Above All

-Thirteen-

Friendship of the end

Gliding leaf on the morrow

Flames flicker at dusk

Amani:

I honestly felt like agreeing to having Prince Layton join our friend group on a night out was the equivalent of having to watch over a little cousin or babysit at the last-minute and it brought nothing but stress and frustration to me. I couldn't even take a decent time out without him having to pull something on me? If he wasn't attempting a sneak-out, he was finding ways to raise my blood pressure.

I felt the worst when I had to tell Éliane about the slight alter in our plans after returning from the bakery; on the surface level, she seemed unbothered by it, but I could tell she wasn't too thrilled about having to accommodate to Prince Layton's presence when this was supposed to be a relaxing evening out, but she still took it like a champ and aided in ensuring all the places we were going to stop at, the security detail scouted and already pre-approved before even stepping foot into the neighborhood.

Since we weren't doing anything wild like clubbing, we didn't have to do too much to avoid any kind of media; the Prince was allowed to be out and enjoy himself, it was just the way he would conduct himself when he was out that was the problem. But since I was here, I wasn't going to let any of that happen.

I would make sure of that.

"Do I really have to put a disguise on? You already told me my last one was shit." Layton grumbled as I adjusted the wig cap on his head. I got him a better one, this wavy black-haired structure actually suited him a lot better rather than the ragged blonde he had chosen for himself.

"Hush! Despite us going out and doing normal things, I'd rather not raise the eye of suspicion during our activities.... perfect!" I stepped back and admired my work, it was a wonder what a wig could do to change an appearance. He didn't look so much like the usual prince he was, especially since he was dressed in much more casual clothing; some fitted jeans, a t-shirt, and a jacket did him pretty well. I didn't even know he had such items in his closet since he was always dressed rather impeccably.

Prince Layton moved over to the closest mirror in his closet and observed himself silently, his hand lightly grazing the wig cap in admiration, "Hm... you did an adequate job, I'm impressed." He said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes, "Funny you say that, you couldn't even get the hairs to not stick out on the one you had on before." I mocked him to his dismay, his lips puckered up in an irritated fashion and I found myself belting out in uncontrollable laughter after seeing him make that expression; he was such a big baby, I couldn't help myself.

"Aren't you a comedian?" He said after I had eventually calmed down from laughing.

I wiped the small tears that escaped my eyes, avoiding messing up my eye makeup in the process. In my bag, I could hear my phone vibrating repeatedly, informing me of an incoming call; I supposed it was Éliane informing me that she was ready for all of us to go, but instead I saw that it was my boyfriend Blake.

"Hey, babe." I answered into the phone.

"Hey, Mani... what are you up to?" He asked me curiously.

"Nothing much, just getting ready to hang out." I replied to him.

I walked a over towards a mirror and look over my outfit for tonight; I sported black pencil pants with a zipper fold that gave my legs a pretty structured look, it was edgy and I liked that looked for tonight even though it was going to be low-key. My top was a bodysuit in black with a high neck and sleeves that went past my wrists; they were cool to pull on to keep my hands warm with the changing weather. The back of the top was pretty cut-out with caged straps keeping it together, I was wearing a leather jacket over it though to keep me comfortable.