Wasted Time

Chapter 39

Emily's POV

"Maddy? Do you know where the wine glasses are?"

"We have wine glasses?" Maddy called back from her bedroom. "Since when?" I rolled my eyes.

"I brought them with me when we first moved in. I'm not sure we've ever used them." I rummaged through the back of yet another cupboard, narrowly avoiding knocking over a precarious stack of bowls. "Aha!" I pulled out two glasses and blew the dust off them. "Found them!"

"Emily, are you planning to get changed?" asked Maddy, coming into the kitchen and looking down at me with her hands on her hips. I glanced down at my trackies and oversized jumper.

"I'm working on it," I said guiltily, surveying her immaculate makeup and flowing dress.

"You're hopeless," she sighed. "Come on, I'll get the rest of those out. You go and get ready."

"You'll need to clean them," I said, standing up and wiping my hands on my trousers.

"I will," she said, ushering me into my bedroom.

"And don't forget to put the white wine in the fridge!" I said as she shoved me in my room and shut the door.

"Stop worrying!" she yelled through the door. I opened my mouth to shout another reminder to her, but decided against it and instead got out the dress I was planning to wear this evening.

Maddy and I had invited Ashton, Luke, Michael, Calum, Dean, Flavia and Annabell round for a sort of dinner party, to celebrate us all being friends again and so we could spend time all together for the first time in ages. We were both really excited to see everyone again, but Maddy wasn't too bothered about the details.

On the other hand, I wanted everything to be perfect. We were making chicken Kiev with mashed potatoes, and brownies with ice cream for dessert. We had already done most of the cooking, and I was trying to concentrate on laying out the table properly, but Maddy seemed to think it was more important that I looked the part. I suppose she had a point.

I zipped up the back of my dress carefully and rearranged my hair. Reluctantly, I applied minimal makeup as well as I could – I had never really got the hang of it like some other girls.

"How do I look?" I asked, posing in the doorway of my bedroom.

"Congratulations!" Maddy said, clapping her hands. "You actually did better than I expected."

"Wow, thanks," I said sarcastically. "Have you cleaned the glasses?"

"Umm..." she glanced at them guiltily.

"Maddy!" I complained. "I entrusted you with this important duty. What have you been doing?"

"I got slightly distracted," she said, gesturing at her phone. "I was talking to Ashton."

"Fair enough," I said, unable to argue with her when I knew she was finally able to be truly happy with the man she loved. "But do it now, okay? I need to lay the table, they'll be here soon."

About half an hour later, the doorbell rang, and Maddy went to answer it as I squealed and began to hurriedly clean the counter and tidy up all the ingredients I had left out. I could hear her greeting everyone at the door, and eventually gave up and ran across the kitchen to see all of our friends piling into the room.

"Hi!" I said excitedly, rushing round and hugging as many people as I could. I greeted Flavia and Calum first, and encouraged them to sit down so we could get everyone inside. Ashton was already busy talking to Maddy, so I invited in Annabell, and Dean and Michael who were holding hands.