister knocked on the door and peeked inside. "Richard's here."
I nodded my thanks and twisted to look at my back in the mirror. I frowned. "This dress makes my bum look bigger than I hoped," I muttered and Sarah shook her head.
"You barely have a bum, Lizzy, but I'm sure Richard won't mind," she winked and I looked at her shocked, but she continued talking. "Now come on, we still need to go over to Tyler's for photos."
Sarah was the designated photographer for the day. I sighed and nodded my head as she closed the door softly behind her before walking off. I sat down on my bed as I grabbed my silver heels and couldn't help but think back to the holidays where Cole taught me to dance. I bit the inside of my cheek.
Maybe we might get to dance tonight?
I shook the thought aside and slid my feet into them before tightening the straps around my ankles. I stood and straightened my dress before making my way to the living room, my heels clicking against the hardwood flooring.
Everyone stopped talking when I entered and I couldn't help but blush at the sudden attention. Richard's whole family as well as mine were crowded in the small living-room, but I looked at Richard specifically for a reaction.
His eyes were wide and mouth slightly agape. "Wow, Lizzy, you look gorgeous ..." he uttered and stared for a moment before shaking his head to allow a cheeky smile to come to his face. "Who would've thought you'd clean up so nicely."
I glared and punched his arm, my nervousness ebbing away instantly. He whined and rubbed his arm as I gave him a sweet smile. "I could say the same."
Richard wore a black suit with a white shirt and black tie. It was a classic look, but he still looked really nice with his light brown hair styled to be in my favourite spikey-style. The only thing which showed we were partners was the lilac pocket square that I proceeded to straighten in his breast pocket.
"Okay, we need at least half an hour for pictures and you have to leave an hour before the dance starts, so let's get a move on!" Sarah commanded and I nodded my head in agreement as we all moved towards the front door. "But Lizzy and Richard, I want a picture of you two here quickly and with Dobey."
Richard and I quickly walked towards the backyard, where Dobey sat looking very sorry for himself until he saw us, and leapt to his paws. Sarah opened the door and we all stepped outside. "Okay, can you just stand next to each other and Dobey sit in front of you?"
After what felt like a million pictures, my sister was finally satisfied and we quickly made our way out the house (after giving Dobey a short goodbye) and locked the door. My sister's husband, Ronan, had managed to organise a top-of-the-range Mercedes car to take us, but it was on the condition that he had to drive.
So, Richard sat in the front with him while I took the backseat with Sarah. My parents, along with Richard's family, followed in their own cars and soon we arrived at Tyler's house.
Tyler wore a gunmetal strapless dress with a crisscross back. Our aunt had done her make-up and hair and although it looked okay ... you could see she didn't have much experience with the make-up side of things. Our hairdresser aunt was known for her overdone blue eye shadow, but although that was fine, the blush that she had applied to Tyler's upper cheekbones kind of made it look like she had just been in a fight.
Of course, I couldn't voice any of my thoughts though.
After countless pictures and a few cheek cramps, we were finally on our way to the school. Tyler was going with a friend of Richard's from football and they were in a sporty-looking car.
In the backseat of the car, now alone because Sarah stayed by Tyler's house along with all the parents, I was bored stiff listening to Richard and Ronan chatter like monkeys about the vehicles. I had wondered about Amy and what it might have been like if she had been able to join in the pictures, but I knew there was nothing I could do about it now.
We waited in a line-up of cars for close to an hour before we eventually reached the school.
Now for a good ten minutes I had tried to calm Tyler down who was getting cold feet about having to walk in front of hundreds of people. The reason there was always a crowd was because everyone wanted to see the couples, dresses and cars. This night was all about glamour: one year a person even managed to come in a firetruck. But as the school neared and I heard the cheer of the crowd, I started telling myself my own advice about remaining calm.
There was eleventh graders acting as footmen when the car came to a stop and they opened the doors for Richard and I. All the girls screamed when they saw Richard step out of the car and he smiled at them as he linked arms with me and began to escort me down the aisle.
The screams were deafening as we walked (and I know for a fact they were mostly for Richard) as we smiled at the crowd, although I mostly smiled to the ground because I felt so awkward. I was glad we linked arms though because I almost slipped on the tar and it would have been very embarrassing if that happened.
Within five minutes we entered the foyer to the hall and greeted Mr Robertson and his wife. Stella smiled widely at me, but I could see she was a little surprised when she saw Richard was my date. But it didn't deter her from, instead of giving me a handshake, pulling me into a tight hug which caught me a little off-guard. However, she didn't have time to chat as the next couple came up behind us.
"Do you know her?" Richard asked as we checked to see which table we were seated at.
"I've been to her cafe a few times," I explained, deciding to leave out the fact that Cole introduced us.
We soon found our table and, even though I knew I would be sitting with my group, I was still relieved to see that there hadn't been a mess-up with the seating arrangements.
Richard nodded his head as he grabbed my hand and led me into the hall ... which no longer looked like one. White draping covered the walls and ceiling, and dim blue lights gave the illusion of being under water. I couldn't help but stare amazed at all the decorations; some kind of thing to look like jellyfish hung from the ceiling draping, fish bowls in the front with many multi-coloured fish and more. The council had really gone all out for us.
"Hey, there's Anne," Richard said and gestured into the standing crowd.
I looked around and my eyes spotted my best friend in a midnight blue dress. I immediately rushed up to her and grabbed her shoulders to turn her and stare at her face. She had told me she was going to wear make-up tonight and I wanted to see for myself how it would look ... mainly because she's never worn make-up before in her life.
"Hey, Lizzy," she greeted and I smiled as I greeted her back.
She had told me she'd gone for the natural look and she wasn't lying, she looked almost exactly as though she wasn't wearing make-up, but I could never have pictured it otherwise.
I greeted the rest of our friends who had arrived and I realised that Amy and Cole still needed to arrive. As the thought crossed my mind Anne looked behind me and gestured for me to turn around with her eyes. I frowned and did as she said and I felt my mouth go dry as my eyes met dark brown.
Cole.