Teagan
Luckily, even though the guys were all dressed up, they were still the guys.
Here was one of them now. “Hey, Josh. Nice crown.”
He smirked at her. Like she’d said. The guys were still the guys.
“So… you and Cam… looks official.”
Whatever that meant. A dig, knowing him. “If you can’t say something nice?” She gave him a big toothy grin. “Shut the hell up.”
“Okay, fair. You look great. Both of you.”
She took it back. Some guys were different tonight. Josh Regis had just given her a sincere compliment.
“Thank you.”
Britney bustled up. “Josh?” She gave Teagan a look that made it clear she still wanted to kill her. “It’s time, babe.”
He tipped his head, which was wearing a crown. “Duty calls,” he said, morphing into the Josh Regis she was more familiar with.
Cam held up the dinner menu and poked something on his plate. “Help me out. Is this orange thing the compressed melon with micro basil?”
Teagan laughed. “How badly do you want a burger now?”
Cam looked shocked. “Instead of a compressed melon ball? No way.” He stabbed it and popped it in his mouth. “Mmm… so good. Full now!”
She snorted. “Cam Dillinger, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were having fun at this fancy-pants affair.”
He leaned back in his seat, grinning, relaxed, happy.
“You caught me.” He gestured to his suit.
“You were right about this, too. Asking Perry. I never understood why he spent so much on clothes, but I gotta admit…” He tucked his thumbs under the lapels and ran his hands down them.
“It’s pretty nice to wear something that feels like—”
“It’s showing you off?”
He scrunched his face up like it was awkward to admit, but he was going to do it anyway. “Yeah.”
“Well, just in case it needs saying,” Teagan said. “It’s definitely showing you off.”
They grinned at each other. It was nice.
This was nice. It’d be better if her mom wasn’t here as one of the chaperones.
Not that she was planning on going anywhere near alcohol.
Vodka, she knew, was not her friend. And since vodka was friends with the other alcohols, she was glad to be here with someone who could resist their siren call.
“Is Juliet…”
Teagan saw what Cam was looking at. She was wearing nearly the same outfit as Perry. What were the odds… “Yup.”
“Oh shit. I shouldn’t laugh, but… oh shit.”
“I know, right?”
“What are you two laughing about?” Perry called from the other side of the table. There wasn’t a drama he didn’t want to be a part of.
“Nothing,” they both shouted.
“Inside joke,” Cam added, trying to keep Perry’s attention away from Juliet.
Amber saved them by demanding to know everything Perry could tell her about “hand styling.” Whatever that was.
“Phew.” Cam swiped his forehead. “That was close. Do he and Juliet hate each other? Or is it more like a fashion frenemies kind of thing?”
Teagan wasn’t sure. Neither of them had ever said anything nice about the other one, but their spiky comments weren’t venomous.
They spatted the way she and Josh— Hmmm.
No. That was not a path she wanted to go down.
Whatever was or wasn’t going on between her and Josh was totally different.
She knew that much. “I think it’s kind of like one is the House of Gucci and the other is Prada. ”
“I’m going to take your word for that,” Cam said, laughing. “Either way, if they go to war over this, I bet the bombs will be filled with glitter.”
Teagan spat out the mouthful of soda she’d just taken. “Oh my god, could you warn me before saying things like that?” Laughing, she grabbed his napkin and dabbed at the tablecloth. “This is too much fun.”
“Agreed.” Cam grinned at her. He really did look happy. He pointed at her plate. “Are you going to finish that? I’m starving.”
“All yours, Superman.”
“What?”
“Nothing. If you eat all of the salad, I promise I’ll find a way to get you a burger later.”
“You are the perfect date, Teagan Tao,” he said, stabbing a forkful of salad. “I’m glad you asked me out.”
She was, too. More than glad, actually. She was happy.