WHEN AUTUMN HAD said she wouldn't make me look stupid, she wasn't half joking. Like she had magic spurting from her fingers, she was able to bring together the already beautiful dress and shoes, and make the whole thing compliment each other perfectly, appearing as if I'd had a whole team to put me together.

Although Noah would swear he was helping a great deal, him sitting on one of the sofa's in Autumn's room did little in way of 'helping.' Every now and then, he'd make a comment or two, but that lasted for only a little while, before he went silent and upon turning to him, we realised he was asleep.

"Honestly," Autumn sighed. "He barely lasted ten minutes." She said, dismissing his head-lolled-back-and-mouth-slightly-open state.

"I'll have you know," his voice sounded, eyes still closed. "I last for hours and hours and hours." I wrinkled my nose at the meaning behind his words, accompanied by the small smirk on his face.

My eyes connected with Autumn's in the mirror and she just rolled hers and shook her head.

"I didn't realise 'hours and hours—"

"And hours," he quipped.

She continued, actively ignoring him. "Meant under three minutes."

She was still running the brush through my dark hair, nimble fingers partitioning it into sections. Each section got an equal amount of attention.

From the mirror, I could see him leaning backwards, arms crossed behind his head. "Oh, we both know that is far from true."

She turned, curler raised, "We do?"

"Indeed," he said, in front of her. They stayed like that for a moment, a silent conversation being had, until he turned towards me. "Ah Joey," he cooed, refusing to relieve the nick name he'd realised I couldn't stand. He leant down, levelling himself with my seated height and hugging my shoulders. "te ves muy hermosa."

"Gracias," I said.

He kissed my cheek loudly and squeezed me even tighter with a small cheer of victory, "She's learning! I'm rubbing off on you, eh?"

"Poor thing," Autumn said, hand placed on my shoulder. "And don't you dare wrinkle that dress, Noah, or I'll have you hanging from the flagpole by your penis."

She turned to her wardrobe, where she disappeared for a moment.

"What a woman," Noah muttered, laughing with me.

She returned a moment later, a stack of boxes in her hands. Opening the first one revealed a necklace, littered with large rubies, paired with matching ruby earrings.

"These wouldn't go with the dress," she said to herself once holding them against the deep burgundy dress I was wearing, so closed the box and put it to the side.

"What about something that goes with this?" I asked, twisting my mother's old engagement ring on my finger.

She looked down at it, eyes drinking in the way the light hit the diamond ring, glinting ever so slightly. Her hand brought mine right up close to her face so that she could see it in more detail.

It really was the only nice thing I had. I wondered if had my father not up and gone, I'd have more things like this, or at least more things that aren't either really, really old or worse, broken. I doubted I'd have anywhere close to the scale of The Elite, but maybe I wouldn't feel quite so out of place when we were just in day to day clothes.

"Jolie? You there?" Autumn asked. Noah nudged me with his shoulder, having made me scoot over so he could perch on the seat beside me, pulling me out of my reverie.

"Sorry, what?"

She held up another box, this time containing a necklace and pair of earrings complimentary to my mother's ring. I nodded numbly, in complete awe.

"Let me just give the final touches for you and finish getting ready myself, and we'll get going," she said, eyes on her watch.

"It starts in half an hour," Noah said, wary. "Are you going to be finished by then?"

"I won't if you keep rushing me," she said, pulling him by the arm to get up. "You go fuss Archer and Houman, yeah?"

She'd shoved him out of the door before he could do much more than give me a parting hug and small wave.

Autumn slumped on the closed door. "Finally."

***

"Not too shabby," Autumn said, looking at us side by side in the floor length mirror by the staircase I'd soon have to be very careful not to fall face first down. "Come on, they're waiting."

It had been a good hour and a half since Noah had gone to the boys, so to say their patience was thinning would be a bit of an understatement. Though, I supposed they must be used to Autumn's screwed sense of time.

She had on a floor length black dress with a gaping back and elegant slit down one length, which briefed those around with snippets of smooth skin with every step. Her long legs were elongated further with equally dark heels with a red underside.

Like herself, she'd forced me into breaking my ankle worthy heels, of the mind that if I did die in them (or because of them, more like), it would be worth it.

As we approached the stairs, I suddenly was filled with panic, with the urge to run without looking back, not that that would be particularly easy in heels this high. My legs felt weak, like I could collapse at any moment.

Autumn noticed me not following her anymore, so turned back with a questioning brow.

"I don't think I can do this."

"I'm here, Miles, Noah, Houman, Michelle are here. Archer's here. We're all here and will all support you," she was saying, holding my hands in hers.

"I just don't know if I can."

I felt stupid. Stupid that I could let what other people thought affect me so much, but I just couldn't help it. Maybe it was the add ons from 'being with' Archer or maybe it was what I've always been like and being in the public eye has just made it all the more obvious.

She sat on the ground and leant against the wall.

"What are you doing?"

She patted the space beside her. "We'll sit down and just relax until you're ready. Or if you aren't ever, we just won't go."

"No, that's stupid, and I'll just feel bad."

I sat down, anyway.

"If you don't want to go in the first place, you'll just be miserable for the whole night," she said. "And probably make me miserable, too, with your sulking," she joked, making me crack a smile.

We stayed there for a good fifteen minutes before I finally felt ready. I got up, turning to see her arm in the air. I heaved her up alongside me.

At the top of the staircase, where we could see most people and a few had turned to see us, she discreetly gripped my hand in hers, giving it a small reassuring squeeze, as much to say 'you've got this.'

Archer was waiting by the bottom, looking delectable as always. What the fuck? I thought to myself. Despite knowing it was totally wrong, I couldn't help but indulge myself in sweeping my eyes over his suited form, fitted snuggly enough to define his firm physique. One arm went up to his hair, brushing some of the loose tendrils back in place as he waited, pulling the hand in his pocket out to glance at his watch.

A few steps down, and we'd attracted the eyes of the majority of those with a view. In fact, it was Archer who was one of the last to notice, skin likely prickling from my intense gaze. He turned towards us, at last.

Our eyes connected.

And despite my heart beginning to beat even more erratically than before, there was something so alarmingly calming about his cold eyes, something that seemed to smother the fear bubbling in my stomach, replacing it with something else.

The entire way down, I remained arrested by his stare, unable to look away, unable to even think clearly. Before I'd even realised, we'd reached the bottom of the staircase. I had to breathe a sigh of relief at having not, in fact, broken every bone in my body by slipping down them or, as I'd began considering, catapulting myself down them.

He reached for my hand, keeping up the whole act for those watching us.

Autumn slipped her own hand out of mine and went to the boy I hadn't even noticed standing beside Archer. He looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place him.

Dark hair, dark eyes, relatively tall. Nothing to make him resonate with me, whether that be a huge nose or a lopsided grin.

"Jolie, this is Bentley," Autumn introduced. "Bentley, this is Jolie." I met his hand halfway.

Archer whisked us away from the pair, guiding me through the throng of people.

"The dress looks beautiful, by the way," he said. Right, the dress.

His azure eyes captured mine.

"And you, of course."