PRETTIEST THINGS | A.K

16

Seeing as New years Eve was today, Hibiscus and Marigold had their work cut out for them.

The past few days, Hibiscus has been subtly mentioning Aster. Jackie showed interest every time he was brought up. When Hibiscus, Marigold, and Jackie went out to get their nails done, the two siblings started conversations about high school crushes. Jackie briefly brought up having a crush on a boy before being quiet, her face bright red like her nails.

They could safely say that Jackie was still interested. Aster definitely was as well.

Now fast forward to present day New Years Eve, everyone is getting ready in Hibiscus' room. Hibiscus wears a hot pink skirt and the big black hoodie Awsten gave to her. It's absolutely freezing outside, but she wants to look cute for an hour. She is, however, wearing black leggings under her skirt to keep her a bit warm.

"Are you sure this isn't too much?" Jackie asks, turning around in the mirror. A forest green dress clings to her hips with a fuzzy, beige jacket.

"You look stunning babe. Besides, you know who's gonna be there," Hibiscus teases, poking her friend's sides.

"Jackie has the hots for my brother. So gross," Marigold jokes. "I don't know what you see in him."

"Stop! I haven't seen him in years. I doubt he even liked me then, and besides, I'm over it," she mumbles as her face turns bright red.

Both her friends know there is no way that Jackie's over it, however, they stay silent.

The party is loud from not only the people on the roof, but the people down below. New York City is filled with cars and people wasting their time being cold in Times Square.

Marigold and Hibiscus split up in order to get Aster and Jackie together.

"Stay here. I just saw AJ and I'm gonna go grab them," Hibiscus says, leaving Jackie to look at the street below.

"Hi Jackie," a voice behind her says.

"Oh, um, Aster, hi," Jackie stutters. She looks at him up and down, truly believing her knees were going to give out.

"I haven't seen you in forever. You look, uh, you look, like, really pretty."

"Thanks. You look very handsome. You've..." she glances at his toned arms, "definitely grown up a lot."

The two share an awkward silence. Jackie bites her lip, turning her head to look at the party.

"Can I be honest?" Aster asks quietly, reaching out to take her hand. She nods and raises her eyebrow at the boy. "I'm really glad you're here."

Jackie looks around, then leans up to kiss his cheek. "Me too."

"I liked you when we were younger," Aster blurts out.

"You... what?" Her heart was beating out of her chest. She never thought she would be in front of Aster Carrington hearing about how he likes her.

"I still like you. So what I'm... I just want to know if you'd like to go on a date with me?"

It's in that moment that the entire world freezes. The girl looks up at him quietly before standing up on the tips of her toes to kiss his lips.

While there is cheering erupting around them from Marigold and Hibiscus, the two cannot hear a thing, too wrapped up in how they've waited for this moment for years.

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a/n : just a short chapter. just filler but like yassss slayyyy go aster and jackie