The Significance of Orange Juice

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

I span in front of the mirror, trying to admire the dress from all directions. Olivia had seriously outdone herself this year. The pale blue fabric clung slightly to my body as I moved, but not enough to be awkward. And most importantly, the sleeveless dress did nothing to hide the tattoo that adorned my wrist. It was perfect for me. I turned around to congratulate Livvy, only to realise that she was at serious risk of her head exploding from self-praise as it was.

“First, I would like to thank my mother for supporting me for all these years,” Olivia murmured under her breath as she appraised me once more.

I raised an eyebrow. “Do I want to know what you’re doing?” I asked.

“Practicing my acceptance speech.” She admitted casually, apparently unaware that her action was out of the norm at all. “I’ve created a masterpiece, it’s only natural that I need to be prepared to accept an award at any time.”

 I narrowed my eyes at her, but Olivia returned my suspicion with an innocent smile. Eventually, I surrendered, tearing my gaze away from her deviously innocent blue eyes. “You look fantastic too.” I admitted, gesturing towards the floor length lavender dress that Olivia was wearing. She smiled wickedly back at me, and for the briefest instance, I worried for the chastity of any man attending the dinner. I sighed internally and promised myself to keep an eye on her as much as possible. Knowing Livvy, she would try to prove she was over Alex by showing how little she needed. And I also knew that she would regret it intensely in the morning. Despite all her posturing, she still wasn’t over Alex. I wonder if they’ll get back together, I pondered absent-mindedly. They’d broken up because Olivia had been so unwilling to commit, but then again, she missed him so much more than I expected.

A knock on the door derailed my train of thought and I rushed downstairs to answer the door. My parents had already left in order to greet the guests, but knowing that Jay was so close was enough to spark the excitement building in my stomach and I practically threw myself into his arms. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me tight into his chest as I pecked him on the cheek.

There was a cough from behind us. “Hello, single girl here. Let’s not go over the top on the romance, okay?”

I slid down from Jay’s grip slightly shamefaced but still grinning broadly. Anxiety had been gnawing away at my insides but with Jay’s appearance all that had disappeared. “Are you ready?” Jay asked, but the intense look in his eyes confirmed that Jay was thinking about more than just whether or not we’d finished getting dressed. I nodded silently, the smile slipping from my face slightly.

Jay and I had had several talks since the date to the pier. I’d told him about wanting to study art over law, about wanting to finally tell my parents that we were dating. In return, he apologised again for overreacting and promised to support whatever I decided, so long as I was certain that it was purely my decision and nobody else’s. In the end, we had decided that Jay’s initial idea was the best. I was going to have to confront my parents at the dinner. The few times that I’d tried to raise the topic in the meantime, I had been completely shut down by either or both of my parents as they dismissed my comments as nearly irrelevant. It was like they heard the words that they wanted to hear spewing from my mouth – my actual words got hopelessly lost in the process. By confronting them at the fundraiser, I was forcing my parents to acknowledge my decision. There would be nowhere for them to run to.

 Hand in hand, Jay and I walked out to the car, Olivia following close behind us, muttering to herself about remembering to reapply her lip gloss. And we were still hand in hand as Jay pulled up behind the assembly hall and we pushed through the crowds of wealthy businessmen and into the hall.