Not that he was mine to steal.
Not yet. A funny flutter in my chest had me sucking in a deep breath.
“Why would you think he wants me? Haven’t you seen the way he looks at you?”
No. I hadn’t. Or at least, I hadn’t noticed—I hadn’t let myself notice. I gestured to her, my tone defensive. “Look at you,” I said. “You’re gorgeous and skinny, and oh yeah…a freakin’ saint! Why wouldn’t he want you?”
Jamie’s lips pressed together and it was obvious she was trying not to laugh at me.
I sighed. “Go ahead, laugh. I realize I sound like a lunatic.”
“Not a lunatic,” she reassured me. “But I promise you I am no saint.”
I found myself laughing alongside her because, okay yeah…perhaps I’d gotten a little carried away with my jealousies. “Maybe not,” I agreed. “But you’re pretty darn close to perfect. You’re like Cinderella and I’m—”
I almost made a comment about being the ugly stepsister but I caught myself in time. I heard Oliver’s voice asking me not to talk like that and I cut myself off with a huff of air.
“Cinderella, huh?”
I nodded, making her laugh all over again as she rolled her eyes. “I don’t get it,” she said. “You have a guy who’d declare his love to you in front of the whole world, a guy who’d create an app just to show you how much you mean to him.”
I grinned at the reminder. I still couldn’t quite believe it.
Jamie sighed as she shook her head. “I’d give anything for my best friend to look at me the way Oliver looks at you.”
I arched my brows, but before I could question her about this best friend of hers, she was reaching for my hand and dragging me along behind her.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“You are going to the gala,” she said.
My heart started that crazy thumping again while my brain came up with a million reasons why this was a bad idea. Mainly, I wasn’t ready! I didn’t know what I wanted to say. And I wasn’t sure that anything had changed.
Liar.
Okay, fine. Maybe something had changed, but that still didn’t mean I was ready. I didn’t know what to say, how to make this right, or what on earth I’d do once I showed up in the midst of this elite function wearing my ratty old overalls and a faded old Black Sabbath T-shirt.
She’d thrown open her bedroom door before I managed to come up with a convincing argument. “I can’t go, I’m not dressed for a gala.”
She smiled at me over her shoulder as she dragged me toward the elevators.
“I won’t fit in, Jamie.” Even I could hear the terror in my voice. “I’ll embarrass him if I show up like this.”
She stopped to push the button to call the elevator and then she turned to face me. “You definitely won’t fit in, but I highly doubt Oliver would care.”
I gave a huff of annoyance. “But he should.”
“But he wouldn’t.”
I met her knowing stare with a glare that held no heat. I knew what she was trying to say. I was the one with the issues here, not him. I would worry about not fitting into his world but he would never notice. I would worry about not being good enough, but Oliver had made it clear throughout a lifetime of friendship that he loved me because of my imperfections and oddities, just like I loved Oliver because of his.
“Fine,” I said abruptly. “He might not care if I showed up in my underwear, but that doesn’t mean I want to taint his big night by showing up looking like this.” I gestured to my outfit.
“Look, Liv, I don’t know you well enough to say whether you’re good enough or smart enough or kind enough for Oliver, but…” She placed her hands on my shoulders like she was my coach. “If it’s fitting in and looking the part you’re worried about…that I can handle.”
I frowned at her as I sized her up from her size two top to her itsy bitsy jeans. “Um, I highly doubt you have a dress that will fit me.”
She reached into her back pocket and whipped out a credit card. “Money might not buy love, but it can do wonders for a last-minute makeover.”
I stared at the credit card in shock. “You have your own credit card?”
Jamie just laughed as she passed me to enter the elevator. “Come on, Cinderella. We don’t have much time.”
I followed behind her. “I can’t let you do this. And also…I’m not the Cinderella here, remember?”
She slung an arm over my shoulders and I’d never felt shorter. “You will be the belle of the ball.” Her smile widened as she looked down at me. “And you can call me your fairy godmother.”
Chapter Eleven
Oliver
The only thing more awkward than going to a black-tie event solo was having a giant, floor-to-ceiling photo of oneself hanging over the entire event.
I tried to ignore the photo of me, but it was difficult to do as it graced the wall behind the podium where Jamie’s father, the owner of the publishing company that owned the magazine, had given a long-winded speech about the importance of everyone in this room.
I’d had a hard time keeping an expression of disgust from my face. By the way he’s been talking one would have thought the magazine’s feature had been about the scientists who’d cured cancer or the geniuses who’d solved world hunger or saved the planet from global warming. But no, he’d been celebrating a bunch of people who’s only commonality was to make a lot of money at a young age. How had the others done it? I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t actually read the article. I already knew what I’d said, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to see it in print. If I saw it, I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about Liv’s reaction. What she’d think when she saw it, what she’d say.
I knew what she’d say about this event. The speech would have made Liv’s eyes roll, but she’d have been all over the appetizers that were being carted around by the catering staff. She’d have spent a good amount of time teasing me for the giant photo and would probably have kept up a running commentary on the other people in the room, making me laugh over the absolute absurdity of it all.
Just the thought of the sort of comments she’d have been making had me smiling down at my plate. The latest speaker was just about done, and the musicians on the far side of the room were adjusting their instruments.
The table around me was filled with people, most of whom had made an attempt to talk to me but walked away, most likely from boredom, when I failed to hold up my end of the conversation.
I wasn’t about to hide behind Liv or anyone else anymore, but that didn’t mean I had to take a sudden interest in small talk.
The conversations I’d had this evening were no better than the ones I’d unsuccessfully had at Harmon High. The only difference, as far as I could tell, was that the people in this room wanted to talk to me. I’d never before been met with such ingratiating overtures.
Yet I still found myself sitting alone because there was only one person I wanted to talk to, one person who would light up this room and bring the life back to my existance.
My fingers tapped against the edge of the table as the speaker gave his last remarks to a roomful of applause.
Had Liv seen it yet? She had to have read the interview—even if she hadn’t bought a copy of the magazine, the interview was everywhere online and snippets of it had gone viral on social media. She had to have seen it. My hands grew clammy and I wiped them on my pants. What was she thinking? What was she doing right now?
This was where my mind was at when I spotted her. I stared at her for a long moment as she hovered in the doorway. For a second there, I thought maybe I’d imagined it.
She was a vision.
Lovely as always, but tonight there was something different about her. Something radiant. Maybe it was the way her shoulders were thrust back as she entered the room in a form-fitting, dark blue dress that made my mouth water. Her hair was twisted up into some elaborate style and her eyes were edged with a shade that was smoky and so incredibly sexy I couldn’t breat
he.
She gazed over the crowd and I held my breath as it moved in my direction, waiting in tense silence to see her reaction.
My chest was in a vise as I waited, as I watched. She was more beautiful than I’d ever seen her but it had nothing to do with the hair or the makeup or even that spectacular dress.
It was her aura, her vibe. It was that electric vivacity paired with a newfound confidence. The combination was enough to keep me in a stupor as I waited for her to find me.
Finally her gaze clashed with mine and in a heartbeat I saw the familiar recognition cross her face followed by something I’d never seen before. I wouldn’t even know where to begin to describe it. There was fear, hesitation, trepidation…but something else. Something beautiful. It was tender and sweet and vulnerable, and I’d never seen anything like it in my life—definitely not from this girl, and never directed toward me.
My heart stopped beating. When it started up again it was accelerated to the point where I ought to have feared for my life. But I was too busy getting up out of my seat and heading over to Liv.
She was walking toward me too and she met me halfway, which placed us right smack in the middle of the ballroom’s dance floor.
“Hi,” she said, her voice all breathy and seductive, though I don’t think she meant to sound like Marilyn Monroe. She’d stopped a foot away from me, too far away for me to touch her but close enough that I could smell her familiar scent of lavender shampoo mixed with some perfume I couldn’t place.
“You’re here,” I said.
She nodded. “I’m here.”
“You look amazing.”
She beamed at me and the sun came out in a New York City hotel ballroom. She glanced down at herself. “Your friend Jamie isn’t just a saint, she’s a miracle worker.”
“She didn’t work a miracle,” I said. “She just got you a new dress.”
“And hair, and makeup, and—”
“You would have looked gorgeous no matter what.”
She licked her lips. That nervous look was back and part of me wanted to make this easier for her. I wanted to laugh along with her attempts to joke about Jamie and her new look. But I wasn’t in the mood for her self-deprecating humor, not when her insecurities were the only thing keeping us apart.
Not when I had no idea what she was doing here.
“I told you not to come unless you wanted to be my date.” That came out gruffer than intended but luckily for me Liv knew me well enough to not take offense.
She lifted her chin, her smile fading and her expression growing serious. “That’s why I’m here.”
I shoved my hands into my pockets to keep from reaching for her. I’d come to hate this feeling—hope had a way of turning against me. This nervous excitement, the surge of adrenaline—every time it started out as hope and turned into heartache.
I wasn’t sure how much more I could take. But, at the same time, there was only one girl for me. I didn’t want to give up on her…on us.
So the only thing to do was let myself hope.
But did she have to stand there in silence like that? My hands clenched in my pockets as her gaze swept over me, taking in the tux, the the shiny shoes, all of it.
“You look amazing,” she said on a long exhale.
“And you haven’t told me what you’re doing here.”
“I—I—” Her dark lashes looked impossibly long as they fluttered against her cheeks. She looked so adorably flustered it took everything in me not to kiss her again.
I couldn’t put myself out there again. Not yet.
“I came to apologize,” she said.
“For what?” Disappointment loomed over me. She came to apologize. There was every chance she was just here to salvage our friendship.
“I was wrong,” she said quietly.
I refused to jump to conclusions. “About?”
She took a small step forward. “I made it sound like you were the coward here, but you’re not. You never were.” She shook her head. “I’ve been hiding behind you just as much as you were hiding with me…maybe more.”
I frowned down at her. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged, her hands splayed out at her sides. “It was so much easier for me to focus on you all these years. I always saw the greatness in you, I always saw how special you were, and I guess I sort of believed that if I believed in you, I didn’t have to believe in myself.”
She shut her eyes with an exhale. “Man, that sounds so pathetic.”
I moved toward her. “Not pathetic. Just human.”
She opened her eyes and I found myself drowning in them. A million emotions were there in her gaze and hope reared up once more.
“I need to work on that,” she said. “I need to work on myself.”
I nodded. “I agree.” I’d seen for a while now that her self-esteem wasn’t the best, but I was glad she was finally noticing. “I don’t know how to help you with that.”
Her lips curved up in a rueful smile. “I don’t think you can. That’s the point.”
Oh crap. This was it. She’d come to break it to me again that we couldn’t be together. At least this explanation I could understand. My heart might have been collapsing in my chest but at least I could understand her need to stand on her own two feet while she sorted out her own demons.
I looked down at the ground, trying not to notice how amazing her legs looked with those strappy heels.
I watched those heels move closer but it was still a suprise to feel her hands on my biceps. My head shot up and I met her gaze.
Then we were rudely jostled by a young couple who were taking their place on the dance floor.
I hadn’t even noticed that the dancing had begun.
Without speaking I took her into my arms in the way that Jamie had shown me. Liv followed along easily like we’d always danced together like this.
I’d learned the moves but this was nothing at all like dancing with Jamie. That had been easy and friendly and…
This was something else altogether. We never broke that eye contact and a whole world of emotions seemed to live and breathe between us as we moved together. Her warmth, her scent, it was so intoxicating I lost all sense of time and space. We were surrounded by people but this moment felt inordinately intimate.
“I love you.” She said it so softly I almost missed it. For a second I thought I misheard, but then she cleared her throat and said it again. “I love you, Oliver, and I want to be with you. I’m so sorry I pushed you away for all the wrong reasons.”
My chest tightened so painfully I couldn’t breathe. “Your intentions were good. And you weren’t totally wrong. I know I have had a tendency to hide, but what I feel for you…” I paused to clear my throat because emotion made it so raspy I could barely speak. “What I feel for you is in no way settling or playing it safe.” I met her gaze head on. “What I feel for you is anything but safe.”
I didn’t know how else to say it but I had to believe she would understand. This love I had for her was more than I could handle; it was bigger than me; it made me feel out of control, and it threatened the most important thing in my life. Our friendship.
Judging by the way her eyes softened and filled with tears—she understood. “It’s not safe,” she agreed. “It’s terrifying.”
I nodded. “But I can’t just ignore it.”
She shook her head. “Me neither.” I watched her chest rise and fall as she took a deep breath. “Maybe that’s why it’s for the best that we live in separate towns for a while.”
I tried to steel myself against the hurt but I must have winced because her arm tightened around my neck. “No, I don’t mean…I didn’t mean…” She let out a sigh that sounded more like a growl. “I’m messing this all up.”
I tightened my grip on her as well. “Just spit it out, Liv. What are you trying to say?”
Her head jerked back a bit at the intensity in my tone, but it worked. Words came bubbling out of her mouth in a way that was p
urely Liv. “I want to be with you. I want us to be an us. I want…I want it all.”
I sucked in a breath, my gut clenched with tension. What if she added a “but” and sabotaged us again?
“But I also know that I need to work on myself so maybe…” She licked her lips. “Maybe we can take it slow?”
I stopped dancing because her words knocked me off center. I couldn’t focus on moving my body while I wrapped my head around what she was saying. Her gaze was pleading and sweet, and my love for her had never been greater.
Cupping her head in my hands I kissed her with all that I had. When she kissed me back, eagerly and with no reservations…well, my life felt complete. Something inside me shifted and fell into place.
Finally, finally—I got the girl. My girl. She clung to my shoulders and I dropped my arms so I could hold her tight.
I don’t think either of us realized or cared that we were surrounded by people on that dance floor. When I pulled back we were both panting for air, but I sought out her gaze, needing to see her certainty, make sure I wasn’t making this up. “Are you sure about this?”
Her smile was slow and sweet and filled with affection. “I’m sure. I want to be with you. I want to give us a shot. I have faith in you, and now I just need to learn how to have faith in myself.”
I nodded. “And I’ll be working on standing up for myself. Not hiding behind you or anyone else.”
We shared a goofy grin that made us both break out laughing.
“We’re ridiculous,” she said.
“Agreed. And we’re probably causing a scene.”
She arched a brow. “Do you care?”
I shook my head. “I can’t bring myself to care about anything right now except that you are here.” I tugged her closer. “With me.”
I leaned down slowly, ready to taste those sweet lips one more time, but she stopped me with a hand on my chest. “I have to know…did you really create Love Quiz for me?”
I straightened so I could read her expression. “On a scale of one to twenty how weird would it be if I said yes?”
“Totally weird, but also the sweetest thing ever,” she answered promptly. “So basically, just like you.”
Tall, Dark, and Nerdy: High School Billionaire #1 Page 15
