Missed chances - pt 1

2019, March 3th

It was anyone’s guess how tonight would go. Zoey had spent all of yesterday doing a bunch of girls’ stuff with CC. In other words, she’d spent the day avoiding Aaron and would likely pass today the same way. Aaron had made up his mind. If he could only get a moment to speak to Zoey, he would tell her everything. About Emily, about how long he had been struggling to get her out of his system, about how finally, finally he had done it. And now there was only Zoey. Aaron kept replaying the last time he saw her in his head. He should have stopped her, told her everything. Saying nothing would only mean losing her, anyway.

When the moment of truth came, however, Zoey was nowhere to be found.

“Whose brilliant idea was it for this to be a masquerade ball?!” Aaron thundered, annoyed.

As he waded through the crowd, heading to the throne to ask his parents if they knew where Zoey was, he saw James enter. He watched as James made his way to Emily. Just as he was about to reach