Chapter 28
Riley
“ C hloe, it was so embarrassing,” I say through the wall of the dressing room while trying on dresses for the ribbon cutting party for the apartment opening.
“Riles, it sounds like he was totally fine about it, so why are you still stressing?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because he’s going to realize that I’m not worth it and all this will be over before it really gets started, and I’m just starting to be open to the idea of a relationship?”
There’s dead silence, and I start to think maybe I’ve also turned my best friend off me and she’s left the store without me, until there’s a knock on the door. “Riles, open up.”
“No, I’m fine, really.”
“Open this door. I don’t think they’ll appreciate me breaking it down. I don’t want to be banned; this is one of my favorite stores.”
I relent and open the door. She pushes her way in and locks it behind her. She places both hands on my shoulders and looks like a coach about to tell off an athlete.
“Riley, I’m only going to say this once, so listen. Actually, no, that’s not true. I’m going to tell you however many times I have to until you get it into that perfect head of yours, but still listen. You are a prize. Any guy would be so lucky to have you, and from the looks of it, that’s exactly how Finn feels. He likes you. He doesn’t like some random version of you that you’ve cooked up since you slept together. He likes who you’ve been since you guys met. He’s falling for Y-O-U.”
“He’s not falling for me.”
She smirks. “Out of all of that, that’s the only thing you heard? That he’s falling for you? Which he is, by the way, but for real, Riley, I need to know that you heard me and that you understand. He likes all of you, and I think how he handled this situation should show you that, not make you doubt yourself. If anything, you should be like, wow, look at me, I freaked out, and he took me out for ice cream.”
“He didn’t take me for ice cream. I was already there. He just ordered and ate it with me.”
“Tomato, potato.”
I roll my eyes at my ridiculous friend. “Not how the saying goes.”
“Oh, you don’t know.”
“No, I actually do know, and that’s not how it goes. It’s po-tay-to, po-tah-to.”
She blinks at me. “But that’s the same word.”
“Oh my gosh. Never mind, Chloe, forget it! Now get out so I can put on the next dress. I’ll come out and show you in a minute.” She shrugs her shoulders and exits the dressing room, and I turn back to the mirror, inspecting this pink dress that doesn’t quite fit the vibe, and move on to a little black number. It feels a bit cliche to wear a little black dress, but it’s really exquisite.
It hits me right above the knee and has a sweetheart neckline. The whole thing is very fitted and isn’t something that I’d normally go for, but I feel like it actually hugs me in all the right places. The detail that I love the most is the beautiful lace overlay. It feels weird to admire myself in a piece of clothing, but it truly makes me feel sexy, and one of the first things that pops into my head is that Finn would love me in this. I know he would also love to take it off of me, which has me smiling in the mirror like a fool.
That is another thing I can sense within myself changing. This newfound confidence that I’ve never experienced in my life. Before, I would try on something for an event like this, feel defeated, then just pick something that I thought looked the least terrible and leave with it. This time, I actually feel like I look hot, and I can’t wait for Finn to see me in it. As much as I love it and as comforting as it is, it also scares me a bit, because what’s going to happen when it ends? Because it feels inevitable that it will.
“Hello, earth to Riley.”
“Huh?” I ask, jolting out of my thoughts as Chloe calls for me.
“I’ve been waiting out here forever. Show me what you have on. Do you like it?”
“Yeah, I think I do. One second.”
I open the door and step out, suddenly feeling a bit shy. I was just feeling myself in the dressing room, but now I feel exposed. Chloe is just kind of staring at me, and it’s not helping at all.
“Well?” I ask, lifting my arms out to the side.
She shakes her head and smiles. “You look so unbelievably hot!”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Yes, you do, don’t be so modest, it’s me you’re talking to. You look amazing. Finn is going to die when he sees you in this. I hope you don’t plan on returning it after the event because he is going to rip this right off your body.”
“Chloe!” I chastise, hitting her on the arm playfully.
“What? It’s true! You need to make sure you wear some pretty, sexy lingerie underneath this.”
“Oh, geez, Chloe, you’re nuts, but yes, I think you might be right,” I say, cheeks heating.
“Atta girl, own it. You’ve done an amazing job designing this project so far, and you’re close to starting to physically be able to put all the design elements in, so this party is as much for you and your accomplishment as everyone else who worked on it.”
“Thanks. Wait a minute, how did you know we were getting close to me putting the design elements in?” I ask, quirking a brow.
“Oh, you must have mentioned it in passing.”
I smirk at her. “No, I’m very sure I didn’t. I only found out a couple of days ago, and I haven’t seen you since. Is there any way that this information came from Mason?”
“He may have mentioned it,” she says, cheeks crimson.
“Oh, talk to him often, do you?”
“No!” she exclaims, and redness creeps its way down her neck and chest.
“Then why are you so red right now, Chloe? You only get this red when you’re freaking out. I would have just assumed that he mentioned it in passing when he came in to get a coffee at the Pore Over.”
“Oh,” she squeaks out. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Totally. That’s exactly what happened. He came in for coffee, like everyone does, and he mentioned that he was excited that construction was almost complete and you were going to be able to get in there and bring it to life.”
“Uh huh.”
“Yup ,that’s what happened.”
“Okay, Chloe, sounds great.”
My best friend isn’t telling me something, but I’ll let it slide for now because I honestly don’t think she’s even aware she’s hiding anything from me and from herself.