Where Have You Been

Chapter 22

“You looked beautiful”, Taylor and I simultaneously addressed one another. I could only omit a breathy laugh, not wanting to disturb my perfectly coifed hair. I had put it up in a chignon, (or, Taylor had. I was pathetic with hair), and left out a few strands. I curled the strands, and Taylor spritzed my hair with glitter. (Ok, yeah. She went a little overboard). I had on “Half-Baked” eye shadow from the nationally renowned “Naked Palette”. (That name had always bothered me. “Naked Palette”, really? More like “get naked” palette.) I had a small amount of Sephora mascara, and a light dusting of glitter across my cheeks. It was very whimsical; I looked like a violet butterfly. Taylor looked dark and stunning, her long dark hair careening down her back. She had curled it, and tediously brushed the curls to perfect the look. Her navy eye shadow complemented her light eyes, and perfectly matched her dress. We looked as different as day and night, yet, we harmonized perfectly.

“Oh, darling”, my mom bounced one of my curls with her finger. “You look gorgeous”.  I could see tears pooling in the corners of her eyes, threatening to ruin her mascara. I smiled up at her with sincerity, and lightly touched her skeletal hand. I had seen her every year as she left for the benefit, donning her most expensive gowns, and lavish makeup. Although she wore a different dress each year, one thing stayed the same: a thin diamond bracelet always decorated her pale wrist. My mom saw me eyeing it. She undid the clasp, and put it around my wrist.

“For you”, her voice was choking with tears.

“Are you sure?” I hadn’t said it just to be polite. My mom was quite attached to this. It was the one possession my father had left her before he passed. My mom nodded vigorously, pressing the bracelet into my wrist. Taylor watched the scene with awe, smiling deeply at our show of affection. She wasn’t so close with her parents.

My phone alarm beeped “8:00”, and I grabbed Taylor by the wrist, wanting to escape before my mom began to bawl. We hobbled out the door in our 4-inch heels, attempting to walk gracefully. My mom waved from our window, watching us even as we turned around the corner in our car. I fanned myself with my hand, willing my perfectly made-up face and hair not to deteriorate in beauty. It was still over 90 degrees, not exactly the perfect weather for a ball. I could only suck it up, and praise the higher powers for air conditioning.

“Oh my god… it’s amazing” Taylor was gazing out the window in wonderment. The city hall had been transformed into a winter wonderland. The fake snow and glass snowflakes were quite refreshing in light of the humid air. Candles were hanging on translucent strings from the ceiling, casting shadows across glittering ice sculptures. Silver garlands were wrapped around the banisters of the grand staircase, and a large evergreen tree hung with glass globes, in the corner. I was speechless at the utter beauty. We rarely (Ok, never) experienced Florida in the beauty of winter. Snow was absolutely extinct here.

As we entered the double doors, we were handed exquisite masks. They were gold leafed, and glass rhinestones adorned the edges. Rather than masks that only covered the skin around your eyes (which did not hide you identity at all), these masks were designed to cover your whole face, rendering you completely unrecognizable. Taylor had a purple mask, and I was handed a silver one, so we switched in favor of matching our dresses.  We were unintentionally fashionably late; there were hordes of ball-goers clad in extravagant ball gowns and dashing tuxedoes. We drew a few eyes. We were some of few young, fresh ball-goers, and that was something to be said. I caught the eye of a handsome dark haired, brooding “Mr. Darcy” type.

“Will you have this dance?” He bowed, offering his hand. I smiled at Taylor in disbelief, and replied squeakily:

“Would I?” Oh, yes I would.

Niall’s POV

“eeeech” Louis let out an ear-splitting burp, and threw his soda on the dash. We were the epitome of gross male road-trippers. The dash was already hidden under piles of McDonalds wrappers, soda cans, Chinese take-out bins, and Krispy Kreme donut boxes. Still not grossed out? We had only been driving for two days. But, what can I say? Food is life.

“2 bottles of beer on the wall, 2 bottles of beer…” Harry and Liam were singing in the back. For two band members, they were surprisingly bad at song choice, and, for that matter, singing. My head was beginning to split from an overload of migraines. We were making good time. We usually drove through the night, switching drivers every two hours for maximum sleeping time. We were in Florida already, and I still had no idea where we were headed.

“Call her…” Harry whined, kicking his feet on the backseat. When he wasn’t completely occupied by singing, he acted like a bored three-year-old. ‘Are we there yet?’

“I can’t just ring her, and be like: ‘hey, uh what’s your address?’”

“Well I don’t see how else were gonna do it!” Louis added. Smart ass.

“How about the phonebook, or something?”

“What are we, in the 1800’s or something?”

“Plus, we need her address, not her phone number.”

This endless conversation was getting us nowhere, as well as giving me a headache.

“Wait!” I had a sudden epiphany. “I know Zoe’s old school…” The boys didn’t congratulate me on my genius, rather, they did the opposite.

“Oh, great! What a help you are” Louis drawled sarcastically. I groaned. After two days of not needing them, I guess they were beginning to forget how to utilize their brains. “Yeah, and If I find that, I’m guessing her house isn’t too far.” They still weren’t praising me.

“Yeah, so then let’s go knock on every door close to the school!” Apparently Louis was the master of sarcasm.

“Well we can ask someone there if they know where she lives…?” I was hesitant. I didn’t even really know where to take this. They seemed happy enough with the plan, not having any better ideas.

“Let’s goooo!!” Harry yelled, and we floored it all the way there.

“West Florida high… West Florida high….” I mumbled, as we entered “Cascadia”, where Zoe once told me she lived. It was immediately obvious by the huge banner that adorned the building, reading: “West Florida Tigers!” The boys cheered in the back seat, patting my back in congratulations.  We tumbled out of the car for the first time in two days, kissing the ground in exuberance. Not too fast… we still hadn’t found Zoe.

I was right to be pessimistic. After two hours of searching, we had found no one within a ten-mile radius of the school.

“I’m tired.”

“I’m hungry”

“Who cares…?”

“We need to look a little longer” I encouraged them, desperate to find Zoe.

“Um, I don’t think that’s necessary.” Zayn pointed. “I think we’ve already found her.”