Royalty

Sixty Three

a/n: ^^^ i think this is my favorite manip that i've ever made for anything. i literally have not stopped looking at it, i'm obsessed

After a very entertaining pizza run with Niall buying slices for anyone that walked through the door and responded to his obnoxious yelling, the six of us had made our way across the street to the afterparty. There was a huge crowd outside the building and lots of paparazzi with their flashing cameras. 

Niall and Barbara led the way through the crowd, maneuvering in between people and yelling at a couple of the security people. I grabbed onto Summer's hand and pulled her through the crowd as we followed along. Both Xander and Isabella were doing the same, keeping their heads down so they weren't blinded by the lights.

Once the six of us had made it through the entrance and into whatever grand ballroom that the party was held in, I felt like we could actually relax. I let go of Summer's hand and inhaled a couple breaths. Just walking by paparazzi people makes me anxious.

As I composed myself, I took a look around the gigantic oval-shaped room we were in. The ceiling was super high, making the room feel even bigger. The decorations were really cool, with tiny little paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling and drapes crossing everywhere above our heads. It was pretty dark in the room, the only lighting coming from the lanterns, a few string lights around the perimeter of the room, and a couple projector images on the wall that were running through a slideshow of pictures from the film and behind the scenes stuff.

Along the outer edges of this ballroom were tables upon tables. Some of them had dinner food, some of them had an entire array of desserts, others had the nonalcoholic beverages. There were two bars on opposite sides of the room, both of which were crowded.

Little round dining tables also lined the room, just inside the ring of food tables. The center pieces to each table were themed along to Eleanor's movie. In the middle of the room was a large dance floor. Some people were already out there dancing along to whatever the remixed music was. There was a DJ somewhere, I just didn't find him before I was brought out of my own thoughts.

"I'm totally going out to dance," Isabella shouted over the music.

"Louis is out there," Eleanor appeared at our side. She smiled over at Isabella and pointed towards the dance floor. "Ask him to show you 'The Joe'. It's like his favorite dance move."

Isabella nodded her head and made her way towards the crowd in the center of the room. I could see her start to dance with a few strangers until she found Louis, whispering something in his ear before he began laughing. 

Weird. Louis genuinely laughing. Never thought I'd see that.

He started doing this strange dance move, which I assumed to be The Joe. He was pumping his arms back and forth while stepping side to side, and he just looked really odd. But Isabella was getting a kick out of it, and Louis started showing her how to do it. 

"I'm gonna get a drink now," Niall spoke up as Barbara disappeared to talk with some friends. "Anyone want anything?"

Xander shrugged his shoulders, "I'll come with you."

Both Summer and I passed on getting a drink, saying we'd grab one later. So as the two of them left to go to the bar, Summer took my hand in hers and smiled.

"I have some people I want you to meet!"

"Like who?" I asked as she pulled me away from where we were standing.

"Just some good family friends. They're all in town for the movie because some of them worked with Eleanor."

I followed her as she guided me towards one of the small, round dining tables towards the back of the room. I kept looking around at all the people that were here. I was in the same room as a lot of famous people that I actually recognized, and I had no idea how to react.