Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

"Good stuff," he said, clearing his long brown bangs away from his eyes with a casual flick of his head. "But

then, you girls always have the good stuff, don't you?"

"Great. Now I'm going to have to have it sterilized," Noelle groused, leaning over the table to snatch the

flask.

Thomas turned and smiled at Ariana, his deep blue eyes merry. She silently cursed her bad luck. Thomas had

always made her uncomfortable. The way he thought he was better than everyone else. The way he constantly

teased her. The fact that he was a loser drug dealer with no respect for anyone around him ...

"Sterilized, get it?" he said to Ariana, his tone deadpan. He loosened his black tuxedo tie and slung one arm

over the back of his chair. "Because I'm ridden with germs. She's hilarious."

Ariana shifted her gaze and inched away from Thomas and closer to Daniel, tucking her shoulder into the

crook of his arm.

"Seriously, come to Vermont," Paige said to Isobel, ignoring Thomas as she always did. Even though he was

Dash's best friend and came from one of New York's best families, Paige never gave him the time of day.

"Save me from being the third wheel to the sappy couple over here," she added, gesturing at Ariana and

Daniel with a strawberry.

"Aw, you're just bitter because Brady dumped you the second he got to Yale," Daniel teased his sister.

Paige's eyes flashed angrily. "Excuse me, I did not get dumped. I broke up with him."

Everyone glanced around the table. They all knew that Brady Flynn had booted Paige. Several Yale-bound

Easton alums had witnessed the dumping and instantly texted their friends about it. But of course no one

would contradict Paige-to her face, anyway.

"So what's the Lange family's Christmas protocol?" Isobel asked Noelle, deftly changing topics before Paige

exploded. The last time Paige lost her temper, it had not been pretty. During chores one morning post-breakup

she had reduced the normally tough Leanne Shore to tears, demanding she remake Paige's bed ten times until

the hospital corners were at perfect ninety-degree angles. Afterward Leanne had spent an hour in the nurse's

office with her inhaler, fighting off a panic attack.

Ariana was proud that she had never broken down like that during hazing. Not in public, anyway.

"The ballet, cocktails with my father's miserable excuse for an attorney and his overstuffed wife. The usual,"

Noelle said. "My parents will probably try to sneak in a little face time with the extracurriculars and write it

off as Christmas shopping, meaning they have to buy me more presents. They get a little ass, I get a little

Armani. It's a win-win."