The Truth Hurts

Chapter 34

Elise's POV

As I pace endlessly around my room, my pulse quickens as I continue to stress about my mom's work banquet tonight. I can't make my mom look bad in front of her colleagues and boss. She already has enough stress on her as it is. She's been trying to hide it these past few nights but I could tell by just looking at her messy hair and the dark circles that surround the bottoms of her eyes.

Whenever I would have to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I would always see the light from her work office spilling out from under the doorway. One night, I peaked inside just to see what she was doing. I saw her hands rubbing her eyes in frustration while she was surrounded by literally piles of papers.

I've been to banquets before, but not ones as important as this one. Even my dad took off work so he could attend the banquet tonight.

I decided that I should start to get ready: seeing that I only have an hour and thirty minutes.

Deciding that I'm going to do my hair last, I put it into a bun and grabbed all the makeup things I have in my very small collection. I decide to do a silver eyeshadow look. I release my hair from the rubber band and curled my hair into smaller curls than my natural ones.

I put on my long, two piece sparkly rose gold dress and slipped on my white heels. Although I'm satisfied with my look, the smile I give myself as I look in the mirror isn't a happy one. I always mess things up. The situation with Daniel is a pretty good example of that.

I walk towards my banister and there lay the two bracelets. The friendship one and the one with the locket. I let out a sigh and put the friendship bracelet back onto my wrist. My hand hesitates as it hovers over the bracelet with the locket. Should I put it on?

I open the locket to reveal the picture from the zoo. A warm tear rolls down my cheek at the same time as I feel my heart crack. It's the same feeling I get whenever I see the bracelet. I inhale a deep breath and decide that I'm going to wear it.

At the same moment I clasped it onto my wrist, a knock sounds from outside of my door.

"Come in" I say, granting entrance to whoever is outside of my door.

The door opens slowly. Almost like the person is unsure or scared to enter. Furrowing my eyebrows, I turn away from my banister, only to see Daniel. I take in his appearance as he stands nervously in my doorway. He's wearing a black and white tuxedo with his hair nicely groomed. My eyes venture down towards his hands that were grasping a plastic case.

He continues to stand in the doorway unsure of his actions. And that's when I realize he's trying to make sure that I'm fine with him coming. I inwardly smile at the thought.

"You can come in" I say.

He looks taken aback but smiles anyway. After closing the door behind him, he walks towards me with the plastic container in his hands. Anxiety starts to kick in, making me back away.

"It's just a corsage" He's quick to assure. "I'm not going to hurt you...I promise" he adds.

My breathing slows as I take uneasy steps toward him. I look into his eyes to see if his facial expressions altered. Even if it's just the slightest bit. But they didn't.

He opens the plastic container and takes out the most beautiful courage I've ever seen. He holds his hand out about to grab my hand but stops midway and locks his gaze onto mine.

"May I?" He asks.

My eyes widen at his gesture. The corsage is for me? Why? And it's then I realize that since both our Moms work together, he has to come along too. But that still doesn't explain why he's giving me a corsage.