The Weekend - Completed

Chapter 16

The following week had been a blur, as I sat on the train nearing Wrexham station I allowed my mind to wander, I could picture myself in the dress I'd bought especially for tonight's ball and I imagined myself dancing 'a la Cinderella style' with my handsome prince, I smiled contentedly to myself. When I stepped off the train I was a little disappointed to see not only Daniel but James too, they helped me with my bags and we chatted easily as we made the short walk to the halls of residence.

As soon as I reached the girls dorm I was whisked away by a very excited Katie, I only had 6 hours to get ready and I could see her panicking over how I'd be ready in time, she had already showered, had her eye brows plucked to within an inch of their lives, had her nails painted and her hair was in rollers.

"There's plenty of time, just calm down" I reassured her before she could start verbally fretting, "So let's have a look at this dress you've told me all about" I encouraged.

As we walked into her room the dress held pride of place on the wardrobe door. It was a beautiful teal green off the shoulder number, long and quite conservative I thought until I saw the thigh length slit. I knew instantly its straight lines would look fantastic on her.

"Oh, you're going to look so beautiful" I gushed honestly, Katie's smile spread warmly across her face as she rushed over to embrace me.

"Do you really think so?" she questioned, "I'm so excited you're here, it's good you and Daniel are friends again, after what happened last time, I mean... I was starting to get the feeling you were never coming back." I made a feeble attempt to reassure her that was never the case, but it wouldn't have mattered she was too caught up in the excitement.

Katie spied my bags and smiled brightly "So, how long can you stay for?" Without giving me chance to answer she rushed in with another questions. "No, strike that I know you have a break before the second semester starts, so you could stay for a week if you wanted to. I guess I'm asking how long do you WANT to stay for?" She said pointedly.

"Let's just see how things go shall we?" I hedged non-committally. We continued to chat for a while until finally Katie threw me out of her room and ordered me to start getting ready.

I finished applying my mascara and took a step back to take in my appearance. I was very pleased with the results of the last couple of hours. The dress I'd bought was exactly right for tonight, the smooth, heavy material caressed my skin and accentuated my curves, whilst the ebony colour of the dress hid the lumps and bumps, I loved this dress! The high rounded neckline gave the dress a vintage look until I turned to reveal the very modern backless scoop which stretched all the way down my spine. I'd twisted my hair up into a French pleat to give me an elegant look but I'd pulled strands of my hair out the top to take away the harshness.

We'd arranged to meet in the girl's kitchen at 7:30 for a quick drink before heading off, it was a little after a quarter passed, when I heard a quiet knock on the door, taking one last contented look at myself in the mirror I answered it.

"Hi Alex" Mark said sheepishly, "Wow! You look amazing" I felt my face flush but thanked him for the compliment. "Can I come in? I need to talk to you." he said awkwardly, I moved aside so he could enter the room.

He sat on the chair and played with his hands nervously. I waited patiently for him to begin, my mind swam with possible reasons for him to decide he needed to talk to me, why now? Why ten minutes before I go out with his best friend on what, I had imagined being, an evening even Disney story writers would be jealous of. When he didn't start talking I pushed him.

"Right, Daniel asked me to speak to you, the thing is..." he paused clearly looking for the right words. I knew the exuberant glow I had when I opened the door had drained from my face and I steely glare had replaced it, when Mark's speech faltered and he swallowed hard I was starting to feel sick.