Western Waves (Compass 3)

17

Stella

* * *

The night of the double date, I packed with nerves. Jeff wasn’t making it any easier for me, either, when he arrived at the property.

“Where did you get that car?” I blurted out as Jeff stepped out of a decked-out, extremely out of budget BMW. My jaw was pretty much sitting on the sidewalk as I walked over to him and the vehicle that was clearly not his fourteen-year-old Honda.

“I got an upgrade,” he said, tossing his hands in the air in bliss. “Tell me this isn’t dope, and I’ll call you a liar.”

I narrowed my eyes. “But… how? You don’t have money for this kind of thing. And your new DJing equipment…” My mind was spiraling as Damian and Kelsey were inside, finishing up their glasses of wine before heading out to dinner. The two appeared to be getting along so well.

Why did it bother me that they were getting along so well?

I cleared my throat and my mind and focused back on Jeff. “Is that a designer suit, Jeff?”

“I think what you mean is ‘you look ridiculously striking, Jeff,’” he stated, walking over to me. He glanced toward the house and then leaned in and kissed me. Hard. For a freakishly long time.

“What’s gotten into you?” I said, pulling away. He glanced back at the house, and I turned to see Damian looking out of the window at us. Damian disappeared, and Jeff shook off his shoulders.

“Nothing, just marking my territory,” he said with a smug look.

“I’m not a tree, and you’re not a dog pissing on me,” I remarked. “Besides, it seems like things are going well between Damian and Kelsey.”

“No shit? Really? She likes him?”

“You seem surprised.”

“I just didn’t know if she was into that kind of guy.”

I laughed. “You said any woman would be into him.”

“Right. Of course, I just mean, from what you’ve told me, he’s a bit cold.”

“He is, but…he can be warm, too, once he gets comfortable. Besides, you’re the one who wanted this to be a double date. But, back to the real issue. Where did you get all of this stuff?”

Jeff popped a few mints into his mouth. “I took out a few loans.”

“What?! Jeff, we don’t have the income to pay back loans at this time.”

“Yet,” he added. “I mean, honestly, we’re pretty much already multimillionaires, baby. We might as well start acting like it.”

“That’s a bit premature. Besides, I don’t want the money to change us with materialistic things.”

“Don’t do this, Stella,” he said, lowering his voice.

“Do what?”

“Be a wet blanket. Honestly, we have a lot to celebrate. I’ve been getting more gigs. You’ve been getting more money. We are on the up and up! And nothing and nobody is going to dampen our moods—including you.” He kissed me again, hard and long, which made it clear that Damian must’ve been watching once more. Jeff wasn’t truly one for kissing often. He was more reserved in that way than I was. I was the lovey-dovey one out of the two of us.

“You look cute,” he mentioned.

Cute like a puppy, not mesmerizing like the sea.

Stop comparing them, Stella.

To my surprise, dinner went well. Damian communicated a lot more than I thought he would, and he engaged with Kelsey and Jeff on a remarkable level. He even laughed a few times, too, which shocked me. He wasn’t one to release chuckles at all, so when he did, the sound vibrated within my system. I liked his laugh. I wished he’d done it more.

During the meal, my phone dinged, and I picked it up to turn off the sound but gasped when I saw what was written on the screen. “Oh my goodness!” I screeched, opening the email quickly. “I got in!” I exclaimed, shocked as ever. “I got in!” I said again.

“In what?” Kelsey asked.

“The art show at Mateo’s Gallery. They had a last-minute person drop out, and I was on their waiting list to be a featured artist. Oh my goodness!” I was freaking out. I couldn’t believe that a dream of mine was coming true. I was going to have my artwork, my passion, showcased in a gallery in front of hundreds of people.

How did I become so lucky?

“Holy crap, I never thought you’d actually get into one of those,” Jeff said. “Congrats, babe! This is huge!”

I caught a shift in Damian’s expression as he looked at Jeff, then he turned to me, and gentleness returned to his expression. “Well deserved, congratulations, Stella.”

What was that look?

“Thank you. You all must come! I mean, if you want. It’s on a Thursday night, and well, if you don’t want to come, you don’t have to but—”

“I’ll be there,” Damian and Jeff said in sync.

They shot one another a look.

I doubted the two would become the best of friends in the future based on the tension of the night.