Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley (28 page)

She waved her hand dismissively. "It's perfect for you, Ellie," she replied, smiling at me before turning to the mirror and linking her arm through mine. "We're gonna own that school dance."

I laughed and rolled my eyes at her. How people liked me more than her in the school I'll never know. I guess to some people Stacey could be a little harsh from the outside, she spoke her feelings and was never afraid to tell people no. Me on the other hand, I was a people pleaser. I usually went out of my way to so that I didn't hurt anyone and made everyone happy - couple that on top of the fact that Mark Barrington had chosen me. I guess people gravitated to me because of that too.

"What's the time?" I asked, turning her wrist over to look at the watch bracelet she was wearing. It was almost eight; Jamie and Paul would be here any second.

"Time to go wait downstairs," she replied, tugging me from the room, grabbing our little clutch purses on the way out.

Literally as we got to the top step the doorbell rang. My mom immediately shouted for my dad to answer it. I heard him grumble something under his breath as he stomped into the hallway. He stopped as he spotted us standing at the top of the stairs, his eyes widened and his mouth twitched with a smile.

"Wow, you two look beautiful," he stated, flicking his eyes to both of us in turn.

Stacey laughed and just nodded while I frowned and tried not to squirm because he was seeing a dress that I'd made myself - not that he knew that of course. "Thank you, Michael," Stacey purred.

I sighed and shook my head, squeezing her arm a little tighter. She always did have an 'old man crush' on my dad, it was gross.

My dad smiled up at me and I couldn't help but smile back because of how proud he looked. "I need to find my camera," he said, heading over to the sideboard and rummaging through the top drawer looking for it.

The doorbell rang again and he frowned, looking over his shoulder at it. "Maybe you should get the door first, Dad?" I suggested, laughing as we headed down the stairs to him.

He nodded and walked to the door. I heard Jamie's voice and my stomach immediately tingled in anticipation of seeing him in his suit. I was going to be the envy of every girl in the school today when I walked in on his arm. Jamie was incredibly handsome, all the girls agreed that from meeting him at parties and such, but he had something even better than his looks. He was just a beautiful person inside. So thoughtful and selfless, he was incredible. I was going to have serious heartache when he broke it off with me tonight. I was in no way good enough for Jamie Cole and everyone seemed to know it but him.

"You'll have her home by midnight, right?" my dad said sternly from behind me.

"Absolutely, Michael. You can trust me with Ellie, you know that," Jamie answered.

I felt the smile creep onto my face as their voices approached. I turned and waited. As soon as he stepped round the corner I resisted the urge to swoon out loud and settled on a mental one instead.

The black tux fitted him perfectly, showing off his strong broad shoulders, tapering in at his toned waist. His gaze settled on me and I saw his eyes widen as his lips popped open in what seemed like shock. I tried not to squirm as his big brown eyes slowly glided down my body, seeming to take in every inch of me before his eyes met mine again and a beautiful smile stretched across his face.

"Shit….. wow," he breathed.

My dad punched him in the arm as he laughed. "No cussing," he scolded playfully, while Jamie just laughed sheepishly, his eyes not leaving me for a second.

"Hi," I whispered nervously.

He swallowed loudly and stepped closer to me. His eyes seemed to trap me as he grinned happily; I couldn't look away from him as I prayed with every bone in my body that he wouldn't break it off with me. I was totally crazy about this boy, and Stacey was right - he did scare me. He scared me because I didn't want our relationship to end up like mine and Mark's did, I didn’t want him to change like Mark did. I was definitely falling for Jamie, and falling hard too. When he did break it off with me, I was going to be crushed.

His hand reached out and caught one of my curls; he rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger gently before stroking the back of one finger across my cheek. He had a little awed expression on his face as he looked at me. I memorised his face as it looked right now, I wanted to be able to picture this moment perfectly so that when it ended and he never looked at me like that again, I could still picture it.

His smell enveloped me, the scent that made the hair my arms stand up - it was indescribable, it was purely just Jamie, and I loved it. "Ellie, you look….. so beautiful," he said quietly so that no one else would be able to hear him. His smile showed me the truth to his words and I felt my face heat up because of the intense way he was looking at me. "This dress, it's incredible. You just look….. wow," he continued.

I smiled, forcing myself to look away from his eyes. "This old thing?" I joked, rolling my eyes as I played with the skirt of the dress.

He grinned and stepped closer to me, his chest almost touching mine. "You know you could wear anything and still make my hands sweat," he replied, cocking his head to the side so I would meet his gaze again.

I chewed on my lip as I raised one hand and stroked the lapel of his jacket. "You look wow too," I admitted.

"This old thing?" he joked, winking at me. I laughed and he brought his hand from his side, holding out a little plastic box containing a white and green corsage. "Got you this."

"Aww, Jamie, that's adorable," I murmured. The thing was beautiful and I smiled at him gratefully as I took the box, popping it open and gingerly taking out the little flower bracelet.

He smiled and took it from my hand, helping me put it on. As I looked back up at him he bent down and captured my lips in a sweet kiss that made me sigh in contentment. I'd never had a boy treat me with so much kindness and adoration before. Mark was never romantic like this, if I was going to the dance with him tonight he would have turned up and smiled a 'hey, you ready to go?' before nodding at the door. He wouldn't have looked at me the soft and gentle way that Jamie was right now.

"Any time this week would be great, guys."

I jumped a little when I suddenly remembered that we weren't on our own in the hallway, my dad, Stacey and Paul were standing there too, all looking at us expectantly. Stacey was giving me an 'I told you so' face that I rolled my eyes at.

I nodded. "I'm ready," I agreed.

Jamie's arm slipped around my waist, pulling me closer to him as he turned for the door. "You have your dancing shoes on?" he asked, grinning at me.

I raised one eyebrow as I pulled up the skirt slightly and lifted one foot from the floor so he could see the black, open toed stiletto shoes I was wearing tonight. "Yep," I confirmed, smirking at him as his eyes widened and his fingers dug into my waist a little. He definitely had a thing for heels.

"Oh yeah, those are nice," he growled, swallowing loudly.

I smiled and let the dress drop back down again, pulling out of his arms and heading over to my dad, kissing his cheek. "Bye, Daddy. Don't wait up for me, I have a key," I stated. That way I could sneak Jamie in with me tonight.....

"Let me get a photo before you go," he said quickly, grabbing the camera from the drawer and fiddling with it.

I stepped back to Jamie's side, leaning into him, both of us smiling as the camera clicked and clicked, then we had to pose for group ones too. Finally, my dad seemed to be satisfied that he'd taken enough, so we were allowed to leave.

Paul was driving tonight and had borrowed his dad's Jaguar, so we were riding in style to the dance.

I sat in the back with Jamie; his hand took mine on the way there, rubbing circles into the back of my hand as we chatted about the dance. I already knew that he was nervous about coming with me tonight, I was pretty sure he'd gotten it into his head that this was a posh party with old fashioned string quartet or something. I think he was going to be pleasantly surprised tonight.

When we pulled up and headed into the school gym, he laughed. The place had been decorated with streamers and balloons, food laid out, the normal lights were off with little fairy lights covering the ceiling instead. A local band were already set up and playing their warm up songs. People were already dancing to a cover of Rhianna's We Found Love.

I turned to Jamie and grinned, pulling him into the gym, smiling proudly as a couple of girls immediately started checking him out. A junior who must have been invited by one of the seniors, actually gaped at him with wide eyes.

"Drink, Stud?" I offered, nodding towards the drinks table. "The punch will already be spiked I would imagine, so if you want alcohol then I'd go for that."

A small frown lined his forehead. "I don't want an alcoholic drink tonight, you can though if you want," he offered, following me over to the table.

I shook my head and grabbed two cans of coke and two plastic cups. "Nah, I don't want to be too drunk to take you out of your suit," I teased, raising one eyebrow suggestively.

His frown was back again as he smiled apologetically. "I actually won't be staying at yours tonight," he replied, taking my can and opening it for me, pouring it into the cup.

I resisted the urge to pout as I took in what he'd said. I couldn't stay at his tonight because my parents would then know I was there, it would be too obvious if I went to the dance with Jamie and then didn't come home - they wouldn't have to be geniuses to know that I'd gone home with him. So instead I was staying at home, but I was hoping to be able to sneak him in with me tonight. He could just leave after my parents went to visit my nanna, like he used to in the old days before he moved into his new place.

"Why not?" I asked. I already knew the answer to that question - he wasn't planning on staying at mine because he was planning on breaking it off with me instead. I had a feeling it would happen as soon as the dance was over. I think he was being the gentleman and waiting until after the dance so that I would still have someone to go with or something. It really wasn't Jamie's style to leave a girl stranded, and since he'd committed to coming with me then he probably didn't want to break his promise. I gulped a few times, trying desperately not to cry about it.

He shrugged. "I can't sneak into your place, your dad will know. He likes me, I don't want to ruin that by betraying his trust," he answered, not looking at me. I knew he was lying, his voice sounded uncomfortable and nervous.

I decided not to push it, I needed to have some dignity and remember that I wasn't good enough for him. I'd had a great couple of months with him and I wouldn't have changed my time with him for the world. I decided then and there to just not dwell on it and ruin my last night with him. I'd just forget that my time with him was limited and make this night fun for us both.

"Well in that case, I'm having the punch," I stated, not taking the glass of coke that he offered me.

Instead I ladled a spoon of the punch into an empty cup, downing the contents before making another. The alcohol burnt my throat a little but I welcomed it so that I would have something else to think about other than the fact that I was probably going to wake up single.

Jamie smiled and bent forward kissing my cheek softly. "Let's get this party stared then," he whispered, smiling and tugging me towards the dance floor. I grinned and followed behind him eagerly.

Two hours later and I was overly tipsy already. I wasn't quite slurring my words, but everything that people were saying around me was making me laugh and I was pretty sure that Principal Robertson wasn't actually funny, so that must have been the alcohol……

Jamie steered me towards and empty table and pulled out a chair for me to sit on but I wasn't having any of that, instead I pushed him into the chair and plopped myself into his lap, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"You know, you look mighty fine in your tux. Kinda like James Bond," I purred, playing with the collar of his shirt.

He laughed. "But without the sexy British accent?" he teased, shifting me on his lap and getting more comfortable as I tucked my face into the side of his neck, breathing him in.

"If you had a British accent I would have to screw you right now in front of the teachers, so it's pretty lucky you don't," I countered, giggling.

He laughed and kissed the top of my head. "I could totally pull off the accent," he joked. "Well, 'ello there, Miss. Would you like some crisps and biscuits?" he asked, sounding like the guy from Mary Poppins instead of James Bond.

I burst out laughing and pulled back to look at him. He was grinning happily as he winked at me.

"Sexy," I confirmed, nodding, still laughing.

His cell phone rang for what had to be the millionth time and he sighed as he pulled it out of his pocket, disconnecting the call and tapping in a text instead. I frowned and moved onto my own chair, downing the last of my drink, trying not to glare at his phone that seemed to be getting more attention than me tonight. So much for making the most of my last night with him. I was seriously contemplating stealing his phone and accidently dropping it or something so the damn thing would stop going off. It beeped again and he sighed before sending another message again, frowning angrily at his screen.

"I'm going to dance," I mumbled, pushing myself up from the chair.

He looked at me and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I'll be right there, okay?"

I nodded and tried not to huff as I headed over to where a group of my more fake friends were dancing. I joined in with them, discreetly keeping my eyes on Jamie. He was talking on the phone now, he looked a little angry as he spoke but I couldn't hear what he was saying. He kept looking at his watch and waving his hand around as he spoke, he looked like he was having an argument with someone or something.

"Ellie?"

I turned back around, only to find Mark was standing next to me, smiling. I tried not to groan.

Things between us were beyond awkward still. It had been ten weeks since the night we'd broken up and he still hadn't given up on us. He'd been sleeping around from what I could make out, he seemed like he went home with a different girl every week after the game, but he still asked me all the time for another chance. I was bored of it already.