Empty Handed

The Ball (Chapter Thirteen)

Dedicated to MrsCSJackson and --purplestar

Songs of The Chapter:
○ Empty Pack of Cigarettes by Joseph Angel
○ Falling For You by The 1975

MATT
The day of the ball came and boy, the house was filled with people working to get us ready for the event. Scott and I had donned our $2000 Versace suits and had nothing else to do but wait for Lea to get ready so we'd leave together as she initially planned. I ran my hand through my hair which was slicked back in a classic style with gel. The hair stylist, a man who was of French descent, turned and saw me. His eyes screamed at me as he walked to me.

"You're not supposed to put your hand in it!" He started fixing my hair. I don't think he likes me very much.

"Sorry." He handed me a wipe, which I cleaned my gel-filled hand with.

Lea walked in confidently, wearing a flowing velvet Ralph Lauren SS19 dress. Lol. I've become used to fashion terms and designers. The dress was strapless, showing her flawless skin. Her collarbones glowed as she passed underneath the chandelier. The dress was mostly green but, as she walked, I could see a wine and a yellowish white colour too on the dress. Also, I discovered a very scandalous slit in the dress which would be non-existent the moment she stops walking. Her hair was put up in a polished high bun with a braided wrap, gemstones peeking out in different places. She finished the look with a pair of tear-shaped emerald earrings and a nude lipstick. The rest of her make-up was kept to a minimum which only showed how naturally beautiful she is. She looked beyond stunning! Her team followed closely behind, watching her every single step.

"Oh hey guys! Matt, OMG you look adorable!" She beamed at me.

"You look amazing Lea. I... wow. You look great."

"Mom! I'm dying for some attention over here. Haha." Scott rolled his eyes and smiled, showing he was joking.

"You look good too baby." She smoothened Scott's suit.

"Oh um and I invited Adam so he should be here in a couple of minutes." Oh dear.

"Scott, you know the usual. Keep your credit card, some cash and a powerbank with you. Call me if you decide to go home or if anything happens. Oh and I'll be riding solo in the limo. No boys allowed." She smirked and walked away but not before giving us a hug.

"Well, let's go." Scott held my hand and began walking to the underground parking lot.

"Go? What about Adam?" I said, still following him.

"I don't see him around, do ya?" He winked.

I noticed that a chaffeur was following us around, probably waiting for instructions. We stopped in front of a white Maserati Quattroporte.

"We're taking this one." Scott said mostly to himself but loud enough for the man to hear. The man looked taken aback.

"If you would come this way sir. Your mother has already made arrangements for transport." A Russian accent? Now, that's nice. We followed him as he walked to a sleek, black limousine. He opened the door for us and we slid in.

The drive to the ball was nothing spectacular. It included me receiving glances and smiles from Scott, which made me blush more than I would like to admit. It kept going normally, up until...

"Hey umm, so, I wanted to give you something all day, but I didn't get the chance. Since it's here with me, I'll just give you now." Scott fiddled with his fingers.

He picked up a gift bag that I didn't even notice was almost next to my seat and gave it to me. Smiling curiously, I put my hand in it and brought out a silver-coloured iPhone 7. He was smiling slightly when I looked at him.

"I loaded it up with a few songs. Hope you don't mind?" I hugged him immediately.

"Thank you Scott. I love it. How did you get the time to buy it?"

In like five seconds, we got to the event centre and my jaw dropped.

"What happened to this not being a stuck up, wear only black kinda event?!" I glanced around and - Jesus Christ! I think I just saw Olivier Rousteing of Balmain. I also spotted Lea with Ralph-freaking-Lauren by her side. I think I'm gonna faint. This is clearly not my scene.

Before I knew it, the door of the limo was opened, leaving me feeling very naked and very mediocre. I just wanted to crawl into a hole.

"You're gonna be fine, Matt. I'll be with you through the night." I'm sure my eyes were as wide as saucers when I got down from the limo and the paparazzi were all in my face. Lights flashing everywhere and questions being thrown carelessly.

"Who's the pretty boy, Scott?" A man with a video camera asked.

"How about a photo together?" A woman with a Nikon camera, which was already going off like crazy, requested.

"Stay still for one moment!" This particular man kept running all around us taking pictures or whatever.

"Scott!"

"When will you go back to training, Scott?"

"Have you ended your career?"

Scott didnt utter a word as we made our way to the entrance and got to the red carpet area.

"I don't suppose you'd want to take pictures on the red carpet." Scott said as he cocked his head to one side.

"No shit, Sherlock! Let's just go in, please."

Going in was the most beautiful decision I'd made that evening. The whole place was beautifully decorated and everything had a magical feel to it.

A man dressed to the nines with a seating chart in his hands, walked to us and gave us directions on where to sit which was second row, in the middle. We sat on the same table as Simone Biles, Danell Leyva and some other guests who I'm sure were pretty important people.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the dream ball." The MC, who was wearing a bedazzled black suit and had a killer smile, spoke into the microphone on the stage. I unlocked my new phone, feeling a little bored and decided to just go around the phone to get used to it. I found myself in the photo gallery where I saw a photo of Scott standing in the apple store, giving his best smile to the camera. That made me smile a little.

What I didn't expect though, was to see Adam stomping towards us with a furious expression and murmuring "sorry" and "excuse me" to people who he had to pass through to get to Scott and I.

A/N: Whew!! So, I'm slowly but finally getting over my writer's block. Please vote and comment. ❤