Severing Ties (Book 2. Ties)

7. Ironic Situations

It was a cold Friday in November when I had to go with Joy, Peter, and Ezra to Raven's formal engagement party. I had begged my mom to go with me, but she said she was not up to it. She told me to ask Stephanie to go instead, so I did. My mom was never up to going out. She worked for most of the day, and then we would have dinner in the evening with Stephanie's family. That was the only 'going out' she did; we would either go to their place or they would come to ours, but regardless we would eat together.

So it was set I was to take Stephanie with me to the engagement party. I let her borrow one of my cocktail dresses which she swooned about like a little girl. My mom had done a good job about hiring someone to pack all of our things and fly them over to New York from our old house in Texas back when we officially moved out of my dad's house. So I had all types of clothes that I could ever need.

Stephanie was wearing my burgundy dress that reached the top of her knee and flowed loose from the waist down. I had helped her pull up her hair in a low bun at the back of her neck where it met the dress's tie. The dress had black sheer fabric over the burgundy, so it gave the dress extra oomph which was so Stephanie. I settled for a plain and strapless black taffeta dress that had nothing but a lace belt at the waist.

I was not in the greatest of moods for some reason, so I did Stephanie's hair and makeup so there would be less talking. Any time that I as so much as breathed on her hair, her eyes started drooping; since I was not in a talking mood, my goal was to keep her sleepy and silent. I did not work too hard on my own makeup which only consisted of powder and mascara. My hair was left in its natural straightness. I was all about plainness and boring that day; I did not want to draw any attention to myself whatsoever.

We finished preparing ourselves for the evening and were picked up around six. We sat in the back seat with Ezra whose eyes bulged out of his sockets when he had a good look at Stephanie. I did good with her. I smirked to myself with satisfaction. It was not like Ezra had never met Stephanie before; I had taken her over to my aunt's house a couple of times, so he had seen her. But she looked extra beautiful that day, and Ezra noticed. Too bad Stephanie had met Lucas, otherwise, I would have placed her with my cousin. Both Lucas and Ezra were good guys, so it didn't really matter. Stephanie had been happily dating Lucas for over a year, so there was no chance for Ezra. I had never seen the poor kid date a nice girl. But I would make it my mission in life to find Ezra a girl who matched him.

When we arrived at the Lord's mansion, people were scattered around talking among each other. We disintegrated and mingled, well sort of. I mostly just stayed with Stephanie, since a lot of the people there were strangers. At one point, I actually got to talk with Raven. But that did not last long because someone was asking for her, so our talk was brief.

Stephanie and I were standing by a long mirror when her eyes widened. "What's wrong, Steph," I asked.

"Luke." She turned around and pointed at him discreetly.

"Well c'mon let's go say hi." I suggested.

"No it's okay. I came to hang out with you and not him."

"It's okay. I'm used to being a third wheel with everyone; it doesn't bother me anymore." It was the truth. I always hung around couples.

"Why are you so nice, Zee," she asked me.

"Because I've been mean enough to some people that I don't have it in me anymore to continue that with others." I smiled. I was sure my smile was not very convincing because Stephanie looked at me with saddened eyes. But I ignored her sympathy and dragged her to Lucas. "Hey, Lucas," I said, since Stephanie remained silent.

"Mackenzie? Stephanie!" He looked at us in surprise. "What are you doing here," he asked. He could barely remove his eyes off my friend.

"I could ask you the same thing," I said. "My family is friends with the bride's family, and I invited Stephanie to come with me."