“No, what’s everyone wearing? I never even saw the invitation, it went to my mom’s inbox, and she called me squealing. I don’t think she ever got around to telling me the dress code.”
“It’s formal with a princess theme. Everyone is wearing ballgowns from Chic boutique in New York, or CoutureCand.”
“Gia, did you get your gown yet?” One of her two new acquaintances asked.
“I’m choosing her gown.” I just dropped that in there because I could and because I knew it would cause a stir. I’m sure every word, every move, will get back to the right people.
Victoria’s two friends who hadn’t been in attendance for this morning’s theatrics were sitting across the room looking scared, as they should.
“I can’t stand the cuteness. Who knew Loki could be so sweet?” Obviously, Tasha had overheard the conversation at the table next to ours.
“Yo Loki, does Thor know you borrowed his hammer?” Lance, the shit-stirrer, plopped down on the other side of me. “Did you guys hear the news? Victoria got the boot.”
“You’re like two hours late.” Tasha threw the piece of paper from her straw at him.
Gianna had gone quiet, so I peeped my eye open to see that she was done eating. I knew she was uncomfortable with all the attention and couldn’t blame her; these girls are all social butterflies, including the shy one, Emily, who, unlike Gianna, had a strong family backing. Yes, I checked. I’m not about to let anyone near her that doesn’t deserve to be in her orbit.
“We’ll see you guys later.” I stood and helped her up from her seat, keeping her hand in mine as we walked through the dining hall and out the door. I should be checking on my little scheme against the one in Sicily, but I didn’t feel right leaving her alone just yet. “You wanna ask me something?” I felt her looking at me and looking away again as we walked, so I figured she was dying to ask me a question.
“What happened to Victoria?”
“Do you really care?”
“No, it’s just… my dad and her mom are going to be really angry; they’ll probably blame me.” I pulled my phone that I had yet to give back to her from my pocket. “Call your dad.” She bit into her bottom lip, looking embarrassed.
“I don’t know the number off-hand. I have it written down….”
“And you don’t see anything wrong with that. Why do you care about people who care nothing about you? Don’t you cry, don’t fucking cry, or I’ll go find your father and separate his head from his neck.” Shit, fuck, she wasn’t supposed to see this side of me. How did she pull that out of me so easily?
I was shook for a few seconds while I struggled to reel myself back in. That went from zero to a hundred real quick. She looked shocked, her eyes wide in that way only the innocent could pull off. All I needed was for her bottom lip to tremble so I could lose my shit.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s best you know right now who I really am.” The cat’s already out of the bag; what’s the use of struggling to put it back in? Apparently, Sofia isn’t the only one I’m willing to commit murder for. I didn’t even know until I saw the sheen of tears in her eyes over that piece of shit who doesn’t deserve someone as beautiful as she with that pure heart to care for them.
Plus, the more she sees of the real me, the less likely she’d be to fall in love. On the heels of that thought was a strong sense of loss and a loneliness that I’d never felt before. I’d programmed myself to be present in life without really being there, even with family and those closest to me. But each moment spent with her brings a kind of longing that I cannot control. She confuses the hell out of me.
I watched her struggle to compose herself, watched the sadness slowly leave her eyes as she called on whatever she needed to, to pull herself together. “You good? You’re not gonna cry?” Yeah, you might not wanna do that shit in front of me ever again. She nodded her head that she was okay, but she looked spooked. “Let’s take a walk around campus. You’ve probably not seen much of it since you’ve been here. Those friends of yours, Emily and Rachel, they board here?”
“Why do you wanna know that?” Her petulant outburst surprised both of us, and I just stared at her in shock. She looked flustered the longer I stared and tried in vain to disappear behind her hair. There was jealousy and a hint of fire behind those words, and I didn’t know whether to be proud or amused.