Capturing Ella

Chapter 15 - Joe

Note to reader: This chapter will also contain alcohol. Everyone at this party who consumed alcohol is above the age of eighteen and is obeying the law in England that no one under the age of 18 can consume alcohol within a public place. This chapter and this book do not condemn the act of underage drinking. Please, if you're under the age of the law regarding drinking alcoholic beverages please don't underage drink and if you're above the age of the law regarding drinking alcoholic beverages please drink responsibly.

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Jake, Quinn and I all walked into the engagement party fashionably late as the traffic on the M25 was horrific. We had only arrived at the hotel rooms we were staying at tonight as the party started, and we still needed to get washed and dressed. It was nearly half eight when we managed to leave the hotel and even then some teenage girls came over to "ask for directions" and decided to try and start a conversation with us. I wasn't interested, though, there was only one girl I would want to see at this party, whose name was confirmed on the list I saw earlier when looking through Jake's phone, and it wasn't any of the girls who stopped.

Because we were late, we couldn't follow anyone in. Sure enough, we walked through the door, making sure the masks we were wearing were correctly in place and took the glass of straw-coloured bubbly the waiter was offering us at the door. We were all dressed in tight-fitting suits. Mine was just black – the blazer was black, with a snazzy black waist coat and I'm just going to let you assume the colour of my skinny trousers and shoes. The only splash of colour I had was a golden tie and some golden embellishment on my black masks. The waiter showed us into the cloakroom but as none of us had thought to bring a coat – March nights in England aren't known for their warmness – we kind of followed the room around. The place we ended up confused us all deeply.

We were in a large room with laminated floor. To one side, two inflatable's sat. One an inflatable bouncy castle and the other an obstacle course. At the back of the room, a large finger buffet was laid out, and covering the rest of the floor was dining tables with placements set. About six kids played on the inflatables, and another four adults sat at the chairs with their gold paper plates filled with cold food, drinking cups of coffee or tea. Another kid sat in the middle of the floor, with a paper cup filled with Ribena.

'Banging party,' Quinn mumbled, and I laughed. But where was everyone. We all scanned the room. We could see strobe lighting coming through some of the frosted windows from behind the bouncy inflatables, and a door was propped open to the left of the hall. We settled where we were all going immediately, and went through the door. Sure enough, the door leads to a large bar where a few girls stood ordering drinks. They all looked amazing in their neon coloured dressed although the makeup was a tad over one and they all looked like they were out on a hen do compared to an engagement party . I stood awkwardly at the bar, as the bartender came over with three bottles of beers.

'The main party is outside tonight, sir.' He told us and us all nodded like we already knew. Of course it would be outside – the younger adults who worked at base would be dancing and chatting, whilst those tied down with kids would be in here with the bouncy castle and finger buffets. Jake had got the night of babysitting, even though it was his first night away since the twins were born and he was probably dying to go back and see them. Quinn was only here for a few hours, leaving at half eleven as he was doing the morning shift at Maui. I, however, had got tomorrow off and booked my own hotel room in a nearby chain hotel so I could sleep my hangover off in peace without my parents nagging me to be productive.

About fifteen minutes later, and several beers drunk and even a few shots done, we braced ourselves to go outside into the bitter cold. I was the first one through the fire door, which was propped open with two chairs where gold and silver helium balloons were tied too and I immediately stopped to admire the amazing work done to this hall and its ground for tonight's party.