The Stranger I Met

My Future Ahead

My phone kept ringing all day afterwards but neither did I decline his call nor did I silence the ringer. I wanted to hear him try.

Mom rushed home as soon as Tristen called her. She sat with me through the evening, just listening to me ramble about how stupid I had been and how I should have trusted her instincts. Tristen too came to my room to console me but left when he realised how I was better in the company of my mom.

My phone finally stopped ringing at two in the morning when Tristen came into my room and declined the call. I was thankful to him for taking the step as I didn't had it in me, but I didn't express it.

" Give me another one sweetie." Caroline breaks my train of thoughts. I give her the last hairpin lying on the dressing table which she uses to set the final curl of my hair in place.

" There! All done." She pats me on my shoulders with finality. I smile at my reflection in the mirror.

Both Molly and Caroline had been by my side throughout the play to help me in and out of various costumes. For the last scene, Caroline arranged my hair in a bun in a loose style and full of curls, some of which were delicately falling across my cheeks.

They didn't accessorize me much considering it would ruin the regal look of my gown, just the ridiculously exorbitant earrings and emerald hairpins in my raven hair.

Finally ending my make up with a scarlet lipstick, she asks me to get up and twirl. Both girls give loud gasps as I do so, making me giggle.

" God! You are going to slay out there with this last scene, hun." Molly expresses while Caroline still stands tongue tied and mouth wide, and I'm pretty sure I notice her eyes watering a bit.

I look at my full get up in the greenroom mirror and give myself a satisfactory smile. The dress fits me like a glove unlike all my other costumes, not even a single millimetre here or there which made me think for the millionth time about the curator of such an amazing attire.

Could it be Tristen?

There was a possibility that he wasn't the one as this dress was way too elegant and graceful for his taste. He always preferred girls in skimpy outfits.

When I received it, I wanted it to be Jason but I knew that wasn't-

Jason!

And just like that, my jittery mood goes down the drain as his thoughts fill up my mind again. How he had kept banging the greenroom door before the start of the show, begging Caroline to let him enter and let him talk to me.

She, being the amazing friend she is, shunned him down and told him off.

Molly had picked me up earlier than usual so I didn't have to face the chance of him showing up on my door. She told Caroline and Stella about what happened after we reached school.

It had hurt. It really did. But my three girls kept me up, not letting me drown myself in my boyfriend's lie. Stella kept telling me that she'll grab him by the nape of his neck and throw him off the stage if I ruined my makeup because of him.

Throughout the scenes, I kept it subtle, replaying the mantra of being Erica and not Aurora. It was difficult, and Jason wasn't helping me at all by boring his eyes into me during our scenes, the eyes which had always given me warmth and nothing else until he had greeted me in that god forsaken music room.

"Come on now. The last scene is about to start." Caroline claps. I inhale through my nose and put on a smile. Molly and Caroline take my separate hands and pull me carefully into a group hug, not wanting to ruin my dress.