Seabrook, Hadley

Rocks at my Window

It felt weird to have anyone other than Waverley, Bree and Payton pamper me. I know they had only done it once but it was the first time that I had really been dressed up and all done-up.

I had grown close to Caroline, and it wasn't like I wasn't happy that she was here to help me, but I really wanted Waverley to be here. I wanted Payton to help pamper me and Bree to rummage through my closet. I even wanted Zoe to look through my awkward pre-pubescent Facebook photos.

It felt uncomfortable to have anyone else doing their job. They were my girls, and they had earned themselves the right to do all of those things.

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked me. I jumped, realizing that I had just been sitting there, probably looking like a lost puppy, while Caroline was trying to help me get ready for the party that I had been, and still was, dreading.

"Yeah, sorry," I muttered.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, not really. Besides, there's nothing really to talk about." But there was. There was so much to talk about. I just couldn't bring myself to tell poor Caroline about it. She had come here to have fun, not watch me mope around about old friends.

"Oh, okay, well I know this is going to sound really lame, but my brother is picking us up."

I laughed. "That is pretty lame."

She punched my arm. "You're lame."

"Your mom," I retorted.

"Good one."

"So when is your equally lame brother coming to pick us up?" She rolled her eyes.

"You know, we can walk there. I wouldn't want us seen with my lame brother," she teased. I rolled my eyes.

"When is your super cool awesome fun brother picking us up?"

"That's what I'm talking about!" she said, laughing. "He's coming at eight." I checked my laptop time. 7:46.

"We have exactly fourteen minutes," I said, walking over to my full-length mirror. I was wearing the dress that Waverley had told me to wear, and my dark brown hair was in a bun with a flower band around the bottom of it. I wore crappy sandals since I was probably going to end up taking them off anyway.

"Does my face need anymore work?" Caroline questioned, looking at herself in the mirror.

"Your face always needs more work."

She slapped me.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

"He's here thirteen minutes early," Caroline grumbled, walking over to her bag and taking out her phone.

"What are you doing?"

"Telling him to go get a burger or something. I need more time."

"Caroline, you look fine. Like I said before, nobody is going to be sober enough to acknowledge your appearance."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Let's go," she said, grabbing her purse and exiting my room. I followed suit.

I opened the door, and instead of Caroline's brother, Toby was standing in front of me, a smile on his face.

"Toby?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Caroline's brother is my teammate, and he said he'd drive me if I got you guys," he said. He looked me up and down and smiled.

"Well, I'll get Caroline, then," I said, smiling. I walked into the kitchen where my aunt and Caroline were having a conversation about breakfast foods.