It All Started With A Dare

Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty
I wake up an hour before we have to leave for the party. This doesn't leave me much time to shower and get dressed. I have never gotten ready so fast in my entire life. I hop into the shower and manage to scrub off all of the paint. Thankfully, I had laid out my clothes the night before.
Momma had picked out a baby blue, halter top dress for me to wear. She wants me to put my hair in a bun with white flowers but, by the time I dry my hair and pin it up, it looks like a lump. Allyson ends up having to fix it for me. I manage to make us thirty minutes late to our own party.

Allyson and Lucas obviously go as a couple, the two of them sitting next to each other. For sake of convenience, Vikki and Eliot go together, strictly platonic. And then, of course, Natalie comes with Evan. The two seem very much in love. I come alone and beside me is an empty seat. Momma and Sierra sit at the end of the table. Lucas and I sit on either side of them. At the other end of the table was Jacqueline, Isaac, Everly, and Henry. Caleb doesn't show up.

There are numerous other tables lined up in the room. They all contain friends and family of both brides.

I tried my best to put on a smile. It was my mother's engagement party after all. I just had to push the thoughts of Caleb away.

Music blasts through the room as everyone dances in the center of the floor. I remain sitting at the table, not feeling up to dancing. It is exhausting just pretending that I am having fun. It's hard to have fun when the empty chair beside you is a reminder of your mistakes.
All of my friends have made numerous attempts to get me to dance. I'm sure they could tell I was upset, no matter how hard I try to hide it. I dance with Eliot for one song but that is all the energy I can muster. Right now, a slow song is playing. All the couples are out on the floor and so I am sitting at an empty table, alone.
I attempt to fold a paper napkin into an origami swan. It crumples up and collapses. I sigh and toss it to the side, grabbing another napkin to try again. Sierra takes a seat next to me. I give her a weak smile. "So what are you doing here all alone instead of being out there with your friends?" She questions me.

Sierra is like a second mother to me. She has always been there for me since I was a kid, even when she moved away. I tell her everything, including the things I can't tell my actual mother. I am excited for her to become my stepmother. "My feet hurt, I don't really feel like dancing,"

She narrows her eyes at me. I know she doesn't believe me. "This doesn't have anything to do with the empty seat that you've been staring at this entire time, does it?"

I stare at her, "How did you know?" I sigh.

"I've known you since you were little. You're forgetting I was a teenage girl once, I know that heartbroken look anywhere. So tell me what happened?"

I sigh, there is no point in arguing. I tell her everything. I try to sum it down to only a few sentences but it is kind of difficult when there is so much information.

Sierra takes in every word with deep consideration. After I finish the story, she waits a moment before speaking, "Well, then what are you doing here?"

I blink, hard, "What?"

Sierra shrugs, "Why are you still here? Go after your man. It's obvious you didn't do anything wrong. If he won't come to you, go to him,"

"It's my mother's engagement party, I can't just leave," I glance to where Mamma is talking to Lucas. Her eyes sparkle as she laughs.

"It's also mine and I'm giving you permission to leave,"

I take in a deep breath, "You're really okay with this?"

"Okay with it? I'm not letting you back in here without that boy," she jokes.