Guarded

||nine||

I stand in front of my full length mirror as my mother admires me in my dress. I'm wearing the beautiful blue gown Emme picked out for me yesterday. I have white gloves that go up to my elbows and keep my bear arms warm. My hair is curled and put into a fancy up do, thanks to Marie. My neck is decorated with a beautiful pearl necklace, compliments of my mum, and in my brunette locks, there is a small, silver tiara.

"You look simply amazing, Cassidy," my mother says practically on the verge of tears.

"Thank you, mum. Why are you about to cry?"

"My little girl is growing up." She bursts out in tears and embraces me in a hug. "My little princess."

"Mum, I'm still only seventeen. And this is only a small dance. Not something big like prom."

She slightly chuckles. "Only seventeen," she mumbles. "You know, I remember when you used to dress up as Cinderella for Halloween every year. Nothing else. You loved walking around in that dress."

We both stay silent and reminisce over the memories.

There's a ring on the doorbell and mum puts a large smile on her face. She runs to the door and opens it joyfully.

"Hello, Zayn!" She greets him.

"Hello, Mrs. Billoway," he says with a charming smile. He's dressed in white harem pants with only a purple vest on, but no shirt. Aladdin. He dressed as Aladdin. And here I am dressed as Cinderella.

The costume he's dressed in shows off many of his tattoos on his chest and arms, but my mum doesn't seem to mind. I find this kind of odd, because she was always warning me about boys with tattoos. 'They're nothing but trouble,' she would say.

My mum excitedly holds up her camera. "Time for a picture! Don't want to forget my little girl's first dance!" She turns on the camera and Zayn puts an arm around my waist. Zayn flashes an award winning smile as my mum clicks the button. "Aw, how wonderful!" She exclaims, studying the picture.

"All right, mum! I think that's enough! We should get going now. Wouldn't want to be late, would we?" I say, practically pushing Zayn out the door.

"Bye, sweetie! Have fun! I love you!" My mother calls after us.

"Sorry about my mum. She can get a little excited at times," I explain as we enter the car. I sort of expect him to make some sort of romantic gesture, like open my car door, but he doesn't.

"Don't worry about it. It's just kind of a parental instinct," Zayn assures me.

He doesn't talk to me for the rest of the car ride. He doesn't even turn on the radio, like Niall would of. I've noticed recently, that I have been thinking about Niall quite often. Even if I'm doing something that doesn't pretain to him at all, he's still there in the back of my mind.

Zayn and I walk into the large gym, decorated with various Disney decorations and people dressed as various characters. I kind of expected to walk into the dance arm in arm with Zayn, but he just kept his hands in his pockets and seemed kind of distracted, like he was looking for someone. He smiles at a girl with long black hair that says hi to him in a kittenish tone.

"Oh my, don't you look absolutely astonshing!" Marie looks me up and down, smiling widely. She's wearing a purple dress with a tight corset around her torso. Her light brown hair is complemented by a small gold tiara. Harry is next to her wearing brown pants, a white, puffy shirt, a blue vest over it and a brown belt around his waist.

"As do you," I curtsy. "Let me guess, Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder?"

Marie nods. "But I prefer Eugene Fitzherbert," she says, dreamingly looking up at Harry. Harry smiles, his dimple showing, and winks at his girlfriend. He lightly kisses her on the lips and she starts to giggle gleefully.