The Gay Delusion

7: The Green Delusion

Sorry if this chapter seems to end in a bit of an odd place! I had to split the whole party thing into two chapters because otherwise there would have been an eight-thousand word chapter and you all will have gotten bored/exhausted :P Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Would love to know what you think :) (Photo of how I imagine Felicity :))

7: The Green Delusion

As the days melted past and the end of August drew nearer, all people in the office could talk about during any spare moment was the upcoming summer party. There was a slow building of anticipation, most people seemingly the most excited about all the new photos of them that would be taken, and the possibility of snagging a filthily rich guy by the end of the night.

'I'm in need of a new Facebook picture, and it's the perfect photo opportunity for it,' I overheard Corinne say to Griffin at one point during the week, whose eye caught mine. We both had to look away, a laugh stifled into my hand as it threatened to tumble out of me.

'They really didn't give us that much notice for it though, did they?' Felicity commented with a sigh, the day before the party. 'I've just been thinking about what I'm planning to wear, and it's so blah - I'm worried I'm going to look so crap compared to everybody else.'

We were sat in the White Hart on the Friday evening together with Ronan. After a long and hectic day at work, we were all grateful that the working week was finally over.

In the last couple of weeks, the only correspondence or interaction that I had had with my other friends were a few exchanged text messages between Freya, Verity and me, asking each other briefly about how things were going. Neither of them had mentioned anything about Lewis, so I didn't know whether they knew anything about what had gone down between us, or if they were tactfully not bringing it up.

I couldn't bring myself to call up or text Lewis himself, knowing that he wouldn't have wanted to hear my voice anyway.

It was almost physically painful - hell, it was physically painful; a pain in my chest occurred whenever I thought about all of them, like I was being punched - when I considered the idea of us all slowly growing apart, but it seemed to be what was happening.

On the other hand, I had struck up friendships with Emilie, Felicity and Ronan, although admittedly nothing even remotely as close as my relationships with my old work gang.

'I have a whole wardrobe full of things that you could wear, if you wanted to rifle through,' I offered Felicity. I glanced over her petite frame, seven or eight inches shorter than my five feet and nine inches, adding, 'I have dresses that are pretty damn short and could look amazing on you. I think we're about the same size, regardless of height.'

Felicity's face lit up. 'Really, Laina? You seriously don't have to do that.'

'No, it's okay!' I assured her. 'I have so many dresses that it's ridiculous - I could probably open up a bloody shop and make a shit-ton of money if I sold them all.'

'Ah, thank you so much!' she said excitedly, interlocking her fingers and tucking her entwined fist under her chin. 'Can I come over tomorrow morning, then, and have a look?'

As I nodded, Ronan turned and looked at her. 'You'd look beautiful in anything, you crazy ginger, I don't know why you're worrying about this so much.'

'If that was an attempt to get back in my good books and into my pants, it's not worked,' Felicity smirked, folding her arms across her chest as Ronan's expression became half-amused and half-pained.

When I questioned this, Felicity went on to explain, 'I wouldn't be having this outfit dilemma if it wasn't for Ronan! I asked him to go shopping with me last weekend because I needed someone else's opinion and the little plonker said he couldn't bear to go. So it's too late now to go prowling the shops, and I'm here practically crying at my lack of dress.' Felicity ran a finger down her cheek dramatically to mimic a falling tear, her bottom lip sticking out.