Hopelessly Falling [book 2]

Chapter Nineteen

XIX
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** Layla's POV **

It had been a day or two after Crystal and Ashton left to go back to their colleges, and I was forced to go back to my dumb high school. I had "friends", but they were less like friends and more like in-school acquaintances. I'd never really done much with them outside of school, and because of this my life was pretty boring on a daily basis, if we were being honest.

I'd go for runs every other day to cancel out all the junk food me and Jake ate, and I'd do my homework every night since I didn't have much else to do anyway. I hadn't even been on a date with a boy since Justin and, well, that was a while ago.

My 18th birthday was coming up soon this year and I was afraid that I would actually be spending it alone with Jake eating a lame birthday cake from Stop and Shop.

So when I got the invite by Eli's mom to come to their family-party-slash-charity-event I could not have been more excited. I imagined the event to be like all the ones I had seen in TV shows, where rich people host the gatherings to make themselves look super charitable and prestigious.

After hanging up with her on the phone, I immediately picked up my cellphone and called Eli.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Guess who is going to your family-party-slash-charity-event thing?!" I said excitedly, and he sighed.

"Did they rope you into that, too?" He asked, and I chuckled.

"No, Mr. Buzzkill. Your mom said there was an extra spot and offered it to me and I happily accepted," I told him, stirring the cheese into my macaroni.

"Well, just so you know, it's boring as hell and everyone there is only interested in either your business or physical appearance," he told me, utterly unimpressed.

"Well as a wise woman once said, 'life's what you make it, so let's make it rock'," I responded.

"Who said that?"

"Hannah Montana- duh, the fuck?" I replied, not understanding how he could have possibly not understood that reference. I heard him chuckle.

"Maybe it'll be a little bit less terrible if you're there," he said, and my heart fluttered a little.

"I do tend to bring some fun into otherwise anticlimactic situations," I said, and then all of a sudden I let out a huge gasp, realizing something incredibly important.

"You good?" He asked, hearing my reaction.

"What am I going to wear?! I don't have like any nice clothes and I don't know anyone I can borrow any from," I ranted. "I mean Crystal brought all her nice stuff to college with her and I barely have any friends-"

"Hey hey hey," he chuckled, settling me down. "Do you wanna go shopping?" He asked, and I paused.

"I've never had a guy ask me to go shopping before," I said, "I mean, I'd love to but the problem is that I'm, well, how shall I word it.. broke as hell. So we might need a different plan.. Maybe I just won't go- I mean it's tonight."

"Don't be ridiculous," he cut me off, "I can buy you a stupid dress," he said like it was no big deal. I paused for a few moments, not knowing how to respond. I figured though that if he offered it, I might as well take him up on it. If he hadn't actually meant the offer then it would teach him a lesson about fake offers, anyway.