After Marlon’s ‘MIA’ saga, Lee was not the same. In the few days left before his departure, Hazel could feel he was keeping his distance from her. She realized she had pushed the boundaries of Lee’s tolerance for accepting her friendship with Marlon too far.
“I’m having a family gathering on Friday … maybe we can have dinner on Thursday?” Lee said when Hazel asked if he would like to go to Marlon’s party. He made it clear, she wasn’t invited to his family gathering.
She didn’t blame him, she would’ve done the same thing if the situation was reversed. But him leaving left a small space for correction, she could not rectify it in such short period of time. The damage was done and she could see it in his face but Lee was too nice to put it in words, he was done trying.
Their time was reduced to meeting up after school for a half an hour, a walk back home, and a sweet little kiss when they parted ways. Lee did not even invited her to go home with him anymore.
“I guess I’m going to the party after all,” Hazel said to Jan on the phone.
“Are you sure? It’s really not your scene babe,” she chuckled, “And the crowd … Marlon’s friends are pretty intimidating.”
“You’ll be there with me, right? He was pretty insistent for me to come … actually, and I quote, ‘I’m not throwing a party if you’re not coming’ and then he called all his friends telling them about the party and said to me, ‘Party on Friday and you have to be there’ he wouldn’t take no for an answer … I thought I could persuade Lee to come …” Hazel sighed, “I think that ship had sailed.”
Jan laughed, “You’re not one to falter for that kind of coercion, you’ve never been afraid to say ‘no’ before, or is it different with Mr. Reynolds?”
Hazel let out a hissing sound, “No … of course not, maybe I just want to try something different, you know? Something new for a change … I don’t know.”
“Do you wanna know what I think?” Jan asked.
Hazel curved her lips, “Please do tell me …”
“I think you are subconsciously looking for a distraction from losing Lee … he’s leaving, but it’s been over between the two of you since the day he told you he was leaving … and at this point, I think it’s a good thing babe, he’s made his decision to leave … you have every right to move on.”
“It’s hardly moving on when I’m just attending a hedonistic party at Joshua Reynolds’ son’s house,” she laughed lightly.
“It’s definitely something Chestnut will never see again once that family moves away … I’d love to be there but I don’t know if I can stay very long, Finn’s coming too … you know what I mean?” Jan giggled.
“Yeah … I know what you mean …” Hazel smiled, Jan and Finn were still in their honeymoon phase, they will probably disappear once their libido kicked in. “What do you think I should wear?”
“Oh babe, wear something that will make you feel real good about yourself … nothing too showy though, you’re not there to hook up, right?”
“No … nothing like that, just want to dip my foot in the water, I guess … ”
—
The only thing she could find in her closet that was somewhat appropriate for a party at Marlon’s house was a short dress she had never wore before. She saw it one day at a store window and fell in love with it, but she never had the right occasion to wear it.
It had long sleeves, the fabric was sheer and flowy, it had a plunging neck line but with her humble sized breasts, it wasn’t going to look ‘too showy’ as Jan had put it.
She curled the lower part of some strands of her hair just a little to give it volume and put on some make up just as she would when she goes out on a date with Lee. Then she decided to add a darker shade of lipstick, something different than usual as her mind wandered to her dinner with Lee the night before.
She thought it was going to be just the two of them, but it was actually a farewell dinner with his dance team from the studio. It was a nice dinner at Gregory’s, one of their favorite places to go for their dates. Everyone had gifts for Lee and he opened them one by one after dinner while everyone shared their most memorable time with Lee.
Whenever she was amongst his dance friends, she sometimes felt like an outsider. Their stories of Lee was all about the times when she wasn’t there. She couldn’t help thinking, that’s just a part of Lee that she may never really know more about. As he was leaving to pursuit his career and basically just continuing what he had already built for years without her.
She put on a brave face and smiled at all their stories and jokes. She held his hand under the table only to be let go when he was opening another gift. It really felt like it was over. The last thing he said to her after he dropped her off was, “Have fun at the party tomorrow.” Even though she was still back and forth about the idea at the time.
“I’ll see you Saturday,” that’s all she could say in return and cried the night away after she got in her bedroom.
Her phone beeped and interrupted her thoughts. It was Jan.
“I’m at your house babe, you ready to parteee??” Jan texted.
Hazel exhaled deeply. She checked her lipstick and make up one more time. She sprayed perfume around the neck area. She gathered her things and put them in her tiny sling bag, put on her strapped shoes and went downstairs.