Jessica's Fate

Chapter 26

"He's here." Mom called down the hallway. "Are you ready?"

My eyes met Sang's. "I don't know. Am I ready?" I asked her. Gabriel had kept me facing away from the mirror the entire time he was working on my hair and makeup.

She smiled. "Almost." She reassured me as she helped me stand and motioned Gabriel to turn around while she helped me slide my dress over my head, both of us working together to make sure that everything was covered and in the right place. She moved behind me to zip me up. "Perfect."

"Yeah?" I asked softly.

"Yeah." Gabriel said before moving around in front of me and dabbing a bit of lipstick onto my lips. "reapply this as needed." He handed me a light pink shimmery gloss.

"Okay." I took it and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Are you taking a clutch purse?"

"Yes." Sang chirped and handed me a silver clutch. "Phone, some money and the lip gloss." She plucked the gloss out of my hand and tucked it into the bag before zipping it up. "Ask Zack to put it in the inside pocket of his jacket after dinner." She suggested. "I'm sure he'd be happy to keep it safe for you."

"I'm opening the door." Mom warned.

"okay." I called back.

"In a minute." Gabriel scowled at me before rushing out the door and down the hall to the entry way. "Okay, whenever you're ready." He called to me as I heard Mom greeting Zack and his answering back to her.

I looked at Sang. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do tonight." I admitted.

"Oh Jess, don't be scared. Just be yourself. That's who he likes." She said before turning me around and letting me look in the mirror. "Look at you." She murmured, peeking over my shoulder as best she could. "you're amazing."

My eyes widened in surprise and I stared at my reflection. "Wow." I breathed. My hair was up in an elaborate braided fashion but I remembered which pins Gabriel had told me could be taken out to have just a braid. There was a thin silver headband across the top of my head and a few curling ringlets had been allowed to escape and frame my head. My make-up was spotless. Pink and brown eyeshadows made my eyes stand out and the mascara applied really defined my lashes as they framed my green eyes. The lipstick applied made my lips appear as a perfect kissable pout.

"He's waiting." Sang reminded me. I barely remembered that I was wearing high heels as I turned and she let me go out the door in front of her.

"Here she is." Mom smiled. Her eyes widening slightly as she saw me. Her lips pressed together in a fine line, holding back on her comment as I could tell she wanted Zack to have the first verbal reaction.

My eyes went just behind her to meet his eyes. "Hi." I said softly.

"Wow." His blue eyes were wide as he stared at me, letting his gaze sweep my body to take in the full effect of the strapless pink dress. "You look gorgeous."

I let my eyes sweep his body as well. He cut a dashing figure in an Armani tux. "You look very handsome tonight." I said as I moved towards him, not seeing that Gabriel was scrambling to get around me so he could take some pictures.

He smiled and leaned into me, kissing my cheek. "I brought you flowers." He murmured, pulling back slightly to offer me the pale pink roses on the wrist corsage.

"They're beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you." My eyes met his as he put the corsage on my wrist.

"Thank you." I murmured.

Gabriel interjected at that point, moving us around to pose us as he took dozens of pictures of the two of us and of me with my mom and the three of us. "Meanie. I think they have a dinner reservation." Sang interrupted.

"thank you." I mouthed to her before smiling up at Zack.

"That's entirely true." He nodded.

"Have fun." Mom said, claiming me for a quick hug. "You're stunning, baby girl." She murmured in my ear before she kissed my temple. "Two am." She reminded me and I nodded. "Love you."

"Love you too." I said before giving Sang and Gabriel quick hugs and accepting the silver wrap that Gabriel insisted I take with me.

Zack opened the door for me and walked out, offering me his arm as he escorted me to the limo that was waiting. "Wow." I said, glancing at the car and then up at him. "You've gone all out."

"You deserve it." He said as a large man got out of the car and opened the back door for us. "You're worth every bit of it."

"Good Evening." The driver bowed slightly. I detected a slight Russian accent.

"Thank you." I said as I carefully got into the car and slid over slightly, making sure that my dress wasn't getting left behind.

He smiled at me and I caught the glint of silver at the corner of his lip. "You're welcome. I'm still watching you." He said to Zack before he closed the door and went around to get in the driver's seat.

"I have a bodyguard driving us?" I teased before leaning over to kiss him lightly.

"He has your best interests at heart." He said, reaching for my hand and lacing his fingers through mine as the car began to move. "You really do look amazing."

"Thank you. And you do too. It's a nice look." I reached up and fingered his lapel. "Armani?"

He nodded slightly, studying me. "It is. I was told it was an investment that I had to make." He chuckled.

"Well, by all means. Invest away." I said. "Not that I'm wishing our evening away already but, I have a 2 AM curfew tonight and Luke offered the diner to us for late night if we don't have any after Prom plans." I said. "I would just need to text him around 10 or so to let him know we want to stop by. He offered just the dining room for us alone or suggested that he and Sang could join us if we wanted more of a double date setting."

"Sounds nice. I didn't make any plans because I wasn't sure if there was going to be any parties that you wanted to go to." He said.

"I wasn't invited to any." I shrugged slightly. "But I really don't have any friends at school either so I am not expecting any invitations tonight." I settled in, leaning against him slightly.

"Then we'll figure it out and you can let him know later." He pressed a kiss to my hair. "And as long as we don't want to be driven out to the beach or anything."

"No, the diner sounds nice." I said. "It'll probably be late enough that we're hungry again and Luke makes really good pancakes."

He chuckled. "that's my girl. Always thinking about our stomachs." I laughed as he tucked me closer and we both looked out the window to catch the sights of Charleston to see if they looked any different from a Limo window.