Chapter Twenty-Two
Twenty-Two
“Shit, I’m running late. He’s gonna be here any minute! Vi, do you know where my clutch is?”
“Right here in front of you, dummy.”
“Oh fuck.” Audrey smacked her forehead and took the bag from Violet, who immediately gasped and started fussing again.
“Your makeup! DON’T TOUCH YOUR GODDAMN FACE!”
“I’m sorry!” she wailed while Violet grabbed some powder and setting spray and fixed what she’d just smeared. It apparently hadn’t set all the way yet and she’d already forgotten she was wearing it. “I’m not used to this!”
“Which is exactly why Theo asked me to help you!” The way Violet huffed was rather smug, but Audrey supposed that was to be expected.
She had to admit she looked amazing.
It was her first black-tie event. Her new dress wasn’t going to wear itself, and every time she thought about it, she grew more and more nervous.
He’d managed to finish his sculpture after all—just in time. He was convinced it was terrible, but he’d done it all the same.
And he needed a date to go with him to unveil it to the world.
The question of the gala came up a few weeks ago before graduation, and that’s when she discovered there was treachery afoot.
It was Violet who’d broached the topic a little too casually: “Hey, Auds, Theo was telling me the other day when you were in the shower about some charity auction gala. What are you planning on wearing?”
He wasn’t over at the apartment for dinner yet and Audrey had her nose deep in a book, studying for a final while her roommate puttered around in the kitchen, making herself a plate of predinner snacks.
She’d glanced over her shoulder, her face entirely too innocent all of a sudden, and it was her expression that gave Audrey pause.
“My little black cocktail dress,” she replied with rapidly narrowing eyes. “It’s the nicest one I have. Why?”
Violet hummed, her lips pursed, and swept to the side in disapproval. “You can’t wear a cocktail dress.”
“Why not?”
“Theo said it was black tie.”
“Yeah, and? I’m sure he’ll be wearing one, and my dress is black. That’s like the same thing, right?”
That earned her two brows raised sky-high and a sharp look. “Oh no, Audrey. No, baby, no.” Violet slapped her forehead with her palm so hard, she nearly stumbled backward. “Black tie and cocktail are two extremely different things. You need a gown.”
“A gown? Like a ball gown?”
“Yeah, babe, like a ball gown. Like red-carpet stuff.”
She’d never felt the blood drain from her face so fast.
“Oh shit,” she whispered. “I didn’t even think to Google that.”
“Ohhh,” Violet drawled, stretching the word out with sudden wicked intrigue. “Oh no! Looks like we’ll need to go shopping! What a travesty!”
“How much do these things usually cost?” The panic was real now, and Audrey set her book aside while she lunged for her laptop. “How much am I going to have to spend for this? I didn’t think—”
“Calm down, Audity, I’ve got you.” Violet’s grin was absolutely predatory now. “We’ll find you something affordable that fits, don’t worry. Step into my office tomorrow after class and I’ll get you sorted.”
Audrey should’ve known the whole thing was a setup.
She really should have. The fault of her na?veté was set squarely on her own shoulders when Violet dragged her into Saks Fifth Avenue under the pretense of window shopping, or “looking at examples of gowns for us to emulate,” as she said—as giddy as a schoolgirl for Audrey to try on and pick up the items she and Theo had already reserved ahead of time just for the occasion.
Apparently, Audrey’s (former) best friend had a great deal of fun picking out her dress for the gala the week prior.
Theo hadn’t wanted Audrey to know how much everything cost, so he’d enlisted Violet to do his dirty work for him in secret, while also keeping her choices a secret from him. He wanted to be surprised too.
Their betrayal was uncovered when Audrey was suddenly thrust into a dressing room where the nicest dress she’d ever seen was waiting for her.
It was even worse when the damn thing fit like a glove and no one would tell her the price.
Traitors, the both of them. All of them. Salespeople included.
Violet couldn’t stop smirking while they tried on the shoes she’d picked out as well.
The red-soled stilettos soared higher than Audrey was typically used to, but luckily she at least knew they’d be driven to the event.
No long walks across street grates for her this time. She could manage for one evening.
“Stop looking so pleased,” Audrey grumbled when the shoes fit just as well as the dress.
“Oh no, I don’t think so.” Violet’s grin only grew wider. “I just got to play the best game of Barbie ever. You’re going to look phenomenal. Theo will lose his shit when he sees you.”
“How did that go down, anyway? When he asked you for help?” Audrey tugged the heels off and placed them gingerly back in the box, wrapping them up carefully with the tissue paper.
They probably cost more than a month of rent based on how beautiful they were, and on the fact that they were handmade from real Italian leather, according to the text stamped inside.
She’d look up the price online later out of spite.
Violet snorted. “Your boyfriend is awfully trusting. We met up while you were in class for a long lunch one day. He brandished his black American Express card at the salespeople and then set me loose in here without a budget. It was like something out of Pretty Woman, a real Richard Gere kind of move. He’s lucky I didn’t spend the entire GDP of Luxembourg. ”
He gave Violet free rein with his credit card?
Was he crazy? He was playing with fire. “He was that trusting with you because he’s sweet and he thinks you’re a good person.
” Audrey shot her roommate a dark look. “Even though he’s wrong and you’re actually a horrible, lying traitor of a friend for keeping this from me, and for not telling me how much he spent.
” Judging by the feel and thickness of the fabric of the dress, it had to be obscene.
“He didn’t need to. I don’t want him to waste his money. ”
Violet ignored those last two remarks and sniffed imperiously. “Well, Theo knows the truth and he’s an excellent judge of character. And he obviously doesn’t care about the cost and can afford it. It’s why he’s my favorite.”
“So what did you get out of the deal, huh?” Audrey wrinkled her nose and thought about tossing some of the tissue paper in Violet’s face, but that seemed uncouth. Saks was too fancy a place for shenanigans. “I know he gave or promised you something.”
“No?” Violet’s voice was far too light and her expression far too innocent.
“Don’t lie to me,” Audrey grumbled as she retied the laces of her combat boots. “Spill, you asshat.”
“Fine. He let me pick out some shoes for myself—god, they’re incredible, the Louboutins I chose are so fucking beautiful, I’ve been ruined for other heels forever.” She pointed and glared at Audrey. “He’s the best man I’ve ever met and if you break up with him, I’ll kill you.”
It was Audrey’s turn to snort. “I never thought you could be bought so easily. All it took was a pair of shoes?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. It was a pair of Louboutins—don’t call them shoes—and all the times he’s bought me dinner. He knows how to treat a lady.” Violet buffed her nails idly against her sweater, completely nonplussed by the accusation. “He also promised to show me his studio after the gala.”
Audrey snapped her head up and tried to school her expression into submission. “Oh yeah?” She winced at how high her voice had suddenly pitched.
“Yeah, but he said I might have to sign some paperwork first. What the hell does he do that’s so secret, government-contracted art or some shit? Now I’m really intrigued.”
“Uh…” The panic was definitely creeping up now, but there was nothing she could do about it.
If Theo wanted to tell Violet he was her favorite notorious reclusive artist and neon sculptor, that was his deal.
“It’s, um. He’s just, uh…been working on something special lately, and he wants to stay tight-lipped about it. ”
“Never heard of signing paperwork to view a studio before, but I’ve never been much involved in the art scene, I only follow it. Maybe it’s more common than I think it is?”
“I have no idea.”
“Just how loaded is he, anyway? What does his apartment look like? No one with chump change just casually flashes around a black Amex like that.”
Panic. Full panic and deflection mode now. Audrey glanced around for the salesperson they’d been working with and waved her over. “I think we’re done here. Do we have to do anything else to leave, or…?”
The night of the gala, Audrey wriggled into her new dress and shoes, closed her eyes and tried not to wrinkle her nose while Violet applied her makeup, complained loudly and repeatedly as her roommate swore when she attempted to curl Audrey’s hair (it was only being mildly cooperative), and crammed a tube of lipstick and her phone in a tiny metallic-gold clutch before there was a knock at the door.
As soon as she heard it, Violet threw the makeup brush onto the vanity and made a beeline for the bathroom.
“Hey, where are you going?!” Audrey shrieked, twisting indignantly in the chair at the sudden abandonment.
“I’m out!” Violet shouted through a crack in the door. “Trust me: you’ll want privacy.” She slammed it shut and the sound of the pipes knocking and the shower roaring to life filled the apartment.
Audrey rolled her eyes and pressed up from the chair, trying her best not to topple over like a baby giraffe on her new designer heels while she answered the door. When she pulled it open, she gasped.
She knew Theo would be wearing a tux. It was a black-tie charity gala.
She hadn’t been prepared for him to look that incredible in it.