Tales
of Love, Jealousy and Confusion
Chapter
5 - Before The Ball
Lily woke with a yawn. The last thing she remembered was laying on Edward's chest, so how had she ended up here, in her own bed? Dragana must have carried her in here last night, she thought and rose out of her bed, her soft green pajamas rustling as she did. She was excited about the ball, but she was also a little sad too. Since they were little, her next door neighbor Edward had hated her, and while she didn't like him very much, she had never hated him.
So imagine to her surprise when Edward told her today that he had never hated her. He had even stood up for her when the girl who had sent her sprawling came up to do it again. And when Tanya had tried to kiss Edward, Lily socked her good. And most surprising of all - he told Tanya that he loved Lily! Then he had kissed her. . .it was all quite a roller coaster of emotions all in two days. . .
"Lily! Move your arse! We've got stuff to do girl!" Dragana called from the room across the hall. That was where her room was. Lily sighed, stretching. "I know, I know." she said, changing out of her night clothes and slipping on a cute white dress with matching sandals. She chose a white ribbon and clapped her hands. For a moment there was a blue glow and then her hair was perfectly fixed in a cute topsy tail.
"Coming!" she said, seeing that Dragana had went down the steps and was waiting on her. The stairs hardly made a sound as she walked down them, she being lightfooted. "Okay, I'm ready!" she said. They did have a lot to do today, she thought as they climbed into Dragana's car. Edward and Alphonse came out at the same time, ready with thier twin red coats on. "Hi Ed!" said Lily, sticking her head up over the bars on the convertible. Edward had dozed off for a moment before realizing what time it was. However, it was very difficult to move his right shoulder. He glanced over and seen why. Lily Evans, the girl he used to dislike, was laying on his shoulder, soundly asleep. No doubt that she was - after getting slapped the day before enough to send her sprawling, (or at least that is what Al told him) threatened, pulled by the hair and god knows what else, had carried Lily gently into the house.
Dragana had offered to put her into bed, but Ed refused, saying he would do it. Walking up the stairs, he done his best not to walk too hard on them, fearful of them squeaking and waking Lily up. He did manage to step on one and Lily moved for a moment.
He stood very still until she went back to sleep, then carried her the rest of the way. He laid her gently in her bed, covering her up. Before he left, he kissed her gently on the forehead, his golden eyes bright. "Goodnight." he said softly, taking one last look at Lily before leaving.
"Mmm. . ." he mumbled, as Al shook him, trying to wake him. "Come on brother! We have stuff to do today." he said. Ed mumbled again. "I'll go and get Lily to wake you up." he teased and Ed sat straight up. "Lily?" he asked his brother sleepily, rubbing his eyes. Alphonse laughed. "You should have gotten over that grudge sooner brother." Al teased. "Sh-up." he said, his voice groggy from just waking.
Al laughed. "Same old brother." he said and smiled. Edward pulled on his black pants and then his black tank top, making his lean muscles bulge slightly. Pulling on his mantle and coat, he put on his shoes and was ready. Err. . .almost ready, he remedied as he rebraided his hair. After taking Lily to bed, he collasped onto his own bed without taking his braid out. Checking his reflection for a moment, he left, leaping down the staircase as he had the other day. Al just shook his head, laughing as he walked outside.
It was warm with a comfortable breeze outside. He could see that the plants were in bloom all around. He smiled softly when he heard a familiar voice. "Hi Lily!" he called over to her. She looked cute in the little white dress and sandals. He tossed his hand in the air to wave at her. She waved back and smiled sweetly at him and he felt his heart beat quicken in his chest.
She waved back at him and smiled softly before Dragana grabbed her arm. "Come on, you can chat with your boyfriend later." she teased, knowing that they were not going out just yet. Lily blushed and got into the car. They drove first to the nail salon where Dragana got her nail polish to match her emerald gown. "This color will be so perfect with my dress." said Dragana, who talked Lily into getting hers done there instead of at home. Lily chose 'baby pink rose' as her color, deciding it would go well with the roses in the corner in her mask. "Nice choice." said Dragana and Lily smiled.
Next, they traveled to the hair dresser. The wind gently blew Lily's white dress as she walked into the salon. "You shouldn't use Alchemy on your hair so much." said the hairdresser. "It singes your ends."the hair dresser told Lily. The lady tisk tisked and pulled out the loveknot she had made with alchemy with a simple pull of the white ribbon. Lily was pushed to one of the sinks.
Her red hair spilled into the sink as the woman turned on the water. It was cold at first and Lily shivered until it warmed up. With a quick scrub and rinse with conditioner and another rinse, the lady towel dried her hair and started working on it, clipping her split ends and styling it in a braided loveknot with white circonia gems and a black ribbon at the bottom. She handed Lily a mirror and Lily approved. The hair dresser that was working on Dragana's hair washed, rinsed and conditioned her hair and styled it in a french braided twist with green stones like Lily's.
From there, they went to the florist and picked up thier corsages. Lily's matched her two pink roses on her mask in a pretty pink. Since Dragana was wearing green, she chose deep red roses for her corsage, both adorned with baby's breath and ribbons to match each dress. It was now four, and the dance started at six. Dragana drove back home. It was getting closer to time for the ball. Checking to make certain her hair was perfect and her nails were dry, she went to the bathroom. She pulled out a case of make up from her drawer and applied a light blush, some cherry blossom colored lipstick and a soft pink eyeshadow. Checking once more in a mirror, she nodded. She was satisfied. Going to her bed, where her gown was, she slipped it on and secured the zipper. Spinning in front of a full length mirror, she was pleased. She slid on her corsage and met Dragana downstairs. "Ready to go?" she asked, sliding on her white flats that matched her dress wonderfully. "Yeah." said Dragana. They both went outside, got into the car and started driving towards the ball.
"Brother, why do we need to stop in here for?" asked Alphonse, who drove. "Just need to get something Al." he said, jumping out of the car and landing perfectly on his feet. Running inside, he grabbed a roll of black ribbon and a pretty red rose. Next, he found a string of pearls in the jewerly department of thier local shop, which would work on the rose and as a double gift. The rose would go to the girl, while the pearls would go to Lily. Next, he went to the counter to pay for them. He went to the register and purchased the items.
"So how did it go brother?" asked Alphonse. "Good. They had everything." said Ed, who was carrying a light red rose. "So, what did you get for Dragana?" asked Ed. Alphonse grinned, pulling something out of his pocket. "I fixed it up the other day when I asked her to go steady online." he said, opening up a rectangular box. Inside was a silver necklace with his. . . "No way! Your giving her your class ring?! Wow." said Ed and grinned. Ed gave his brother a thumbs up. "Oh, I think she'll like that." he said, jumping into the front seat. "Lets go Al, we've got to go get ready and its 5:30 already." said Ed. "Gotcha!" Al responded, and drove off.
Once he was at home, Ed searched for a pair of scissors as Alphonse got dressed in his knight costume. It was difficult to put on, so it gave Ed plently of time. Once he got up to his room, he snipped the loose rope that held the beads of pearls low to the ground so they wouldn't spay all over the place. He took one bead away from the pile and put the necklace back together with alchemy, securing it in the little cardboard case it came in. Next, he took the pearl, beading it through the black ribbon and secured it with a touch of alchemy. "There, perfect." he said. "Now for the costume." He took a good length of the black ribbon and clapped his hands. His hair was bound by the ribbon in a long ponytail. Satisfied, he put on his costume. "Ed, come on!" called Al from below. Ed grabbed his rose and the pearls that was in the box, hiding it in his pocket. Running out the stairs, he met his brother in armour. "Aren't you sick of armour by now?" Ed asked with a grin. "Oh hush brother." he said. They walked out and drove off to the ball. . .