meet me in the hallway |h.s|

1 | best night of our lives

While I finish writing the sentence, I hear a knock at the door. I close my laptop and stand to open it. Karen greets me with the biggest grin I've ever seen on her face. I furrow my brows confused as she starts screaming and jumping enthusiastically. I grab her arm and drag her into my room, closing the door behind me.

"What is it?" I ask, still confused at her behaviour.

She screams even louder as an answer and takes something out of her pocket. She shakes her hand in front of my eyes, showing me what she's holding. I can't really see it, so I take it out of her hand and look at it carefully.

"Oh my God...You didn't!" 

"Yes, yes I did," she nods, still smiling. "A little too early, but Happy Birthday!"

I look back at the tickets, my cheeks already hurting due to the way I'm smiling constantly. This can't be happening.

"Three months too early," I say, squinting my eyes at her suspiciously. "How?"

"I don't kiss and tell."

"Kay."

"Vee."

I look down to check the tickets again. Holly...Karen got first row seats, which means that they could notice us in the crowd. I check the dates to see how long we'll have to wait; it's tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll see them live for the first time in my life.

"You're amazing," I tell her honestly. She is one of the best people I've ever met in my life.

"I know," she answers, pride showing on her face.

I roll my eyes back and sit on my bed, opening my laptop to continue where I had left.

"You were writing, weren't you?" 

I nod without looking at her. Then, I start writing again. I need to finish this, while the inspiration is still there.

"How far—?"

"Four chapters more," I cut her off and point at my desk without looking up. "If you want to read them..."

Karen grabs the manuscript from my desk and starts reading the chapters I finished a few hours ago. Last night, I broke my record writing those. It took me about six hours, and I just couldn't stop once I started. it had never happened before, and it took me by surprise, but I'm very glad about it.

I finish the current one in front of me and flick my eyes at my friend. She's smiling; that's a good sign, right? I just hope she likes it, like...really likes it. I don't want her to lie to me because we're friends. I want her to tell me honestly what she thinks about it. She has been pushing me to publish my work, but I still think I need to be better. I still think that it's not good enough.

She looks me in the eyes and opens her mouth to say something but closes it again. Her green eyes flash with something I can't decipher. It makes me panic internally about it since I don't know what it means.

"What do you think?" I question, afraid of her answer.

"I...I—"

Shit.

"They're not that good, aren't they?" I knew it, I knew it. "I mean, I know I might have to change a few things, but I didn't—"

"Vee, hey." She takes my hands in hers to calm me down. "You didn't let me finish."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay." She smiles, her voice soft. "I wanted to say...I knew you were good, but I didn't think you would be so good."

"Really?"

"You are an amazing writer, Venus. Maybe someday you'll publish this masterpiece, who knows."