Handcuffs

Chapter Twelve - The Snow Ball

I was beyond nervous. My junior year of high school, and I was just now going to my first dance. The girls helped me go shopping, though they didn't seem to like my choice in date. None of the Halleys or their girlfriends seemed to like Hayes, which confused me. I had met him at their party. Wouldn't that mean that they were friends?

The dress the girls had picked out for me was strapless and white, with a hi-lo skirt. Unfortunately, because of how short I was the back of the skirt ended around my mid-calf instead of at my knees like it was supposed to, but it was beautiful nonetheless. The heels that Kylie insisted I got made me four inches taller and killed my feet. They were a light ice blue, and I thought they were beautiful even if I would never wear them again.

I insisted on getting ready by myself, because no matter how welcoming they were to me, it still made me nervous to be alone with them. Sarah understood, even if the other girls didn't.

A soft knock at the door of my room broke me from my thoughts as I attempted to figure out what coat matched. It was the Snowflake Ball - there was snow on the ground. I needed a coat.

"Come in!" I called from the doorway to my closet, frowning at my options. I heard the door open and close, so I spun to see who it was. Jade stood a few feet into my room, a small smile on her face. Clutched in her hands was a large coat bag and a small cloth bag that was used to hold expensive pieces of jewelry.

"Take a seat," she said quietly, gesturing towards my vanity. I sat down, slightly confused as I watched her approach me. "I thought you'd need something to go with your dress." She pulled a pearl necklace out of the bag and clasped it around my neck despite my protests, a small smile on her face. She carefully slipped a matching pearl and gold bracelet on my wrist before opening the bag, pulling out an overcoat the same ice blue color as my shoes. "And a coat, of course," she let out a small laugh.

"I really can't accept all of this," I whispered, shaking my head a little as my cheeks flushed pink and tears came to my eyes. Happy tears, of course. She really treated me like a daughter, and I was forever thankful for that. She made this huge house feel like a home to me, and given the mother the Halley family had saved me from, it was a completely new sensation for me. In all honesty, I couldn't remember the feeling of a mother's love, but Jade almost made me feel like I could. Like it was something I remembered from a childhood that was nothing but a distant memory anymore.

I wanted this woman to be my mother one day.

But that didn't seem like a possibility, with Hayes the one I was with, and Ryder and I barely talking at the best of times. I was in the sort of situation where it felt like my life was supposed to be something that it wasn't in that moment. I'd had a few dreams, of what it would be like to date Ryder- to curl up with him at night, like the boys did with their girlfriends. Jade and Darren were fantastic about that- they could bring their girlfriends over whenever they pleased, but they made one rule clear: if one of the girls got pregnant, they took care of their growing families out of their own pockets instead.

"Thank you." The word was whispered as I wrapped my arms around Jade's neck, hugging her close as I tried to really contain myself. I knew that even she had hoped I'd go to the dance with Ryder, and the fact that I wasn't was breaking her heart- but the fact that she was still here, giving me these things and treating me like the daughter she'd never had, warmed her heart more than she'd actually like to admit. It made her feel like she was loved.

"Anything for you," Jade hummed to the me, and it made my cheeks flush red as I shifted, carefully pulling away until I could look at her.

"You honestly have no idea how much this means to me."