Chapter 15

Ace left after staying a few more hours, watching the movie in comfortable silence and eating the pizza we'd ordered. To be honest, I had a lot of fun, with him passing snide remarks every now and then about the movie, and me smacking him on the arm every time he did so.

Right now, I was bored out of my mind because Beth wouldn't listen to me when I told her we'd watch something other than the scary movies she picked out after paranormal activity ended.

She was dead set on watching the next two movies of paranormal activity. "Com'on Beth!" I groaned in annoyance, trying to convince her to watch something else before she put the movie in.

"Nope!" she chirped happily, picking the remote to start the movie. I huffed in defeat and slumped my head down on the arm rest. "Hmm..I think...."

I sat up quickly, staring at her hopefully. "You think...?" I urged her on. Say you think you wanna watch something else. Pleasepleaseplea--

"I'll give you two options," she told me, a smug expression on her face.

Uh-oh. This can't be good. I narrowed my eyes warily. "I already know the first option is watching this horrible piece of crap. What's the other?"

Beth shot me a glare. "Just because you're a scaredy-cat, doesn't mean that this awesome movie should be a piece of crap."

"Yeah, whatever. Other option?" I waved my hand dismissively.

Now, a grin broke into her face. "There's this party-"

"Nope! Nope nope nope. I'm staying with the first option," I quickly cut her off, snatching the remote from her and turning the movie on.

"Ellie-"

"Nope"

"Listen to me-"

"Nope"

"Stop cutting me o-"

"Nope"

"You listen to me, and listen to me well," This time, I couldn't cut her off, because before I could even open my mouth, Beth came over to me and slapped her hand over my mouth.

"I know all the people in this party Ellie, it's going to be really fun! We're not going to be left out or anything, if that's what you're worrying about," she pleaded with me, giving me that puppy-dog look.

I slapped her hand away from my mouth, shooting a glare at her. "You know I hate parties!" I said angrily. Beth flinched at the harshness of my voice. I took a breath in, trying to calm down. "Sorry. I didn't mean it to come out so harshly," I apologized quietly.

"It's okay Ellie. In fact, I should be the one apologizing. I mean, I've known how much you hated parties since....you know...Luke. Well, anyway, I shouldn't force you like that," she said with remorse. "I mean, um, I really wanted to go to the party...but your brothers....I promised them I'd stay with you, so I can't leave unless you come."

Now I knew exactly what she was doing. She was playing the guilt-card. And believe me, it was working, even though I knew what she was doing. "Beth...you know exactly why I don't like parties. In fact, you just mentioned it yourself!"

"I know," she shrugged. "That's why I said sorry. 'Cuz I'm here to kind of watch over you for your brothers, and I can't leave you alone. I just suggested it because I wanted to go."

I groaned and shut my eyes tight. Rubbing my temple with my forefinger and thumb, I opened my eyes and stared at Beth for a moment. She raised an eyebrow at me. "What? I'm sure I don't have anything on my face."

A few seconds passed.

I sighed. "Okay"

"Okay?"

"Yeah"

"Elaborate?" Beth threw up her hands in frustration.

"We can go to the party." I swear two full minutes passed before Beth realized what I actually said.

"No way. This is not you. Are you possessed? I think you really shouldn't have watched Paranormal Activity. They possessed you, didn't they?"

"Shut up before I reconsider my answer," I muttered grumpily.

"You're actually serious. Oh my God! Thankyou thankyou thank you!" she pulled me into a tight hug, and after she let go, she danced around the room, jumping up and down in excitement.

I rolled my eyes. "Stop being dramatic Beth, and unless you wanna miss the party, let's go and look for what to wear."

"Oh, this is going to be fun!" she squealed before running up the stairs to my room with me following after her.

************************

"What about this?" Beth held up another one of my short dresses that came up a little higher than mid-thigh.

"Beth. No." It was getting quite annoying now, with her taking out every short dress she saw, and me saying 'no' to each and every one of them.

"But you'll look great El! Like, everyone's eyes are going to be on you-"

"Exactly! I don't want any attention on myself. I'm only coming because you can't leave me alone, not because I want to go, so unless you want me to change my mind..." I finished grumpily, tossing the blue dress on the floor.

"I get it, I get it! Okay, so what are you going to wear?" she asked. She'd already found a dress for herself ten minutes ago.

"Hmmm..." I tossed away a few more clothes from my bed and onto the floor. Beth had literally dumped the whole closet onto my bed searching for the 'perfect' outfit for herself.

A sparkly black material caught my eye. I pulled it out, revealing a beautiful knee-length flare skirt, which sparkled in the rays of the light in my room. "Perfect," I muttered under my breath.

"Hey Beth, look for a plain black shirt for me will ya?" after a pause, I added, "Or white. If you can find either one of them."

She looked up at me from a pile of clothes, her eyes widening as she took in the skirt I held in my hands. "Oh God, that's perfect! How did I not see it before?!" she gushed, bending over on the other side of the bed, only to come back up with a plain white shirt in her hand.

"Here you go! Although, I think it's a little too simple," she frowned. It only lasted a second before her expression turned into one of excitement. "Oh, I know what to do!" She jumped up and ran over to my closet, fumbling for a while through the hangers.

I left her to search for whatever she wanted and headed to the bathroom. Closing the door behind me, I undressed quickly, slipping into the shirt and skirt. I admired the way my skirt swayed into small waves as I walked around in it.

"Ellie, let me in!"

I unlocked the door and Beth rushed in with her dress in one hand and a black leather jacket in the other.

"I don't think that jacket will look good with the blue dress," I told her honestly. She gave me a blank look.

"I appreciate your bluntness, but this jacket's for you, not me," she tossed the jacket to me, and I caught it (barely). Frowning, I put it on and zipped it up. I turned to look into the mirror, examining myself from every angle.

"Are you sure about this? I look like a goth."

"Oh my God Ellie, what am I going to do with you?" she walked over to me with a scowl on her face, and reaching out to me, she unzipped the jacket, spreading it open on the sides, so the white shirt could be seen. "This, is how you do it. Now you won't look like a goth."

I flushed at her comment. "I knew that...you need to get ready if you wanna get there on time," I changed the subject, noticing that she hadn't even changed yet.

"Nope, not until you're ready," she grinned at me.

"I am ready," I raised my eyebrow at her.

"No you're not. I still have to do your hair and your makeup," she replied.

"No! I hate makeup! You can't force me to wear makeup as well as go to the party! I'll change back to my pyjamas if you do anything as come close to me with any kind of makeup!" I threatened her, a scowl making its way onto my face. I've been doing that a lot, lately.

"Oh com'on please! Umm...okay, how about only a light layer of mascara and some lip gloss? That's not a lot," she quickly added, "Plus it's cold out there, your lips are going to get chapped pretty quickly". She did have a point there...But-

"Just a little bit of mascara. Please?" she repeated hopefully.

"Fine!" I gave in with a heavy sigh. "Can't I leave my hair straight?"

"Nah, it's always straight, so I'm gonna curl it for you," she smiled brightly at the thought.

It took about forty-five minutes for us to fully get ready, with me having to do her hair and makeup, and vice versa. I could say that I actually looked really pretty today, what with all the perfect curls, and light mascara. Beth, on the other hand, looked absolutely gorgeous.

She had a baby blue dress on, that stopped mid-thigh, with swirling designs created from extra material wrapped around the dress, that was held together by thick spaghetti straps. Her hair was completely straight, coming a little below her waist, now that it was straight. She hadn't really done much makeup, just light shades of blue for her eyes, and a little bit of blush for her cheeks.

"You look absolutely gorgeous Beth!" I squealed at her happily.

"And you look absolutely sexy Ellie!" she squealed with as much excitement as I had. Mine vanished almost as soon, replacing it with embarrassment.

"N-no! I mean, don't say it like that!" I turned away from her, my neck heating up even more as she let out a humorous chuckle.

"How do you want me to say it then?" she asked, grinning in amusement.

"Don't say it at all. Com'on let's go, we'll be late," I quickly changed the subject, but before I could leave the room, Beth grabbed my arm and stopped me abruptly.

"I have a feeling I'm going to be pretty wasted today," she told me honestly. "That's why I asked someone to come to the party with us so he could look after you," she grinned cheekily.

"I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself, thank you very-- Wait. Did you say he?" I looked at her in bewilderment, wondering if I'd heard her wrong or if she'd actually said what I heard.

"Yep. And Oh my God, he was so hard to persuade! Not harder than you though. I just told him that you'll be alone in the party full of horny teenage boys, and just like this," she clicked her fingers, "he was ready to come with us."

I stared at her in disbelief. "I swear, if it's one of my brothers-"

"Are you crazy?! They'd chop my head off if I tell them that. You're not really as smart as you look, you know," she shook her head disbelievingly.

"Whatever. Who is it?" I asked impatiently.

"It's Ace, of course!" she threw up her hands in exasperation.

Woah, where did that come from? I certainly wasn't expecting her to say Ace. Ace, of all people! How the hell did Beth even manage to convince him to come to the party? Oh right, with that stupid sentence about some horny boys. And she said that he'd agreed instantly when she mentioned me being alone.

A warm feeling grew in my chest at that simple thought. Ace had agreed to come because of me. Get a hold of yourself stupid. He's just looking after you, that's all. Still, I couldn't shake that warm feeling off of me.

"Um...is he coming to pick us up...? Or do we just walk out..?" I asked uncomfortably.

Beth didn't need to answer, as I got it from the clarion sound of the doorbell.