Dear Lottie

Chapter 11

The entirety of Saturday was spent alone. I slept in till 10:20 am, and mum, Steve and Laya had already gone out to the garden centre, then Laya was invited to a friend's house and Mum and Steve went round with her for a couple drinks. That was, until Heidi and Oliver came round at three. "Hey!" Greeted Heidi, approaching me with a hug. Oliver stood aside until Heidi pulled me away and towered over me, with another hug. Oliver was so tall. Taller than Leo. I was a midget standing next to Heidi and Oliver...but then again, I was a midget standing next to anyone. I put on a DVD for them and went to make tea. I hated tea, so I got a glass of water. Half and hour into the Goblet of Fire, Heidi briefly explained why they came over.

"Leo told us you were upset." I paused the film and focused on them, Heidi looked concerned whereas Oliver just smiled. "Yeah, he is out with Kitty today and he was concerned about you, so he sent us over. To make sure you don't do anything silly." Continued Oliver. I wasn't sure whether to be angry or flattered. Angry because they thought I was unstable to look after myself or flattered because they were concerned about me. My response came out angry. "What the hell guys?! I can look after myself." I stood up and folded my arms, angrily. Heidi stood up after me and placed her hands on my shoulder. She had short dark brown hair that was either super curly or super straight. Today it was super curly and each individual curl seemed to bob up and down when she spoke. "Pull up your sleeves." She calmly requested, I scowled at her, I knew what she was doing, and she knew I knew. She forced my arms apart and pulled up my sleeve, revealing long, scarlet red cuts. Fifteen of them up my forearm and extending aggressively up to my upper arm. "We know you're upset and we know this is what you do when you're upset. We know what's wrong now, too and we don't want you doing any more of this." She gestured towards my forearm before letting go. "Get out." I growled. Heidi and Oliver obeyed and left immediately.

Once they had gone, I slid down the back of the door helplessly. Heidi and Oliver were gone, I had pushed away my only help. Skye was with Caleb, Leo was with Kitty, Declan was at his class, I was alone. I decided I really did need help, so I pulled out my phone and called Skye. She answered quickly. "Hi, sugar." Caleb must've left, as she never called me sugar when he was there. "Skye, we have two weeks until we go to London, I need a wardrobe update. Come with to Primark?" She squealed loudly.

"Hells yeah! I'll be over in about ten minutes?"

Skye had got to my house within twenty minutes, it was the nature of Skye to be late, so I always make sure not to get my hopes up when she says "we'll get to the front" at concerts. We were already wondering round Primark, baskets over arms and every now and then picking clothes up, nodding or shaking, putting them down, shoving them in the basket. Skye was a glorious shopping partner, she was such a fashionista too, and being my female best friend, she knew what clothes suited me and what clothes I should never consider. She was my personal stylist! Skye had collected varsity jackets and bra tops whereas I had collected up cute denim shorts and frayed tops with plimsoles and pumps. The weather forecast was promisingly positive for London in two weeks time, so we went for all the vest tops too. Skye had shoved leggings and cute jeans in the baskets too, just incase it ended up cold, I had endless amounts of hoodies, so I was safe on that one.

After three hours of Primark, New Look and Superdry we remembered her reservation she had made for us at The Ledbury. "Skye! Don't we need something dressy for The Ledbury?" Skye looked at me with an expression the mixture of shock and excitement. "Of course!" She threw her arms up and turned around sharply, dragging me behind her. I stumbled the first few steps but quickly picked my pace up, just a few behind her. "Where are we going, my dear?" I sweetly questioned. We suddenly stopped at the front of a shop with a large, white, title; "BANK" Skye pulled me in, straight to the dress rail. "The home of cheap, yet beautiful dresses!" She rubbed her cheeks and squealed before diving in. She picked up her first one, second one and third one before selecting a few for me.

Skye's first was a Big daisy shift dress. She pulled her poses and walked back in. The next was a Glamorous Bright Peter Pan Floral dress after swishing her hips, she walked back in. The third was a Ribbon Tartan Peter Pan collar dress after pouting her lips, she got changed, allowing me to have my go. My first dress was a Ginger Fizz Bed of Roses design dress, after swinging my hair, I walked back in. My second dress was a Collar long sleeve daisy blouse dress. After throwing my hands in the air and twirling, i went back in. My third dress was a Boobtube textured kick out skater dress.

By the time we had tried all six dresses on between us, Skye had decided on a Ribbon tartan peter pan collar dress and I had decided on the Boobtube textured kick out skater dress. We paid for the dresses and left the shop. "Coffee?" She questioned in a pleading tone. I looked to her and laughed, she looked knackered! I took her hand and dragged her into the nearest coffee shop, sat her down roughly and bought her a coffee. I just had a juice at a juice bar a few shops down.

As we sipped our drinks, we sat in silence and took in the busy environment of the shopping centre. Skye nudged me harshly about ¾ into my smoothie. "So, have you gotten over Declan yet?" I released the straw from my lips and looked to Skye to see that she had already disposed of her coffee cup. "No. It's been a month now." She sighed in return and took hold of my hand. "In time. In time." I pulled my hand away and placed it over the smoothie cup. I didn't think I would ever get over him, It certainly felt that way. I tried the Kitty approach; spotting all the fit guys everywhere and mentally marrying them, although, that didn't help. The guys could get fitter and fitter, I could even see Asa Butterfield somewhere, but I would still be in love with Declan. "I don't think I will, Skye. Call me crazy, but I think I love him." Skye looked shocked, like it was illegal to feel this way. I knew, in a way, her expression was right, In the Lottie rules, it was illegal to love a best friend this way, but I couldn't help it. Skye locked my hand in hers and disposed of my smoothie cup. "We're going to stay at Leo's tonight." She was marching through the mall, my hand firmly in hers. She seemed to think a night at Leo's would help, Skye's logic was horrendous, but sometimes, there was, surprisingly, method in her madness.