Ainsley couldn't make up her mind about whether to go to the Yule Ball at all. On the one hand, it felt silly to sit all by herself and do nothing when she was here anyway, but on the other... Amber would be there. With that boy. And not with her. She had been avoiding Amber for what already felt like an eternity, time dragging on like it never had before, time slowing to a crawl every time Ainsley was reminded again. Every time she remembered Amber had a boyfriend it felt like the first time, the threads of the world coming undone around her all over again. It felt like the world would never fit together right again, like the pieces were all jumbled up in the wrong shapes and she didn't know how to make the world work.
Ainsley didn't realise how late she had stayed outside - she didn't think she could bear being around Amber while she was getting ready for the ball - until it was starting to get dark, and she was so wrapped in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the people gathering outside the Great Hall until it was too late. Ainsley was still dressed in a plain skirt and t-shirt from spending time out by the lake, but she found herself standing outside the wretched ball as it was starting, surrounded by couples greeting one another and girls in long, elegant gowns that would have enchanted her on any other day, under any other circumstances.
And there she was, of all the luck. Amber looked beautiful, of course she did. She was glowing with happiness, and seeing the brilliance of that glow directed at some boy made Ainsley sick to her stomach. Ainsley would have given anything to be on the receiving end of that smile, to be the one sharing this night with her. But the sight that made Ainsley turn away, made it too much to watch, was the flower woven into Amber's hair. Ainsley hadn't worn flowers in her own hair for days now, but it was a visceral reminder that she was still there in Amber's mind, that Amber thought of her, but she would still prefer some boy, some nobody who had swept into her life and apparently managed to surpass Ainsley so suddenly.
Stomach turning and eyes filling with tears again Ainsley tried to slip past them, making a beeline for the stairs up to her dorm, desperate to get away from this, never to see it again, even though the sight of Amber smiling at him was seared into her mind already.
((Unless either of you want to stop her, Ainsley's out & away))