Cinderelliot

Sarah dropped me off at the party, refusing me even the slightest moral support. “If you’re going to go hit on Lucas Scott, I’m going to be nowhere near the punching range of his friends, thanks.” She grinned at me as I began to realize how stupid my plan was.

“Let me back in the car! I changed my mind!” The door was locked, and I was left standing on the pavement with two options. One: go in and attempt to make Lucas Scott fall in love with me. Two: go home and be humiliated, but pain free. Either way I would be embarrassed. I was here, so why not go inside and enjoy myself until curfew, even if I don’t carry out my plan, I can admire him from a distance. A very far distance. “I’ll go in,” I sighed to Sarah. I’d barely finished my sentence before she left, roaring away.

The mask I wore was simple, I’d decided against the sequins when I realized how long it took to sew them on. It was black and covered my eyes like a superhero’s, so I matched it with my superman shirt that conveniently looked pretty damn hot on me. I wore bright blue jeans to match and put temporary blue streaks in my black hair. All I needed was a cloak and I’d be set.

I wandered up the path behind a string of couples and slipped in behind a tall girl who laughed like an evil genius. The house was too full to move in, so I simply let the crowd shove me along the room. Jessica was flirting with Lucas, but Madison was determined not be left out. She was making out with one of his mates, but it was looking a bit one sided to me. I ended up at the drinks, and began to scour the table for something non-alcoholic and unopened, but it looked like I was out of luck tonight.

“There’s coke over here.” I froze. That was the voice I’d been daydreaming about in Maths for the last few years. Lucas Scott. “Here you go.”

“T-thanks.” My voice stuttered, so I tried to make up for it with a bright smile. He smiled back, and disappeared to Jessica’s side once more. The song changed, and I took my coke to the side and watched bitterly as Jessica and Madison both tried to dance with Lucas at the same time. Suddenly, all the other girls caught on, and he spent the next few songs dancing with fifteen girls intermittently. He staggered over to a couple of his mates who were standing next to me, and I nearly died. I sunk lower and lower in my seat, blushing hard and trying to hide it behind my can of coke.

“Luke, why don’t you go and find someone you actually want to dance with?” One of his mates said. “This could be the perfect time to pick up a hot dude and-” there were some hand gestures I couldn’t see, but definitely could guess at. His mates laughed, and Lucas’ voice was a hiss.

“Shut up! I’m fine dancing with girls thanks, I’m not just gay. Go bug Tomo if you want to watch some guys making out.” He said, and stormed back onto the dance floor. Well, that was my plan blown. How could I carry out my plan without outing him?

I stayed in my corner for the rest of the night, resigning myself to hiding like Sarah had said. Stupid in-the-closet Lucas. Stupid plan. My night was ruined. I spent the night grumbling to myself, and drowning my sorrows in fizzy drinks and cupcakes.

I had fifteen minutes to go before my midnight curfew, and Lucas was dancing enticingly in front of me. I swallowed my drink and slipped onto the floor. He looked slightly drunk, if anything a little bit tipsy, as I shoved my way in front of him. He focused on me and grabbed my hips, rolling his against mine. “Hey,” he whispered, his voice husky and low.

My face turned red, and I kind of ducked my head away. I hadn’t really got past the “dance with Lucas” part of my plan, and was pretty much freaking out. He dipped his face down to meet mine, and began to lightly kiss me. The kiss became deeper, and soon our tongues met and danced together. Somewhere the clock struck midnight behind us and I distantly became aware of my curfew.

His cologne was sharp and fresh, but I didn’t get much longer with him. “Lucas!” It was the voice of the girl I’d shoved out of the way, loud and piercing over the music. “What are you doing?!” Her face was a picture of horror, but it was the attention her yell had attracted that caught my notice.

The whole party was watching, murmuring and staring at us. Jessica laughed loudly, “Nice one Lucas, leave the kid alone.“ I ran. My face red and eyes streaming with tears, I escaped the house where I was pretty sure my whole life had gone down the drain. Stupid plan. Stupid, stupid Elliot.

“Fag!” The insults were flying after me. “Whore! Slut! Leave Lucas alone!”

I ran home, throwing my mask to the ground as I left the house. I wouldn’t need it anyway, it was supposed to be a symbol of triumph. Now it’s nothing more than a tool to my disaster. I flung myself onto my bed and sobbed, the whole night was ruined. Sobs racked my body, and I hoped to forget the whole thing.xxx

My face was stiff and sore when I woke up the next morning, the tears had dried into my cheeks and my pillow. Voices sounded up the stairs to my room, quiet from the distance. I got up slowly and tried to hold still so I could listen, but I never caught more than a few words that made no sense.

I hadn’t bothered getting changed last night, and I didn’t bother then. I wandered down to the voices, after washing my face in the bathroom and giving up any hope of hiding the redness of my eyes. It wasn’t until I snuck downstairs that I recognized the voice. Lucas. Immediately, I wanted to hide and never come back out again.

“I know it was a boy, Mrs Baker, so it definitely can’t be one of your daughters I’m looking for. Seriously, Jessica, I’m not interested!” He was looking for me? “I know he lives here, I followed him home last night with my friends.” I’m not sure whether to be excited or worried about his stalkerish tendencies. “I have his mask from last night here with me,” he insisted. “Listen, I just want to talk to him.”

“I’m afraid Elliot is very fragile, Lucas, and I’d rather not see him get hurt.” Olivia spoke like she cared, but I scoffed at her acting. “I’ll go and look for him, but if he doesn’t want to talk to you I expect you to leave.”

I was standing in the kitchen when she came in, head in the pantry, trying to avoid her inevitable question. Did I want to talk to him? Would it be easier to pretend nothing happened? I didn’t get a chance to answer, because she shoved me head first into the tiny space on the pantry floor. The pantry which didn’t have a door handle on the inside and smelt of rotting cheese.

“Hey!” I yelled in surprise and protest, “Let me out!”

My phone was still in my jeans, and Sarah would probably be able to come and free me. “Sarah!” I hissed into the phone. “Olivia shoved me in the pantry, and Lucas is in my living room!”

“That made way less sense that you think it did.” She was obviously still half asleep, “I’ll come through the back door, you giant idiot.”

She made it over in a few minutes, and by then I had my heart set on talking to Lucas. After all, he’d come to look for me. It had to be good news. The door to the pantry opened and I scuttled out too fast for my legs to keep and practically fell on my nose trying to catch up with Lucas, who was heading towards the door. “Wait!”

He turned, and I launched myself into explaining. “Idancedwithyoulastnightandthat’smymaskcanIhaveitbackplease?”

He held the mask out, and I wrapped it on, painfully aware that I hadn’t changed and looked like hell. He smiled at me and reached out to grab my hand. “I’m Luke, you’re Elliot?” he said, and lead me out of the house. “We’ve got a lot to talk about, how about we do it over coffee?”