Chapter 20 – Two Weeks Later #2
Whatever. I climb off my bed, intending to go down and grab some soda from the fridge downstairs, but when I open the door, I’m stunned speechless.
Because just as I exit, I find Raph standing there, and I think I’ve officially stopped breathing.
And when he smiles, one of his dazzling smiles, wearing a tuxedo like it’s been made for him, I almost pass out.
My pulse thrashes in my ears, and I try my best not to salivate. How can anyone be that good looking? And tall. My God. It’s not fair she has to be the one to be with him, while I can only dream of such things. It’s cruel. I want more than anything to be older, just so he can see me.
I sigh, defeated. Absolutely devastated too. My heart physically hurts. Will I always like him this way? Will I pine after my sister’s boyfriend for the rest of my life? Oh my God. What if he marries her? Then I’ll really be pining after him for the rest of my life.
I guess I could move when I turn eighteen.
Live on campus somewhere. Anywhere but here.
I’ll take out loans. I know my parents wouldn’t spend a dime on me.
It’s fine. I can do things on my own. I’ll figure this out.
I just know I can’t live a life wishing I was with someone who’ll never want me back.
“Hey, Nicolette.” He looks me up and down with a squint in his eyes and a slant of his mouth. “I’m pretty sure today is your dance, but for some reason you look like you just woke up from a long slumber.”
“Slumber?” I raise a brow. “Are you suddenly from the 1820s?”
“Okay, Ms. Comedian.” He chuckles. “Go get dressed. You’re going to be late.”
He holds tightly to a large brown paper bag, and I give him a speculative look, wondering why he’s so dressed up. But he’s always attending some big fancy party for work, so I’m sure that’s where he’s heading. Not surprised he’d want to check in with me before heading out. He always does that.
My parents gave him a key so he can come and go as he pleases. They’re obsessed with him. Must be all that money. They’re like my sister that way.
“Haven’t you heard the big news?” My lips tighten into a barely there smile. “I’m not going.”
“Oh, I heard when you told me yesterday. But just because that asshole boyfriend is too good to be your date doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go.”
“Uh-huh. Right. What do I do, then? Go alone?” I scowl. “I don’t want to look like a loser. You wouldn’t understand.” I throw a hand in the air.
“Maybe not.” He takes a step closer. “But I also don’t think you should stop yourself from making memories just because of a guy you won’t even remember ten years from now.”
His voice grows all gritty, and there go those butterflies fluttering in my stomach, the ones I was really doing a good job of hiding. But he has that effect on me, making me feel things I have no business feeling.
“Thanks for worrying about me, Raph.” My voice loses that snarkiness. “But I’m okay. I’ve got my pretzels and TV. Living the dream here. So go and enjoy whatever party you’re heading to.”
“Well, actually…” He digs into the bag and pulls out a short A-lined emerald dress. “I was kinda hoping you’d join me.”
My eyes grow, staring at the dress, then at him. “Join you at…uh…your party?”
Why are my hands all clammy? Oh my God, am I sweating? Discreetly, I pat my forehead, but no sign of it. Thank God for that. That would be humiliating.
“Not my party,” he clarifies.
My stomach drops. Of course he wouldn’t want some little girl attending one of his parties with him.
“I was hoping…” He removes an ivory corsage. “That you’d let me join yours.”
What did he just say?
All air leaves my lungs.
He takes a single step forward, invading all my senses and taking up all my space.
“I want to be your date to the dance,” he goes on, oblivious to the chaos currently erupting in my chest. “If you’ll have me of course. I told your school I’d chaperone.”
He laughs, taking in my dumbfounded expression. I could listen to his deep laughter on a loop and die happy.
“I know I’m basically a dinosaur, but I can dance when you need me, and you can have fun with your friends without feeling like you’re going without a date.”
Another step closer, and my heart practically stops working.
His cologne wafts through my nostrils and I want to permanently sew that smell into my skin, if that were at all possible, which obviously it’s not.
But I’m a dreamer, and right now, I know I’m going to wake up from this magical dream and laugh.
Then laugh some more. Because there’s no way Raph is standing right in front of me, holding on to a gorgeous dress that would fit me perfectly, asking to be MY date.
Brenda is going to flip. She’s the only one who knows about my crush on him.
“Are you sure you’d wanna be around a bunch of annoying teenagers?” I sneer, trying to convince him not to go.
I mean, how can I actually go with him and dance with him and be around him without acting like a giddy fool? And how the hell did Bianca approve of this? She hates me. There’s no way she’d let her boyfriend help me out.
“I can handle teenagers. Don’t worry about me.” He extends the hand with the dress. “Now go change. I’ll wait, and so will the limo outside.”
“You got us a limo?” My mouth falls open.
See? Already making a big fool of myself.
“Of course I did.” He folds his arms over his chest.