Chapter 38: The Good and Bad

Sunday. That's what today is. That's when I'm going to my first big party. Well my only party but you get the idea.

I am so freakin excited. I can only hope my hair covers most- if not all- of my bruises. I love the dress and it would kill me if I didn't get to wear it. Wow, never would've thought I would say that.

Sasha is supposed to do my makeup. For obvious reasons I told her no, saying that I can do it perfectly fine. She pouted, saying how her being the 'big sister' meant she was obligated to do it. I assured her sad face that she could do my hair.

I slipped on the pink, beautiful dress. It was just like it was at the shop. Perfect. I went into the bathroom and settled for something natural but at the same time, extravagant.

My makeup was beautifully done-as always- with nothing out of place. I think it's my best work yet. I had on light blush and light red lipstick. My eyes had a bit of golden eyeshadow on them. They had on eyeliner that could cut steak in half.

In short I felt and looked gorgeous.

I texted Sasha, saying that it was time for her to come in and do my hair. She came bustling in with a tote full of hair products. Anything from a curling wand to a crimper was in there.

"I hope I'm not late!" She shouted as she dragged me over to my bathroom to do my hair.

For some odd reason she was brought a kitchen stool and plopped it right in front of the mirror. "Why do you have a stool from the kitchen?" I quizzed with my face not masking its confusion.

"Because Pretty Girl, none of the other chairs will do." She answered.

She set her hands on my shoulders and pushed me down into the seat. "Let's get started I guess." I mumbled.

First she started to brush my hair. It wasn't very tangly, in fact she could glide the brush straight through it, but she insisted she brush it. I told her I wanted my hair to be wavy and cascade down my back but she argued.

"Look at your hair when it's up Pretty Girl! You loo-", she lifted up my hair and looked in the mirror. My face was as pale as snow and she looked worried and glanced back down at my back. She took in everything. The scars, the burn marks, the reminders. Everything. She looked back up with a different expression, "y'know, now that I think about it, your hair does look goofy when it's up and hair down for you is a classic."

She smiled at me and I let out a sigh of relief. She had not questioned it. Why had she not questioned it? That thought swam around in my head the whole time she was doing my hair.

This is freaky. I'm pretty sure if someone finds out they're supposed to bombard me with questions. Not smile at me and continue on their merry way.

"There, you're all done Pretty Girl." She whispered. My shock of her just ignoring it was forgotten when I saw how she had done my hair. It was cascading down my back as I wished but it was curly in a sort of way. Like curly and wavy mixed to create the perfect look. It was gorgeous.

"Oh my, Sasha this-this is amazing." I stuttered.

She threw me a wink and said "Well, better get down to your brothers before they make the driver honk his horn." She giggled.

"M'k. Oh wait- there's one thing missing." She gave me a confused expression.

"What could possibly be missing? You're stunning. Nothing could change that." She said like she said it to everyone.

I grabbed my black cross necklace. "This, this makes everything better." I said to myself.

I grabbed her hand, threw on some heels-which I was surprisingly agile in- and power ran downstairs giggling to ourselves.

"About ti-", Caden said breathlessly, "you look gorgeous."

Sasha started to blush. It was only then did I take her all in. She was wearing a black, strapless dress with golden dots gathering around at the bottom. I smirked and walked over to my brothers who weren't undressing Sasha in their minds.

"Lids, you look stunning." Zack said.

I shyly looked down and mumbled a thank you. That's the second time someone has called me stunning. Do I really look that pretty?

"C'mon people let's get this show on the road!" Jesse yelled.

"No yelling." Luke said sternly.

Jesse tossed a 'sorry' over his shoulder and sprinted out to the car. "Dibs on front seat!"

"Brother, we are taking the limo." James said and turned his twin's head to the long, black car.

"Right, yeah I knew that." He said.

"Did someone give him sugar or something? Why's he so hyper?" I mumbled to Zack.

"Don't know. Maybe he's high." Zack mumbled back to me.

We both started to laugh and got into the car. The seats were almost filled. There were seven of us and the limo seated ten. We had plenty of room. It was a miracle.

The car ride wasn't very long. In fact it only took about twenty minutes to get to the place from our house but that's twenty minutes of rambunctious boys yelling in your ear every ten seconds. I was so thankful to see the building.

Luke saw me staring and said "It's called the Dionysus Gate."

"I thought this was a building, not a gate?" I asked confused. Why would they name a building a gate if it's not a gate?

"Well a Greek man immigrated here and built this building in honor of his background. They named it Gate because the man who built it thought he could communicate with his favorite god." Luke summarized.

I nodded my head in understanding. When we were being pulled around to be dropped off, I saw lights. Flashing all around me. "Why do they take so many pictures? Do they want to see us in the motion of breathing or something?" I asked a little concerned. Okay let's be honest, internally I was freakin out.

"Lids, don't worry. Just stay behind us and go where we tell you and you'll be fine. Okay?" Zack assured. Just because he said it in a reassuring manner and tone, doesn't mean that I believe him, but I am not about to disobey my brothers on this one. They have had a lot more practice so it's only fair I listen.

I nodded my head, already feeling myself begin to be shy. I don't mean to, I really don't. It's just so hard to talk to people that I have never met. Especially if those people are strangers and who most likely don't care if you get killed in the next five seconds.

Luke went out first and when I thought cameras were flashing before, this was on a whole different level. Zack got out after him and fixed his suit and Jesse pushed me forward and I almost tripped and tumbled out onto the ground. That would be so embarrassing it's not even funny. The rest got out and it was like flashing galore. Security guards eventually lead us into the Dionysus Gate and the party begun.

Luke had ordered me to be with at least one of my brothers or Sasha at all times. I didn't really care. It's a big space and there's lots of people. And those lots of people were staring at me. Me in my wavy, curly hair. Me in my pink, thin-strap dress. Shy me. All of the me they can see.

It was making me very self conscious.

I rubbed my arms in an attempt to warm my goosebump infected arms. Autumn had descended upon us but in reality, it felt like December was already knocking on our doors. Why does the weather have to be bipolar?

"You look wonderful. That's why they're staring at you." Jesse leaned down and whispered in my ear.

I looked up at him. Did he know I was feeling that way? Am I really that easy to read? Course not, I have the biggest secret and no one knows. Well Sasha doesn't count since all she saw were scars. She doesn't know where they came from.

For the next twenty minutes or so it was talking. Since I had to be with a family member at all times I had to stand and watch their interaction about awards and business and blah blah blah. What I wanted to do was sit in a corner and read. Hey! I can sit in a corner and read!

Sasha saw how much I love books so she downloaded Amazon Kindle on my phone. "Luke, can I go sit in that corner over there and read? Promise I won't talk to anyone." I asked him.

He stood there for a moment and thought about it. Why should he let his little sister, who he had been searching for more than nine years, go sit in a corner with hundreds of strangers around alone?

Now that you say it, it kinda sounds bad.

He came to his final conclusion after three minutes and thirty-four seconds. "Very well then. I will send one of us to check up on you every so often and will come get you for when they give out the award."

"Thank you! I love you!" And I kissed him on the cheek-well as high as I could- and ran to a corner where no one was in sight.

It had been probably thirty minutes of me reading before I was interrupted by a hand clicking my phones's power button.

"Excuse m-" I snapped my head up, "oh uh, Ian. Ha, ha, ha... funny seeing you here." I nervously chuckled.

He smiled a smile the rivaled my brothers for most women swooning. "Yeah, I had nothing to do and the twins said I could come. Pretty boring at my house and it was going to be pretty boring here but I thought to myself 'It'll all be worth while when I get to see Lidia' and here you are." He said while his ears were tainted pink.

Surprising myself, I didn't nervously chuckle or cough or just stare into those dreamy eyes of his. Instead I smiled. "Well seeing you here makes this night less boring too. If it weren't for you I would probably be reading all night."

His ears were even redder. "Yeah, I guess so."

Just then a man over a intercom and said it was time for the annual dance. I raised my right eyebrow at Ian. "D'y know how to dance?"

"Kinda. I can do the waltz if that's what you mean."

I smiled again. "Well then, that's good enough for me!"

His face contorted into a confused one where I could look at all day...

"You know how to waltz?" He asked.

I giggled. "Try being stuck in a house full of men for a week. You pick up some weird hobbies."

"Man, learning how to waltz, in a week, with a house full of boys which who were probably feral for the whole week because of the food that was to come. How do you do it?" He playfully asked.

I shook my head. "Honestly, it's a miracle I'm still alive."

We both smiled and looked at each other. He put his hand on my waist and I took his hand in mine. The music started and we began to dance. I was a bit shorter than him but it didn't matter. Our movements flowed perfectly with one another's. It was magical. Our eyes never left each other. The dimmed lights, the music, even the other people, all just added to the magic of this moment.

We crossed the dance floor in a counterclockwise direction but we didn't even need to think about where we were going. We just knew.

Eventually, like every single good thing else in the world, it had come to an end. He bowed and I curtsied. We looked up and smiled simultaneously.

"You were so good! Are you sure you learned that from a YouTube video, in the span of a week?" Ian asked.

"Yes actually. The video was very helpful." I swung my head to the other side in a playful manner.

I looked back and we bursted into a fit of giggles all over again. "Something funny?" A low, dark voice said from behind my back.

Ian straightened his back and I tensed up, knowing that monotonous voice from anywhere. "We-we we were just-uh dancing. We were just dancing." I told Luke.

"I know, I saw.", he looked Ian up and down, "It is time for the award ceremony. Come." And like a dog, I did.

I looked back and waved at Ian. Thanks, I mouthed. He nodded his head in understanding. Although that was all I could mouth in the time allotted, he knew it meant more than that. It meant 'thanks for making my night a little more special' because that's what it meant. Even if I didn't know it yet.

Luke guided me over to a big round table where all there is is just a vase with flowers inside. It was covered with the standard white tablecloth, white plates and silverware. The flowers inside the vase were special though.

Zack must've saw me staring because he said "Those are Lydia Tecoma flowers."

I glanced up at him. "Was that what I was named after?"

He smiled and shook his head. "No, but it is a perk. You were named after the Greek name Lydia. It means 'Beautiful One' or 'Noble One'."

I was blushing hard. Like hard, hard. If I wasn't blushing when me and Ian danced I sure am now. "Really?"

He smiled even wider. "Really really."

Before I could continue, a man came over the microphone from the stage and announced it was time to receive the award.

"-nd I would love to give this trophy to the man who not only inherited his father's business, but grew it into the amazing one we know and love today... Luke White!" The man announced and immediately people began to clap like there was no tomorrow.

"Thank you. I am very grateful to have this award. I wouldn't be here without my family supporting me though." And with that he was done. Throughout the whole speech, he held up the trophy and looked at it and put it down.

He walked back over to us with his back straight and head held high. "Good job, Luke." I whispered to him as the man made more meaningless announcements.

"It wasn't just me. Your brothers helped, the employees helped, Manny helped, it was a team effort. Not one man could make and build an empire by themselves."

I smiled. I really have the best brothers. So what they shoot, kill, torture, beat people up for no reason, and so on. They still love me and that's good enough for me. A little love is better than no love.

After all those announcements and applauds and praise it was time to converse. Again. This time I couldn't sit and read since I was technically a owner of the company. It's so weird because I'm pretty sure I only own like 6% of the company but hey, it's still something.

Before we left out of our chairs a man wanted to be the first one to congratulate him. He walked up in a crisp, clean, starched, black suit with brown hair and brown eyes. His smile was one in a million. Almost as if he could fool anyone with it because, he can.

The man who walked up to our table was none other than one of Carl's friends. I don't know his name, nor do I want to. He shook Luke's hand and flashed his million dollar smile and glanced around the whole table.

When I saw him all I wanted to do was crawl under the table and scream. Or stand up and scream. Or lay down and scream. Or sit down and scream. All I wanted to do was scream. To cover my ears and let out the loudest scream anyone can muster.

His eyes landed on me and my eyes widened. I was running out of breath, remembering his hands on me. All those times I tried to swat them away, all those times I just wanted to die. I felt like I just fell fifty stories and hit the ground. The air was knocked out of me but him with that annoying million dollar smile never faltered. Sure his eyes lingered on me but without background knowledge, all you could think was how he was like everyone else, curious about the newfound White sibling.

"I have to congratulate you, Mr. White, and your beautiful family. My, my," he purposely looked at me and smiled a 'kind-hearted' smile, "Miss White, you look stunning."

Somehow it didn't feel like it did when Sasha or Zack said it to me. To be quite frank, it felt like sewage water had been thrown on me. Dirty. That's what I felt like. Disgusting, dirty, ugly. That's what I felt like when he said that.

But since I'm a White I have to act the part.

I smiled a 'half-hearted' smile and said, "Why thank you. You look handsome yourself."

He chuckled and said something in response, but I didn't hear. It went in one ear and out the other. I was squirming in my seat, not wanting the filth to have time to settle on my body.

I looked anywhere but at him. Anywhere. I looked at the stage, at the dance floor, at the entrance, hell I even memorized the fire exits. Like I said, anywhere.

After what felt like an eternity and in all honesty it probably was, the man finally left. But not without one more touch. The man's smart. He knows he won't ever have 'fun' with me again. So, like the smart man he is, he went in for the most appropriate touch, yet he knew it would torture me. A handshake.

"Nice to meet you, Miss White." The man stuck his hand out.

I gulped, I don't know if anyone saw but I gulped nonetheless. "You too, Mister...?" I drew on, not wanting to continue this conversation, but for the sake of my secret, I did.

He grinned. "Reinelds. Mr. Reinelds."

I briefly smiled. "You too, Mr. Reinelds." And I did the most despicable thing I promised myself I would never do.

I shook his hand.

He looked me in the eyes when our hands connected and I could practically hear him screaming You won't ever forget me, I won't let you. I retracted my hand and smiled quickly but it vanished as soon as it came.

Not quick enough in my opinion.

The rest of the party went as the first part. Congratulations, asking how he ever managed, saying how I'm such a sweetheart, everything. It was annoying after the fourth one. Oh and James almost got into a fight, but I'm honestly surprised that I'm surprised that he almost got into a fight.

Oh but the car ride home was hilarious. Jesse and Caden somehow got drunk, Sasha was pissed that Caden got drunk, James still fuming from his fight, Zack rubbing his tired eyes, I was practically falling asleep if it wasn't for the intoxicated men being hilarious, and Luke watching over the whole chaos.

Typical White Family car ride.

When we walked into the house I was ripping the heels off my feet. No matter how agile I was in them, they still hurt like hell. I drowsily shuffled upstairs to my room. I shut my door to my pitch black room and switched on the light. The light was so freaking bright I literally fell and leaned on my door.

I looked over and saw Sasha hair tools and I knew she would be annoyed that I woke her up so early. I groaned and picked up the tote and shuffled to Caden's door. I knocked first, not wanting to walk into a event where I would be more traumatized than I already am. I heard a faint 'come in' and slowly opened the door.

I heard the noise of a shower running and looked over to Sasha. She smiled and saw what I brought. "Oh thank you! I really didn't realize I left that in there."

I smiled and sat on their bed. The thought that had been bugging me all night finally came to my voice.

"Sasha, why aren't you asking me where my scars came from?"

He turned around from her full body mirror and looked at me, taking off her earrings in the process. "Because Lidia," her face was more serious then I had ever seen, "I know you'll tell us when you're ready. Until then, my mouth is closed."

I started to get teary and lightly smiled and ran and wrapped my arms around her. She was taken back by the sudden force, but hugged me back.

It was in this moment I knew what the phrase 'I got you girl' really meant. I also knew that if my brothers ever decided to stop loving me, she never will.

"I love you."

So long chapter eh? Did the title give too much info? That dance was literally perfect and it was fun to write. Thank you for reading and I hope you liked it and don't forget to vote, comment, and obviously like :)