Chapter 29
By seven, all three of us were dressed and ready to picked up by the boys.
By no surprise, Lauren was dressed in a black skater dress, and Anna fashioned a short, pearl pink chiffon dress with the top covered in white lace.
After a long time deciding, I was dressed in a baby blue, princess high neck line dress that ends mid-thigh.
All three of us did each other's hair. While I was straightening Lauren's hair, she began curling Anna's.
Lauren finished doing Anna's hair first, which was when Anna went behind me to curl my hair as well.
"Why did I agree to wear a dress again?" I asked once I sat down on Lauren's made bed.
Anna grinned while Lauren rolled her eyes.
"If I do this, you have to too."
"You look great."
They both said, and I tightly smiled as I nodded.
Lauren sat on the wheeled chair across from me and spun around. "Shouldn't the guys be here soon?"
Right when those words left her, Anna's phone went off. "Jason's here. I'll see you girls at the banquet hall!" Anna shouted excitedly before rushing to grab her silver clutch.
"Then there was two," Lauren laughed as she did another spin.
"I'm having second doubts," I pouted, and Lauren glared at me before throwing a pillow in my direction, thankfully landing on my lap, not my face.
"Suck it up. I thought you were excited?" Lauren asked, and I furrowed my eyebrows.
"I... I just have a bad feeling," was all I managed to say.
"You think Jason's gonna find out about your little relationship with lover boy?" Lauren asked as she clenched another pillow she had to her chest.
I shrugged, but internally, I was praying that wouldn't be the case.
Lauren's phone rang with a notification next, and she stood up smiling. "Okay babe, Dylan's here. You don't need to lock the door, my mom's home. See you there!" Lauren said just before she left her bedroom.
"Then there was one," I mumbled to myself.
Instead of a text like I was expecting, the doorbell rang, who I assumed to be Lucas.
I grabbed my bag as I tried to contain my smile. As I walking downstairs, I spotted Lauren's mom by the kitchen.
After strapping my bag on my shoulder, I opened the door, and was faced with a suit.
Slowly, I looked away from Lucas's chest and caught his gaze, immediately hypnotized.
His eyes left mine as he inspected my attire, from my makeup, my dress, to my black heels, and I do the same with him.
Lucas wore a black suit with a white buttoned up shirt underneath. His tie was the exact color of my dress. Baby blue.
When our eyes met again, I couldn't help but smile. "You look nice," I breathed out.
Lucas observed my attire again, and swallowed hard before looking in my eyes. "You look beautiful."
My mouth opened, but nothing came out. Lucas has never called me beautiful before.
After clearing his throat, he pulled out his hand so it was in between us. "Let's go?"
I nodded and placed my hand in his, feeling goosebumps form when he tangled our fingers together.
â¡
For twenty minutes, we were both in the car in silence, with the radio gently playing in the background.
Right when we were parked by the back of the parking lot, Lucas unbuckled his seat belt and faced me.
"Ready?" He smiled lazily, and I raised my hands in surrender.
"As long as a shrimp does not make its way inside my dress, I'm ready," I said, reminding him of what happened the last time I wore a dress with him around.
Lucas glared playfully. "I was a boy."
My eyebrows raised. "Are you claiming that you're a man now?"
He smirked as he flexed his arms. "Obviously."
I rolled my eyes before opening my door, causing Lucas to follow my lead.
As we're walking side by side inside the building, I spotted Jason leaning against the wall beside the entrance.
"Why aren't you inside?" I asked once we were in front of him.
Jason placed his phone in the pocket on the inside of his suit before pushing himself off of the wall. "I was waiting for you. Come on, the rest of us are waiting inside."
Once we gave our names to a senior from our school by the desk, he handed us our tickets and shooed us away.
"Where's table six?" I asked when I saw he wrote a big six on both of our tickets.
Jason didn't say anything, he instead walked ahead of us, guiding both Lucas and I to our table.
Of course, it came to no surprise to me when I saw both Anna and Lauren eating the food that was already on the table.
Looking closer, I notice that they were in fact, eating shrimp.
I couldn't help but laugh loudly before looking at Lucas, who, then glared at me before sitting next to Jason on the circular table.
Without bothering to say anything, I took a seat in between Lauren and Lucas, joining in on the fun.
Maybe I could throw in a shrimp in his shirt?
â¡
30 minutes after eating what was on the table, the girls and I decided on heading to the dance floor when Most Girls by Hailee Steinfeld came on.
During the second versus, Lauren was grinding on Anna, and all three of us couldn't contain our laughter.
"Hi," a boy shouted from behind me, and I turned around, only to face a group of four guys standing before me.
I furrowed my eyebrows and crossed my arms over my chest. As if they sensed I stopped laughing, both Anna and Lauren stood next to me. "Can we help you?" I asked him, and he smirked before eyeing Anna.
"We were wondering if we could dance with you guys," another boy asked next to him.
I would say we had dates, but most guys don't care about that, so I went for the next thing I thought of.
"You don't have the right package to dance with us," I said, and he raised his eyebrows.
"Okay bye!" Anna yelled as she grabbed both of our hands, dragging us away from the boys.
"Anna, you should go talk to that guy! He was eyeing you hard," Lauren laughed, and Anna scrunched up her button nose.
"No. I'm here with Jason. Emmy, why don't you go?" Anna said over the music, and I shook my head.
"Please, her and Lucas will be together soon. I give it a week. You on the other hand, need a man who isn't a friend," Lauren said, interrupting what I was going to say.
My mouth gaped open. "No we aren't!"
Lauren shoved my comment aside and continued. "Come on just go!"
Anna blushed and shook her head furiously. "No. Can we dance now?"
Just when I'm about to nod in agreement, Dylan emerged from the large crowd of people and stood in front of Lauren. After whispering something in her ear, Lauren turned to us.
"I'll be back!" Lauren shouted so we could hear she before disappearing behind me, where our table was.
Anna, who was in front of me, looked over my shoulder and smirked. "Lucas is looking at you," she whispered in my ear.
My heart started speeding up slightly, and I tried to be discreet when I looked over my shoulder.
True to her word, Lucas's eyes were on me. "You guys should be together," Anna said suddenly and my eyes widened as my head wiped in her direction.
"There are several different reasons why the both of us would never, ever, work," I said.
I opened my mouth to start explaining some reasons when Anna suddenly began dancing violently. "Can't hear you!"
I sighed, but started dancing as well.
â¡
After half an hour passed, both Anna and I noticed more food being served to other tables, so we decided on heading back to the rest of the group.
"Why didn't you come back?" Anna pouted to Lauren as she took her seat beside Jason.
I nodded in agreement as I took my seat next to Lucas.
"Because I wanted food," Lauren shrugged, taking another bite of the pickle on her plate.
I rolled my eyes before paying attention to the several different plates of food on the table.
Right when I spotted the french fries in front of Jason, a grin spread across my lips. When I was about to ask Jason to hand over the bowl, I noticed that his eyes were already on me.
"What?" I asked slowly, and he quickly shook his head.
"Nothing," he mumbled before digging into his meal.
Realizing that he won't say anything else, I asked Lauren if she could pass the dish.
"You having fun?" Lucas asked me once I handed the plate back to Lauren.
I ate a fry before looking at him. "Yeah," I smiled.
Lucas lips transformed from a smile to a smirk when he suddenly took a handful of fries off of my plate.
"Traitor!" I shouted when I saw him put them in his mouth.
He smiled lazily, shrugging. "I never said I wasn't."
After glaring at him, I focused back on my plate and ate the rest of the fries in peace.
That was until Lucas opened his mouth again. "Princess," he whined and I looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"Call me princess again, and I'll hurt you," I whispered lowly, and he raised his hands in surrender dramatically.
"Okay Hope," he whispered huskily, and my heart stopped for a millisecond.
I looked away from his icy blue gaze and focused on my plate so he couldn't be able to see the small blush growing on my cheeks.
After a few minutes passed, I finished my plate of food, and another song began blasting through the speakers around the room. (play music now.)
However, instead of involving a rap song with aggressive cursing, it was Ed Sheeran's, Give Me Love.
I slowly swayed to the beat of the music when Lucas spoke. "Wanna dance?" Lucas whispered in my ear, and I looked at him to see all humor away from his expression.
He opened his hand in front of me, inviting me to take it. And I did.
We both stood up hand in hand, and walked to the dance floor, where several couples were already dancing.
We stopped by the center of the dance floor and Lucas turned around, facing me. I placed my left hand on his shoulder while he raised our intertwined hands up.
Right when he placed his opposite hand on my waist, he began dancing to the music.
"Give a little time to me or burn this out,
We'll play hide and seek to turn this around,
All I want is the taste that your lips allow."
I stared intensely at his lips as we stepped to the beat of the song, and when the chorus began playing, Lucas tightened his hold on my waist, bringing me closer to him.
A shudder passed me violently, and my grip on his hand tightened. "We wouldn't be doing this," I whispered in his ear, and Lucas moved his head back slightly to look at me with a dead serious expression.
"I don't care," he whispered back roughly, and I sucked in a harsh breath by how uncontrolled he sounded.
After a minute or two passed, the bridge came and I couldn't help but stare into his eyes as I did so. He's so captivating.
As the song is slowly coming to an end, Lucas began to lean down, brushing our noses together while I stayed completely frozen.
When the song finished, I removed my hand out of his hold and I darted to the exit, not wanting to face him.
"What's wrong?" I heard behind me once I left the large room, followed by the sound of a closed door.
I sighed and turned around to face him, only to notice that we are the only ones in the hall.
"We shouldn't be doing that Lucas," I said harshly as I pointed to the room we were just inside.
He raised his eyebrows as he took slow, but calculating steps towards me. "And why's that?"
My eyes widened dramatically as I rested both of my hands on top of my head. "Because of Jason, Luke!"
The next time Lucas spoke, he was right in front of me, only leaving a few inches between us. "I honestly, don't give a fuck about him right now, Emma," he whispered.
Not knowing what to do right now, I took slow steps back, but Lucas followed me, not letting distance pass between us.
I continue taking steps back until I'm suddenly pressed against the wall, leaving me stuck. Right where he wants me.
"Why are you pretending you don't want this?" Lucas whispered once he's less than ten centimeters from my lips. "Us?"
My mouth opened, but I was left completely speechless.
Lucas took that as a sign that I have given up defending reasons why we shouldn't be together, and slowly leaned down.
His lips barely brushed mine until a new voice spoke up. "I fucking knew it," Jason said from over Lucas's shoulder, and I quickly shoved Lucas away before facing Jason, who was fashioning a smug smirk.
"Jason Iâ"
"Why did you guys not tell me what you were doing?" Jason asked, raising his eyebrows.
I bit my lip, not knowing what to say. "She was worried about hurting you," Lucas spoke up for me, and Jason looked back to me with a small pout on his lips.
"Emma, you should know by now that if you're happy, I'm happy," he suddenly laughed as he shook his head. "I would never have thought you guys would want to be together."
My mouth opened, but no words were able to form. "See? We got Jason's permission," Lucas said as he turned to face me, smiling softly.
I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. "Are you okay Em?" Jason asked, and I sighed.
"I need to get some fresh air. I'll be back," I whispered as I moved around Lucas, heading to the door.
Once the large double doors shut behind me, I blew out a puff of air as I went to sit on the stairs.
Before I was able to take in the lights surrounding the building, a cloth was shoved against my face, covering my nose, and mouth while an arm locked itself around my arms.
I tried forcing a scream, but nothing came out, only the sound of the person who was behind me. "Shush, Emma. Go to sleep."
My eyes started fluttering closed, but the sound of tires screeching caught my attention.
Before I was surrounded by darkness, I heard someone shout, but it sounded like miles away.
"Hope!"
â¡
This is the end of book one! But don't worry, book two will continue here! The new title and description will be posted after this chapter is up.
I'll see you lovelies next time, love you xx