Hidden Girl

25- Let Her Go

At 12 in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, I leave my apartment, that is empty of any Christmas decorations. Outside, on the other hand, is in full Christmas decorations. There are lights everywhere and someone singing carols at every corner.

I meet Jenny and Azalea at a cafe for some hot chocolate. Of course we just end up talking about tonight.

"You excited, Aurora?" Jenny asks me excitedly. She's the most excited out of all of us for this. I think she just wants to show off her black dress to Derek. He'll love it.

"No," I tell them honestly, as I take a sip of hot chocolate. "I'm going to look horrifying and Katherine is going to be there, and it's going to be annoying because we all know how Alex feels about her and-"

"First, we are going to make every boy there wish that they asked you," Azalea reassures me. "Second, what do you mean by how Alex feels about Katherine?"

"He likes her," I state it as I know it. "That song he sang yesterday. There's this one line in the song. But if you kissed me now I know you'd fool me again. He still likes her. He literally sang that song for her."

Azalea's and Jenny's mouths drop open at my honest words, and Jenny finally speaks up first. "What about when he sang you Invisible by Hunter Hayes?"

"He sang that as friends," I complain to them. "Are you both seriously so thick as to not see that he doesn't like me? You two really have to get over the fact that he will never like me like that, and I'll never like him like that."

"Fine," Azalea says with crossed arms. "But tonight, if he shows any sort of feeling toward you of wanting to be more than friends, you also have to be open to the idea that he may actually like you."

"Fine, fine," I tell them as I stand up and push my chair in. "Let's get ready then."

We head over to Azalea's and hang out in her room until we need to get ready. We all take turns getting dressed in the bathroom, but Azalea finishes us all up.

She did Jenny's make-up, but I wouldn't let her touch me with that garbage. I hate makeup full-heartedly.

She gets me light black heels to wear that show my "doll feet", as she calls them. I am at least able to dance in them; we checked.

I didn't wear a necklace because Azalea said I looked way hotter because the dress showed my collar bones really well and she liked it just like that. She then curled my hair into soft curls and put them in a loose bun on top of my head.

When she finished it, I finally realized she did this to show off the dropped back of the dress, which I still didn't feel safe with.

Once we were all ready, Azalea calls a cab to take us over since she isn't in the mood to drive anymore. Before we leave though, I took some medicine (the right type, with the help of Azalea) since I started not feeling too good, hoping I'll be fine for at least the dance.

We arrive and I am immediately in awe.

It is literally like a pavilion on the edge of a river. It has a dome in the center, and as we walk in, I realize there's a large chandelier in the middle that lights up the whole place. There are heat lamps everywhere places to keep everyone warm, but with all the people, it's pretty easy to stay warm.

My face pales at the sight of everyone and I know I've been tricked.

"Azalea... Why am I the..."

I can't even speak properly and I start hyperventilating. How could they do this to me?

"I'm so sorry, Aurora," Azalea tells me. She stands in front of me and puts her hands on my shoulders. "We shouldn't have done this but we needed to."

"Why?" I finally croak out as I stare at everyone's black and white clothing.

"Because we want Alex to regret not asking you here," Azalea tells me confidentially, and I finally begin to calm down.

I decide to just nod my head, not wanting to argue. Most people turn to look at us as we enter, but mainly looking at me. I reach up to my face and realize I'm not wearing my glasses. Well at least I have my contacts in.

They are mainly judging me because I can't even follow the rules of a black and white ball.

I wore pink.

I feel like this is actually really cliche.

Before we even get much farther, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around to see a really cute guy standing there. He has blonde hair and is wearing a simple black suit.

"How come I've never seen you before?" this stranger asks me. I look around for my friends, but they quickly disappeared. I'm going to kill them for this.

"I tend to be a person that no one looks twice at," I honestly tell him as I look up at his face. Why is everyone so cute here?

"No one will want to keep their eyes off you tonight," he tells me as he quickly looks down at my dress, his comment making me blush. "May I have the honor of having your first dance?"

I quickly nod my head and place my hand in his outstretched one. He leads me into the middle of the room. I put my arms around his neck and he puts his hands around my back. We don't dance like those awkward middle-schoolers though. We sway back and forth, barely any room between our bodies.

"I never got your name," he finally informs me, bringing me back down to earth since I got so absorbed in the music as Let Her Go plays.

You only need the light when it's burning low.

Only miss the sun when it starts to snow.

Only know you love her when you let her go.

"I'm Aurora, " I tell him.

"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl," he smiles at me. Well that's a cliche line. "I'm Hunter."

"Well it's nice to meet you, Hunter," I smile at him. He's fairly sweet, but not really my type.

"Where is she?" I hear someone yell. I'm fairly short, so I really only see the people dancing around me, but I can tell by the voice it's Alex. He must have arrived.

I just don't want him to see me. That would be embarrassing.

"She's dancing with someone," I hear Azalea reply calmly. Hunter tries to say something, but I quickly shush him, wanting to hear what they are saying.

"I told you to make her wait for me!" Alex practically scream at her. My mouth opens and my hands drop from Hunter's neck.

"Maybe you should've just asked her to the dance!" Azalea screams back, and they both become silent.

"I'm sorry," I whisper to Hunter as I turn and run away through the crowd. Around the pavilion is a balcony-type-thing that has a railing and is right up to the water, which is mainly ice now.

Everyone is dancing, so I'm the only one against the railing, looking down into the icy water. My breath still comes out shaky.

Why do I let myself freak out over this, even though I know that he likes Katherine and not me?

I'm such an idiot for wishing that he was talking about me. He'll never like me like that.