Now…
“Why don’t you come out with us tonight, girl? Get some excitement in your life?”
I want to turn around and tell Ted not to call me girl and to stop making assumptions about me and my personal life, but I can’t do that. First of all, because Ted is my boss, and second of all, because he’s right. I could use some excitement in my life.
“I’ve got plans actually,” I lie as I put away the last of the files and shut down the computer. As I get up and get my things, I can feel his eyes lingering on my body. Ted is a rich, high-powered attorney and is used to getting what he wants, and he’s made it no secret that he wants me.
But that’s not happening. Even if I was into cruel, heavy-set, angry, alcoholic men in their 50s, I’m looking for love, not a way up the ladder.
“Heading to the clubs?” he suggests, no doubt picturing me in some skimpy black dress with a pair of heels.
Again, I force a smile. “Something like that.”
Of course, I have no plans at all, just like every night of the week. My big idea for tonight includes some supermarket mochi and that new reality show on Netflix about people using their musical tastes to find their true love. But when I get back to the apartment, I find Gina, my it-girl roommate, all dolled up and primping in the bathroom mirror.
“You’re home! Why didn’t you answer my texts?”
I glance at my phone and see twenty-two unanswered. “I was working. What’s the big deal? Did someone propose to you or something?”
Gina scoffs as though I just said the dumbest thing in the world, which it probably is when it comes to her. Gina is the polar opposite of me when it comes to men. If she had my job, she’d have slept with Ted and had him wrapped around her little finger months ago. She’s gorgeous, sexy, and confident, and men mean nothing to her. They’re just a way to get money, jewelry, vacations, or anything else she might want.
I’ve never understood that kind of mentality, but then again, maybe Gina never had the spark of love I felt when I was you
ng.
Ethan…
I know it would probably sound silly to most people to claim that I met the love of my life when I was only 12 and he was 18, but after Ethan disappeared and I grew older, I realized there was a reason I couldn’t stop thinking of him. There was a reason the moment he walked out of my life was forever embedded in my mind.
“Here, I got this for you,” Gina says, shoving a dress into my hands. “Put it on. Oh, and there are heels on your bed!”
“Why would I put this on when I’m going to be watching Netflix and eating mochi all night?”
“Because you aren’t going to be watching Netflix and eating mochi all night; you are going to be coming with me to the most exclusive party of the year.”
Party? Me? She must be joking. I’ve never even worn a dress like this before, and the last and only time I wore heels was at prom when I went as friends with Jamie Dormer, whose boyfriend had dumped her the night before.
“Wipe that look off your face,” she says as she applies a deep-red lipstick. “You’re coming. You don’t even know how exclusive this party is or how hard it is to get an invite. Like, it’s basically impossible. There will be models, celebrities, politicians – world movers, okay? I told them I’d be bringing a friend, so you are coming.”
“It’s not my fault you made a promise for me.” I shrug, tossing the dress onto the shower curtain rod.
“Stop being a Debbie Downer, will you?” she snips, grabbing it back and stuffing it into my hands. She points between my legs. “You need to knock the dust off that thing! Find yourself a man already! Start a body count!”
“I don’t want a body count,” I sigh. “I just want…I just want…”
“What? Him? Ethan? The mythical man you haven’t seen in six years and had a seriously inappropriate crush on?”
“It’s not inappropriate now. I’m eighteen so he’s twenty-six.”
Gina nods. “Wow, nice math. He must have been a great tutor.”
I sigh and slump down on the edge of the tub. Gina looks like a million bucks compared to me. “I’m going to look like an idiot.”
“Girl, you need to stop talking all that shit.” She comes over to me and starts unbuttoning my blouse. We’ve got that kind of friendship. “You are gorgeous. You just have to actually go out of the house for men to see you.”
I frown as she pulls my arms into the air and slides the dress over my head. She moves her hands to the button of my pants, and I swat her away. “I can do that part, thanks.”
“Geez, relax,” she laughs. “Not like I was going to put a move on you.”