All Along

chapter 24

I parked in front of the house and looked around. Many cars were already parked and from the looks of it many people must have already arrived. The house was decorated beautifully with lights and canopy of flowers at the entrance.
“Am I late for my own party?” I asked Jen and Irelene and sighed. They chuckled.
“No, you’re on time. They arrived early. There was a slight mistake about time.” Jen admitted sheepishly.
“Yes, the ones Jen invited are early.” We both laughed and Jen rolled her eyes.
People were arriving and everyone was in tux and gowns.
“Why is everyone in tux and gowns?”
“Dress code.” Irelene answered.
“Don’t you think mom went overboard with dress code?” They chuckled and nodded.
“Let’s get inside.” Jen suggested and the three of us got out of the car and towards the house.
As soon as I entered, my mom saw me and came towards me with a huge smile on her face. I smiled back.
“Oh my god! You look beautiful.” She gushed while hugging me. “My baby girl is eighteen.”
“Thanks mom.”
“I’m glad you made it on time.” My dad’s voice came from behind me. I turned around and hugged him. My parents were looking absolutely stunning. Mom was wearing pink gown and dad was in black tux.
“You guys look… wow!” I exclaimed.
My dad chuckled. “Happy birthday princess.” He said kissing my forehead. “You look beautiful as always.” I hugged him again. Soon we were joined by Black’s san Aaron, Jamie and Kris. They all looked super nice.
“Ladies and gentlemen, birthday girl in the house,” Kris shouted and I groaned internally. I hated attention.
“Why does he hate me so much?” I whispered to Amy and she chuckled.
Everyone came to me and started wishing me.
“Where are Sam, Chaz and Aaron?” I asked Amy.
“They’ll be here soon.” I just nodded because I knew I wasn’t going to get any further information. Someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned to see Aiden standing there with a sweet smile on his face. I smiled back. We haven’t talked much since I rejected his proposal.
“Happy birthday,” He said while hugging me.
I hugged him back. “Thanks.”
“Here take it.” He handed me the present.
“Thanks.”
He was wearing dark blue tux and his hair gelled into Mohawk style. He looked good. I handed the gift to Suzy
to put it with others.
“Where is Aaron?” Aiden asked me when he saw me stealing glances towards the door.
“Umm…I honestly don’t know. Amy said they’ll be here soon.”
“Oh okay. You look beautiful by the way.”
“Thanks.” I blushed when I saw him looking at me. “How is Addy? And why isn’t she here?”
“She wanted to come so bad but she wasn’t feeling well.”
“Oh. What’s the matter?”
“Fever.”
“Aw! Take good care of her. I really wish she was here.”
“Before I forget she asked me to give you this.” He took out a handmade card. It was from Addy. It was sweet and nice just like her. I smiled while reading it.
“Tell her thanks and that I love her.”
“Definitely will.” I put the card in my clutch.
“Kayla.” Sam shouted. I looked up and saw him walking with Chaz. They looked hot. Every girl was staring at them but I glanced towards the door and still, no Aaron. I looked back at Sam and smiled at him.
“Happy birthday.” He engulfed me in a bear hug.
“You’re choking me Sam.” Everyone around us laughed.
He let go of me and I took a deep breath. “Thanks.”
“Happy birthday, Kayla.” Chaz hugged me and kissed me on the cheek.
“Thanks Chaz.”
Jen and Irelene came and hugged their boyfriends. They looked great and adorable.
The party was in full swing by now. Everyone was either chattering, dancing, giggling, flirting, eating or drinking.
“Sam?” I called him. He was with Jen. He looked at me and I motioned him to come here.
“What?”
“Where were you?” A smirk formed on his lips.
“Aaron will be here soon. Don’t worry.” He said while smirking and raised his eyebrows.
“What… I… I didn’t ask about him.” I stammered and blushed. He chuckled while shaking his head.
“I’ve known you all my life and I know what you actually mean when you’re saying something. That’s the type of best friend I’m. I know you actually wanted to ask about him.” I blushed but smiled shyly.
“You may be right.”
“Tell me when I’m not.” I rolled my eyes. “And speaking of special someone, he’s here.” He was looking behind me towards the door. I had missed him so much. I turned around quickly and there he was, Aaron Black, in all his glory scanning through the crowd. He was looking
absolutely stunning in black tux and his hair looked half done as if he tried to style it with gel but couldn't do it
completely and that looked sexy on him. Every girl was staring wide eyed at him and whispering to one another. I didn’t realize my jaw was hanging open until Sam closed my mouth by lifting my chin with his hand.
“Stop drooling over him. Your secret my not remain a secret any longer.” I looked at him and saw him smirking
at me. I blushed deep red.
“Shut up.” I punched him in the arm. I looked back at Aaron and at the same time he spotted me. He stopped in his tracks and looked me up and down. I gulped nervously.
“Oh poor thing. Your beauty killed him.” Sam whispered and I blushed not looking away from Aaron. A breathtaking smile formed on his lips and my heart skipped a beat. I smiled back and he walked towards me. A girl came to talk to him but he walked past her, not even registering her
presence.
“I should excuse myself,” Sam said and I nodded. He chuckled. “You’re so in love.” With that he walked away.
Aaron stood in front of me and smiled.
“Hi.” I said looking him in those smoldering beautiful brown eyes.
“Happy birthday.” He gave me a hug.
“Thanks.” I hugged him back. “It’s third time you’re saying that.” He chuckled.
He looked back at me. “Damn. You look… breathtaking.” I blushed and smiled.
“Ditto.” He raised his eyebrow cockily.
“Well, that is first.” I smiled.
“Where were you?”
“I had some work that needed to be done.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Arry?” Jamie walked towards us. He smiled at her.
“Hey.”
“So is the work done?” She asked. Jealousy again started to raise its head. She knew where he was and I, on the other hand, well I knew nothing.
“Yeah.” He nodded with a smile and she smiled back but this smile held some hidden meaning. I looked down
feeling jealous and out of place, though it was my party .
“Kayla?” Aiden said. Both Aaron and Jamie stopped talking to look at us.
“Aiden.”
“Where did you suddenly disappear to? I was looking for you.” He said placing a hand on my waist and I saw Aaron stiffen from the corner of my eye.
I cleared my throat and took a step forward and a look of hurt crossed Aiden’s face. “I was talking to Sam and then Aaron came.”
“Hey man.” Aaron greeted him.
“Hey.”
“Where is Addy?”
“She is down with fever.”
“Oh. Tell her I said I miss her.” Aiden nodded. Jamie was looking at him.
“Aiden, this is Jamie, Aaron’s childhood friend, and Jamie, this is Aiden, my friend.” I introduced them to each other.
“Hi.” They shook hands and smiled at each other.
“Umm… so I was wondering, if you would dance-” Aiden began to say but Aaron cut him off. He placed a hand on my waist and pulled me towards him. I felt a tingling sensation where his hand touched me.
“Actually we were about to dance.” Aaron said with a smile that was fake. Aiden looked at me and then nodded.
“May be another dance?” He asked and I nodded with a smile.
“Shall we?” Aaron asked. I smiled and Aaron led me to the dance floor, still holding me by the waist.
We danced on two songs together and all the time he didn’t look away from my face. During the first song, I didn’t look back at him but by the second song, I gained some courage and looked back in his eyes. We kept dancing looking at each other’s eyes and that made the dance sensual. Those eyes made me forget everything and everyone around us. All I was aware of was him.
Someone cleared his throat. I broke the eye contact and stepped away from Aaron. We turned to look at Aiden standing in front of us.
“In case you forgot, you promised me a dance.”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“I thought you forgot. You two had been staring at each other for quite some time and by that I mean five minutes.” I blushed crimson red and so did Aaron but then a smirk appear on his lips.
“I’ve that effect on people.” He winked at me and left with a smile that melted my heart.
“Shall we?” Aiden asked holding his hand out for me. We danced on another song and then I danced with my dad and Kris. Sam and Chaz asked me but I was too tired to dance but they made sad faces so I complied at the end.
After dancing, my birthday cake arrived. It was vanilla flavored, one of my favorites. I cut the cake and everyone sang the birthday song in chorus and then the party started again from where it was left before the cake arrived. I sat at one of the chairs. Aaron was dancing with Jamie. I turned my face to the other side to not look at them but my poor heart; it made me steal glances at him. Kris was dancing with Amy, Aiden with Suzy, Sam with Jen and Chaz with Irelene.
I was eating my birthday cake when someone sat on the other chair besides me, it was Jamie.
“Hey.”
“Hi.” I said with a smile.
“Tired?”
“Yeah. You too?” She nodded and took off her heels.
“You look very pretty by the way.”
“Thanks. You look extremely pretty yourself.”
“Thanks. You dance very well. You and Aaron were terrific.”
“Thanks. You two were terrific too.”
“You saw us dancing?” She asked. I blushed a little. I couldn’t tell her I was practically staring at Aaron all the time. I just nodded.
“Ladies.” It was Aaron. I could recognize that voice anywhere. We both looked up at him. He handed a glass to Jamie and was drinking one himself.
“So what were you two talking about?”
"You." “Nothing.” Jamie and I said at the same time. He raised his eyebrows. “Well we were talking about how terrific the dance was between you two.” Jamie said.
“Terrific or not but it sure was something.” He said looking at me. I smiled a little.
“Now Jamie, if you’ll excuse us it’s time for Kayla to get her birthday present.”