L is for Love

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When I walked up the street and I could see the shop and flat in sight, the window of the top floor opened and Aria stuck her head out and shouted down at me “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to get hold of you for nearly an hour now.”

“I left my phone at home remember? And I forgot...” I said sheepishly. That wasn’t the whole truth but I wasn’t going to shout it up at her in the middle of the street. I’m sure she would have understood knowing the circumstances.

“You forgot? You forgot?! Rebecca Quill how could you forget your best friend? Well come on up there’s a drink here that’s been waiting nearly an half an hour for you to drink it!”

I didn’t hesitate or argue with her because it was clear that she had already had quite a few to drink and we were starting to attract attention from people passing. So I opened the door to the shop and walked through the door. I was hit by the sudden aroma of dried fruit, I loved the smell. I had only ever smelt it in here in Aria’s shop. Probably because I had never been into a Health food shop other than this one. I walked up the treacherous stairs that were so steep that it was almost impossible not to fall down them unless you watched where you were going.  

I walked up the first flight of stairs and I could see Liv in the kitchen.

“Hey Becky! How are you?”

I hugged Liv and smiled, I hadn’t seen her in ages as she had left sixth form and gone to college. I pulled away from the hug knowing that it was getting rather awkward because I was much shorter than her, almost by a foot, so my head was almost level with her boobs. We both laughed and continued talking to each other about we’d be up to since we last met. That was until Aria came bounding down the stairs, closely followed by Anna. She stomped over to me her face all thunder before stopping right in front of me. I looked at her not quite sure what her reaction was going to be and then she smiled at me. That was when I realised she was only playing with me. She laughed knowing that she was successful in winding me up.

“Where have you been?” before I was able to get a word in she interrupted me “Actually, never mind. Here.” She said passing me a drink in a blue plastic cup. “Drink this! You’ve got a lot of catching up to do Misses.”

“I can see!” I said before taking a gulp of the liquid. I grimaced. “What is this stuff?”

“Malibu and pineapple juice” Anna replied.

“Lovely!” I said sarcastically. “How much has she had to drink?”

“I have no idea. I did try to tell her to slow down a bit but you know Aria.” We smirked, looking over to her. Aria didn’t have a care in the world she was just happy being her. That’s what I loved about her she was never afraid to be herself or to have a good time. Sure she could be serious if she had to be but she was such a fun person to be around. I had been friends with her since Nursery and we’d grown up together. No matter how much our group of friends changed we’d always remained friends.

“So what are you guys wearing tonight?” I inquired seeing that everyone was still in their school uniforms.

Liv and Anna both ran upstairs leaving me with Aria, who was now looking a little puzzled as to what was going on. She clearly hadn’t heard me. They both appeared hold dresses. Liv’s was white strapless with coloured stripes running through the skirt. Anna’s was a green satin dress, again strapless like Liv’s with a darker green bow around the waist.

“Wow! Nice!” I said.

“Actually we should probably start getting ready guys.” Aria suggested.

“Yeah we should actually the party starts in like half an hour.”

I looked up at the white rimmed clock that hung on the orange wall of kitchen. Where had the time gone? It hadn’t seemed long since I had left home; nearly three-quarters of an hour had passed since. How could time pass so quickly now when earlier during English it had seemed to take a decade for a second to pass? I guess time really does fly by when you’re having fun.

As the others all headed upstairs to get changed, I made my way to the bathroom to do my makeup and hair. I looked at myself in the mirror. Was that really me, wow I looked a bit of mess! Not surprising considering all that had happened to me today. I quickly did my makeup and I was starting to look much better already. I didn’t wear much makeup anyway so it didn’t take me long.  After finishing I went back into the kitchen and found a socket to plug my straightening irons in. I styled my hair, unplugged the straightners and look up at the clock. It was seven o’clock, the party was starting, where was everyone?

“Guys what are you doing up there?” I said on my ascent up the stairs. I could hear giggling and someone saying “Hang on its near-ly...no it’s not going to go!”  By the time I had got to the top of the stairs I was rather confused and slightly worried as to what was happening. Anna was lying across the bed her arms stuck straight out and then Aria and Liv pulling the zip at the back of her dress.

“What are you doing?” I asked with a bewildered expression upon my face. “The parties about to start!”

“The zip is stuck on Anna’s dress. I think the fabric is caught in it.” Aria said, in a seemingly sober manner.

I went over and tried to help. Wow. It was stuck. After us heaving with the zip and having Anna lie in all different positions, it was clear it wasn’t going anywhere. By now my fingers had become sore and I had the imprint of the zip on my fingers from pulling so hard on the zip.

“Oi! Rebecca Charlotte Quill! Aria Marie Bell! Open the door!!” someone shouted from outside on the street.

I went to the window and looked out to find Jason, Amy, Jasmine, Emily, Carmen and Lily looking up to the window where I was now sticking out of.

Jason called up again “Let us in Becks! The doors locked.”

“Ok. Jas!”

I went downstairs, abandoning my helpless friends with the dress. I opened  the door and the rest of the gang spilled in through the door.

“Where’ve you been? The party’s started...like over twenty minutes ago!” he said looking down at the watch on her wrist.

Twenty minutes? Where was time going?

“Well have you ever heard of being fashionably late?”

He should have we were all notorious for being fashionably late.

“We’ve been having trouble with Anna’s dress...the zips stuck.”

“Oh I’m good with zips! Where is she I’ll have a go.” Carmen said before heading off up the stairs.

I followed her up leaving the rest of them downstairs. After two flights of stairs we reached the top and Anna.

“Wow you weren’t kidding were you?” Said Carmen, tugging at the zip “Hang on-if-I- just...There!”

And like that she’d done it. After nearly forty minutes of us all trying, Carmen was able to do it in a matter of seconds.  That was typical of our luck and typical of Carmen to be able to do something that we couldn’t.  

“Right I guess we better get going we’re nearly half an hour late no guys!” Aria said.

She was right; I gathered my things and head out the door with everyone else and walked down the street in the direction of the bar.