Guardian Angel \\ l.h.\\ Luke Hemmings

Chapter Twenty Four: Slow Dance

I had promised Luke plenty of things over the course of the last two weeks.

Yet, the most difficult one by far was the fact that I had to discover something each day that I admired about myself. After such a long time of not being able to stand my reflection in the mirror, I found myself staring at her in the morning, precisely a cold Novemeber saturday.

Today was homecoming and I wasn't sure if if I was dreading tonight or if these nerves were just normal. But here I was at ten o'clock am, already preparing for the dance. I wanted to be the girl of the night that everyone scrutinized once she walked in. I wanted the to be the one that girls envied and boys drooled over. I wanted to have that wonderfully, hopeless romantic Cinderella moment. I had the dress, the heels (my mother's that were gifted to me), and my prince, Rylan. Everything was set for the fairytale all that was needed was the princess, and unforunately she was missing.

She wasn't the girl in the reflected image on the glass. No, this girl was certainly not a princess, she wasn't pretty, she wasn't-

"Stop that. Stop talking so negatively of yourself." Luke demanded from his criss cross position on my just made bed.

I on the other hand, had already sunk like the Titanic to the floor, my legs criss crossed like his.

"One good thing Cayden is all I'm asking sweeheart, you can do this. I could shower you with a million praises right now, the least you could do is find one."

"I know, I know." I mumbled, staring at myself, "Can't I just do it when my hair and makeup are finished?"

"No, it won't work if you are caked with all that stuff on; you need to see your natural beauty in its' purest form sweetheart. You don't need that trash, you're stunning no matter what." He swiftly said, from the mirror I could tell his eyes were focused on me.

"I can't do this." I huffed, ready to give up. This was foolish, and to think I ever could fix myself was a mistake on my part.

"Yes you can. I know you can. If you ever want to get better you can't give up so easily. Look again." He commanded, his gaze was felt piercing against my back.

With one last peek, I proclaimed, "I like my eyes today."

Although dark bags sagged under; my orbs were a clear blue; the kind of color that they were when I was sixteen, the color of my father's.

I shook my head, pushing the pain far away, "Ye-yeah, I like my eyes today."

"Good Cayden." He beamed, "I'm proud of you sweetheart."

"Thanks." I mumbled standing up, "Now can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"How good are you with nail polish?"
...

Turns out, like his choices of dresses, Luke was atrocious with anything feminine.

"Why do girls even wear this?" He complained, messing up the black nail polish on my ring finger.

I chuckled while using my dominate hand to brush my wet hair. The atypical sun was already sliding down the sky, light was fading, and the temperature was dropping.

My plans by to get ready in the morning were unsuccessful as Luke persuaded me with a marathon of my all time favorite show.

Now, six hours later I was scrambling to finish my hair as Rylan would be here any minute.

My original plan was to curl my locks but since time was of the essence, I pulled into a bun once Luke had managed to finish my last nail.

"Thank you." I told him, "Now help me zip my dress please?"