SIS BEEN PROCRASTINATING. Burned myself out writing the last chapters and wrote a nice chunk of this after getting my wisdom teeth out so it's not by best work but this chapter legit beat me up in an alley, but it's finally doneeeeee!
Epiccupcake28, Virtue01, ladyanj, Runawaygirl8125, delovlies, Nameless, mnbvcxz-xx thank you for your reviews as always! I know I've been ignoring a few of the characters but I promise I have stuff planned if I can ever get to it!
SORRY NOT SORRY FOR THE FLUFF FROM OLD S.T CHARACTERS I LOVE THEM TOO MUCH AND IT IS A SEQUEL SOOO
…
Lissa was caught somewhere in between regret and being content tonight, but she had yet to make up her mind. She stared down at her phone as she waited for her boyfriend to come back with their dinner.
You still coming tonight? Gracie had texted her.
Her fingers hovered over the keys, and she deleted a couple of replies. No, sorry girl. She texted Gracie. Date night with the bf.
Okay, so maybe she had been avoiding Joseph for the two weeks in the girlfriend sense, but it was finally time to try again. She had been pretty busy with work and Joseph's schedule had changed, so she had some good excuses to avoid hanging out with him. Ever since she had caved to watching the Report with him and the rest of the staff, she just felt that their relationship needed a short break. Right now, she could have been hanging out with Gracie and all the local former girls of Ethan's Selection in one of Nat's parties she threw every now and then. But her conscience had been nagging her to go out with Joseph, so here she was in a trendy gourmet fast food place downtown with him.
Speaking of which, Joseph appeared out of the queue with a tray of food, and set it down in front of her, and then sat down across from her.
"Aw, thanks so much!" She said as she hit send on the reply to Gracie.
"You wanted regular coke, right?" Joseph said, pulling her attention off her phone.
Lissa set her phone down on the table and turned it off. "Yeah, you're so sweet to get it for me."
Joseph dug into his salad. "I don't understand how you can drink that shit. There's so much sugar, it's got to be bad for you."
Lissa shrugged as she drizzled a copious amount of ketchup over her fries. "It tastes good, and I don't really care."
Over the table, he reached for her hand that wasn't occupied with eating fries.
"I'm glad we're finally hanging out," Joseph said, looking at her. "I miss you, cutie."
Lissa pushed all thoughts of whatever else she could be doing and focused on Joseph. "Yeah, me too."
She had missed his dimples, but maybe the avoiding him hadn't been the best idea, because things were a little weird now.
Her phone buzzed next to her with a bunch of crying gifs from Gracie.
Lissa didn't bother replying as she reached for her drink. "This place is cute," she commented, looking around.
"Yeah, the food's not great," Joseph shrugged and went back to his salad. "So how you been, anyway?"
Now that she had eaten half of her fries, Lissa reached for the sack that their food had come in and found the box of chicken nuggets he had told Joseph to order from her. She opened the box and inhaled deeply. "Suddenly so much better now," she sighed.
"You and your nuggets," he shook his head and grinned at her. "So lame."
Lissa ignored his teasing. "Chicken nuggets are the best food in the world, okay."
He shrugged. "The ones here aren't that good."
Lissa's phone buzzed again, this time it was Nat responding to Gracie's announcement in the group chat that Lissa was baling on them for her boyfriend.
BITCH GET YOUR FORMER SELECTED ASS OVER HERE NOW.
Lissa smiled as she read it and laughed a little.
Joseph stabbed his salad with a little more force than necessary and heaved a theatrical sigh loud enough to make Lissa look up.
"You good?"
"Yeah…it's just I feel like you've been on your phone since we left work. I just left mine in the car, it's so nice to not have to be attached to it all the time."
Lissa looked down at the table as she made a pile of ketchup for her chicken nuggets and resisted the urge to sigh equally theatrically. "Sorry, there's this thing I told Gracie I would go to tonight."
"Ugh, of course," Joseph said. "I hate that she's always guilting you into hanging out with her."
Lissa paused in mid-bite of her chicken nuggets. "Um…she's not." He didn't seem mad, in fact, it was almost like he was teasing her.
"You need to learn how to stand up for yourself if you don't want to hang out with her," he continued. "I know she thinks she's hot shit because every now and then the paparazzi ask her about Princess Nicole, but seriously, gal you don't have to hang out with her if you don't want to."
"I do want to hang out with her, though." Lissa put down her nugget, though her boyfriend didn't even look up from his food. With a sinking feeling, she realized he hadn't even been listening to her.
"And I probably should," Lissa continued slowly as she leaned back in her seat. "I told her I would come before I made this date with you, and then I went back on my promise. I feel bad."
Joseph rolled his eyes, and then went back to his salad. "It's not going back on your promise if you never wanted to go in the first place. But hey, I forgot to tell you, we're doing something when we're off work tomorrow."
Lissa pressed her lips together. "Okayyyy…" she said, awkwardly fiddling with her fries as she debated whether to keep eating them. She cleared her throat. "But… I did want to go to this thing with Gracie tonight."
"Well, maybe not tomorrow. I'm getting off work late, even though it's just going to be hanging around for Prince Wesley to ask me to get him a pack of cigarettes." He shook his head, still not looking up. "Little asshole. Doesn't he know smoking is bad for you?"
Lissa put her uneaten chicken nugget back in the box with the others and put the box back in the bag it had come in and tossed the ketchupped fries in behind them. "Um, okay, you know what? I've gotta run." She grabbed her purse and tucked her phone in her back pocket of her jeans as she stood.
Joseph finally looked up at her, and maybe he finally listened to her too. "What?"
"I'll see you," she said, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "Just text me whenever you're free."
"Where are you going, babe? We just got here, you barely even ate any-"
"I told you," Lissa grabbed her drink and her food, and paused by the edge of the table. "It's not my fault you weren't listening. I'm sorry Joseph, but I really want to hang out with Gracie."
"But-"
Lissa managed a smile. "Thanks for dinner. And text me, okay? We'll hang out tomorrow."
She didn't wait for a reply as she turned around and marched out of the restaurant. Yeah, it was a jerk move to leave him alone, but there was this tiny part of her that was happier than she had been in a long time. She still couldn't decide if it was regret or being content though. She put on her sunglasses and texted Gracie that she was coming over.
Gracie met her by her car in the parking lot outside of her apartment complex, which wasn't too far from the restaurant.
"What are you doing here, girl?" Gracie squealed as Lissa walked up, closing the trunk of her car. "I thought you were on a date!"
"I was," Lissa said. She held up her phone to Gracie, that was opened on the group chat where Adele and Nicole were sending death threats if she didn't show up. "But this is more important!"
Gracie tipped down her sunglasses to shoot Lissa a Skeptical Best Friend Look. "And Joseph was okay with it?"
"Not really," Lissa swung her arms out in a shrug. "But to be honest, I don't really care. He'll be fine."
"Look at you!" Gracie punched her lightly on the arm, "Being all independent and slaying! I support you."
"Oh, shut up. I'm just hanging out with you and everyone else. That's not really independence. Let's go."
The girls jumped into Gracie's silver Jeep, and Gracie rolled the windows down and put on some music through her phone. The setting sun turned the city golden and hazy, and Lissa couldn't help smiling as they rolled through Angeles traffic, screaming along to Taylor Swift at the top of their lungs. It was warm for the lateness in the year, and there seemed to be more people out than usual. Most of the regret was gone now. And she was far happier than just being content. Before long, they left downtown behind and headed up on the curving roads that led towards the palace. Gracie rolled in the entrance, and the guards knew her car, so after quickly verifying her identity, the gates opened, and they drove in.
"It's so weird coming and going. I wish I had a car," Lissa sighed as Gracie parked and they got out of the car.
"Hey, my lady-in-waiting career pays well," Gracie brushed her sunglasses to the top of her blonde head. "I'm so glad you're coming. I love having you back. I was always kind of the odd one out at these gatherings. I love everyone else, but they're all so…"
"Grown up?" Lissa suggested. Gracie nodded. "I feel you. It's because they're married now."
"Elvira's not," Gracie reminded her. "But she's also like a five-star commander or whatever. I always forget."
Lissa followed Gracie into the palace, catching sight of a few of the Selected hanging out in the Woman's Room. She felt oddly underdressed without her usual business wear in her casual red sundress and sandals, even though the dress code was definitely far more relaxed than it had been in her day as one of them. Gracie didn't even bat an eyelash in her shorts and pink plaid over a white t-shirt, but they still got some weird glances from the current Selected. Lady Eleanor followed them with her eyes as they walked past the Woman's Room, and Lissa remembered being confronted by her about coming out of the Woman's Room after that whole Debacle ™.
They met the rest of the former Selected out the back in the palace gardens in a secluded area, where they had a beautiful set up of a table, chairs and some fairy lights. Nat and Adele had already cracked open the red wine and were eating fancy cheese. Nicole was sitting with her feet up on another chair, in red lipstick with a white t-shirt and jeans, holding her barely-starting-to-show baby bump with one arm. As arguably some of the most famous women in the country, it was funny to see the princess, her sister, and the First Lady, so relaxed and carefree. Flashbacks to her days as their fellow comrade came back to her in multitudes, and Lissa smiled. Back then, she never would have thought this is where they would all end up.
"YOU'RE HERE!" Nat screeched at what was not an acceptable volume.
Gracie bounded down into the little party area to give her obligatory hello hugs. "She even ditched Joseph for us. Where's Elvs?"
"In a meeting," Nicole said, eating another cube of cheese. "I freaking love cheese."
Adele, the resident wine mom, got up to get wine for the newcomers. "She'll be here soon, and same some cheese for her!"
"Hey, the lady is pregnant. You don't limit her cheese intake." Gracie teased, sitting down on Nicole's legs and then immediately being booted off.
"Did you seriously ditch your boyfriend for us? Lissa, why did Ethan eliminate you like right after he put you into the Elite? I'm going to fight him, Nic."
"Please don't," Nicole said, leaning back in her chair.
"Probably because I was like barely sixteen?" Lissa said, laughing. "And anyway, wasn't Elvira the one to go after me?"
"Yeah," a tipsy Nat shrugged. "But she's like, a bad bitch. Saving the world and shit."
With perfect timing, Elvira walked up to where their little gathering was.
"Hey, what did I miss?" she said as she approached.
"HERE SHE COMES!" Nat yelled, not bothering to stand up. "YOU'RE LATE!"
"I had a meeting?" Elvira reminded them, trying really hard not to smile. She sat down next to Nat and elbowed her. "Ben says hi."
Nat held up her glass in a mock toast. "Touche."
"What does that even mean?" Nicole asked her sister. Nat shrugged, and there was a collective but still loving eye roll before they went back to the original topic of conversation.
"But seriously, compared to Wesley's Selection, Ethan's was WILD," Adele handed Lissa a glass of wine, and then her eyes widened, and she gasped as she realized what she said. "Oops."
The other girls all exchanged Looks That Meant Something.
"Adele!" Gracie hissed.
Lissa looked around the group. "What?"
She knew some of what happened during Ethan's Selection after she and some of the others had been eliminated and it as it coincided with the beginning of the rebellion that culminated in the civil war, it wasn't good. At all.
"I know, I totally dodged a bullet…uh, literally…by getting out early," she stammered. "I-"
"Oh yeah…" Adele said, nodding. An awkward silence fell over the group. "Well actually, I meant oops for bringing up Wesley."
"Wait, what? Why is that an oops?" Lissa asked.
"Because we have an unspoken rule not to mention Wesley around you," Elvira pointed out.
Oh.
OH.
Lissa jumped up. "GUYS!" She shrieked, clapping her hands over her cheeks. "There is no reason to not mention Wesley around me, okay? NOTHING is going on with us anymore, that was like five years ago. So, can we please drop it? Like I have a boyfriend now and he has a Selection and we're friends okay?"
Nat snorted, sending the wine in her glass slopping dangerously over the rim. "Ooookaaayy, yeah sure, Lissa. You look so cute when you're blushing."
"You did just ditch your boyfriend to come hang out with us. Here at the palace. Where Wesley is," Gracie pointed out.
"I also work here and live here," Lissa sat down and crossed her arms over her chest. "And me and Joseph…well that has nothing to do with this."
"And what would this be?" Nicole asked, grinning.
"You guys are impossible," Lissa shook her head.
Adele finally steered the conversation away. Slightly. "Speaking of Wesley, what's on his schedule right now?"
"This was supposed to be a meeting," Nat said. "But he decided he was throwing another date party since his karaoke one was so much fun, so I made this a party for us instead."
"Nice!" Elvira high-fived Nat. "Good idea!"
Lissa knew she wasn't technically a Selection coordinator, so she offhandedly listened as the other girls started to discuss it all. Eventually as the sun set and the gardens settled into darkness illuminated by the fairy lights, the conversation moved to better things, like their own Selection and everything that had gone down.
"Remember when they put us all on teams and made us bake cupcakes as a competition?" Gracie asked. "That was weird."
"I remember you cried," Adele said. "You were on my team and we lost because Mackenzie threw one of the cupcakes."
"I thought my team lost," Nat said. "I threw cupcakes too."
"Yeah, but you just did that to be stupid. You made the biggest mess," Nicole teased her.
"My team won that one," Elvira reminded them. "It was possibly one of the strangest things I have ever done."
"I honestly forgot about that," Lissa said. "You all should make these girls do it too. It's only fair." Again, there was the feeling of being an outsider. She had never been jealous of the other girls back then, except for maybe how confident they were. Most of her time in Ethan's Selection had been spent sneaking around to Wesley or trying to convince herself otherwise. She smiled, remembering. It was different now, then what she had imagined back then. But it was still good.
"I'd like to see how that will go down!" Nat laughed hysterically.
"Wesley's almost to the Elite, so we'd have to do it soon or just have less teams. We were all so jealous of each other back then," Adele shook her head. "I can't believe how everything ended up."
"Ugh, thankfully," Elvira said, sipping her wine. "I seriously thought y'all would murder each other sometimes. And Ethan was so shy back then, I can't believe he got married at all."
"Speaking of you, how did your date with that one guy go?" Nicole asked Elvira. "The one you met on Tinder."
Elvira groaned and they all goaded her on for details.
"Well," Elvira cleared her throat for maximum dramatics. "He was cute, I'll give him that. He took me to that fancy club downtown, but he was so boring and arrogant. It was quite possibly the worst date I've ever been on. Except for maybe the first date I went on with Ethan."
Everyone laughed and toasted to their horrible first dates all those years ago, something they all had in common.
"I think I'm happy being single," Elvira said as Adele refilled everyone's wine. "It's nice to get out every now and then, but honestly, I'm happy. Nicole and Adele, you guys all have cute kids if I ever want to see any anyway."
Gracie and Nat high-fived each other in their kid-less state and Adele and Nicole immediately started talking all things mom-related.
"If you're happy, we're happy," Gracie looped her arm around Elvira's neck and smashed their cheeks together in the world's most annoying hug.
"I can't believe you're the only one who's still single," Lissa said. "I remember being so scared of you at first."
"I was just jealous and awful," Gracie laughed. "I was trying so hard to Ethan to like me and I hated it when he paid attention to you guys."
"I think we all felt that way," Adele reminded her. "It was hard. I was so nasty to everyone."
"I won," Nicole reminded them, grinning. Her face glowed with radiance in the soft lights that hung around them. "It was worth it."
Tipsy Gracie started bawling and hugging her. "I'm so happy you won!"
She hugged everyone else and happy cried some more, Nicole joining in and blaming her pregnancy hormones. They shared memories on and on into the night. They ate pizza and ice cream and drank wine and gossiped about what the girls from their Selection were up to and the new ones in Wesley's. They took selfies and got emotional over silly things and helped Elvira troll some thirsty boys on Tinder. When the food was gone and Ethan and Colin were texting their wives about their kids, they all said their goodbyes.
Gracie had too much wine and passed out, but thankfully Damian was also the Prime Minister's head of security, so he got his girlfriend home when he came to pick up Adele. Elvira got one of the guards to drive her car back to her apartment. Lissa helped Nat and Nicole clean up and then walked back to the palace with the twins.
"Bye babe," Nicole said when they hugged again on the third floor. "I'm glad you came tonight. I love having you here. If this whole governess thing doesn't work out, come be my lady-in-waiting, okay?"
Lissa squeezed her friend tighter before they pulled away. Nicole was getting misty-eyed again.
"I love my job too much, but thanks. It means a lot."
Nat hugged her again too. "You're a gem, Lissa. Don't let those boys mistreat you, okay? You deserve the world."
Lissa nodded. "I know. Thanks, Nat. I'll see you guys tomorrow at some point."
She left them on the third floor together and headed up to her room on the fourth floor. It was almost midnight, so no one was really out in the palace. She knew somewhere in the palace Wesley was partying it up with some of the Selected, but she had no idea where and frankly, she didn't really care. All she wanted to do tonight was light her candles, take a long bath and do a face mask and start that book she'd been meaning to read for weeks. The only person she didn't want to see was Joseph.
As she stopped at her door, the first thing she saw was a huge bouquet of pink peonies and tiny white roses perched on the floor in front of it. There was a bag from McDonald's and a giant chocolate bar there too. Lissa stood there for a second, heart thudding.
Those were for her!
There was a warm feeling in her chest. It spread to her face and she pressed her hands against her cheeks to stop the blushing, but it didn't do anything to stop the smile splitting her face.
She picked up the gifts and unlocked her door and stepped inside. A note fell out of the flowers.
Sorry for being the worst boyfriend ever :/. Hope this makes up me making you miss dinner. I know flowers won't fix me always messing up, but I promise I'm going to try harder because you deserve so much better and I just want to do ridiculous cutesy shit with you all the time. See you around, gorgeous. -Joseph.
It was milk chocolate, not as good as dark, but it was still chocolate. There was an order of chicken nuggets and fries in the bag, and even though they were cold, and she didn't have any ketchup, Lissa scarfed down some fries. She flopped on her bed after kicking off her shoes and squealed into her pillows. She read and reread the note over and over again and couldn't stop smiling. She texted Gracie pics and all caps screaming, but of course, didn't get a reply because her friend was probably still conked out. She tried several times to text Joseph a thank you, but nothing sounded right.
After a few tries, she set her phone down next to her o her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She pressed her hands to her face again and squeezed her eyes shut. That happiness was bubbling up in her chest and she couldn't stop smiling. No one had ever given her flowers and that alone was just the sweetest thing in the world.
Lissa remembered standing up and leaving him alone fifteen minutes into their date, and some of the happiness turned sour in her stomach. She'd been so pissed about Joseph not listening to her that she hadn't really even listened to him. She had avoided him for two weeks and then left with hardly any explanation after he bought her dinner. Total bitch move.
She grabbed her phone and opened her messages.
You're literally the sweetest. THANK YOU! She added the little heart eyes smiley. So sorry I ditched you, that was not cool.I'll make it up to you, promise. See you tomorrow?
Lissa took a deep breath, and tossed her phone on the bed, not waiting for a reply. She didn't really want to live with the consequences of her actions right now. She ran her hand through her hair, trying to get back to the glowing joy the evening had brought and got ready for bed.