La Festa

As much as I didn't want to I still agreed to go. Here I was waiting for Chloe to finish up her magic on my face and hair. I still haven't seen my dress. Grandma and Chloe want it to be a surprise. Even after I begged them, it was still no use.

"Ouch! Tyler you fucker, that hurt." Tyler was bored out of his mind so he decided that hitting me with a paper that flew from the rubber band he found was good enough to pass the time.

"Touchdown!” He raised his hands and screamed.

“So help me god Tyler I will hurt you if you make her move again.” Chloe glared at him as he carried a bored expression.

“Ouch” I whined this time it was Chloe’s doing.

“Pretty hurts and this is only a step closer to my goal. So what I'm saying is shut up and deal with it."

"I swear if you ruin my eyebrows I will-"

"Harmony saying that I'll ruin something to do with make up, is enough of an insult as it is."

"I really don't want to go." I whined.

"Well that's too bad, because you are going." Tyler’s annoying voice fell through my ears. Making this even more unbearable than it was. He was so relaxed on my bed, nibbling away on a cupcake that he stole from god knows where.

"Are you done yet?" This was the fifth time I've asked this hour.

"Ask that one more time and I'll make sure to wipe the cream all over your face." Tyler rolled his eyes.

"No you aren't. You see this," Chloe pointed at my face. "Is my masterpiece. Mess with it and I'll end you.”

"No, because I'll-"

"Guys," I screamed. "Can you finish with me first before you start arguing again? It took you an hour until you got out of the previous one." I huffed.

They muttered insults to each other like five year olds, nevertheless continued whatever they were doing.

"And done." Chloe sighed. I quickly got up, and ran to the mirror. The moment I laid eyes on my reflection, I froze.

That's not me.

I began poking my face to make sure I felt it. That way I'd know it's me. I look nice? I know I'm not pretty so nice is a good enough compliment. Right?

"You look smoking hot." Chloe fanned herself, as Tyler nodded with a grin plastered on his face.

"No I don't. I look nice." I robotically repeated.

"Nice? Honey, you look spectacular okay? Especially with my hairstyle and make up." I rolled my eyes, as she tried to convince me how beautiful I looked. I would totally believe her if my mind wasn't that convinced that I looked like a human version of the ugly duckling.

"Oh My God!" Grandma burst into the room before gasping, the second her eyes met mine.

"What? I look ugly right? I knew I shouldn't even have agreed to this." I blabbered nervously.

"No, no, no. Oh my cookie you look so beautiful," She squealed, jumping up and down. "I can't wait to see the look on your mother and sister's face tonight." She laughed evilly.

"See, and you still didn't wear your dress." Tyler grinned. "So come on, so we can go down and eat.” He clapped his hands.

“That’s all he cares about” Chloe muttered. Making Tyler glare at her and start yet another argument.

They fight over the most idiotic things, sometimes I just want to bang my head against the wall. I Ignored their bickering and walked away to the bathroom with the dress in my hand.

The dress; it looked very short for my liking. It would probably reach above my knees. I've never worn anything that reached above my knees. I felt that if I did, people would laugh at how I looked. Anyways the dress was turquoise in colour. With a few dazzling crystals scattered here and there.

It was beautiful. Would it look as beautiful on me? I didn't wait for an answer I just put in on. I zipped it up from the side, and turned to look at the bathroom mirror. Who is this? This is surely not me. Again and again I kept asking myself. I shook my head to empty these negative thoughts and walked straight out the bathroom.

No one was in the room I guess they went to get ready. The party has already started, of course I was late as usual. Grandma told me to even take my time so that I'd make a grand entrance.

"Harmony?" Chloe called. "Come on, it's show time." She grinned. She finally took in my appearance before giving me a grin and literally dragging me down the stairs.

Entering the ballroom was the worst thing ever. Everybody was staring at me before they started their whispers. I started to get a little self conscious when I saw a group of teenage guys let their eyes draw up and down my figure.

My mother was standing to the far left, the person she was speaking to nodded in my direction. She turned around with a smile, however right when she met my eyes her smile dropped. Her eyes didn't leave mine. I thought she was about to come over and maybe compliment me like she does to Cameron every morning. She didn't.

She just stood there looking into my eyes. Her mouth opened as if she was about to say something, but she expeditiously bit her tongue. Not waisting another second on me, she turned around, carrying where she left off. Oh what was I expecting? Her to run to me with opened arms a smile on her face?

Chloe stopped infront of Tyler, who was stuffing food into his mouth, as if his life depended. I stayed most of the time quiet, avoiding eye contact with everyone. I dropped into a few conversations here and there, but I just felt overly dolorous.

"Harmony." It was a man with a deep, vigorous voice that sent shivers down my spine. I turned around to see who it belonged to.

Carter? I've never seen someone look so ravishing with a dark blue suit that made his eyes sparkle, due to the contrast in color. He greeted me with the same nod he left me with before he left after dinner that day. This is the first time I’ve heard it.

"C-carter." I spluttered.

"You look absolutely beautiful tonight." he stated. His eyes held an unreadable expression.

"Thank you." I murmured, looking down at my nervous hands.

"So did you get here safely?" I broke the silence with the stupidest question, I could ever think of, although I somehow really wanted to know the answer. He seemed surprised yet amused.

“Yes, thank you for asking.” His expression remained unreadable but I saw his eyes gleam.

"Oh." I nodded slowly.

"This colour really suits you." His eyes fell on my dress then back to mine. I couldn’t really bring my brain to actually form any sort of reaction with his eyes staring deep into my eyes. Too deep, in fact I was begging my brain to force my eyes to look away. I felt like I knew those eyes. It confused me to no end. They felt very familiar.

“Little Miss White. What a surprise to see you again. Here of all places.” Enzo popped out of nowhere saying.

“Surprise” I replied unenthusiastically to his rather stupid statement causing him to grin.

“You two know each other?” Carter frowned.

“Yeah, we had a great time together at the beach the other day.” Before I could even reply Enzo beat me to it making it clear that he wanted Carter to know just that. Carter didn’t say anything my husband jaw clenched as he glared at his brother.

“Can I please have this dance?” Enzo suddenly asked with his hand out to me. Carter was still glaring at his brother. Ed Sheeran’s Photograph blasted through the whole room.

I couldn’t bring myself to tell him no, so I just nodded my head as he pulled me to the dance floor.

Loving can hurt..Loving can hurt sometimes, but it’s the only thing that I know..

I was way too nervous I felt all the eyes were on us, well I felt his eyes on us as we swayed.

“You know if I’d known that you hated dancing this much I wouldn’t have asked” Enzo whispered.

”What made you think that?” I frowned.

”For one, you haven’t said a word up until now and two you’re head hasn’t even tilted up at all.”

”it’s not that, it’s just I feel like all the eyes are on us.” I whispered back.

”Can you blame them? You’re too beautiful that’s why they’re looking at you.” He smiled making me blush. I slightly looked at who else was on the dance floor and saw Cameron and dad slowly dancing.

My heart clenched as I saw her head on his shoulders. He didn’t ask me. I surely could imagine the scene of him coming up to ask me and me blankly saying no, however at that moment I wanted to be in her place.

As soon as the song ended, Enzo and I’s conversation came to a halt. He asked what was wrong and why I suddenly looked so unhappy. As I gave him the best fake smile I could muster, his frown deepened. I excused myself as I walked to the door.

I left the ballroom, making my way to the bathroom. Thinking about hiding there for the rest of the night sounded like the best idea. If I went to my room, Chloe without a doubt would find me and believe me nobody would want to see an angry Chloe.

The nearest bathroom was the one beside my father's home office. I groaned, knowing I had to walk even more now. Call me lazy, I don't care. I was finally about to reach the bathroom, but hearing my name pass through my father's office walls caused my to halt.

"You said this is about Harmony. What is it this time?"

I tip-toed closer to the door, realizing then that only a small part of both the doors of the office was left agar. It was enough for me to see who was inside. Even though I squinted as hard as I can, I still couldn't figure out who the man was. Him having his back to me was one of the main reasons. But the second person was none other than my mother. Their voices were faint making me push myself closer to the door.

"I want you to take care of that idiotic imbecile from that I.T. department. I met him seventeen years ago. He somehow found me, and is sending love letters like the love sick puppy he is. I don't care what it takes I want him gone. " She glared at the man.

"No problem, he'll be gone before sunrise." His voice sounded robotic.

"Good, that's exactly what I like to hear."

"But there is one thing you need to know," His tone stayed the same.

"And what is that?"

"Someone found and opened up her grave. They saw it empty, and-"

"And what?" She screamed.

"They left it open." My mother's widened as she gasped. They were talking about graves now? But who grave was is it? My mother grabbed him, by his collar, dragging him into my father's balcony leaving me standing there, baffled by what has just been said.

The party ended and I was now laying on my bed, continuing to stare at the same white ceiling with my headphones on.

I can't sleep tonight, wide awake and so confused...

I need a voice to echo, I need a light to take me home...

I didn't understand one bit of the conversation down there I needed someone to shed some light. To give me answers, but I somehow knew that whatever caused my mother to go crazy bitch on that stranger, had something to do with me. If not everything.

**

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2021

Ethereal