Wow.
“Yeah, Ryder has done all of the above. Never all of those things at the same party, but he would probably take that as a challenge. Plus, it would be a little odd. Do you know any girls who wouldn’t mind going with me and wouldn’t get any romantic ideas?”
Actually, I did.
“I can ask Chloe if she wouldn’t mind. No worries about romantic ideas at all. Plus it would be more fun to have as many friends there as possible. Maybe we can escape and have a party within a party. As long as we don’t do anything illegal or at least don’t get caught, we should be able to have a good time.”
“As long as I get to dance with you, I’ll be happy. You still haven’t told me about your dress.”
I shook my head slowly. “It’s bad luck to tell you about the dress before the ball.”
“Sunshine, I’m pretty sure that’s just for weddings.”
“Oh, I think it should also apply to balls. Also, because I want to savor your facial expression when you see me sweep down the staircase in it.” I got up from the couch and practiced sweeping down the stairs and did a little curtsy.
“Will there be stairs to sweep down?”
“Yes, there are. They remind me of stairs from Gone With The Wind.”
He got up and bowed. “So am I Rhett Butler or Ashley Wilkes?”
“Oh you’re Rhett. Definitely Rhett. What kind of a question is that?” Ugh, Ashley Wilkes was the worst. Plus, I knew it was an old fashioned name for a guy, but still. I couldn’t be attracted to a guy named Ashley.
“Just making sure,” he said before he took my hands and twirled me around. “Rhett was the better dancer. And he didn’t emotionally cheat on his wife.”
“Ashley kissed Scarlet, remember? So he actually cheated on her. Douchebag. He reminds me a little of my ex.” He also had a stupid name.
“That’s right. I haven’t watched that movie in a long time. I’d forgotten.” He moved his hands around my waist and we started slow dancing instead.
He finally hummed a tune I recognized.
“Is that the song by the Rembrandts that was the intro to Friends?” I couldn’t be sure because he’d slowed it down a bit.
“Maybe.” But he said it with a smile so I knew I was right.
“Well if you invite Chloe, then that means Marisol is left out and that’s not right.”
“I could invite her, too. Have a lovely lady on each arm.”
“Like a pimp.”
“You said it, not me.”
We danced for a little bit more.
“It’s not a bad idea,” I said. “Bringing the three of them. It would be a lot more fun. And I know they’re not going to turn it down. Do you want me to ask, or do you want to do the honors?”
“I’ll handle it,” he said and kissed me.
“You’re awesome.”
“I know.”
I got two all caps text messages the next day, one each from Marisol and Chloe. Apparently, Lucah had sent beautiful flower arrangements to each of them with a note asking them to the ball.
They were both ecstatic, even Chloe who claimed she’d never been on a date with a man, but was willing to make an exception. Sloane texted me and she was less enthused because they each wanted dresses and that was going to be hard to finish in time, with the event only a little more than two weeks away. Sloane thrived on pressure, but she bitched about it every step of the way. I had no doubt in my mind that she’d finish. I’d just have to hear her whine and complain the entire time, but I guess that was part of the fun of living with her.
I texted Lucah and told him, and he grinned over his desk at me and sent a message back.
What can I say? The ladies love me. I sighed loud enough for him to hear and texted him back.
Don’t let your head get too big or you won’t be able to hold it up.
That earned me a snarky text back and then my phone rang and there was an issue with a PowerPoint presentation and I had to go figure that out. I swear, PowerPoint was created by Satan to ruin lives.
I got the problem sorted out and that afternoon I had to put on my nice face and present to some potential new clients. I had my favorite heels on and I was confident in my material, and the best part was that Lucah got to come watch me.
His eyes were locked on me the entire time and it gave me even more confidence. I could have done the entire thing naked and rocked it out. Afterwards they shook my hand and said how impressed they were with someone so young. Dad beamed and told them I was his daughter. Lucah gave me a wink and I couldn’t tell who was more proud, him or Dad. I was floating on post-presentation high and I wanted nothing more than to pull Lucah away and screw him somewhere, but that was completely impossible. Hopefully I could hold out until tonight.
He called me the second I got back into my office.
“I am so f**king proud of you and you are so f**king amazing and I wish I was f**king you right now, and I’ve said f**k too many times but I feel it is warranted in this situation.” He hung up and I did a fist pump and he pretended to clap. Then we had to stop because there were people walking by.
I was beaming the rest of the day. Things were actually going well. Lucah and I were ridiculously in love, all my friends were coming to the ball, we’d potentially just made a multi-million dollar deal and Mrs. Andrews was keeping our secret.
Something had to go wrong soon to balance things out. Not that I was cynical, but it was my experience that when things are perfect, that’s when reality comes and bites you in the ass and reminds you that life isn’t like that. It’s a series of ups and downs and the downs sometimes come when you least expect them.
29
“What do you think?” Sloane said as she zipped up the side of the dummy dress. We were at her studio because she had better mirrors and she could make alterations on the spot.
I turned slowly in front of the three-way mirror and then stopped. This was not a dress. This was something else entirely.
“You’re not saying anything,” Sloane said, her eyes bugging out from lack of sleep and too much caffeine and anticipation. “You hate it. It’s too much. Will you just say something?!”
“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, and this is just the mock up. I just . . . I mean, look at it.” The top was a bodice with a sweetheart neck that made my boobs look lush, but not like they were busting out and then the skirt . . . oh, the skirt. The bodice dipped into a V and the skirt started just at my hips and flowed out, but not in a cupcake way. There was an underskirt and so forth to help it stay out, not that it needed any help. This was a Ball Gown.