8. Dahlia
DAHLIA
“I don’t think I can do this,” I say as I pull on the hem of the short spandex dress that rides up with every step I take.
“I haven’t worn this much makeup since prom my senior year and that night did not end well.
Let’s just say, I shared a hotel suite with a group of people, and somehow, I’m the one that ended up sleeping in a bed with my crush and best friend while they had sex. ”
“I thought I was your best friend,” Jane says, ignoring the rest of my rambling.
The four of us step out into the party at Phi Kappa Theta. It’s early and not crazy packed yet, and somehow that makes me feel more visible.
We’re running thirty minutes later than planned because I changed my outfit about a dozen times.
“Why didn’t you sleep somewhere else?” Daisy asks me and then Violet adds, “Or tell them to leave?”
“They thought I was asleep when they started making out. Then I felt weird about moving because they’d know I was awake. It was awful.” I stick out my tongue at the horrible memory.
Jane clears her throat.
“My former best friend,” I clarify for her.
“Much better.” Her smile makes the knot in my chest loosen a fraction.
“I’m freaking out.”
“We noticed.” Vi bites the corner of her lip to keep from grinning too big.
“You look incredible,” Daisy tries to reassure me, but it has the opposite effect.
It isn’t every day (or any day in the last twenty years of my life) that you get a chance to go to a party and hang out with the hottest guy on campus.
I wanted to look the part for this once-in-a-lifetime experience, but now I’m afraid I overdid it.
I look like I’m trying too hard. I am trying too hard.
A Herculean-level effort is the only way I’m going to survive an entire night talking to Felix.
I really hope that this is what it takes to stop all the knowing looks and whispered comments around campus. If it isn’t, I don’t know what I’ll do.
I stop. “What am I going to say to him?”
My friends turn back to look at me. They’ve been so supportive.
Jane and Violet spent hours picking out different dress and shoe options; Daisy helped me do my makeup and curl my hair.
And when I thought I was going to puke, seconds before we walked out the door, the three of them lied and said everything was going to be fine. The thing is...I don’t feel fine.
“We’re not going anywhere.” Daisy steps back and takes my hand. “If you need anything, we’ve got your back.”
“Okay.” I let out a shaky breath. “But what do I say? I need to know what to say.”
She laughs lightly. “You’ll figure it out.”
“But say something,” Violet pipes in, taking my other hand. “Rambling is better than silence.”
“Are we sure about that?” Jane asks.
“Rambling is what got her this date.” Violet adjusts one strap of the bright orange dress. It’s some cheap brand that I’ve never heard of, but it hugs my curves in all the right places. One of Jane’s, obviously. The amount of confidence required to buy an orange dress is not something I possess.
“It isn’t a date.”
“It’s kind of a date, though.” Daisy pulls me toward the center of the party.
My nerves ramp up as the four of us weave through the backyard, where music pumps and people stand all around in small groups talking and drinking. I spot some of Felix’s teammates playing beer pong and I stop breathing while I look for his dark head. When I don’t see him, I relax.
“I see Gavin and Jordan.” Vi tips her head toward the far right.
“Is Felix with them?” I ask, suddenly afraid to look.
“I don’t think so.” She stands taller and cranes her neck.
I fidget with my hair, moving it off one shoulder and then pulling it back so I can partially hide my face behind it. I’m not ready to face him. This was such a bad idea. He’s going to take one look at how overdressed I am and say?—
“Wow.” Felix’s voice freezes my movements from head to toe. He steps through the crowd, eyes locked on me.
“Dahlia, you look…wow.” He clears his throat. “I’ve forgotten all other adjectives.”
My friends break into a chorus of “aww” and then giggles.
“Thank you.” There’s a one-hundred-percent chance I’m blushing all over. He’s in his standard jeans and T-shirt, this one navy blue. The way it stretches across his chest and matches his dark hair is…well, he looks phenomenal. “You too.”
“Do you want to get something to drink?” he asks, nodding his head toward the keg.
Daisy nudges me forward.
“Okay,” I tell him, and then say to my friends, “I’ll see you guys later.”
They’re all smiling so big and nodding their heads like I’m the kid sister going on her very first date.
Felix walks slowly, allowing me to keep up with him. I notice he doesn’t have to push through the crowd the same way others do. When people see him coming, they move. That’s the power of Felix Walters.
At the keg, he pours me a beer and then refills his cup. I take a tentative sip. His gaze is on me, which does not help my nerves.
“You really look great,” he says. “I kind of feel like I swallowed my tongue.”
Even if he’s just messing with me to make me feel more comfortable, it works.
“Thank you. I’m sorry we’re later than I said.”
“Are you?” he asks and takes a drink. “I didn’t even notice.”
Of course, he didn’t. This isn’t a date, I remind myself.
When the keg is kicked, I’ll go back to my life, and he’ll go back to his.
But for the next few hours, I’m going to do my best to stop freaking out and just enjoy this weird yet sort of amazing situation.
I’m hanging out with the hottest guy at Valley U.
“Walters!” A guy calls as he emerges from the crowd to stand in front of us. He and Felix both jut their chins to the other. “How’ve you been? Haven’t seen you since...”
“Last weekend,” Felix fills in for him. “You were about eight shots in, so I won’t take offense that you don’t remember talking to me.”
The guy huffs a laugh. “You aren’t the only part of that night that I don’t remember. I woke up with two girls and a guy I’d never seen before.”
Felix laughs and then, as if he just remembered I’m standing here, covers it with a cough. “Bobby, have you met Dahlia?” He glances at me. “Bobby and I lived on the same floor freshman year.”
I lift a hand and wave. “Hi.”
“Hey,” he says. “You look familiar. Are you on the cheerleading squad?”
“Umm…no.” I shake my head. “I don’t think we’ve met.”
“What year are you?” he asks, still staring hard to figure out how he knows me.
“I’m a junior.”
“Huh.” His gaze continues to assess me as he fills three cups with beer from the keg, and I can tell the second he realizes where he’s seen me before. “You’re the girl from that video. Oh man, that was hysterical.”
His smile is wide and disbelieving.
“That’s me. I’m Felix Walters’ number one fan. If there weren’t so many people around, I’d be climbing him like a tree or licking him from head to toe.”
Oh my god, what am I saying? Shut up, shut up, shut up.
Bobby chuckles, but nothing about his reaction feels mean or malicious. I’ve basically put him in the position to laugh or cringe at my weirdness.
“I’m kidding. Consent is important.” The more I talk, the more flustered I feel. I should have prepared a standard response for the many times I expect to be recognized tonight.
Felix takes a step closer until his arm rests against mine. It’s a small amount of contact, but it does the trick of shutting me up. It isn’t exactly reassuring; it’s more like a jolt, but I revel in it.
Bobby laughs, taking in our body language. “I love it. I thought it was a joke, but you two are hooking up for real?”
I expect Felix to correct him, but instead, he glances over at me with a smirk that I bet has gotten him laid every single time he’s used it. “You saw the video. Who else would she be hooking up with?”
My body tingles from head to toe.
“All right. Well, I gotta deliver these.” Bobby lifts the cups filled with beer in his big hands. “See ya around, Walters.” Then he nods to me.
Felix stares at him, only long enough to say bye, and then his attention is back on me.
I think this dress is too tight because I’m struggling to breathe.
Did I misread him completely? Is Felix expecting me to sleep with him tonight?
A large part of me says, hell yes, but there’s this tiny, annoying part that doesn’t want to be a funny story he tells his friends for years to come.
“This one time at college, a girl told the entire school how much she wanted to have sex with me, so I asked her out and we did it in the bathroom of a frat house. She was spectacular. Best sex of my life.”
All right, that last part is unlikely, but a girl can dream.