Chapter 5 Giulia
GIULIA
“Wait a minute.” I check the address Brynn sent me, then lean forward to look over at the GPS on the dashboard, like it’ll do anything to clear up my confusion.
“What? This was the address you gave me,” he replies. I could really do without his dry, bored reaction right now. “I’m not sure what you expected, little sister.”
My hand is twitching, ready to be laid upside his head if he calls me that one more time. But he’s not the main problem right now. “This is a club, isn’t it?” I ask, gazing out the window toward the line of people waiting to get inside. “She made it sound like…”
“Like a cozy study session?” He’s enjoying the hell out of this, obviously. There’s a snide laughter in his voice when he asks, “What’s the problem? Don’t think you could get any work done in a place like this?”
“Are you finished?” If anything, his attitude has made up my mind for me.
I check my purse to make sure I have everything I need, stiffening my spine so it will at least look like I know what I’m doing, even though I’m freaking the hell out inside.
Did Brynn make a mistake with the address?
What if this is all a joke? Maybe this was a big mistake, and they were never trying to be nice to me in the first place.
Maybe I’m so na?ve that I let myself believe a fairy tale.
Because I know she knows I’m underage. Why would she send me to a club like this when I thought we were going to a party?
I’m still freaking out, wondering whether it’s a good idea to get out of the car, when a text comes through from Brynn.
Brynn: Coming up the block now. Are you here yet?
I look up and down the street, my heart pounding, holding my breath, and I see Brynn, Olivia, Serena, and Maddie coming our way wearing outfits similar to mine. Relief washes over me, warm and sweet. There has to be an explanation for all of this. “There are the girls,” I announce.
“You sound like you were afraid they weren’t coming,” he says, opening his door before I can tell him not to bother. I don’t love the idea of them swooning over him like they did on Monday. I don’t know why—probably because they seem nice, and he is anything but.
Sure enough, they’re practically fanning themselves and watching his every move as he opens my door.
I wish it were possible to get swept up in the excitement and the energy pulsing in the air, but I’m still confused and wishing once again I was with anyone but the mocking know-it-all who snorts softly when I climb out.
“Not too late to run,” he reminds me in a teasing whisper, leaning down so his breath tickles my ear and makes goose bumps race over my skin. I wonder what would happen if I slapped him.
“No need for that.” Still, we have to come up with some kind of plan, right? “I guess… park wherever you can, and I’ll let you know when it’s time to go home.”
“You still think you can handle this, don’t you?” Somehow, the traffic, noise, and lights all fade, blending in the background when I look up into his strangely understanding face. The lights from a passing car make his eyes glow as he stares down into mine.
I have to swallow hard to push down the lump in my throat. “I’ll be fine.”
He searches my face for a moment before blowing out a soft sigh. “Fair enough. Have a good night.”
Like it’s not bad enough, he makes every single man waiting in line pale in comparison to his dark, smoldering good looks.
Does he have to look so sure of himself too?
Since when is he the expert on what’s right and wrong?
I would ask him, but we’re double-parked and now getting honked at by the car behind us.
Forget him. With my smile in place, I scurry up to the curb, where the girls greet me excitedly. “You look so cute!” Olivia gushes, turning me in place by my shoulders.
“He should come in with us,” Serena muses, watching Alessandro get back in the car. “Maybe we can call him our chaperone?”
“She was hoping he’d come with you tonight,” Maddie tells me, making Serena swat at her with her clutch purse.
“I’m telling you, he’s not worth it,” I reply before turning to Brynn. “I thought you said we were going to a party tonight.”
Her smile is wide and sunny as she tosses her golden blow-out over her shoulder. “We are! Here at the club.”
I have to be missing something. “We’re not old enough to get in, are we?” I ask. Does it make me look hopelessly na?ve? Probably, but I’m kind of freaked out, so what does it matter?
“Trust me. We’ll be fine.” When I wince, she giggles and throws an arm around my shoulders and explains, “I heard from a bunch of people that cute girls don’t get carded here.
They’ll let us in. And if they don’t, we’ll find something else to do,” she assures me as she steers me toward the back of the line.
I can’t believe I’m doing this—getting in line to go to a club in Manhattan. All of a sudden, I feel very small, very young, and very nervous, but it’s easy to get swept up in the girls’ excitement as we move quickly toward the neon-lit entrance.
My heart is pounding almost as hard as the beat coming from inside the building, thumping every time the door opens.
What if the mountain of muscle at the end of the line turns us down?
Or what if—and this would be so much worse—he only turns me down, but lets the girls go in?
Then what do I do? I would never live it down in front of him, who, for some reason, is all I can think about as the moment of truth gets closer and closer.
What would he say? Probably that he told me so, and the idea makes me growl under my breath. Anything but that.
“All you have to do is be confident,” Brynn murmurs in my ear, almost pulling me along with her until we reach the bouncer. Confidence. I only have to be confident.
Right now, I’m confident he’s going to yank us out of line and toss us to the curb on our asses.
Instead, he barely glances at us before stepping back to allow us inside.
“Holy shit,” I whisper, shaking a little as we head in. That was easy.
“Told you so,” Brynn laughs. “Let’s get some drinks! I’ve been waiting for this all week.”
“Kylie and Emerson said they’d meet us here,” Olivia calls out, almost shouting to be heard now that the music has enveloped us.
I can barely hear myself think and would swear my teeth are vibrating, but God, it’s good to be free for a night.
It’s good to let the many bodies pressing in on all sides sweep me up and carry me toward the bar, where Serena offers to pick up the first round of drinks.
Drinks. I’ve never really drunk anything but the occasional champagne at a party, like the wedding last weekend. “Whatever you think is good!” I shout when she asks what I want, and it’s not long before she hands over our glasses.
Shots. She bought shots.
“To a great semester!” Brynn calls out before the four of them tip the shots down their throats, and I do the same after a beat. It’s sweet on my tongue and warm going down. Not bad. I could get used to it.
The second shot goes down even easier. I feel a little more relaxed by the time we inch away from the bar to take a slow walk around the room’s perimeter.
It’s dark except for colored lights trained on the dance floor in the center, where dozens and dozens of people dance to a fast, driving beat that makes me shake my hips a little.
“There’s Kylie!” Brynn calls out, waving to a girl up ahead before peeling away from the group. “Be right back!”
“Ooh, hot piece of ass at nine o’clock,” Olivia tells Maddie. “He’s staring at you.” I peek over her shoulder, and sure enough, a guy who looks like he could play football is checking Maddie out. She gives us a wink before dancing his way.
Okay, then. I guess that’s how it works. This is all overwhelming. So much noise, so many unwritten rules I don’t know about. When Olivia offers another round of shots, I accept gratefully. Maybe it’ll help me loosen up and fit in better.
“Where’s Maddie?” I almost have to scream, and even then, I can barely hear myself. She’s not where we left her. “Should I text her?”
Serena stands on her tiptoes, scanning the room before pointing to one of the semi-circular booths, where Maddie is kissing the football player or whoever he is. “She’s set for the night,” she decides, like it’s that easy. I guess it is. I wouldn’t know.
Olivia looks me up and down, eyebrows raised. “So what about you?”
“What about me?” I ask before being shoved from behind. Not hard, but enough to make me stumble a little. It’s so damn crowded in here, and I’m not exactly steady after three shots.
“Have you seen anybody you like tonight?” she asks.
I’m glad it’s dark enough that she won’t be able to see me blushing.
“I don’t know. I…” Have never been to a club.
I’ve barely ever been to a party. The closest I’ve come to anything remotely like this is the dances we used to have with our all-boys ‘brother’ school, where I had my only experience with guys.
A few stolen make-out sessions behind the bleachers when the chaperones weren’t looking is about as much experience as I’ve had.
I’m in another world now.
And I have no idea what I’m doing.
“Do you need more to drink?” Next thing I know, she’s dragging me over to the bar, elbowing her way through the crowd.
Considering we’re all eighteen, she seems pretty at home around here.
I might as well be an alien on a new planet, being jostled by people on all sides, overwhelmed by the voices and all of the overlapping perfumes and colognes, and the way my shoes stick to the floor whenever I stand in the same place for too long.
When Olivia hands me a glass filled with reddish liquid, I eye it skeptically. “It’s good! Just shoot it back,” she insists.