𝖈𝖍𝖊𝖗𝖚𝖇𝖎𝖒 𝖏𝖆𝖜𝖆𝖍𝖎𝖗

The clock struck ten before I came to the fact that she wasn't coming.

My zip was digging into my back so hard I couldn't relax, and with every breeze, I felt every layer of makeup caked on my face. Every few seconds Gina would run over to give me a finger food from the refreshments table and I didn't care how fancy its name was, a deep-fried mushroom was a deep-fried mushroom. I was not having a good time.

The only thing that kept me going when I was in that makeup chair for half the afternoon was that once the sun set I was going to see Versailles walk in, in a tight gown and with the pretty blonde curly strands all in her face. But now that I thought about it, I had no idea why I was so sure she was coming.

I'd heard about people planning to ask her out for it. Sure, I'd ended up spreading a rumour that she already had a date, but that definitely didn't have enough time to reach everyone's ears, so it certainly wasn't because of a lack of interest. As soon as I realised, she wasn't showing face, I mentally checked out of the evening.

My butt stayed glued to my chair the entire night and not just because I could barely stand on my heels. The only time I moved was when I was hiding from my friends who I'd seen coming to drag me to the dance floor and used the opportunity to slip outside, where there was fresh air and no heavy cologne.

I reached into my bra to pull out my phone, where I immediately went to what I was looking for. Her account was as clear as it was an hour ago when I checked, I silently kicked myself for thinking something would've changed. She hadn't posted anything since I forced her to open it four years ago.

My thumb hovered over the message button and before I knew it I was being dragged into our chats that looked like a time capsule. The last thing was a post I'd tagged her in that she reposted, the night before my blessing when we were partying and she got so drunk I had to pour her back into her car and drive her home. 

The picture was the last time I could remember her smiling at me, she was in her passenger seat, her legs dangling from the door of her roofless car with her entire body sprawled out inside. She had goofy neon glasses on and a pretty close-lipped grin with both her thumbs up and a drunken smile on her face.

I didn't try to stop myself from scrolling up further in the chat, taking a trip down memory lane to texts of me complaining in the middle of class, her whining about me not showing up to school and her telling me to meet her in the bathroom because she had gossip to spill. I let my eyes linger on pictures she angrily sent me of when I'd taken her phone to take silly selfies of us when she was asleep in class and the video I'd taken in the mirror of us brushing our teeth in her bathroom in the morning, giggling when I realised she was brushing hers with her eyes still closed.

Just when I was about to watch the clip of us badly box-dying matching coloured strips in our hair, my phone was snatched out of my hand. "Fuck wait-

Kaleb smiled cheekily at me, dangling it out of my reach until he finally took a glance at what I was doing. "Gods Cherry," He grumbled, passing the device back to me. I winced at the disappointment in his gaze and pressed my phone to my chest defensively.

"Why aren't you inside?" I asked, trying to blink back the tears I hadn't known were at the edge of my eyes.

"Why aren't you inside?" He accused me, "Cherry you can't keep doing this." he said and I could tell he wasn't talking about missing out on social events, I slipped my phone back into my dress.

"I know, I know," I agreed.

"It feels like we have this conversation once a month," He rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands into his pockets, "Just talk to her!"

I frowned, "I've tried! It just doesn't always come out right, and it's never the right time and I was planning to do this thing-

"We're graduating tomorrow," He reminded me, shaking his head, "You can't keep doing that thing where you freeze up and continue to pretend you don't care anymore, it's now or never."

I closed my eyes, turning away from him, "It's not that simple, there's just too much that could go wrong"

"For someone that stares at her so much, you never seem to notice how much she's looking at you back," He told me, sounding almost tired with the both of us. "And I don't know about you, but the Cherubim I know would be miserable for the rest of her life if she didn't at least try."

I took in a deep breath, rubbing on my shoulders as the chill from the evening air started to settle in. My attention was brought back to Kaleb when I felt him take off his blazer jacket and place it around my shoulders, I sunk into its warmth a bit more before finally speaking again. "What would I even say?" I asked him, truly wanting some advice, "Where would I start?"

"Honestly?" I nodded at him to continue, "I'm sorry is a good start." Before what he'd said could settle in, I heard a loud cheering come from inside, making him curse under his breath and grab my arm. "Fuck I forgot."

"What?" I said, alarmed by his sudden hurry.

"You just won the best dressed of the evening award."

If there was one thing tonight brought out of a lot of people, it was confidence.

I hadn't even realised that Imani was actually talking to me until she called my name when I tried to walk away. I'd thought she was just another one of my classmates when she walked up to me to ask me to sign her shirt, only when I was done did she alert me to why she'd actually approached me.

"You haven't texted me?" She smiled, but there was nothing to smile about in that sentence.

I tried to be as polite as possible, "I have your number?"

"No," she clarified, rocking on the balls of her feet, "You said you'd follow me back, remember?"

I smacked my head, pretending like I had a clue what she was talking about, "Right of course," I snapped, "That's completely on me, I've been so busy lately," I sighed before patting her on the shoulder, "Just send me a text and I'll make sure to reply."

I'd used this as a good way to end the conversation, she did not see it in that way. "No, it's fine, maybe I can just get your number tonight instead," She took a step closer to me and I had to physically stop my eyebrow from shooting up, "Maybe after we talk about what happened last time."

This made me laugh a bit, "Imani, you want to talk about last time?"

And that pretty summed up the way the next hour of the afterparty went for me. Signing more sweaty bodies with Imani in my ear until my friends came and stole me away from her. "You guys are life-savers," I told them, throwing my hands around Gina, who giggled about me being dramatic. From there the party started to pick up a bit from me, I was about to step outside to get a sip of my water from the water bottle I left in Robyn's car when the next Ace of the game was found.

My entire friend group stiffened as Versailles walked to the closet door and I shamelessly stared at her until she was completely out of sight, ignoring my friend's looks on me when I started looking for the next bowl of cards. "Cherry, don't do something stupid," I sort of heard Kaleb say, I wasn't really listening as the large metal bowl was finally in my sight.

I need that other Ace.

Was what I told myself as I made my way across the room, hoping someone wouldn't snatch it before I got to it first. I crept up on the poor unsuspecting boy holding up the bowl and with my back turned took a sharp step into him, causing us to both lose footing and fall.

"Fuck Cherry my bad," The boy rushed to apologise before helping me to my feet.

I held my head, laughing it off as I stumbled convincingly, "No no, it's all me," I waved him off. "Had a few too many, that's all," I explained before gasping when I looked down at his spilt cards, "Let me help you with those," I offered.

"No need-

But I was already on my knees, swiping beneath each card whilst trying to act like I was sweeping them back into the bowl. It was a bit hard to do considering we were still surrounded by drunk teenagers who had tried to make a bit of space for us to pick up the cards but eventually sunk into the music again and began stepping on them.

My eyes lit up, however, when they found the lucky symbol I'd been looking for beneath the sole of an unsuspecting girl's kitten heels. As soon as she stepped off them, I was snatching it off the floor, keeping it near as I helped the guy pick up the rest of them. "Since I caused you so much trouble," I told him, reaching for the card I'd tucked right beneath my knee. "I'll take a card for just this round."

I rose to my feet and turned it over, gasping when I showed it to the guy. "Would you look at that," I couldn't help myself as my lips spread into a smile, "An Ace!"

I shrugged innocently at my friends as I was led to the closet door, practically skipping the whole way there whilst brainstorming ways to make the fifteen minutes count. Fifteen minutes was enough time for an apology, right? Then I could convince her to have a longer talk with me outside and then we could take a little walk around the block because it was a little too loud near the house and then.

The thoughts in my head went silent as I was finally thrown into the dark tight room and the only thing I could hear was her soft breathing until we both heard the crowd yell out that we now had fifteen minutes. Before I could even move my lips to speak, her voice broke out in the darkness.

"Sorry, I know I'm not supposed to know who you are and stuff," She rambled, I could hear her fiddling with something, "But I have a thing about the dark, I promise it's not about who you are I don't mind at all I just," She cut herself off and I could hear a faint metallic clicking.

A small orange flame suddenly burst through the darkness, letting out a small warmth that was not previously in the little room. I held still as Versailles brought her lighter to my face and once both our faces were glowing with the light, I could see her lips part in shock and her eyes widen, likely in surprise and her finger slipped from the lighter and I heard it clinker as it hit the tile.

Before she could bend to pick it back up, I- against my better judgment reached out and curled my fingers around her neck before bringing her mouth to mine.