The Elites

Chapter Three

It only took me half an hour to find Ashton in the crowd. Like me, he'd ignored the dress code. Typically, the men are required to wear full tuxedoes; plain black bow ties and jackets and shoes. I'd never worn a tuxedo in my life, and I wasn't about to start because Paxley was a stuck up snob. Mr Hetley always said that Paxley wasn't exactly his favourite overseer.

But I had at least made a bit of an effort to look smart. I at least had a dress shirt, suit trousers, an open suit jacket and black shoes on. Ashton had showed up in an white shirt unbuttoned at the top, a dark sweater vest I never would have imagined him wearing, a grey jacket with tight-ish matching trousers and brown shoes. He had finally got rid of the twelve-year-old boy hairstyle as the blonde curls didn't sweep over his forehead; now they just stuck up a bit in a quiff.

Ashton was a nice person. He was goofy and funny and was a real laugh to be around. We used to be kind of friends before my bad period. I first met him when I was fourteen. He was Lara's brother's best friend; Jared always said that it was Ashton that helped him find himself properly. Ashton's bubbly nature and outrageous personality sometimes overwhelmed Jared, but he liked hanging out with him all the same. Their group of friends was inseparable, and they'd often be at Lara's house cooped up in Jared's room. Though she was two years younger, Lara got on well with Ashton as well as the other two - Oliver and Zach.

From around the age of sixteen I got the feeling that Lara liked Ashton more than she was letting on. I don't know if it was just me being paranoid because I liked her, but Lara and Ashton always got along really well. Lara just seemed compatible with him - goofy and loud and sarcastic. I had asked her in a come on Lara best friends don't keep secrets kind of way, but she'd denied it, saying she just liked hanging out with him as a friend.

Jared didn't seem to mind, either. As we got older, Lara started hanging out with the four of them more and more, and in turn hung out with Ashton more. Once Lara was out of school and into the Agency, they started to see her less as Jared's little sister and more as their friend. I suppose age difference played a part too - fourteen and sixteen seems like a big difference whereas eighteen and twenty is completely normal.

While Lara and I were together, I could never shake the feeling that she did actually have feelings for Ashton. I couldn't tell whether he liked her in that way or not; Ashton acted the same way around Lara that he did around Jared, Oliver and Zach. I think that, if it weren't for Jared being Lara's brother, they would've ended up best friends. While Jared was nice and completely fine with Lara being friends with his friends, it always felt like there was some kind of barrier between them. It was only when Jared wasn't around did I see Lara really be comfortable around the three.

Will, Blair and I hung out with them too, but we were much more reserved by nature. When we were twenty, Lara dragged us along to this 90s party that was put on by a friend of Zach's. Lara, Jared, Ashton, Oliver, Zach and Cara were the last to leave the dance floor, completely sober and yet acting completely hammered. I'd never been one for dancing or embarrassing myself, even if others around me were doing it too. Lara came over to where Will, Blair and I were sat probably eight times to ask if we were planning on having any fun. Each time we'd refuse, and she'd bound back to the boys and Cara in time for the next cheesy dance.

The eighth time was only the last time because she had freaked out and started yelling at me, accusing me of purposely being awkward because I didn't like Jared's friends. As much as I told her it wasn't true, she wouldn't give in, and ended up telling me to just go home if I wasn't going to do anything; Blair and Will had already left by that time.

I didn't go home though. I sat and continued to drink. A lot. And I liked it. Drinking made my Ashton scrutiny slightly less real, and I couldn't remember most of it when I woke up the next morning. Lara glanced over at me a few times but ultimately ignored me being there altogether. She danced with them all night long, and by the time she got home I was already asleep.