“That’s funny.”
“Besides, you showed me their dresses. They will look young and overdone, and you’ll look stunningly elegant.”
I walk out into the family room where Cush is waiting.
“Whoa,” he says. “Now that’s a dress. I wasn’t sure about the white dinner jacket, but Kym was pretty adamant. Now I see why. We’ll look good together.”
“Of course you’ll look good together. I’m good at my job,” Kym says from behind us. “All right, get together. I want to take some pictures.”
Cush wraps his arm around my waist.
“No, like this,” Kym says, repositioning his arm. “You don’t want your jacket sleeve to bunch. And you must only touch her dress with your fingertips, so you don’t change the flow of the fabric.”
“Uh, okay,” Cush laughs.
“You’re a good sport,” I tell him as we walk out my front door to his Mercedes coupe.
“I’ll be just about anything you want me to be when you wear a dress like that.”
He gently pushes me against the side of the car and kisses me, which takes me completely by surprise.
It’s a long, deep kiss.
A kiss very much the opposite of Brooklyn’s.
And possibly a little bit hotter.
But I pull away. I can’t kiss him.
He backs away with a smirk on his face. “You kissed me back,” he says as he opens my door.
“I did not,” I reply as I slide into the passenger seat. “You just surprised me. It took me a minute to react.”
The party is scheduled to start at eight, so we planned to show up around nine. At eight-thirty, just as we’re getting in the car, Vanessa texts me.
Vanessa: Where the fuck are you? Everyone is here.
Me: Just getting ready to leave my house. Be there in a few.
“It’s Vanessa,” I say. “She wants to know where the fuck we are.”
Cush’s eyes slide down my plunging neckline, and he shakes his head. “As much as I’d like to take you to my house and attempt to take it off, a dress like that deserves to be seen.”
I try to change the subject to something less awkward. “What are you talking about? Look at you. All the girls are gonna be like, Cuuussshhh. Like always.”
He raises his eyebrows and flashes me his dimples. “Maybe I want you to be all like, Cuusshh.”
I let out a big, huffy breath. “Cush, you know I like Brooklyn, right? I’m going to spend the weekend with him.”
He rolls his eyes at me. “After all the complaining you did at school about him this week? Why would you go with him? You deserve better,” he says as he starts the car.
While he drives, I can’t help but stare at him. He does look sexy tonight. Even before the steamy kiss. He’s always been super cute and funny, but he looks leading-man worthy tonight. I wasn’t joking when I said the girls are gonna go crazy.
Cush grabs my hand as we walk into the party. Heads turn, and people openly stare. I think my dress is worthy of stares, but I know they are staring at two things:
One. How good Cush looks.
And two. The fact that we are holding hands and making a very public entrance together. Like a couple.
Shit.
RiAnne’s mom greets us with air kisses. “Keatyn, your dress is stunning. So perfect for Monte Carlo. This whole party has gotten me in the mood to go there. Harold and I just booked a three-week trip.”
“Have you been there before?”
“No, we haven’t. I’m really looking forward to it.”
“It’s beautiful. Monaco and the coast of France are two of my favorite places in the world. You’ll have an amazing trip.”
Cush and I get away from RiAnne’s parents who, I am shocked to see, are greeting everyone, and walk through the room, nodding and saying hi. We stop to talk to a guy from the soccer team.
“Hey, Leo. What’s up? You ready for this weekend?” Cush asks him.
“You know it.”
“You know Keatyn, right?”
“We have Italian together,” I say.
“Italian? I thought you were in French? How many languages do you speak?” Cush asks.
“Well, I’m fluent in French, speak passable Italian and Spanish, and know just enough German to be dangerous. Leo’s family speaks Italian at home with his grandparents. The class is pretty easy for him.”
“So, what’s the deal with this party? Vanessa has never given me the time of day. I can’t figure out why I got invited.”
“The piranha is looking for fresh meat,” I tease. We all laugh. “Did they tell you the alcohol is in her bedroom? Just pretend to use the bathroom. We’re heading back there now. When we get back, go check it out.”
I lead Cush to her bedroom, where we run into RiAnne.
“Keatyn, your dress is amazing.” She looks down at hers. “I told Vanessa this was too princessey.”
“I think your dress is gorgeous, RiAnne. How’s the party going?”