Finally updating, I know! Well, I hope you like this one, even though it's short. I'm thinking of finishing it and turning it into a one shot story.
There are a couple of things I want to say:
First, thanks to Alicia for the review on my previous chapter, you've no idea what that meant to me. I kept writing, as you told me, but on paper. Then I was too lazy to pass it to the screen.
Thanks to Sabsi, at SnapesFavorite for coming and reading it, even though SM is not her thing LoL winks
Special thanks to PaulitaDani and tkdl for reviewing and, hopefully, patiently wanting for me to update.
I also want to say sorry in advance for any spelling or grammar errors. I know I mess the in's an on's a lot (English isn't my first language…). So, sorry about that!
Now, on with the reading. No chapter title this time.
Chapter two
"Are you sure about this, Mina?"
"Of course I am! You look great!"
Mina came to my place around 4p.m to help me dress up for the evening dance. She actually brought in the costume and some accessories, since I wasn't really committed in going, so I delayed as much as humanly possible the "quest" for a costume. Oh but that didn't stop Mina, no way!
So here we were, in my bedroom, my bed covered with pieces of clothing and make up items, a total mess on the carpet floor. She slowly turned me around so that I faced the full length mirror in my closet. I looked at myself for the first time in two hours.
I couldn't believe my eyes as I found myself looking at an angel. Dressed in a simple white long dress with golden stripes that hang loose from my waste line. I was even more amazed by what she had done to my hair. Mina worked hard on it, finally managing to put it in a single long ponytail, but curled the ends of it. Yet the thing that I loved the most were my wings, attached to the fabric of the dress, covered in fake white and gold feathers.
"Oh. My. God. Mina, I… ermm… you… I… Woah…it's…"
"What? Please, don't tell me you don't like it!"
"Like it? How can anyone like it?"
She felt silent and the glee that had installed in her eyes after the job done faded a little. But I beamed at her stopping the deception she was starting to feel and hugged her tight!
"I LOVE IT! Thank you so much for this! I can't believe it! I could never imagine I could look like this!"
"Oh shut up, you're already gorgeous, I just, well, enhanced it!" She answered me with a wink.
I gave her another hug. One huge massive bear hug. What se did was unbelievable. I will never ever do enough to thank her. "Thanks." I whispered in her hear, my hopes of catching the eye of a certain tall blue eyed male slightly increasing.
««««««««««««««««««««««««»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
"Are you sure about this, Andrew?"
"Of course I am. Besides, it's not like you had another choice. If you want to see that mysterious girl who I'm almost positively sure I know."
Andrew came to my apartment and the minute I let him in, I knew, by the expression in his face that he wasn't going to let me go easy without telling him.
"You can try that number as many times as you like, but I'm not falling." I simply answered his previous remark, very similar to the other 53 he had already tried.
I was very much aware, as I faced the mirror, of how, well, handsome, I looked. Who could have imagined that a tuxedo and an old Count Dracula's cape would do this much for a lame guy with lame ideas for costumes?
"Oh Dare! Come on! Why not? I'm going to find out anyway."
"Exactly."
"But I'm your best friend! I'm entitled to know this, spill! Now! I'm dying to know who she is!"
"You do know that sometimes you sound like a girl, don't you?"
Thankfully, that shut him up, for a while.
God, I can't wait to see her.
««««««««««««««««««««««««»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
Six thirty already. The girls should be here any minute now, the dance starts at seven and we still have a bus to catch. I so can't wait to see their costumes!
Ding! Dong!
"They're here! Let's go." Mina jumped to a standing position at the sound of the door bell. We tried to clean the room a little, without messing the outfits to badly…
I stepped down the stairs, adapting my feet to the golden strap sandals mum borrowed me, besides, the wings were funny to wear. I gave my mother a hug, thanking her and Mina smiled and winked at her and we were off.
Mina opened the door and in my doorway stood a fairy, with pointy ears and dragonfly wings, Lita was gorgeous; then there was a sea nymph, Amy, with a light blue dress and a single sea star decorating her hair; there was Mars herself, the goddess of war, Raye even got a golden shield and arch, so that it matched her short dress, of red and golden flames. Not to mention Mina, dressed as an elf, like Galadriel actually. She even got her mother to borrow her one beautiful hand crafted silver tiara.
"You guys! You look absolutely fantastic!"
"Well, look who's talking! You look astonishingly good for someone who didn't want to come." Rita pointed out with a mischievous smile.
"Well, it's all thanks to Mina here!"
"Yeah, I know! I'm great, what can I do? Now let's go, it's almost a quarter to seven and we have a bus to catch in five minutes."
We walked our way into the hot night air of the gardens surrounding that place of the masquerade dance. The rose bushes, nicely treated in French style gave the summer breeze a fabulous scent and I thought the evening was going to be perfect, finally falling in the mood. There wasn't a moon in the sky, which made the stars shine even more.
"The 17th Annual Masquerade Dance" read the huge sign just above the main entrance. It was an event organized by the people of the Juuban district, to raise money for the community.
We all paid our tickets and stepped inside the small palace where the dance took place every year. Immediately the decoration took a hold of our eyes as we were guided through a large staircase up to the first floor.
The marble tiles of the enormous dance hall floor shined with the light of the crystal chandeliers that hung from the high ceiling. The curtains of the tall windows that were opened to the balcony floated a little with the air from outside. All of them were decorated with little fairy lights, as well as the stone pillars of the balcony.
"Amazing" I said, to no one in particular. Then my eye caught the food and drinks area.
««««««««««««««««««««««««»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
I hastily parked the car on the garden's own parking lot.
"Are you coming or just waiting for me to open the door for you?"
Andrew was still in the car, fixing his black and white harlequin mask that kept falling to one side. We were late. Very.
"Shut up" he said, stepping out of the car. We walked through the scented rose gardens and stopped at the main entrance, to pay for our tickets.
We went up the stairs and the moment I walked in, I laid my eyes on a group of five, happily giggling their way around the food table. The decoration of the room was completely oblivious to me the moment I locked my eyes on her. My heart skipped a beat and I found my breath caught in my lungs as I started walking towards them.
"I knew it!" I heard Andrew hiss just a few steps from me. But it didn't stop me. What the heck am I doing?
««««««««««««««««««««««««»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
I never thought I was going to eat so much. We have been there for over thirty minutes and I'd already tried three mini pizzas, one chicken puff and some nameless shrimp thingy. Of course I knew Lita could do much better, but I was hungry. Not to mention nervous.
I hadn't seen Darien all night, was starting to think that he wasn't coming. Funny why I thought he would in the first place. This so isn't his thing. But it was charity, and he is a wonderful person (except with me, that is).
I turned around to start my way with the sweets and as I stepped from Lita to Amy I saw two male figures coming in. The first one, dressed like a Venetian harlequin, in black and white with trims of gold to match his hair. But I couldn't even get my brain to process that it was Andrew behind the mask as my eyes caught ocean blue.
He was even more handsome than I imagined possible, with a tuxedo and a black and red satin cape that showed even more how broad his shoulders are. He was walking toward me passing by the harlequin with steady steps, his eyes locked on mine. His expression felt nervous at first, but a second or two after he saw me, a smile invaded his lips. And what a smile! The way his eyes grew softer as he ended the space between us made me feel goosebumps in my stomach. Maybe I shouldn't have eaten that much.
He stopped, just a couple of steps from me and smiled even more widely. "Hello Meatball head. Even though I can't really call you that tonight now can I?"
««««««««««««««««««««««««»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
A light blush crept over her cheeks and she finally broke eye contact by looking down with a smile. Tucking a lock of golden hair behind her ear crooking her neck to one side she looked at me again. "Hi! Darien… Erm… Yeah! I guess you can't!" she said giggling a little.
"You look amazing!" The word escaped my lips before I could think about them and I felt my cheeks grow hot and tried to fight the blush that invades MY cheeks now. Looking at her, in fear of what she would say, I saw her eyes widen and then (still blushing) she answered "You too…" barely a whisper.
We stood there for a few minutes, and what I feared would happen, the uncomfortable silence. I couldn't find something to say, like I never did… But this time I really didn't want to star a fight and ruin her night. Luckily, Andrew caught up with us and the other girls joined in to the rescue. They started to talk, but the sound of their conversation was slightly oblivious to me, only caught something about lights and fairies. I still looked into her sky blue eyes.
She tried to hold my gaze, but shied and joined the conversation, glancing me once in while. I did the same. This was going to be a long, promising night.
Done! Please review!
This is how I imagined Serena's costume:
http/i2.