Stage Fright

Chapter 35 ~ Only Angel

Heather

"Honey, are you sure you want to wear that to Taylor's?" She asks as I lay out the pieces on my bed. "It's short and it looks like underwear." She sighs and I laugh a bit.

"It's a lot more conservative then most of the costumes my friends are going to wear." I tell her and she shakes her head. "Josh is coming with me, nothing's going to happen."

"Couldn't you at least wear tights under it instead of the stockings?" She asks and I sigh.

"I want to wear it this way." I tell her. "You're driving us there, picking us up, Josh is going to look out for me and I swear to god I won't drink that much." I insist and she sighs.

"You're just so young." She mumbles. "It seems like a very grown up costume."

"Well I'm more grown up now." I assure her. "I'm eighteen in three and a half months, I picked it out because I like it."

"If you're sure." She sighs. "I can't really stop you." I lean over and give her a hug and she chuckles a bit. "So, you and Josh have been spending a lot of time together......"

"Yeah." I admit, cheeks turning red. 

"Are you seeing each other?" She asks and I sigh, feeling embarrassed.

"Not officially, we're not supposed to be together during the show so we're keeping it on the down-low." I mumble and she smiles. "But when he's in this house, he's my boyfriend."

"Really?" She asks and I nod. I was so happy I could cry, I felt my heart skip a beat whenever we were together. "Oh Heather, that's wonderful news."

"I know." I say, knowing there was an embarrassing grin on my face. "I really like him, so much more than I ever liked my other boyfriends."

"That's nice." She says and I nod. "I'm sorry about the whole school thing."

"Don't be, it's sort of nice." I admit and she furrows her eyebrows. "Nobody knows about us, we're keeping it out of the school gossip loop. I get to live my life but I know that when we leave the school that there's a great guy waiting for me."

"I'm happy for you." She smiles. "Have you told your father?"

"No, I haven't seen him for two weeks and I think it's news I should share in person." I tell her and she nods.

"Then I'll keep it to myself." She says and I smile. Suddenly the doorbell rings and I smile. 

"That's Josh." I tell her.

"I'll get it and send him upstairs alright?" She asks and I nod. She leaves the room and I bring the costume into my closet to hide it away until I put it on. I didn't buy the costume to impress anyone or to get attention, I liked how it looked.

"Hey." I hear and I turn to see Josh putting down his backpack. I smile and run over, wrapping my arms around him. I was so excited for tonight, I hope nothing goes wrong the way it seems to usually at parties. But for the most part people had been leaving me alone lately.

"Hi." I whisper and he gives me a kiss, I enjoy it so much after the week I've had. My voice sounds a lot better today and I'm feeling like myself again. All night I kept thinking about what it was like last night. When we were both in his car and he was running his hands over my back. It was distracting me while I was trying to do my homework.

"I missed you." I breathe and he laughs, picking me up and giving me another quick kiss.

"And I missed you." He whispers. "Did you eat dinner yet?" He asks and I nod.