Chapter 53
Fifty-Three
ADDIE
“The more I think about it, the more I find it hilarious that when Clo said she was going to throw an Engagement-ween party, we all just let her,” Becky said as she scooped up her soup with some bread and shoved it in her mouth.
It was a rare Friday where we’d managed to carve out an hour to have lunch together.
“In her defence, she has let us get away with not putting that much effort into it,” I replied, breaking off a piece of bread of my own.
Becky stopped mid-chew. “But we have to give it some effort.”
“How much effort is really required to be a Muse? We just have to put on a white dress and call it a day. Is Gavin coming?”
Becky’s hand paused, a piece of bread soaking up soup for far too long. “He doesn’t know yet. I don’t know how he can still be on the fence, knowing that he didn’t check in for his flight and is still in Manhattan.”
“How do you know he didn’t check in?”
Becky finally lifted the bread out of the soup and ate it.
“He didn’t text me to say that he was on the plane this morning, and I got worried.
So, I checked his location. He’s still in the Upper East Side.
I messaged to see what might have happened, but he’s busy, I guess.
” Becky’s voice was terse, and I knew that she had said all she was going to say on the matter.
“Do we know who Jesse is going to be, given that Clo is one of the Muses and Rachel is Megara?” I asked instead. I watched the sadness leave Becky’s eyes as she put on her mask of happiness.
“Rumour has it that he and his brother are going as Princes.”
“He has two brothers,” I pointed out. Both were going to be in attendance.
“Yeah, three guesses as to who the third will be.”
I thought about it for a moment. “Oh, I guess that makes sense. Has she said anything about that charade ending? Or moving forward?”
“No, but what’s new there? She’s almost as bad as—”
There was a knock on my partially open office door. Josh pushed it open further before I could invite him in.
I had done a great job of avoiding him since our disaster of a date a week ago.
“Hey, Josh,” Becky said, her torso twisting around in her seat so she could look at him.
“Hey, ladies,” he replied. Becky turned back to face me and rolled her eyes. It was fascinating how quickly she went from being convinced that he was the missing piece of my life to enemy number one.
Josh leaned against my door, his smile wide. “I heard you talking about a party. Sounds like a fun night.”
“Yeah, it should be. It’s an engagement party,” I replied without thinking, and immediately wished I had a time machine to go back one minute.
Although if I did have a time machine, I would go back to the beginning of the summer and move in with my parents so I couldn’t do something stupid. Like fall in love.
Josh nodded, the smile not dropping as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I was just stopping by to see you, Adrienne. I had a great time on our date last week, and I’d love to take you out again.”
Becky snorted. It splashed soup off her spoon and onto her face, which still wasn’t enough to distract me from the fact that I had no idea how to politely turn Josh down.
“Um…”
“How about I swing by this party you’re having? Way less pressure. Is it at your folks’ place?” Josh pointed to an invitation stuck on the back of my computer. I forgot it was there. There was no way I could blag my way out of this. All the information he needed was right in his eyeline.
“Yeah, it is,” I said, slumping back in my chair and letting my spoon clatter in my bowl. Josh’s smile somehow managed to widen further.
“Amazing. I’ll see you tonight then.” He pushed off my door and disappeared before I could say anything further.
Becky and I waited until we heard the door next to mine click shut.
“Is he fucking joking?” I exclaimed.
“Unfortunately, Ads, I don’t think he is.” Her eyes glimmered with mirth. “Them alien eyes of yours got him.”
“This is going to be a fucking disaster,” I mumbled, picking my spoon back up.
Becky didn’t disagree.