Ash’s POV
“Please stop pulling!” I groaned as my hair was tugged at harshly again. This wasn’t what I had planned nor expected.

“Just let me do this, I’m almost done,” Harper urged, yanking another piece of hair into place.
I didn’t understand why this had to involve so much pain and agony. Sure, I cared about my appearance, but did I care enough for my hair to be basically pulled out? I can answer that for you, because no, no I did not. But Harper insisted. You know, this was just supposed to be us, three girls, getting ready together for prom. However, Harper was going insane again. All I wanted was a half up half down hairdo. Somehow she had managed to spend half an hour on it already, and hair that wasn’t supposed to be tugged was being tugged.

She finally added one last bobby pin, taking a step away to inspect her masterpiece. When it quickly turned to admiration, I finally dared to breathe again. It seemed like she was done and I was definitely relieved. This whole thing was worse than trying to get out that one horrible knot in your hair after sleeping for way too long. I didn’t even know she had that much strength in her!

“All done!” She smiled, clapping her hands as she pulled me up out of the chair and towards my mirror.

It actually seemed like all the pain had paid off. Not only was my hair loosely curled, but she had somehow made braids around the back of the crown of my head. There were two, each starting on one side and pinned up to the other side. They didn’t just hang there, though, they were also braided into the rest of my hair to keep them in place, hence all the pulling. It looked amazing, especially since I had dyed my hair ombre while Lianne went back to her natural colour. At least I thought it looked pretty great, now I just had to see what Alex thought.

“Where are the guys meeting us again?” Lianne piped up, sitting on my bed already being completely done. She had been smart by not letting Harper do her hair, and by doing her own minimal makeup. All she still had to do was put on the dress, like the rest of us, but she had been done for quite some time already.

I glanced at my hair once more before turning to her. “I believe they’re coming over here in half an hour or so--”

“Half an hour!” Harper shrieked, panic settling in, “How the hell do you expect me to be ready in half an hour!”

“Relax,” I sighed and opened my closet where I had been hiding my dress--Lianne’s was also in there, but Harper insisted on keeping her own, “All we have to do is get dressed and we’re done. We already did our makeup, you did our hair. It’s all good. If not, I can go ask Alex to make the guys come over later.”

“No, no, you’re right,” she shook her head and walked over to the dress carrier she had brought and was hanging up over the door that was open ajar, “we’ll probably even have some extra time left. I’m just nervous.”

“I can tell,” I chuckled, feeling the nervous excitement settle in as well, “let’s put our dresses on and everything will be fine.”

“I don’t know about you guys,” Lianne jumped up, the robe I had given her nearly opening, “but I’m going to go to the bathroom one last time before I’m putting on that contraption that will prevent me from relieving my bladder in the next couple of hours.”

She proceeded to run out of the room and towards the bathroom Alex and I shared. I thought about it and decided she did have a point, no matter how weirdly she put it. There was no way I was going to be able to pull up that dress and now manage to fuck it up somehow. I decided to wait as well, making sure I could go after Lianne. I actually wanted to keep my white dress white.

“Guys,” Lianne came back looking pale, “I just started my period.”

“Oh no,” I frowned, glad that I didn’t have that problem, I was very relieved that it had happened the week before and had ended two days ago, “Are you ok?”

“Do you, um, have something I could use?”

“Yeah, sure,” I said, trying to make this less shitty than it actually was, “I should still have some tampons in the bathroom, I’ll show you where they are.”

However, Lianne just completely froze up instead. I looked at her, asking what was wrong. Even Harper seemed concerned. But what she told us wasn’t bad at all. “I’ve never used a tampon before…”

“Oh…” I nodded, understanding where she was coming from, “I, unfortunately, don’t have any pads since I haven’t bought anything since last week, but I’ll show you how to use a tampon. Come on.”

I pulled her with me back to the bathroom. It was better not to let Harper do this. She’d probably be too impatient and the last thing Lianne needed was somebody freaking out on her.

----

We were all waiting in the living room for the guys to arrive from Jack’s house. Isobel wouldn’t stop gushing about how beautiful she thought we all were. Peter had taken a couple of pictures of us, making us do several poses. There was one of us just alone, and then many with the three of us. At the end of the day, there would be more than enough photos for us to remember our prom forever.

Quentin was the first to arrive, having gotten ready by himself at his house. It wasn’t that he wasn’t allowed to get ready with the other’s, he just didn’t know them very well. I also would have felt awkward if I had to hang out with four guys that were the bestest of friends, especially the All Time Low guys. Well, I technically had done it as well, but that was different. It wasn’t like I had been to the same school for years and never spoken to them.

Next came Rian’s and Zack’s dates. They were told to meet everybody here. It would have been very messy if we all had to go off to different places to meet up with our dates. I didn’t personally know the girls, but I had seen them walking around school before. Zack’s date was somebody who I knew often played sports and was in the girls' soccer team, while Rian’s was a calmer and reserved girl, but was still out to have fun. Basically perfect combinations.

Now it was just us waiting for the guys to show up. Of course, they were late, Alex was with them, there was no other way it could have happened. Alex had the weirdest habit of showing up late, even if he was ready to go an hour before he actually had to leave. It was pretty awkward sitting in a living room with two people you don’t know and one of your best friends acting all cute with her boyfriend. If at least there had been someone to introduce me properly to these girls, then things would already have been better.

Isobel immediately rushed to the door when the doorbell finally rang. It was about time that they showed up. The noise level suddenly turned up a couple of notches, the guys making sure that everybody knew they were finally here. I got up from my spot on the couch just wanting to know if I had made the right choice of dress if this was what Alex had meant. However, just as I was about to walk up to him, Jack caught my eye. I couldn’t stop staring. Holy shit.

What the fuck was he wearing!

When Lianne said that Jack was probably planning something funny, I hadn’t expected him to do something so embarrassing! He was basically ruining his prom night with that white suit and teal cumberbun. This was definitely a night he wasn’t going to forget, and I wasn’t sure if it was going to be for good reasons. I just hoped that Lianne wasn’t going to be too weirded out to show up with him anymore. But when I heard her laughter echo throughout the room, I knew she would be more than happy to be walking through the entrance doors with him.

When I realised everything was going ok over there, I heard a weird noise coming from someone's throat next to me. I turned to look and saw that Alex's jaw had dropped, staring at me with awe and fascination. He was flabbergasted, not sure what to say to me anymore. I smiled shyly, a blush creeping up on my face. He didn’t even have to say anything for me to feel flustered. I took the last couple of steps for the distance between us to close, all while he continued to stare me up and down. This was definitely a sign that I had made the right decision.

He continued to be lost for words and instead shakily reached for the corsage he had brought along. The roses were a beautiful light pink, a silver ribbon decorating it and allowing it to wrap around my wrist. He helped me put it on and let me take the boutonniere that was also placed in the box, made out of the same flowers. I pinned it on him so that we were now both matching, I was so focused that I didn’t even realise that pictures were being taken of us.

“Holy shit,” Alex gasped, it being the only thing that he could say. He shook his head in disbelief as he made me spin around so that he could see me fully.

“Did I do well?” I asked even though I knew I didn’t even have to ask him anymore. I already knew how he felt about how I looked. Right now, he thought I was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

“Holy shit,” he repeated, easily taking my chin between two fingers and kissing me for the first time that evening, “and you’re the same height as me.”

“The wonder of heels,” I giggled, showing off one of my shoes, which made my leg more visible through the slit in my dress. It was as if Alex hadn’t noticed that yet, because his jaw dropped once again, paying more attention to my leg than the shoes I was showing off.

He kept his eyes fixated, dazzlingly nodding, “yeah… the wonder…”

“Guys, it’s time for pictures!” Isobel announced, making Alex snap out of his daydream.
The entire group had already moved further into the living room, ready to be told to pose. It was like they didn’t even realise Alex and I were left behind. He grabbed my hand and pulled me along to join the others, Isobel telling everybody she wanted a picture of all the boys together, all the girls together, and then all the couples. Of course, she was going to make sure that Alex and I had a couple more, just because he was her son and she would never be satisfied with a number of pictures and how they turned out.

It was quite chaotic at the beginning, but as soon as everybody started listening, it was done in no time. Everybody got to chose two poses to do, except for Alex and I, since we were directed to do what Isobel wanted. The guys got their pictures, and us girls all stood together for a couple as well. Slowly but surely, we migrated outside. Eventually, a tour bus pulled up into the street. Apparently, the guys had asked the record label if they could use a tour bus to show up to prom, and somehow they actually managed to make it happen.

I stared at the large black vehicle, everything suddenly dawning on me. This was when I started to realise how serious everything was getting. In a matter of weeks, I’d be off to New York and Alex would be off to LA. We’d officially be on opposite ends of the country, hours away from each other--and that was only if we took a plane. He’d be there living the rockstar life, while I was working on classical compositions and not being as much of a party animal as he was. There would be no doubt that he would be able to find a much better girl, somebody who would be able to keep up with their hectic lifestyle. I didn’t want to wake up one morning and have Alex text me or call me that he wanted to break up. But the possibility of it happening seemed so likely.

“Hey, you ok?” Alex showed up beside me, wrapping his arm around my waist and kissing my temple.

I nodded, trying to put on the best smile I could. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be? I get to spend this entire night with you.”

“You just seemed a little bit out of it.” He shrugged, looking at me as if he didn’t believe me but didn’t want to push it.

“No, I’m excited, I just don’t do very well in large hyper groups,” I made up as an excuse. I didn’t want to make him worry, or break up with me already so that there was nothing to be afraid of later.

“Oh, ok,” he actually seemed to buy it, now completely hugging me from behind. A kiss was placed on my neck before he whispered, “if it makes you feel any better, my parents said they’re going to be out until tomorrow afternoon, so we have the entire house to ourselves when we get back.”

“Already thinking of that?” I laughed, leaning into his embrace.

“I always do, especially when you look this sexy.”

“Keep that for later,” I rolled my eyes, knowing that if I didn’t stop him that he’d keep doing this over the course of the evening, “now, let’s get on this bus or we’ll be making everybody late.”

Throughout the entire night, he always made sure to keep one hand somewhere on my body, whether we’d be dancing, sitting somewhere, or standing and talking with our friends. There was always this ghostly touch somewhere on my arm or waist, showing anybody who looked my way that I was Alex’s. And if they didn’t look away quick enough, he made sure to scowl at them. I did, however, get to dance with Jack one time. He trusted Jack enough to make sure no other guys would make a move.

Maybe there wasn’t anything to worry about.

Notes

Happy Birthday to Alex! I completely forgot it was the 14th today and fucked up, only realising an hour or so ago. But at least I didn't realise the day after!

I want to put up the next chapters all in one go because I'm so excited, but I don't want to overwhelm you guys. I was planning on putting one up two days ago... that didn't really happen... oops.