No, I thunderously growled internally. No. I was SO FUCKING CLOSE. Don’t you DARE rip this away from me, right at the cusp of victory…
“Is that so,” I replied as impartially as I could.
“Yeah,” Clara answered. “Mom just called me a little while ago and excitedly told me the news. She said that she was going to wait until tomorrow to tell me, but she was too thrilled to sit on it.”
If only you’d kept your fucking mouth shut one more day, I bitterly thought about my future stepmother.
“Well… that’s not exactly great.”
“No, not really,” Carla commiserated. “You want to know the really fucked up thing, though?”
“What’s that?”
“Apparently, they’re on some sort of crazy deadline. Because of your grandfather, they want to do this thing fast.”
“…How fast are we talking?”
“Uh, Tuesday?”
If there was ever a time that I could physically feel my spirits fall, it was that moment. The weight of my soul came crashing down upon the jagged rocks of fate, writhing in startled pain until there was nothing but hallow emptiness left.
“Tuesday. This Tuesday? But it’s Saturday,” I grumbled furiously down the phone. “What the hell are they thinking? Why are they rushing this?”
“From what it sounds like, your grandparents being present is sort of really important to your Dad,” Clara elaborated sadly. “It’s a done deal. Plane tickets have already been bought. She says she picked that day because we’re both out of school, and apologized if that screws with any plans either of us had…”
Oh, it definitely screws with my plans. But it wasn’t TUESDAY that I was particularly worried about…
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“Alright. So, we’re going to be in some slapped together little wedding on Tuesday, then,” I grumbled to myself. “This isn’t fucking fair. Why? Why couldn’t they have let us have this one fucking night together?”
Clara remained quiet on the line.
“I’m sorry,” I replied, relinquishing my pride. “It’s just… tonight was important to me… really important. Now it’s gone.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” she replied hesitantly. “You see, Mom got off the phone about fifteen minutes ago, and that’s all that’s been on my mind since… I kind of came to a decision that’s better for the two of us.”
Great, I morosely thought to myself.
“We should do it.”
Wait.
What?
“You… did I hear that correctly?” I asked, hanging on her every syllable now.
“Yeah. I thought it over, and I asked Nat for a second opinion. She’s with me on this. It’s fucked up that we can’t do anything about our attraction with our parents going way ahead of schedule… and you’re right. It’s not fucking fair at all.
“So I decided that I’m okay with it. I want to see you. Let’s make it a night to remember. We don’t have much time, so going slow isn’t really a factor anymore… I can’t and won’t promise you anything, but I still want to spend the night with you.”
Like a phoenix from the ashes, my inner Dalton furiously burst up from the unforgiving, jagged rocks. My spirits rose up high, swelling with rejuvenation, power, and unstoppable tenacity.
YES, I thought to myself.
JUST. FUCKING. YES.
I struggled to keep my voice even, as if the night hung tenuously in the balance. “If you’re okay with it, then I’m okay with it.”
“I’m okay with it,” Clara promised.
“Alright then,” I replied, attempting to shove every ounce of excitement back down into my core. “I’m really happy to hear that. Since we didn’t eat together this morning, do you want to maybe start with dinner?”
“Dinner actually sounds kind of nice,” Clara responded. “I’m still kind of full from a sandwich a little bit ago. When did you want to meet?”
I pulled my phone down and glanced at the time. It was mid-afternoon… plenty of time to make some arrangements.
“How about seven o’clock?”
She thought on it. “That could work.”
“Awesome. What do you want to eat?”
“Something delicious.”
“Heh. Well, there’s that new seafood place in town… the one over on Haverty Avenue. I hear that they actually do a surprisingly good fish and chips, although it’s kind of hard to fuck that up…”
“Seafood at seven. Sounds like a plan.”
“Awesome. I’ll see you then.”
As I hung up the phone, I felt completely invigorated. Not only was the night still on, but Clara was understanding of the possible consequences… and I no longer had to try and hide our parents’ engagement from her.
Although, I hadn’t expected them to already schedule the wedding… and my grandparents were going to be flying in shortly.
My grandparents, I thought with trepidation.
The thought of encountering them again put a terrible taste in my mouth. I didn’t fear them, either of them… but they held the keys to my destiny in their back pocket.
A night with Clara…
Our parents’ wedding in two days…
It was a lot of new information to process. Things were escalating quickly, and they were forcing my hand when it came to the girl that I wanted. With anyone else, I would have been fine with moving things along at this brisk pace… but I was afraid of pushing her too hard and shoving her away forever. The stakes were higher than I liked – a lot higher.
My fists clenched at my side.
I’d have to play this one close to the chest.
Chapter 10
The restaurant Dalton had mentioned was this new place called La Villa Peche. It was a smaller spot, fitting for a college city like ours, but I’d heard that it served exquisite food priced higher than the hipsters and students could reasonably afford.
Although we didn’t discuss it, I still classed myself up for the occasion. With Natalie’s help, I chose a slimming black ensemble, even doing my hair and makeup for over an hour.
“You look marrrrvelous,” she cooed in that silly regal accent again.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you glam up,” Jared mentioned when I stepped out into the open den. “You look, like, really good.”
The surprised look on his ordinarily dull face told me he was being sincere. As if I needed any secondary gratification, Natalie quickly tugged at the back of his hair.
“Now, now, remember that I’m literally right here,” she chuckled in faux jealousy. “But yeah, my girl cleans up well.” She looked up at me with a smirk. “She should do it way more often. You know you can make yourself freaking amazing without going to dinner with some older British army dude.”
“I never really have a reason to,” I shrugged. “It’s time consuming. The only time I ever really put makeup on is for work and, well, I know I’m just going to sweat half of that, so I barely bother.”
Natalie jokingly rolled her eyes. “Hopeless. Hopeless, girl.” She turned to her boyfriend, her hand on her hip. “Do you see what I’ve gotta put up with here?”
Jared was blatantly checking me out again, and she sighed dramatically. “Alright, buddy. No blowjobs tonight.”
“Wait, what?” His eyes finally snapped back off of me. “I was just admiring her! Platonically! You can’t do that! Can you?”
My best friend and I shared a knowing look.
“Keep that attitude up, and this,” she motioned up and down her curves, “i
s all going on lockdown. We are talking ‘joining a nunnery’ levels of sexual deprivation. I’ll see to it that my downstairs is drier than a cinderblock if you keep digging this hole of yours. A desert will be wetter than I am tonight…”