Never Summer Again

Chapter Twenty One - The Prom

Score: Drink You Away - Justin Timberlake

Lydia

"Hurry up, or we are going to be late!" Alex scolds me, as I walk around the flat, collecting my stuff for tonight.

Tonight is our Prom.

Finally! I didn't think I'd make it to this day, in one piece.

"The Uber is waiting. We are going to have so much fun! I've missed our pamper days!" Alex is beaming and I am so grateful for the extra large paper coffee cups she is holding on a paper cup holder. She extends the cup holder toward me and I grab my almond milk latte. It's not Starbucks. There's no Caramel written on the cup. No caramel syrup. But I'll still take it.

I ended up staying at Alex's since my Chemistry A-Level fiasco. I couldn't possibly go back to Colin's flat after what happened that weekend and in the state I was after my exam. I couldn't possibly face him.

I've been living with Alex and her mum for three weeks now. Alex even convinced me to go to my Psychology A-Level, even though I had been determined I wasn't going after Chemistry. And thank God she did, as I absolutely killed it.

Not that it matters anymore.

Alex's mum is amazing. I'd say she's the coolest mum I know. She's kind and funny, and effortlessly elegant. She's also the first designer I bought from myself.

Both Alex and her mum have helped me recover from the horrible low I was in after Chemistry. Actually, I've been feeling more at home here, than I ever had over at Colin's. Alex's mum lets us do whatever we want, and we've had movie nights, and manicures, and cook-offs. We've been having so much fun recently, I have been able to put all of the ugly issues, peeking around every corner, to sleep, and enjoy being a normal nineteen-year-old for once.

Patrick and I have been talking and spending a lot of time together. With each day that passes, I feel more and more acquiescent about our relationship status and our future.
I have somehow gone numb again. The wildfire of emotions I was experiencing when Mark came back into my life has been put out abruptly by the cool-headed realization that feelings have no place in my life. They never have. This has been proven to be true time and again. The people, who are supposed to be closest to me, have hurt me the most. Therefore, it's useless to let feelings navigate my relationships with people. My head can do that way better.

Feelings are for the weak.

I haven't heard from Mark since Gloria's birthday party. I'm not going to lie, I've been stalking him on social media. He has been uploading photos from the hottest new spots in London. At tennis matches. At a concert at Wembley Stadium. Clubs. He's been living his best life and hasn't reached out to me once. Not that I expect that he would. I haven't either. We made a pact, after all. It's just that I've gone through so much recently, and it seems he's gone completely oblivious to me.

I grab my garment bag with my gown, which is hanging by the mirror in the hallway, pick up the pair of classic black Louboutins I took from my mother's closet on my last trip to Colin's to collect some more clothes and my books, and shove the shoes, some underwear, my purse for the night and some jewelry inside my gym bag.

Alex and I will be getting dressed at the spa where we will be spending the day, and the boys will pick us up with the limo from there, and then we will ride together to the venue.

"Before I grow old and wrinkled, ideally!" Alex huffs from the hallway.

She looks gorgeous as usual, her blonde hair up in a messy bun on top of her head. She is wearing yoga pants and a tank top, with a zip-up hoodie on top, and looks so effortlessly hot, that I feel a sting of envy as I look at my shirt dress, and sliders.