Scandalous Love

12. | Riley

During Cotillion, a lot of the girls tended to have sleepovers but that was something I'd never really enjoyed doing.

Back when I was younger, I used to spend the evening in my own world in a corner, wrapped up in a blanket while I read a book before sneaking off to the bedroom where Mum and Dad were so I could cuddle with them instead.

Since Mum left, however, I never really took part in the sleepovers at all and turned to heading over to Daniel's for the evening as an alternative. He was better company than all the other girls and it turns out he understood me more than any of them.

Right now, this evening, James had headed back over to his side but had promised me we would meet up later on in the night.

The etiquette classes we had experienced were as boring as ever. We had to stay out with our partners and learn how to have a proper posh conversation with them. The girls had to curtesy and the boys had to bow as we went through the small snippet of a ballroom dance we had put together at the very beginning of the day.

I hated being with Axel. He wasn't patient at all.

He was so sophisticated and skilled with everything that when we were dancing together, it was almost like there was a slight competitivity. We were both working on the dance together but it was like we were battling each other at the same time.

What I hated most was the fact Maya and James seemed to be having fun together. They had been laughing, talking and her irritating giggle filled my ears every few seconds.

I don't know what the feeling was but I didn't like it. I wanted to be working with James, I wish I was the one partnering with him, not Maya.

As Daniel and I were sat on the floor in his room, I set two cards down in front of me while we continued to play our long, pointless and rather ongoing game which seemed to have no end.

His kitten, Ginger, eventually makes his way over to us both before crawling onto my lap, spreading himself out over the top of my thighs which puts a small smile on my face as I giggle, stroking my hand over his red fur.

"Oh, so I can't make you smile but Ginger can, hm?" Daniel speaks up jokingly, making me playfully roll my eyes,

Keeping an eye on his cards when he sets his out in front of us, I raise an eyebrow before he claims to have won that round, making me scoff. "So what's going on, Ri? Why so upset?" he asks, snatching all four of the cards and adding them onto his pile.

"Is this even how to play cards?" I ask him with a raised eyebrow before he shrugs his shoulders, causing me to roll my eyes yet again.

Something was wrong with me, I just couldn't even understand what it was myself and there was no way I'd be able to talk to Daniel about it if I can't even make sense of my feelings myself. "Nothing's wrong, don't worry," I say to him before he raises an eyebrow, placing a new card down on the floor in between us.

"Yeah? Say that to your face," he mutters sarcastically.

Just then, the door of his bedroom opens up to reveal his mum who gives me a small smile as she heads over to his windows where she pulls the curtains shut. "I think it's about time the two of you got ready for bed. You still have to wake up early tomorrow, Riley," she tells me as I frown.

The fact Cotillion went on for a whole week absolutely sucked. The only thing actually getting me through it this year is the fact I was doing it with James. He may not be my partner exactly but we're still practically doing it together.

Daniel may not have been taking part in Cotillion as he hasn't been since he turned ten, but he had to wake up early at the same time as I did because he had a suit fitting appointment for 8 am for Ava and Dad's wedding. It was getting nearer and nearer to the occasion as time went on and I was dreading the time where the day would finally arrive.