Fools ; Eternal Summer

part four

I slipped on a slim dark red dress and currently I was struggling to zip it up. Jaylie had walked in, she was finishing putting on her earrings as I could see her through the mirror.

"Need a little help?" She asked with a little laugh.
"How'd you know?" I joked back with her. She smiled at me through the mirror as she pushed my hair to the front and zipped my dress. She was wearing a strapless black dress that fit her just right, with gold jewelry, curled hair to perfection and the most complimenting red lipstick on. I smiled back at her. "Thank you, again. For letting us come and stay here with you this summer." I told her, she wrapped her arms around my shoulders, we talked through the mirror.
"It was no problem. I just want to make up for time that we lost a while back." She said.
"We'll get it all back don't worry."
"I know, I just, all these years I thought you had hated me for leaving you and Derrick behind." I frowned at her.
"I was mad at first. We both were pretty hurt. But I knew I couldn't hold it against you because I wanted the same thing." She smiled faintly.
"That makes me feel a bit better. We didn't have anything easy back then and I didn't think I'd ever make it out of there. Like if once everyone was done growing up, would she have thrown another child in there for us to take care of? I had to get out of there while I had the chance because I didn't believe it'd ever get better." She told me.
"I understand that." I turned around to face her. "But to go to school in the US? You had to leave behind everything in the UK?" She gave me a sad look.
"I thought you understood." She said, I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.
"I do. I'm not upset with what happened, I just want to know why you did what you did."
"I don't know Lil," She started pacing around the room then sat down on the bed. I went and joined next to her. "I just felt like I had to run away, leave the person I was behind. You were a little bit younger than me, not by much but you don't know the amount of responsibility that fell on my shoulders for being the oldest one. It was tough and I just wasn't strong enough to handle it."
"I'm sorry. More sorry that I couldn't do more to help you when things were tough." I told her.
"It's okay, it's not your fault. You had your own things to take care of. But it was wrong of me to leave you to deal with everything because I know once I did, every responsibility that I had to do, fell on you. And that's something I could never repay you for."
"You're stronger now right?" I asked, a smile slowly appeared on her face.
"I am." I smiled with her.
"Okay then, that's all I could need from you."
"What about you?"
"Oh believe me, I've been through some shit this year through university. Being able to deal with that came from the strength of dealing with our childhood."
"That bad huh?" She asked with a laugh, I rolled my eyes playfully.
"Oh, you have no idea."
"But it's senior year now right?" I nodded. "That's exciting huh?"
"It is, yeah. All of my four years of hard work will finally pay off and I can move onto the next big thing in life."
"Which is?"
"I have no idea." I said, we both laughed.
"Well, there's always a place for you here." She said, she put her hand on my leg and we exchanged a smile.
"Thank you. I love you." I pulled her into a side hug, she wrapped her arms around my waist.
"I love you too." There was a pause in the hug before she got up and fixed herself in the mirror. "Now let's go, the guests will be arriving soon." She said as she turned back around to face me. "There's just one more thing you need." She walked out of the room and into hers, then came back out and walked over to me. She pulled the cap off of the red lipstick she was wearing and started putting some on my lips. "There, perfect."
"I knew I was missing something." I joked. She held her hand out for me to grab, and we walked towards the stairs together. She went first and then I followed behind, I could see Ashton waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs. He was dressed in a black suit, with a white undershirt and black tie.
"Wow Ashton, you sure do clean up nice." Jaylie said as she made it to the bottom of the stairs, he smiled at her as she patted his shoulder. She shot me a smirk with a thumbs up before walking away to the kitchen, I stuck my tongue out at her. I was still on the middle of the staircase, he stood in the same spot with his arms crossed down at his waist. I held onto the railing as I walked the rest of the way down, it was like a scene straight out of a movie when the couple is on their way to prom. I laughed a little to myself. He stuck his hand out for me to grasp as he led me the rest of the way, he turned me into a little spin before pulling me close.
"You look absolutely stunning." He kissed me on the cheek, I could feel myself start to blush.
"Thank you. You're not too bad yourself." I nudged him playfully. "It's almost like we're going to prom or something." We both laughed.
"I never got to experience my prom so if so, then I can't wait." He said and laughed again.
"Whoa really?" I asked, my eyes opened wide at him.
"Really. From bouncing between houses and schools, it was never a priority." He told me.
"Aw geez, well my prom wasn't the best in the world. Trust me, you didn't miss out on anything special. I'm sure your girlfriend was bummed she couldn't attend with you."
"Yeah, about that I-" He started to say but he was cut off by Jaylie walking back into the room.
"Would you guys be willing to help me set up really quick please?" She asked as she was holding two trays of food. Ashton walked over and grabbed one from her. "Sorry to have interrupted, I have no idea exactly when everyone's going to decide to show up and I'd like to be ready." She said.
"Oh no worries." I said and went into the kitchen to grab another tray. The tray Ashton picked up had loads of deviled eggs, Jaylie had one with finger sandwiches. I picked up two, one with a cheese and meat tray, and another with bite size brownies. She had a couple of more trays with more meat and cheeses, cookies on another and then a tray with little wine glasses filled with champagne.
"Okay, so. I'm leaving the tray with the champagne, those I'll pass out soon when everyone arrives. There's two tables near the end of the living room, those you can put the rest of the food trays on." She told me as she grabbed the other two trays, she handed Ashton one of them and we all went to set them down on the tables nicely.
"Wow so, finger food, desserts and champagne huh? Quite fancy living I should say." Ashton joked, Jaylie smirked at him as she grabbed the remote to turn the stereo on.
"If it's one thing I've learned, is these rich folk like to come to parties on an empty stomach. But funny part is, they don't like to be full so we keep it simple yet classy." She said and held her head high to mock being a snob, we all laughed.