Caught In The Mission

Five

The following afternoon was nothing I had ever experienced. I couldn't quite put my finger on what made this day so unfamiliar, it could have been down to being in a garden with a large hedge, a dog house a family pool and a play ground? Or could it be because of the 30 sundresses, maxi skirts and khaki shorts and polo shirts I was seeing. what made this whole experience even more obscure was the fact that I was wearing one of said sundresses, it was white and blue floral sundress that I matched with a pair of wedge sandals. I was officially one of these people, from the way my hair was styled down to the wedge heels, the only difference was that I was younger than most of these people here.

We had been at the BBQ for an hour now, we arrived at half 3, this meant the we were not early and we weren't that last ones there. When we got there Ruby was quick to answer the door as if she had been waiting for us...or shall I say Alex. She greeted me with a quick hello and hugged Alex so hard that the tips of his ears began to get purple. Once she pried herself off him, she linked her arm through his and lead us to the back garden. Alex made sure to smirk at me when they walked ahead, this was because of the conversation we had yesterday, if Ruby wasn't here I would have thumbed him on the head.

"Everyone this is Alex!" Ruby shouted to the crowd of people socialising in the garden. some were on sun loungers, others were standing talking on the grass, some sat by a dart board drinking and a small group of men were by the grill cheering. there were kids playing in the pool and the playground. Everyone stopped talking and looked towards us. I didn't register that she had only introduced Alex until they all shouted hello to him. Was I invisible? "And this is Julia!" the way she introduced me was way quieter than how she introduced Alex. She lead him down the dock to a group of women who were predominantly female. I followed behind them like a lost puppy that they both chose to ignore.

"Alex? I'm Linda." A woman with short blond hair, wearing a black floral blouse and a pair of khaki shorts. she brushed her hair behind her ear and smiled at him. Another woman stood up with brunette hair wearing a sundress. She introduced herself as Sharon another woman was Hilary a man named Henry and lastly Liam. I had never seen a group of people drool over someone like he was a piece of meat. Non of them noticed me standing next to them, there eyes focusing on him.

"Nice to meet you all." Alex forced a smile on his face. Linda hooked her arm onto his free arm, pushing her body onto his. The smirk he had on his face when Ruby was parading him around, died when he became engulfed by the middle aged woman. He looked over at me with pleading eyes for help, I found the situation quite funny. He made it his mission to try and pry a reaction from me by allowing Ruby and her friends to drool over him, but as soon as it gets too much for him to control he needs my help.

"You're the new neighbour?" A smooth voice spoke behind me, I tore my eyes away from the pleading Alex to the red haired woman stood in front of me. She was holding what seemed like a champagne glass, wore a pair of black skinny jeans, a white blouse and black heeled sandals. I smiled back at her, reaching my hand out.

"I am, I'm Julia." I greeted her. She introduced herself as Charlotte Winchester. Unlike the other women her Charlotte appeared younger and closer to my age maybe a couple of year older but still in the same age group. She glanced at the women still swarming around Alex and laughed.

"They did that to Cole when we first moved here, they were like piranhas around him. And didn't notice me until half way through the event. They love young men." She shook her shoulders and laughed. I glanced at Alex, Ruby was in the process of pulling him to sit down next to her while he was praying with his eyes for me to come and help him. I smirked at him, he can get himself out of that mess. "You're not going to help him." She asked raising an eyebrow at me. Her green eyes were questioning my actions.