It was the day of the ball and I had made sure to wrap myself up before I could come to Margo’s house to get ready. The ball was a big deal. It was held to give large sums of money to schools for children in Africa
and the Philippines.
I cleaned after myself and stored the pill bottles back to where I found them before the housekeepers came. I had worn something baggy so I wouldn’t irritate my wounds.
When I arrived at Margo’s house, she was outside in her pajamas, giving a big kiss to Ben who was leaving, looking disheveled. I laugh at the thought that Margo was genuinely engaged.
“Get a room.” I approach them as she delivers me a scowl.
She gives him a quick peck. “See you tonight.” He says before pulling away and driving off in his fancy car.
“You two make me sick.” I gag.
She pushes me playfully, “You and Grayson were like that.” I flinch at the thought. Margo understood why I had an odd reaction.
Her face changes, “But that doesn’t matter because we are going to have a kick ass night!”
“I’m only going because you three were going to drag me down there even if I didn’t want to go.” I look at her with a serious expression.
“Adrianna, you have been wanting to go to this since we were little, and you know you would regret it if you didn’t. You are just being stubborn,” She leads me inside the house, “You talked to Darius?”
“I did.”
“And?”
I roll my eyes, “He’ll pick me up at 7.” Margo’s eyes gleamed, she shook me, “Yes!”
“This is exactly what you need! Someone who is emotionally available and knows who they want, and he’s easy on the eyes.” She winks as we enter her dressing room, Verina and Juliette already sat with coffee and croissants.
“You’re late.” Verina looks at me with a smile.
I sat beside her, “You know I don’t have to go to this right?”
Her eyes widen, “You can be as late as you want!” She corrects as I laugh, “You know since you and Grayson are done, we haven’t had contact with any of the boys.”
Verina and Juliette didn’t know any of the details on mine and Grayson’s spilt or how we spilt, so I didn’t blame them for treating the situation like something I could brush off my shoulder.
“Meaning…”
She frowns, “Well, Chris hasn’t texted me or anything.” I nod slowly, “I don’t know babe.”
“I asked him to come with me to the ball.” She let out. We all looked at her with shock, “You asked Chris?”
“Yes.” She looked upset, “But I don’t even know if he’s coming.” We all quieted, not really knowing how to handle comforting Verina.
“Well, it’s not Chris’s scene.” I say, hoping that it would relieve her a
bit.
Juliette gets up she looked hesitant to speak but did anyways, “And why
do you keep thinking about this man?”
Juliette takes a look at all of us before continuing, “He’s not thinking about you V.”
Juliette was always a type to tell the cold hard truth. She never backed down, especially when it came to our feelings. She always told it how it was, and she was right. Chris had made sure to let Verina know he wasn’t interested.
“You have plenty of guys who want you Verina, why do you pick him?” Margo pulls out a pair of heels from her closet.
I think that maybe the reason why Verina is having a hard time understanding guys like Chris was solely because she didn’t think that others had problems.
And we all kind of had that same mindset, always worrying about ourselves and people we knew, it was a toxic trait for all of us to have but that was just how it was.
“You guys don’t know Chris,” She looks down as I look at her, examining her body language. She was in deep.
She is most definitely so down bad for Christopher Florence and none of us could save her.
“You’re right, we don’t. We can only infer from the signs and the way he acts, and he hasn’t done much Verina.”
She sighs, “He’s just shy but we’ve hung out alone together and he’s perfect.”
Verina talked about Chris like he was her lost soulmate, and I couldn’t help but think she was going crazy. But I guess love makes people sick in many different ways.
I didn’t know what happened between Verina and Chris for her to fall for him like she was, but I couldn’t judge. At the end of the day, Verina just wanted to be loved like everyone else. She didn’t care what it took, but it often made her a playing field for men.
But nonetheless, she believed that there was a man out there who would treat her like the world. Even with her roster of heartbreaks she was still looking.
After all, she believed that with every heartbreak made her closer to the one that keeps her heart together.
 |
We all put on our dresses, did each other’s hair, and put on heels. I could tell this was gonna be a big night and I was going to make sure that I, at least, had a night to remember.
Darius had picked me up in a limo and looked beautiful in his suit. I looked at him in a way that I shouldn’t have, I was weak in that moment.
I sat across from him, his eyes linger on my body, and I felt my heart race I smile at him, “Hey, I really appreciate you coming with me.”
He nods, “It’s a pleasure taking you, darling.”
I turn away, as he leans closer, “What happened between you and Grayson?” He pulls away, “If you don’t mind me asking.”
I shift, “He and I had a falling out and I’m not really sure if we can fix
it.”
He sighs, “So I’m guessing you aren’t in a place where you can give
another guy a chance?”
I look at him not really sure what to say, “I’m trying.”
He smiles widely, “And I am going to make sure I will not waste it. You are so beautiful that I don’t think I can ever look at someone ever again.”
I lean closer, suddenly loving the color of his green eyes, staring back at me, “You know you should come to my game on Monday.”
I smirk, “You would like that wouldn’t you?”
He smirks back, leaning back a little, “I would… you could be my lucky charm.” He winks.
I roll my eyes, “I’m no lucky charm, I prefer it if boys do good without my help.”
He smiles, his eyes scanning once again, “I’m the best babe. You don’t even need to be there, but I think I’ll die if I don’t see you in the stands.”
I lean closer, “Just like I would die right now if you don’t kiss me.” I felt my heart stop, his hand cupping my face.
“You can stop me at any moment.” I breathe out, “I know.”
He leans closer, his lips so close to mine, “Will you?”
“No.” I whisper to him as he smashes his lips on top of mine. So eager and willing, he pulled me closer, my dress falling a bit as he pulled me up, his hands on my neck.
I groaned letting my arms fall on his chest, it felt so wrong. It felt like I was cheating on Grayson, but I wasn’t. I could do whatever I wanted, and he couldn’t do anything about it.
The car stops as I pull away from him, his hands resting on my ass. I smile, “Let’s get this party started.”
He rolls his eyes, “We can be fashionably late, darling.” I laugh, opening the door to see everyone gathered inside.
“But then we would be late.” “That’s the point.”
I roll my eyes, “Let’s go, handsome.”
He walks out of the limo, his hand out so that I can hold it, and I do. I had no reason not to.
During the ball, all eyes were on me and him. I couldn’t help but think that I was doing something wrong, I was at a party with a man that I was interested in, and I wasn’t about to feel sorry for it.
I saw Grayson there, shocker he was with his boyfriends and his one and only girlfriend, I felt a jealous pit in my stomach grow.
They were all in a huddle, I spotted Verina and Margo. Juliette was yet to be seen.
I grow agitated as Grayson’s eyes scan my body from head to toe. It was like my body was on a glass case just for his viewing pleasure. And I fucking shouldn’t be. He studied me like a damn painting, and I hated being under his gaze.
Darius’s hand snaked around my lower back. It was like I got burned. Grayson’s eyes, a gaze of red and fury. But he couldn’t do anything about it, instead he looked away.
Like I broke his heart. But I did nothing.
Darius and I were greeted by rich couples, his family included, I even agreed to donate money for the children. I donated one million dollars originally.
The highest donation being ten million by Grayson Prince himself. I felt cheap, simply changing my donation to fifteen million dollars just to best him and to benefit the children of course.
The hidden gazes between Grayson and I were intoxicating. I felt like he was undressing me, the more he looked at me. As he looked away, I couldn’t stop myself from staring.
I refused to look in his way again. I didn’t want to feed into whatever game he was playing with me.
“You want something to drink?” Darius looks at me.
I nod, “Whatever you can find.” I smile as he nods back. Liam walks up to me with a smirk, “Sup, Dove.”
I sigh with frustration, “Don’t call me that, Stink.” I smile. His face alters to annoyance, “Margo told you about that?”
I laugh, “One, you should know that Margo tells me everything.
Second, you being called Stink by your mother is cute.” “Yeah, she thought so too.”
Liam eyes held a barrel of hatred, “So does Ben, apparently.”
I stand a bit more annoyed at him, “Liam.”
He sighs, “Yeah, I fucking know I messed up.” I look behind him to Margo and Ben looking like they were made for each other.
“I love Margo.” I sigh, “And I know you hate showing it, but I know you love her too.”
He takes a sip of vodka, “What you did was fucked up.” I state.
He nods, “I know and I’ve never more fucking stupid in my whole life but I’m trying.”
I give Liam a really long look, “All of Margo’s life, she’s always rejected guys who were only trying. Her parents would make sure the only guys who courted her were the best of the best. Does it fathom you maybe that when she wanted to be with you, it was because she actually wanted to be with someone who makes her happy without her parents judgement?”
Liam only looked away over to look at Margo once again, “I’ve never felt this way about a girl.” He whispers, then I notice he was a bit drunk.
Liam plucked at the cuff of his shirt, he was sweating, color draining from his face as he watched her with Ben. I, too, was a bit disturbed at the thought of Margo being engaged.
“I’ve lost her.” He grimaced.
“No, you haven’t. Margo has you locked in her heart. She has Ben in her front pocket. She’s been trying to get your attention since the moment she got back from Greece. You haven’t batted a damn eye.”
He winced, “Instead you had women on your lap, you enjoyed the women that yelled your name at hockey games, and you didn’t like the idea of Margo being there as your girlfriend.”
“You deserve this.” I continue. He nods, “I agree.”
Liam looked like he had a lump in his throat, having a hard time talking, “We didn’t even date. She wasn’t my ex-girlfriend. But she was my something.” He knocked his head back, “I pushed her away because I was scared of the unknown.”
I stayed quiet as he poured more whiskey in his mouth that he shouldn’t have possession of, “I didn’t know whether she would leave me or not, so I beat her to it. I have issues with trust. She was so fucking loyal, wasn’t she? I pushed away the only person who made my fucking days go wild.”
I smile, “Have you spoken to her?”
He shook his head, “I wouldn’t want to intrude on her new relationship.”
I roll my eyes, “You already are. You’re on her damn mind every day. She doesn’t want to talk about you to manipulate everyone into thinking you two are never going to find each other again, but we both know you will.”
Liam smiles confidently, “Damn Anna, I totally understand the words of wisdom thing that Gray would always talk about.” My cheeks turned pink, then it changed to a scowl, I straightened.
Liam looks at me with curious look, his head swaying over to Darius, “You and Gray sure do love to rile each other up even when you two are broken up.”
I sigh, he swings is head back to look at me, “He’s not Grayson Prince without you, you know.”
I laugh, “He’s been the best version of Grayson Prince without me, Liam.”
“I would argue differently.” Liam makes a point. I laugh, “I’m serious Liam, it’s over.”
“ Grayson has been my best friend since I first met him at our first hockey practice ever, and I’ve never seen that man lose his cool in a game. I’ve never seen his eyes look away from the puck just to look for a girl in the stands, and I surely have never ever fucking seen him miss a slapshot.”
I let my heart fall to the floor, my face feeling like it was hardened, and I was working my best poker face ever. But I felt my emotions slipping.
I swallow, “Does he feel that way about August?” I ask with a dulled expression.
Liam smirks, “I see how he looks at you.”
“How does he look at me?” I ask with my face turning scarlet red.
“Like he would love you, even if you were a million light years away.”
My composure slips, damn you, William Brookshire. I pick up my long dress, feeling tears build up in my sockets as I turn my head looking for the nearest bathroom.
Bad news was that these bathrooms were no where to fucking be seen but good news was that they were gender neutral, and I didn’t need to find a woman’s one.
I rushed into an open room, sitting on the large couch it provided. My tears falling as to took large breaths to calm myself down. I opened my
pouch hoping that I was dumb enough to put extra pills in there for my consumption, but I was not. I didn’t have anything.
The door opened abruptly as I stood up, Grayson walked in, his eyes darting straight at mine. I felt my heart build and fall at the same time. He did nothing but let the door close behind him.
