Trouble Times Two

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Friday

All five of us girls make our way downstairs and Jess showers in the bathroom as we wait for her and then when we she comes out, we all start getting ready.

She sits next to me and hugs me for a while and I hug her back.

"You really are one of the greatest friends a girl could ask for." Jess says before she gets started on her hair.

I put head protectant in my hair and start straightening it and we talk and listen to music.

"Soooooo... Gigi, did he ask?" Lola says and I laugh when she asks me.

"Thanks for the five minute warning. Yeah he did."

"Did who ask what?" Jess says and I face palm.

"Did you forget to tell her?" Lola says.

"To be honest, I haven't told anyone. We were about to go to bed and he just asked. Oh yeah, Donovan asked me to be his girlfriend." I get back to straightening my hair but Courtney, Elsie and Jess stare at me in utter disbelief. "I said yes of course. I ran the scenario through my head multiple times. Since he stopped drinking, there's not a situation I'd have said no. His whole demeanour changed, he's kind and he's way happier. He has a real desire to make others smile and also he doesn't run away from his emotions, he's always talked about them regardless about what state he was in. Drunk or sober."

"Also he adores you. I've known him long enough to know when he's got it bad and trust me, he's got it bad for you girl." Lola says and she laughs. "I remember you now, he had it bad for you back then as well. He was absolutely devastated when you left. He never told me but I'm pretty sure he thought you were dead."

I know that's actually the case because he told me about the whole situation.

"Everyone's all grown up." Elsie says as she bursts into tears. "Super hormonal right now don't mind me."

"It's okay Els. We understand." I say and we all continue to get ready in a comfortable silence.

I do my face makeup and then get into my dress and make sure I look okay before covering my deeply personal tattoos.

I help everyone else get into their dresses and Maisie comes to take pictures of all of us and then all together with different combos each time.

We all stay downstairs and eat and talk while everyone gets here and then make our way downstairs and up to the kitchen where the boys are waiting for us along with our family.

They all give us a corsage and Elsie and Lola give each other one.

Maisie takes pictures again of all us, with our dates and some random combinations again.

Everyone stops and look when Maisie accidentally swaps me in and Vincent in together but I just stand there and he puts his arm around my shoulders.

It's awkward but it's something. I told him I'd play nice so I guess he would too.

We all stand around and chat when a horn beeps outside and a limo pulls up and we all look.

"A little surprise for our little angels." Paisley says and winks. "Have fun guys."

Everyone says goodbye to us and we all haul ass into the limo.

Everyone is busy taking more photos and videos but I've never been one to do that, I always felt awkward about it.

Donovan gets his phone out and starts recording a video of everyone else in the limo and then flips the camera to us and I throw a peace sign as if we're in the eighth grade.

He just laughs at me and then posts the video to his Instagram story.

"Hey Donovan I look like a demented rat in that." I say and he shakes his head.

"You look like my beautiful demented rat." He says laughing and I laugh too, resting my head against his shoulder.

He kisses my head and we watch the journey hand in hand the rest of the way.

When we get out, we're one of the first to arrive but we're greeted with a red carpet and a mocktail.

"Let's get some pictures of you guys. Girls, boys, individual dates and then all of you." We do as we're told and I for one enjoy it.

I enjoy being in the company of my friends and family and I realise these are the people I've chosen and I love them and I care for them and I need them in my life.

Even Vincent. He made his choice the minute he chose Jess, knowing she's my best friend, knowing that I'd be pissed with him, knowing he'd never get along with our siblings again.

I dance with everyone all night and we have so much fun.

I've not experienced this amount of glee in years, especially not without being high out of my mind or filled with alcohol.

I sneak in a few sneaky kisses with Donovan and we see the girl, whose name I still haven't learnt yet, with who I assume is her ex-boyfriend.

She kisses him in front of us.

"Girl!" I shout over the music.

"What?" She says smirking.

"I don't even know your name, much less care about you kissing some random guy." I shout back and she physically recoils when I say that.

"Neither do I and does he know that you're trying to use him to make us jealous when that clearly isn't working? Leave us alone." Donovan says and we walk off.

We go back to dancing and we cheer when Arthur and Courtney get prom king and queen.

Suddenly a romantic song comes on and I'm immediately grossed out and grab Donovan's hand and go to our table and sit down.

"I hate songs like these." I frown.

"If I sing it to you, will you love it?"

"Maybe."

He takes my hand and pulls me up and we dance anyway and we dance in the night and as I look around me, I realise the life I'd yearned for was finally mine.