Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

vintage Gucci bag from her shoulder and put it on her lap .Her container of Tic Tacs rattled inside. "I was

laughing at Daniel, not at Sergei." Thomas ran his fingers through his hair. One side stuck out a little over his

ear, making him look, ever so briefly, like a vulnerable little boy in his rumpled formalwear. "So, are you

ready to 'rock' in Vermont?" he asked with a knowing grin.

Ariana felt like the words were a challenge. Even though her stomach twisted at the thought of losing her

virginity to Daniel, she lifted her chin and said coolly, "I can't wait."

A worker in his mid-twenties grabbed an empty bottle of Perrier off one of the tables, dropping it with a clank

into the recycling bag he was dragging behind him.

"Really? 'Cause you look like you're about to join Danny boy for a group vomit in the bushes."

"You're disgusting."

"Disgusting, but right." Thomas smirked. He pulled an old New York subway token out of his pocket and

rolled it back and forth across the wood of the bench. It left a little black streak on the pristine oak finishing.

"You do know you can do better."

Even though Ariana knew he wasn't serious, knew he was just teasing her as always, she couldn't help feel a

flutter at the compliment.

"Daniel is the perfect boyfriend." Ariana met Thomas's blue eyes with her own.

"Maybe on paper," Thomas retorted.

And he was right. Ariana knew he was right. Daniel was perfect on paper, but sometimes, in reality, not so

much. Like tonight. Getting drunk and treating Sergei like dirt and ignoring her when she asked him

to stop.

Not so perfect.

But she would never admit that to Thomas.

"Please. He just had a little too much to drink. On a normal day, he's amazing," Ariana told him, pressing her

hands into the bench at her sides and looking straight ahead. "Like last night, he knew I had a ton of work to

catch up on so he brought me dinner in my room-plus a couple dozen roses"

"Ooh. How original."

"It was-"

"Whatever. I don't want to talk about Daniel Ryan." Thomas leaned back, lacing his fingers behind his head.

"I want to talk about you."

"Me." Ariana was nonplussed. "Yeah. What's the worst thing you've ever done?"