“I’m home!” Molly yelled. “Rebecca? Alex?”
I exchanged a glance with my sister.
“Yeah!” Rebecca called loudly, pulling me into the hall before Molly could discover us in her bedroom. “We’re here!” She shot me a dirty look. “Whatever you do,” Rebecca hissed under her breath. “Just don’t say anything. You got that?”
I looked at her and shrugged. “Whatever.”
Chapter Sixteen
Molly
The prospect of being around with Alex and his friend, Rob, made me incredibly nervous, even though I didn’t want to admit it. I didn’t know what kind of Alex he’d be – the sweet, lovable Alex that I was used to, or the mean Alex who poked fun of my weight while drinking my beer.
“I’m nervous,” I said, biting my lip and shifting in the passenger seat of Alex’s car. Looking down at my outfit, I felt even worse. I’d taken extra care of my looks today – I’d even gone to my favorite plus-size store and bought a new dress, along with getting a makeover from Sephora. I’d felt confident and happy before getting home, but now I wondered if I’d gone overboard. Rebecca was simply dressed in the peasant blouse and denim skirt she wore whenever there was a “function” at school. She wasn’t even wearing heels.
Alex hooted with laughter. “You have no reason to be nervous,” he said, chuckling. He glanced over his shoulder at his sister, pouting in the backseat. “She’s the one who oughta be nervous,” he added. “Rob hates slobs.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. “I knew this was a bad idea,” she muttered under her breath. “Where the hell are we going, anyway?”
“La Casa Pasta,” Alex said.
“Oh, I’ve always wanted to go there,” I said, both in a futile attempt to break up the tension between Alex and my best friend and out of genuine excitement. “I love Italian food.”
Alex put his hand on my knee and squeezed as he smirked. “I figured,” he muttered under his breath.
There it was – another one of those ambiguous remarks. Was he trying to please me, or was he making a fat joke? I could never tell with him.
Rebecca yawned in the back seat. “Well, whatever this is, it can’t take too long,” she said. “I’m so tired I feel like I’m going to fall asleep in my fettucine.”
“Don’t even start trying to get out of this,” Alex said. “You know how much Rob likes you.”
“Guys,” I said. “I know you fight all the time – it’s like an Olympic sport for you both! But can you just give it a rest tonight? I really want to have a good time and I don’t think that’s going to be possible if you’re screaming down each other’s throats all night.”
Alex squeezed my knee even harder. A delicious thrill shot up my back and I shivered. How was this night going to end? Would he drop me off at home, with Rebecca? Or would he take me back to his apartment? And once we were there…what would he do with me?
“Relax,” Alex said. “Rebecca and I can play nice when we want to – think of whenever we’re alone with our parents!”
I forced a laugh. The idea wasn’t funny to me, to be honest. I was starting to think this whole thing had been a mistake. How much longer could I juggle the two most important people in my life – how the heck was I going to pull this off without ruining my relationship with Rebecca?
“Yeah, Molly, don’t worry about it,” Rebecca said. “We’ll be fine.”
Alex pulled into the parking lot of a swanky restaurant and double-parked. He smirked at me before climbing out of the car and sauntering inside. Rebecca and I followed. I pulled at the skirt of my dress, trying to make it fit me the same way it had looked on the mannequin. The mannequin in the store hadn’t looked fat – she’d been beautiful, with curves like Christina Hendricks. But when I caught a glimpse of myself in a foyer mirror, I realized I looked awful.
“This was a bad idea,” I said to Rebecca, as we waited for the maître d. “I’m really sorry if I put you in a bad spot.”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said darkly. “Everything will be fine.”
Alex was nowhere to be seen. Neither did I see Rob, Alex’s friend, lurking anywhere inside the plush red velvet and gold interior. The maître d showed Rebecca and me to a table, sniffing and looking
down his nose at us. Another frumpy couple of virgins, I thought, trying to read his mind. He’s probably disappointed that we’re not hot girls.
“This place really is nice,” Rebecca mused under her breath as she picked up a menu. “Where the hell did my brother run off to?”
“I have no idea,” I said anxiously, glancing around for Alex’s handsome, tall, muscular frame. “I don’t see him anywhere.”
Rebecca and I sat nervously for ten minutes before Alex and Rob appeared. They both had drinks from the bar in their hands, and Rob was red in the face.
“He looks drunk,” Rebecca hissed. “What the hell, Alex?”