I couldn't keep my eyes off of her.
It would be cheesy and untrue to say that she looked more beautiful than ever, so I wouldn't dare utter those words. For, she looked just as beautiful as ever and she simply amplified that beauty tonight. She's neither more nor less beautiful. She's Ivy, and she in and of herself takes up her own definition.
Her fiery locks are pulled back into a messy and loose braid. The strands falling out are curled and frame her face rather nicely. Her already gorgeous eyes are brought out by a bit of makeup, some eyeshadow and mascara to truly make them impossible to not get caught up in.
Seeing Ivy in a dress always takes my breath away for some reason, and this time is no different. The dress is an emerald green color. It has a high cut neck with no sleeves and hits the ground as she walks. And yet the designs on the dress are what put me in a trance. The dress has a type of lace overlay that displays plants and vines which begins around her waist rather concentrated and disperses as it travels down to the bottom hem of her dress. It's absolutely beautiful and she is absolutely beautiful in it.
And then it hits me. She's the Poison Ivy to my Harley Quinn.
"Aspen. Coat," Ivy says, snapping me out of my thoughts. I clear my throat before giving her a nervous smile and taking my coat off for coat check.
"Could've been us," I whisper jokingly to Ivy as I nod my head towards the girl who is working the coat check this year.
"I think I prefer this more," Ivy whispers back and I nod in agreement. I'm happy to be here with her and excited to spend the night with her.
We didn't talk much on the car ride here after we gave each other our compliments. We instead sat in a comfortable silence as the radio quietly played whatever today's pop hits happened to be. I wasn't listening though as I was too caught up in my thoughts. And maybe Ivy was too.
We were both nervous, I could tell. She kept tapping her fingers on the wheel but never to the song that was on. And every time we stopped at a light, I could tell that she would zone out completely for a minute. I not only didn't know what she was nervous about, but I also made no attempt to snap her out of it, maybe because I didn't know why she was full of nerves or maybe because I felt the exact same way or what I would assume to be close.
"Your seat, my lady," Ivy says cheekily as she pulls out my seat at which I've been assigned and then promptly sits down in the one beside me.
"Well, you two ladies look ravishing this evening," the boy sitting across from us at the rounded table suddenly says. He has a deep voice and a dark and constant gaze. If I had to guess he probably plays football, given his apparent build. He's actually a rather handsome boy, most likely right around our age and perhaps if I liked men then I would be interested. He has dark hair with just enough gel to hold it into perfection. His suit is well fitted and nice enough to display he comes from money without emphasizing it too much. He's basically the type of boy Tori was implying that I should go for.
"My name is Connery Orsen. And you two lovely ladies are....?" the boy takes it upon himself to begin introductions.
"Ivy Charleston. And this is my best friend Aspen Grayson," Ivy introduces us, probably realizing that I'm not always the best in social situations or meeting new people. So the combination of the two....
"Beautiful names for beautiful girls. Now, for what reasons are you here. Personally, my father runs a rather well known law firm, Orsen Law Firm. He's actually a sponsor of this event tonight," Connery enlightens us.
"Oh. I-" Ivy begins to explain how we obtained our tickets inside, but is interrupted by the screeching of a chair sliding on the floor, accompanied by the vision of a girl with short mousy brown hair cringing at said sound.
"Sorry," she squeaks in barely a whisper before quickly sitting down. She has a rather modest and plain light purple dress but carries it still with a sort of elegance, displaying true natural yet unassuming beauty. She just screams the type of girl that would be the typical main character in a teen romance novel.
"Emory, glad you could make it tonight," Connery says with a playful wink at the girl who just sat down in the seat beside mine. The girl's cheeks instantly flush and yet she still manages to shoot Connery a menacing glare which I truly commend her for.
"You see, Emory's mother is a partner at my father's law firm.... Anyways, Miss Ivy, I believe you didn't get to quite finish what you were saying," Connery says much too politely for my liking. I'm not a fan of the whole "Miss Ivy" thing, to be frank.
"Oh. My mother is actually the head of this charity...." Ivy says, trailing off.
"That's your mother! Well, I've met her a couple times and she is a very sweet woman. And so far it seems, so is her daughter," Connery with all the suave manageable. Suddenly, I'm starting to really dislike this guy.
"And what about you, Aspen?" Connery turns to me.
"Oh. Um, I...." I stutter out, not sure exactly what to say. I don't truly have any connections here besides Ivy and her mom, and it almost makes me all of a sudden feel like an outcast.
"Aspen is here with me," Ivy answers for me.
"I could've said so myself," I hiss at her due to the slight embarrassment from not being able to speak for myself. She mouths an apology to me, which quickly melts away any annoyance I had towards her. It's not her fault that I'm overthinking everything. And she was just trying to help me. So I just send her a small smile, hoping that she receives it as a signal that it's all ok. And she smiles back.
"Ivy! You made it!" a voice says excitedly as they approach our table and then sit down in the empty seat beside my best friend. Jaxon. I try to ignore the way her face lights up when she sees him. And I try to brush off the way that they launch into a conversation almost instantly, the way Ivy turns her back to me to talk to him.
It's then that I notice what he's wearing and the way the color emerald green has been incorporated into the look, the same color of Ivy's dress. It's something a couple would do, and my chest feels tight with the thought.
"And Aspen. You're here too. Good to see you," Jaxon says politely to me after a few minutes.
"I am. And I would say you too, but we both know it would be a lie," I say back to him.
"So you do talk," Connery says in joking amazement.
"Yeah. And you never stop," I say, suddenly taking out my anger over the situation on those around me. Connery looks shocked for a second but recovers quickly with his, what I'm assuming to be, signature smirk.
"Aspen!" Ivy hisses at me, clearly unhappy with my comments.
"What?" I hiss back with an eye roll. With an annoyed sigh, Ivy grabs my wrist and pulls me up from my seat with her before dragging me to the location where the refreshment table is located.
"What the heck, Aspen?" Ivy asks me, though I know it's more rhetorical than anything. I just shrug at her before surveying the table full of assorted drinks. My eyes land on the alcohol, not locked up or monitored given that there's only one table of trusted underaged guests.
However, when I reach for the bottle of wine, Ivy slaps my hand away before scowling at me.
"Stop. Talk to me," Ivy tries to reason with me. And as I catch her gaze, any defenses I had up against her in the moment immediately fall.
"It's just.... Jaxon got here and...." I trail off, not exactly sure how to word my feelings without clueing her in to something that I don't want her to know anything about.
"And you felt like I was ignoring you?" Ivy finishes, explaining the gist of what's going on, so I nod in response. With a sigh, Ivy pulls me into a tight hug.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel like that at all. I was just excited to see him, I guess, and didn't realize that I was hurting you in the process," Ivy tells me before pulling out of the hug.
"Is there something you're not telling me about Jaxon?" I decide to ask her given that we're already on the topic.
"What do you mean?" she asks, seemingly genuinely confused.
"I don't know. I wasn't sure if there was something going on between you two, I guess," I tell her as I set my gaze down at my feet.
"What gave you that idea?" I hear her ask me.
"I mean, you're both wearing emerald green tonight. And I know that doesn't sound like much, but that is something that I know couples do sometimes...." I trail off, not even wanting myself to finish the idea. But then Ivy starts laughing. Not a lot, but enough to let me know that my assumption isn't true.
"I actually have no clue how that happened," Ivy says to me, and I can just tell that she's genuinely telling the truth which does improve my mood over the situation.
"You good to go back now?" Ivy asks me with a lopsided smile. I nod in response, sending a smile back her way. And so we walk arm in arm back to the table to find another guest has arrived, sitting in the seat between Jaxon and Connery and clearly flirting shamelessly with Jaxon. I already like this girl.
She has a blinged out strapless dress that automatically lets everyone know that she wants to be the center of attention. Her dark brown hair has a type of shine to it that matches her dress in a lesser way, and despite my original assumption that she'd have serious glam makeup on, she actually went with a natural look, most likely because she's clearly already so naturally beautiful.
It's when I actually take my seat that I finally look at Ivy and surely don't miss the look of anger on her face. No, not anger. Jealousy. It makes my heart drop and I almost immediately begin to take interest in anything other than what is unfolding.
"Hello, you two. I don't believe we have ever met. I'm Whitney. And you are?" the girl nexts to Jaxon says sweetly, almost too sweetly as she places her hands on Jaxon's arms, in a rather possessive way.
"Hi. It's nice to meet you. I'm Aspen, and this here is Ivy," I take the liberty to make our introductions to the girl I truly appreciate being here right now.
"It's nice to meet you too," Whitney says sweetly, despite Ivy trying and failing to not show her distaste towards the girl.
"Ivy's mother is actually the head of the charity hosting the ball, and Aspen is just here accompanying her, but I must say that we are rather lucky to have her here," Connery says before sending a wink my way.
"Connery. She's not going to sleep with you," Emory finally chimes into a conversation. Everyone at the table stops to look at her in shock.
"Unless you...." Emory trails off but I know what she's suggesting so I shake my head in response and she nods.
"See, Con. No chance," Emory concludes before going silent again. Whitney is the first to speak again.
"Well Jaxon's parents and mine are associates so it's always been tradition that I go to stay with Jax and his siblings whenever our parents have to come to these. This is our first year we've been allowed to join," Whitney informs us with a small laugh. They've known each other for years and their parents are friends? Sounds like a perfect love story to me, or I could hope at least. Ivy must seemingly pick up on it too, and so I choose to ignore the frown that it puts on her face.
It's then that Ivy's mother takes the stage and a hush falls over the room.
————
After finishing dinner, a few hours, and a few speeches, I'm suddenly more exhausted than I thought I would be. And yet Connery and Emory are arguing over something having to do with Star Wars, I believe, rather passionately, and Ivy, Jaxon, and Whitney are having their own conversation that I never truly made an effort to be a part of. I just scroll around on my phone, minding my own business and not engaging in the social aspect of the event.
Margot: How's the gala going?
I smile at the unprompted message. It's nice to have someone to talk to even if they aren't here.
Me: I wasn't aware that these things were so boring.
Margot: Damn I was hoping you'd get to hear some real rich people drama
Me: Nope. I'm sitting with the rest of the teens and the most interesting topic at the table is Star Wars related, and I haven't even watched any of the movies.
Margot: You haven't watched Star Wars!
Me: Sue me.
Margot: I might just have to
It's then that I decide to look up from my phone and notice that Ivy and Jaxon are missing and Whitney is slumped in her seat, engrossed in her phone.
"What happened to Ivy and Jaxon?" I ask Whitney, slightly concerned about the prospect of them being off alone together somewhere. Whitney looks up at me and quirks an eyebrow before she realizes what I asked.
"Oh. They went outside. Ivy said that she needed some fresh air or something," Whitney says with an eye roll, seemingly having a reciprocated distaste for Ivy. I don't approve of it, but I understand her situation. And so I thank her before getting up from my seat and walking straight outside, shivering slightly from the winter air as I forgot my coat at coat check.
I look around for a minute for the two before finally spotting them walking side by side in the small snow covered garden located on the side of the venue. I smile at the sight of my crush still looking as beautiful as ever tonight, despite the sight of the boy unfortunately beside her.
However, my smile quickly fades has he takes her hand into his and turns her so that they face each other. I'm frozen in place as I watch their lips move in conversation. I can barely breathe, taking short breaths and trying not to freak out too much. The winter air whipping against my face makes my eyes water, though there may be other reasons for that too. And despite the falling snow, I'm too concentrated on the scene unfolding in front of me to truly feel it.
It almost feels like time stops when Ivy grabs the sides of Jaxon's coat and pulls him forward towards her, standing on her toes to press their lips together.
And as their lips connect, I can feel my heart shatter.
The tears that were at first just welling in my eyes begin to stream quickly down my face and I don't even make an attempt to wipe them away. A strangled sob is caught in my throat. Jaxon's hands firmly grip Ivy's waist as her hands travel up to entangle her fingers in his hair. Despite the strong pain in my chest, I just can't pull my eyes away.
As they pull away from the kiss, they press their foreheads together and just smile. And that's all I can take. Wiping my tears vigorously, I march back into the venue to grab my coat. Though, last minute, I make a beeline to the refreshment table and pour myself some wine, chug it down, and then throw the cup away, before then grabbing my coat from coat check and walking straight out of the gala.
I wish I could say that I don't turn around, but I take one last glance at the snowy garden where I last saw Ivy and Jaxon, but don't see them. That almost hurts more than the sight of them still being there would have.
So I continue to walk, not exactly sure where I'm going, but eventually finding a bench not awfully far away from the venue but far enough that I feel it's justifiable to fall back onto it and finally let out the strangled sob that I had been holding in.
As my heart clenches and tears run down my face, I can't help but wish I would've had access to stronger alcohol, or the wine would've been able to do more for me. The scene that I witnessed is engraved in my memory every time I close my eyes, only seemingly existing to torture me. And the hope that I had accumulated only makes it hurt more.
I chastise myself. I can't believe I actually thought she could've liked me. I can't believe I was so stupid.
The hurt is overwhelming though, and the same thoughts just constantly run through my mind as the pain dulls much else out.
I can't believe you ever thought she'd like you back. I can't believe you actually thought that you would be enough for her. Unwanted. Unreciprocated. Unloved.
And so I just hold my face in my hands and let myself cry, ignoring the occasional car that may be passing by, ignoring everything that isn't the pain and the thoughts that won't go away. Most of all, ignoring the questions of what Ivy and Jaxon might be doing right now.
And after a while, it almost seems like I've run out of tears. My strangled breathing is all that's left, that and the bitter cold of the winter air and of the snow that's been falling down.
It's then that I decide to pull out my phone with only one goal in mind as I attempt to ignore the wallpaper photo of Ivy. It just causes me to take another strangled breath.
As I begin the call, I inhale a shaky breath in attempt to steady my voice before I speak.
"Hello?"
"Hey. Could you come pick me up?" I ask, my voice is not steady at all and a sob escapes my lips immediately following the words. I try to close my eyes and take a deep breath, but all I see is the memory of them kissing and the pain in my chest is back yet again.
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Author's Note:
Hey, guys. So I never do these. I guess I just assume that maybe nobody will care or want to read them?? Anyways, I wanted to make this one because this chapter is pretty important to me for many obvious reasons and many less obvious ones. I came up with the idea for this chapter a year ago the day this should be published, November 24th. That's simply crazy of me to think about, and quite honestly, when I thought of it, I never actually thought I'd get to it. So I guess thank you for reading and supporting this story because that truly has encouraged me to keep going (because yes there is more in store). Anyways... thank you for reading this if you did because that's cool, and if you enjoyed this chapter (despite it being a little bit sad), it'd be rad if you considered leaving a vote or comment. :)
- KaydenMae