Chapter One: James

This is chapter one of Things Change. Hope you enjoy, make sure to review before you leave! Thanks :)

Chapter One: James

 

I could feel the earth beneath my bare feet. The lush grass. The warm sunshine on my face. The wind blowing through my hair, all combined made my hike up to my house a lot more difficult.

It was a normal day to me, all and all a beautiful one if I may say so myself. Our house on the hillside in the London countryside was beautiful. A historic house, maybe, but even that couldn’t stop the looks I got when I had sleepovers and gatherings with my friends there. I keep calling it a house but it was more of a mansion, at least to everyone else, but to me it was the same old same old.

I had houses twice that size in at least 15 other countries this is just the one we happened to be staying in for the summer, each summer we picked a different one to spend our time in.

Beautifully crafted with a very sort of fairy tale princess castle feel to it. The bricks on the outside seemed somewhat faded and dull, but the inside had wood dark and shiny, covered every inch of flooring. To admit I was a bit spoiled, being an only child and all. Though most my time was taken up by events other places. Not that my parents didn’t care or whatever but we weren’t exactly the family that does everything together either. 

They thought to do something meaningful with my summer I should begin to write, they kind of knew what I had wanted to do all along and decided that partying in British clubs the whole summer wasn’t the best thing for the president’s daughter to be doing.

Even though they weren’t the strictest of parents they wanted me to not look like a total idiot, when I ended up on the front cover of a tabloid with the headline being “President’s daughter partying it up in London?” That wouldn’t have been the best thing for my dad at the moment either.

I mean they still let me see my friends and all but not without the guards. Yes, I did just say guards they come with me everywhere, they were trailing behind me right this moment. Even to go out the front door of my own house, not that I would even be able to get past the rod iron gate at the front with more guards then the royal palace had.

I know I might have looked a mess but I didn’t go anywhere but to get the mail, but to my surprise when I returned to see my best friend, James at my door I felt horrified. He was my best friend, but I never saw him without being completely and utterly gorgeous, I mean I did have the most beautiful little private boutiques at my disposal.

I don't think that I had ever seen James look less then perfect, even when he woke up. Even as a child he looked beautiful when he slept and equally when he woke up. I'm less fortunate, I looked my worst when I slept and when I woke up, and James cared about that. I'm not sure how much he cared, but today it was the worst it could ever be. 

I was in my rubber duck pajamas, yes of all things I could have been wearing; it was my rubber duck pajamas. My feet were bare, as I was on my way to get the mail, which wasn’t nearly as far as the front gate, I didn’t even hear the squeak of the gate as he entered. His car hadn’t passed us because he would have stopped and offered me a ride to the house, just knowing James. His light brown hair shined in the bright morning light.

“Well looks like someone didn’t bother to put on a descent outfit this morning huh?” James said, as he looked me up and down.

“Shut up, I’m not a morning person and you know that.” I said in return, giving him a light punch on his shoulder for good measure. I opened the front door and walked inside, James following close behind me. He made himself at home, which didn’t bother me, that was just how James was.

I walked up the grand marble staircase, which lead to my room. While James slowly sunk into our couch, waiting my return with some proper clothes on this time. I didn’t put anything on special, just some jeans and a beaded tank top, it was quite hot in England that summer.

I put on my strappy sandals and walked back down the staircase my ponytail swinging back and forth as I bounced down the stairs as if it were a completely normal day.

“That's a much better look for you Lucy.” James said rising from the couch.

“I’m glad it's to your standards James” I said heading toward the kitchen, I haven’t eaten anything yet, and my stomach was telling me it was way past breakfast. I grabbed an apple and Mark, our servant, poured me my favorite kind of juice, grape, and said good morning to the two of us. He pushed the glass toward me but James swept it up and took a gulp.

 “So what shall we do today?“ he questioned, finishing off my glass of juice.

“Well we can start by you getting me another glass of juice since you took that one to your likings.” I said in return. James came to the refrigerator I leaned against and opened the door, took out the juice and did as I said.

“Here you go your royal highness.” He added handing the cold glass to me.

“Shut up James.” I laughed as I finished the glass and wiped my mouth with my arm.  James came from rich family also; I guess that is why we are like best friends. I guessed James just knew what I felt and all, to be looked down on by everyone, like you couldn’t even spend a decent day without you name in the tabloids the next morning.

“You still haven’t answered my question.” He said not even letting the boredom hide in his voice. I knew that it would be best if I figured out something to keep him occupied for the rest of the day or else we would end up taking a private jet to the middle of the Amazon and wouldn’t return home for a week or two. James was my best friend but I couldn’t go on any of his crazy idea adventures.

“Well I don’t know James, dad will be gone on business all week and mom had some spa thing with her girlfriends, so I guess I have the house to myself, but we can’t throw a party or anything, my parents would freak.” I was rambling on ideas; I guess it was enough to make me forget about James’s birthday, which I was supposed to throw an amazing party for this weekend.

“Lucy?” he said as a confused look swept over his face. I then noticed I had been staring into space for the past three minutes, and then snapped out of my weird trans state.

         “Oh yeah, sorry.” I said bringing myself back to earth for the time being.

“So what shall we do?” he said still boredom in his voice, this time heavier, as if he had been sitting there watching me stare into space for he past three hours not just three minutes.

My phone vibrated in my jeans pocket. It was from one of my close friends Sarah. “Hey want to grab a bite to eat then catch a late movie?” she said in text. I glanced up a James, watching me.

”Sure but do you mind if James tags along?” We have nothing better to do and he showed up on my doorstep this morning like a lost puppy I thought to myself. Her reply seemed to come fairly slow while James and I sat there like something was magically going to appear and it (whatever it would be) would be magical enough to hold James attention instead of him studying me.

I just stared at my phone if she couldn’t have replied faster then my grandmother, and she had no idea how to text what so ever. It finally came and all I got was “Sure”. I told James my idea for the day, but he didn’t look the least bit amused.

“Oh I guess that is a good plan for the day, but I thought it was going to be a ‘James and Lucy day’ it’s ok though we can do that too.” He said, but I could tell his smile was fake, and he was disappointed that it wouldn’t just be us today.

“Which car should we take today miss Lucy?” Mark asked.

“The black stretch limo please” James replied before I could even take a breathe to answer Mark’s question, he tended to do that very often.

“Ok I shall call for that car then Mr. James.” He replied in his always-dull tone of voice. In the next five minutes the car had appeared in the long half circle driveway.  I hurried down the stairs, making my way toward the car James close behind. I scooted in first the black leather seat warm from the outside heat. James then slammed the door shut behind him as I took my seat opposite to him.

 “Lucy, what are you planning to do for my birthday?” James asked curiously, like a boy on Christmas Eve asking what he was getting. It gave him an innocent feel, but still I couldn’t let the secret slip out.

So I just said “Oh nothing fancy, trust me it will be to your standards.” I said trying to act casual but I knew this was a big moment for James he was turning sixteen, but his parents weren’t around to celebrate with him, so I took that role. He laughed a little at the thought of what a party but to his standards would look like.

Then said “I’m sure it will be quite nice, I mean anything you plan for me must be wonderful, absolutely exquisite.”  He said smiling that bright smile I hadn’t seen since I decided to take him to London with me. He came absolutely everywhere with me, even if I didn’t offer somehow one way or another he ended up in the same place I did. I sure felt lucky to have such a great best friend, I hope he knew that but I don’t think he did. I never told him that or anything.

The car came to an abrupt stop, making me (weighing little less then nothing as James would say) fly from the seat across from him to nearly on top of him. I got up right away and opened the door to the bright light. Maybe he was still in shock that I had just minutes ago been on top of him, but he didn’t move. I pulled him out of the car as I watched Sarah make her way towards us, I was still gripping James arm as though he might run away or pass out or something. He wiggled out of my grip just as Sarah faced us.

“Hey Lucy!” she sounded so cheery when she said it like something big just happened in the girl world and she was begging to spill it all to me, but not with James around, she wouldn’t dare.

“Hey I’m here too you know, Sarah.” James said rolling his eyes as if he was being ignored and he got that enough from his parents.

She quickly added “Hey James!” a smile spreading wide across her face to hide her annoyed feeling with James. Lets just say they aren’t the best of friends. To make it less awkward I pulled them both inside the restaurant on the beach and with a sigh I called over the waiter.

In less then two minutes he and his crew were lugging a table and three chairs outside and then to return with a large umbrella, which he placed in the hole in the middle of the table. I ushered Sarah and James to that table as they noticed it was the only one out on the beach.

 “Special Order!” I said as I shifted on my comfy beach chair. They sat down too; seeming more impressed then relaxed like I did. “Well I know it is wrong to use my dad’s status for special treatment, but I just thought you guys would like to sit on the beach in London with the president’s daughter… thought maybe it was cool.” I laughed at the whole president’s daughter thing, neither James nor Sarah thought of me as the “president’s daughter” anymore.

“ I would take sitting with the president’s daughter on the beach in London over anything” James said. I felt myself blush as he smiled the warm smile again.

Yet again the guards ruined the moment. “ Is he bothering you miss Lucy?” the guards asked in unison.

“No he is not, for once actually, you don’t need to worry about it boys.” I said laughing a bit while James sat and smiled. I also forgot Sarah was on this outing too. She always told me that we made a cute couple and that falling in love with your best friend was totally book worthy. So she didn’t mind as James and my gaze caught each other and didn’t leave for quite a while.

I thought differently about the whole couple thing. James was one of my very close friends, yes of course, but I wouldn’t date him, I always thought it would be too weird, for both of us. Sure maybe we liked each other a little. But I wouldn’t take it that far I had told Sarah on a late-night phone call just a few days back.

Besides that James was always by my side and if he really liked me that much he would have said something by now. I checked my watch. 4:15 on the dot. The movie started at 5:30 so I decided we could go on a walk on the beach while we waited. Turns out that wasn’t such a good idea.

After eating and everything we got up to leave and I made the mistake of making fun of James and the way his hair was all messed up from the wind. He knew I was joking but he wanted to make the joke even funnier. By the way James is very concerned about his hair and how it looks every single minute of the day.

It ended me up getting carried halfway down the beach only to be thrown into the warm seawater. All done by James. But then he should have known he was in for it. Sarah and I pushed and pulled on James until he was waist deep in the water and I was standing right beside him except he was taller then me so the water was up to my mid-stomach area.

I looked up at him and then he swept me up and carried me out of the water setting me down while the guards glared at him, they knew my father would not like to hear about this day. No doubt was James one of the sweetest boys I knew, but he was my best friend, which made me feel like I could trust him with my life or something really important to me.

We ended up skipping the movie and laying out under the stars on the warm sand. Sarah decided to go home around eleven leaving James and I to lie there like idiots, until about twelve thirty. The guards watched us very closely as we lay there and talk on and on about everything as people pass us by but we barely noticed them, it felt like we were the only two people on the earth.

By the time we ran out of things to talk about it was twelve thirty and James had no way of getting home without falling asleep in the back of our car, and frankly I think Mark would be to scared to wake Mr. James from his nap (in Mark’s words). I got up first brushing off my butt and what not. Then I pulled him up with all the strength I had left in me from the water thing earlier and he stood up and we walked together towards the car that had been waiting for us for hours.

Though I highly doubt that Mark cared. Mark opened the door for us; I slid into the seat that was next to James’s usual seat as he followed behind me. Mark closed the door slowly as if he was scared what we would do back there. The guards entered their own car and followed behind the limo, I think that was the farthest they were from me that whole day.

James decided not to go home even though his clothes were quite damp. Anyways he kept an extra pair at each of my many homes just in case. I pushed open the heavy familiar front door and headed toward the shower, I felt dirty.

“Lucy?” James said just before I stepped onto the first step of the grand staircase.

“Yes James? What is it?” I said in mid-yawn.

“What happened earlier… that didn’t like mean anything did it?” He asked sounding more like a confused little boy then the James I knew.

“No James it was just three friends hanging out, I mean that is what you thought it was right?” I asked before tossing my keys and the rest of my purse onto the couch. He didn’t answer for a while but I finally sighed and decided to sink into the couch with him before heading to shower and go to bed.

“Well I guess that is what I thought it was but…” James trailed off not finishing that sentence. I took my ponytail down and probably looked like a mess I mean we both looked a least half terrible.

“James” I said in a hushed tone “did you think that was… like a date or something?” I said with some kind of worry in my voice.

He picked up on that and smiled a crooked smile at me and in the nicest way possible said “No of course not, just friends.”

Without a frown breaking that smile I smiled in return hugged him and said “Thanks James you’re the best” as I headed off to my shower and warm bed. I knew he knew where his room was (there was a room for him in all my houses), and I wanted to get out of that room with the tense and awkward feeling just floating around it. I headed toward my bathroom knowing it wouldn’t do much good, taking a hot bath, but it was worth a try I said to myself as I turned the facet on.

I don’t remember the rest of that night but I knew I had slipped on my most comfy pajamas (which were yet not too embarrassing because I knew James would surely say something the next morning). I woke up to the sun shining right into my eyes my watch read 6:01. I jumped when I noticed James was sitting at the edge of my bed.

“Well good morning sleeping beauty.” James said softly.

“James let me sleep… please five more minutes,” I said pulling the covers over my eyes they were just thick enough to block out the bright British sunshine.

“No” he said firmly he softened as he added, “I’m bored” in the perfect James voice. The one that got him just about whatever he wanted. He pulled the covers off me and I shivered at the now non-exsistent warmth of my blanket.

I pushed my soft curled brown hair out of my face, so James could look at my eyes, instead of the lump of curls that were wildly surrounding my face. But he still stared at the window out into the garden. He stood up and crossed the room to stand next to the window, as I sat up in my bed.

“You know the garden would make an awesome setup for a great formal party.” James said it as more of a statement then a suggestion, meaning he wanted to throw a formal party in the large garden in my backyard for his birthday. This was James’s idea of a birthday party. I couldn’t blame him it sounded like a really cool birthday too.

So I swung my legs out of the high bed, jumped off and James turned as he heard the thump. “I’ll do it all.” I said walking toward him I hugged him and told him to sternly “get out” with a small laugh he left me to myself in the large room. I had absolutely no idea how to throw that awesome of a birthday for James to be happy but then again I kind of had to do it.

I mean he was my best friend and this was his sixteenth birthday. Usually those are pretty amazing birthdays, apparently they are important, but then again I thought all my birthdays were very much so important. Everybody agreed they were pretty important, but at this moment James’s birthday was the most important birthday to me, if I didn’t do it correctly then he wouldn’t be happy and I wanted James to be happy on his own birthday.

I thought to myself that James would be happy with any party I create for him, so all I had to do was make it “James”. Once I was dressed I decided I would start to get ready for his party, which he wasn’t suppose to know about but he did anyways.

I put my big sunglasses over my eyes and walked to my car, my punch buggy (dad had it special made he wanted me to start driving early so the DMV allowed me), but before I could make it but about three steps out the door something or someone caught me by the arm. I whirled around to see it was just James.

“Take me with you” he begged me. I had said no every time, that this was his birthday and that he wasn’t suppose to know it was even going to happen in the first place. He grabbed my arms and turned me around as I tried to back up the car was behind me… “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” I thought to myself over and over again.

He looked in my eyes and I could tell he was studying me again. He spoke slow and gentle as he said, “I want my birthday to be just us”. I must have had this confused or shocked look on my face as he repeated himself, “Just you and me, nobody else.” By then I was ready to answer and I saw a flash of worry wash over him, then it was gone again, as a smile took its place.

“James.” I said slowly racking my brain for the right words to say to him. “I mean I like you James… but I thought… you have just been my friend for so long… and a don’t know how I would even begin to adjust…” I rambled on until I think he had enough and kissed me instead of studying me, at that I shut up. I tried to pull away but the car was still hot against my back. I tried to do everything in my power for that little piece of me that liked James enough to want him to be my boyfriend not to become a big piece. I finally gained enough strength to push him off me.

Once I shut up he said what he was going to say before the kiss and the whole rambling on thing. The one thing a girl can ask for from a guy her whole life and never get I just got “I love you” I heard James say as he whispered in my ear having to lean down. I was pretty much in shock.

The whole thing came so fast or so it seemed, the kiss, the I love you, and then there was the part where I had dropped to my knees because that had given out and he scooped me up in his arms and carried me to my bedroom. There were guards everywhere but at that moment I didn’t care at all. I didn’t care that they all saw that, all of it. I didn’t care that James was sitting on my bed with me or that he was stroking my hair as if my cat had just died. None of it mattered not anymore it didn’t.

The one thought that kept crossing my mind was that when James had kissed me I wanted to kiss him back for the longest time, but then I pushed and pushed like something inside of me thought it wasn’t right. Maybe it was because I wasn’t supposed to be kissing boys at fifteen years old. Maybe it was because James was supposed to be my best “friend”, just friends.

Maybe it was because I knew I liked him so much I didn’t want it to root any deeper in my body then it already had. I thought that the third answer was the most reasonable. James was sweet and funny and just fun to be around… but he wasn’t my boyfriend, he was my BEST friend, he knew everything about me. I was feeling a bit better but the room still spinning a little.

“It’ll be ok Lucy.” I heard James faintly say in my ear. “Your alright”, ”I’m here now.” “I’ll protect you”. He was actually calming me down. The room stopped spinning wildly. Everything fell into place. Just then I heard a slight knock on the closed door. I didn’t have enough emotion in me to say anything so I just sat there, James by my side. After about two minutes the door flung open and my parents came rushing in.

James stepped about two feet away but he didn’t go any farther then that. My parents shot questions at me left and right “Are you ok?” “Do you need to go to the hospital?” “Should I tell James to leave?” That last question caught me.

I answered slowly taking all of me to sternly say “No” and then tell them to “please leave James and I alone for a moment I need to talk to him, in private.” They walked out of the room being the President and all they got that dramatic walking thing down.

“I’m so sorry Lucy.” James started but I had cut him off.

“Don’t be sorry James. You did nothing wrong. It was just you liked me so you kissed me, simple math.” I said trying to joke but the loving expression never left James face, I’m guessing he’d thought I would have fainted again if it did. He just sighed as he took his place back on the bed with me.

“I just thought that you… well you looked kind of shocked… I mean that like you were shocked that I like you enough to kiss you to make you shut up and to tell you I love you. I guess you must be not into that or something because that same look hasn’t left your face since.” He said trying not to frown at the fact he thought that he might be my friend and would always stay in the friend zone.

 “James it isn’t that I don’t like you it is just… anything other then you just being my friend would be different.” I said in my sweet soft voice.

“I understand Lucy, I just thought you liked me too because of the dinner and lying under the stars… that is what couples do Lucy.” He said bending down to kiss my forehead. Angry raged inside me deep down, but I didn’t want to blow him off or anything.

“WE are NOT a couple! There were three of us anyways so it didn’t matter!” I raised my voice to a sort of yell.

“Lucy… I didn’t mean to make you upset with me… I just wanted to get out what I had been feeling for a long time.” James said calming me down. My heavy breathing now subsided and I felt the anger drain out of me. Then out of the blue I began crying.

James scooted closer and wrapped his arms around me and told me everything was going to be ok, but I kept crying. Knowing James was in the room made me cry. I told him this so he gave me a quick I love you and kiss then left the room, probably the whole house. Left me thinking to myself that the only thing James wanted was for me to be happy. So if that meant he had to leave for a while and not see me then he would do it, as long as I was still there when he came back. James’s birthday was only a few days away and I still had to throw him a party, he was my best friend and maybe to later become my boyfriend.

I didn’t do anything but stare at the ceiling the whole rest of the day. That night I called Sarah and I told her everything, holding back tears. Once I finally got off the phone with her I was feeling much better, but I tossed and turned while trying to sleep. That didn’t help either.

“Lucy” “Lucy” “Lucy” I heard the faint call of my name but I thought I was dreaming, until the light was shining in my eyes again this one a flashlight. I was shaken awake by a dark figure I couldn’t quite make out, but defiantly male, older but not dad old like two years older then me old.

Finally he spoke his name instead of calling mine again “It’s me. It’s Stephen, Stephen Collins.” His voice was as cold as the floor beneath my bare feet. I know he never intended to sound like that but he couldn’t do anything about it now.

“Stephen?” I questioned.

“Yes, the guy you met at your summer house in Illinois.” He said being very vague; I meet a lot of people you know I thought to myself.

“Wait how did you even get it here?” I asked confused. I bothered to put a decent shirt on and a pair of shorts with some more sandals, tying my hair in a quick bun on top of my head. He didn’t seem to mind I was changing in front of him or even that I looked as messy as I did and James would have gotten on me.

There are a lot of things James does that Stephen doesn’t. My parents wanted to introduce themselves to the people who moved in next door to us. Stephen was their kid, he was older then me by two years. It was a long time ago I may admit, maybe that was the reason I didn’t remember him. We had been good childhood friends, until I moved for the sake of my father’s job.

 I had almost forgotten Stephen even existed, until that night. I could almost make out his features, because I haven’t seen him since I was six years old, but the morning light didn’t shine in yet. “My flight got in just an hour ago, and when I arrived at the airport there was a man, he said his name was Mark and that he was sent by your family.” Stephen said filling me in on how he got he and into my house then my room.

Stephen thought I was cute, when I was six. I thought he was the coolest eight-year-old I had ever met, when I was six. Now all I could say was that he looked much older then seventeen. His blonde hair was longer and kind of reminded me of some superstar’s haircut. “Oh, well then.” I said crossing the room to draw my curtains, I thought about James and yesterday.

I sighed a deep breathe when I thought about him, but I wasn’t thinking about him when he appeared in my doorframe a little after Stephen had finished his story. I did anything but move I just stood there staring. With Stephen sitting on my bed and James looking at me confused, I couldn’t take anymore of the silence that suddenly fell over the room.

“Oh James this is my friend Stephen.” I said sounding as cheery as I could while James just stood there shocked, looking at only me. Two boys in my room, with one pissed off at me, and the other very tired.

“James I.” I started but he cut me off.

“Lucy I thought maybe you would show me the plans for my birthday celebration.” James said wiping the pissed look off his face and replacing it with a smile. At the mention of a party Stephen sat up right.

“What party?” He asked smiling at us.

“Oh yeah James’s birthday is tomorrow and I decided to plan it for him, you know boys, they can't plan a thing.” I said laughing a bit to trying to make it less awkward for them.

“Yes Lucy why don’t you invite Stephen to the party also?” He said as if trying to make me feel bad or to make Stephen feel a little funny.

“Oh I don’t want to intrude” Stephen said after a couple of minutes.

“No, no, no, you aren’t ruining anything” James said looking straight at me as he said it.

“James may I see you in the hallway, now.” I said, as it wasn’t a question but a command. We walked out of the room with Stephen looking confused with what was happening.

“What was that about James?” I said kind of sounding mad. “Yesterday you were telling me that you wanted your birthday to be just me and you so I arranged it for two not three!” I said knowing somewhere inside of me I wanted it to be just us too but I wasn’t about to say that to James.

“Well change them Lucy. Obviously you want Stephen to come along also.” James said firm as he stared straight into my eyes.

“James, you don’t get it, he came here I didn’t invite him he just showed up, I swear, ask him if you don’t believe me. He woke me up this morning. I haven’t even seen Stephen since I was six. I have known you longer then that and seen you almost everyday!” I said like I was about to burst into tears. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, so I did the one thing I did every time I cried while James was there, I hugged him as tight as possible and cried into his shirt breathing him in.

He was just standing there for a minute before wrapping his arms around me in return and making me feel like I was safe and he was the only one there. I forgot about Stephen for a second and my parents. It only mattered that I was crying into James, and he did exactly what he did yesterday, he stroked my hair and told me it was ok. I was scared he might leave or run away so I gripped him tighter.

He left for a split second and returned, just as he promised, me watching as Stephen walked out the front door not stopping to look back at me. James then pulled me back into my own room and I sat in the lounge chair at the far end of the room. I took some tissues from the box and blew my nose. I was by far looking the worst in the room, by the time I had finished sniffling and crying in soft tones.

Both his shirt and mine had tearstains on them, but neither of us cared one bit. James paced back and forth, thinking. I was thinking that he was onto me and knew I liked him back, a lot, but I didn’t want to say anything to him. I needed some fresh air. He took me by the hand and led me outside to the garden which would tomorrow evening be filled by beautiful flowers, and lights everywhere.

Even though it wasn’t my birthday I thought it might be one of the best birthdays ever. Once I was feeling better I still had to go find a dress somewhere and James, well he wanted to wear a suit, so I had to find both of those. I decided to take James to help pick out the attire for his party.

 We went into the first shop we saw. It had the most beautiful gowns. James begged me to try some on for him. I did as he asked. I took a deep purple gown with black embroidery off the rack and to the dressing room. James sat on the small couch behind the platform I was going to have to stand on to see myself. The gown was very puffy, but beautifully crafted.

I walked out onto the floor; I stepped onto the platform in the middle of the room facing the three-way mirror in front of me. I was amazing in it… or at least that is what I could see between the mirror and the look on James’s face.

“Wow” was the only word James had managed to get out while I stood there studying the ins and outs of the dress.

I turned toward him and said, “So what do you think?” The dress was floor length and had about two inch straps. Purple was always my color. It was my favorite color. James knew that. It always brought out my eyes and my brown curls fell perfectly around my face that day.

It was a surprise when James said, “You look lovely darling” acting all British like, not like James, but I took it as a good thing. A smile was spreading across his face as I went to change into the next dress. This one was a rich gold, simple with no embroidery on this one. It was nice; I could tell James thought so. I tried on at least seven more dresses of different colors but the last one was James favorite. The dress was black on the bottom with fancy beading on the top trailing down the dress lessening towards the bottom; it wasn’t floor length like all the others though. The end of the dress hit just below my knees.

James couldn’t say a word when I walked slowly out of the dressing room, his jaw just dropped, as I turned and said, “What?”

“I just, just…” James’s voice trailed off as he studied me again.

“I think I’ll just get this one.” I said as he just nodded unable to speak. I went to the back and changed into my normal clothes and James bought the dress for me. He begged me to let him pay, he thought he never paid for anything and wanted to get the tab on this one. I let him. He is stubborn anyways so I knew he would find a way to pay for it without me knowing. He had the money to buy it; I mean he could have bought the whole shop if he felt like it. Since I had my dress (paid for by James) he needed a suit, a nice suit.

Then I still had to make James’s birthday cupcakes. I had a busy day. He found a nice suit with a black tie with gold stripes. I agreed, having never seen James in a suit I would have never known he looked that good in a suit. I think I looked like James did when I showed him my dress.

We got that suit and drove home. James drove (he was turning sixteen tomorrow so I decided I could trust him with my car) because I felt too tired to be driving a car. The gates opened quickly. We drove up the gravel driveway. There weren’t any cars parked in the driveway, so I assumed that my parents had left again.

Mark opened the door for us because I had forgotten my key to the house. Stephen was sitting on the couch in the front room waiting. “Hey I thought you guys would never come back.” He said standing up.

“Well we’re back.” James said through the many boxes he was carrying through the door not struggling one bit. I walked toward James and took about half the pile of boxes and my dress and started up the stairs to put them away. James did the same. Stephen followed James to his room.

“So what is going on between you and Lucy?” Stephen  asked curiously.

Nothing!” James said a bit to quickly.

“Ok, sorry I just thought that maybe you guys were like, I don’t know together” Stephen said shrugging.

“Well we aren’t.” James said as he walked to the closet and hung up his suit.

“Then what is up with you two going shopping together and buying fancy things for a party, which is only going to the two of you? Why is that?” Stephen asked confronting James.

Stephen wasn’t like James and I. He was… normal. 

Author's Note

Feel free to let me know if I make any grammar mistakes, or if there are any problems. Thank you.