Bad Aim (Danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil)

Chapter seventy two

[A/N]: Hey, new chapter! Sorry I didn't publish a chapter yesterday or on Monday. On Monday I was simply too tired when I got home after uni and Harry Potter Society and then yesterday the internet in my apartment stopped working so I wasn't able to post again. But I'm back again! This is the second to last chapter. I felt like there was a lot of pressure to make the ending good, so after finishing the last chapter I put off writing this for a while. I know I'm not the best writer, but I hope you appreciate the plot even though it's not brilliantly written. At one point someone did kind of predict the ending, I feel like my foreshadowing is a bit too obvious at times, but I prefer that to no foreshadowing. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, the final chapter will be up tomorrow and then the Epilogue will go up the day after.  The picture is of the dress worn by Sarah at the party. Happy reading!

Chapter seventy two

   The party was due to start at 8 o'clock. The first guest to arrive was Marcus, dressed smartly in black dress pants and a light blue shirt.

   "Happy birthday" he greeted when I opened the door.

   "Hey Marcus, thanks" I gave him a hug and ushered him inside.

   "I love your dress" Marcus complimented as he took his jacket off.

   "Thank you" I beamed.

   "Am I the first to arrive?" he asked, noticing the lack of other guests.

   "Yes, you are" I admitted. At that moment, the buzzer rang and Ally's voice rang out when I pushed the button and asked who it was. I bussed her in and a few minutes later, she was at my door. I introduced Ally to Marcus and they hit it off right away. I knew they would.

   Susan, Ally's friend, arrived a short while later. I directed my friends to the living room and put out the chips and crudités and dip. I had also invested in one bottle of wine, which should be enough for a glass for everyone who was going to come. I would offer that glass when more people had arrived.

   Soon more people started showing up, first Carrie, then PJ, Leah, Valery, Chris, Dan and Phil. I teased Valery for being late even though she lived right next door. Sheactually did wear the outfit I had picked out though. I was also surprised that Dan and Phil were a bit late, but they had an excuse about a tube or something. Dan greeted me with a big hug, as if he hadn't been acting distant all day. His smile didn't quite reach his eyes, which bothered me a bit, but I let it go. The last to arrive was Louise. She had warned me that she might be late, as she said leaving Darcy always took longer than she expected. I was glad that everyone I had invited made it.

   We sat in my living room as one big group with our glasses of wine having a good conversation going. I chatted with Louise, Ally, and PJ. A couple times, I caught Dan's eye from across the coffee table, he gave me a small, but genuine smile before looking away quite quickly. At one point Phil started a big discussion about the naval tension in Asia. I hadn't payed much attention to this story in the new, but apparently there had been tension especially between China and Japan about some islands that had been going on since the year before. I didn't have much to contribute to this conversation, so I stayed quiet, but I enjoyed seeing my friends getting passionate about the situation.

   About an hour after everyone had arrived, when all the chips, crudités and dip had been devoured, I suggested we play a game. I went to get a deck of cards and the board game Cluedo, my favorite game, and also the only one I owned in London.

   When I got back to the living room all my friends were sat round my dining table. I put the game down and took a seat next to Dan. Everyone helped set up the game. I read out the rules for the people who hadn't played before. There are six characters in the game and there was 12 of us so we split up into teams of two. We had an almost even ratio between people who knew the game and people who didn't, so everyone who had played before teamed up with someone who hadn't. I ended up with Leah, who was sitting on my other side.