Nightfall ✓

Chapter 19

• chapter nineteen • 

"Well, here we are," Liam said as we stepped out of the cab.

I straightened my black top — it was the prettiest one I could find — and wondered briefly how Ash would react when she saw me wearing jeans to her birthday party. But I didn't care. I wanted to spend my time having fun rather than handling a fancy dress and pushing hair out of my face. Yeah, I'd tied my hair in a high ponytail. Ash would flip, no doubt about it.

"You're nervous, aren't you?" he asked.

Since the day Mary had Fractured his soul, that feeling that something bad was going to happen hadn't gone away. My only comfort was that he was back to normal.

"Yeah. So many people in there," I said, even though the people weren't what made me nervous.

"Don't worry. You don't have to talk to anyone. We'll just meet Ash and stay in a corner and have our celebration. Just the two of us. Plus, there'll be a lot of food here so we don't have to worry about that." He smiled goofily.

We were celebrating because he had finished the first draft of his novel Frozen Hearts yesterday, and probably in another month he would send it for querying. We could have had a separate party, but then we realized that we could just combine the two parties and save money (and effort, since he was as lazy as I was when it came to these things).

I nudged his sneakers with mine. "I love those shoes," I said for the thousandth time. They had these neon blue laces that contrasted with the black color of the shoes. It looked great. "When you take them off I will steal them and never give them back to you."

He laughed. "I doubt they will fit you." He took my hand and walked me in through the fancy gates, past the bunches of balloons wrapped around its iron bars. Next to it, on the stone wall, the name 'Galt House Hotel' was carved. We weren't carrying any presents, since we'd already given them to her two days ago, on the day of her actual birthday.

Loud music was blaring from the speakers. There were people all over the lawn, dancing and chatting, wearing pretty clothes. There was a long table of snacks in a corner, full of different stuff.

"Wow. Dad has organized a big party," he muttered.

"Your dad organized it?" I asked.

"Yeah. Her parents are in Japan right now."

He stared at the dishes, probably calculating how much he could stuff into his mouth. I had to drag Liam away so that we could look for Ashley.

We found her 20 minutes later inside the hotel building, in the lobby, where there were more food and drinks. She was talking to Luke.

I wondered for the millionth time how the hell she had managed to throw such a big party. She had literally invited the whole school, being the social butterfly that she was. She was wearing a black dress which fell to her knees, with black hoop earrings, and her blond-and-red hair was ironed so straight that someone could actually get a paper cut from it. The look suited her though, she looked beautiful.

We hugged her, and when she was done glaring at my boring jeans and t-shirt, we came out into the lawn again.

"Well, we have exactly three hours to kill," Liam said, looking at his watch. "It's six o' clock."

I snorted. "Do you really think the party will get over so soon?"

"Nah. Of course not. But I'll go home before it gets wild. I don't want to see Zack puking or cracking his lame jokes and I certainly don't want to carry him home."