Lost in memories, I picked up my wine glass, brought it to my lips, and missed my mouth entirely. The rim bounced off my chin, sending a shower of alcohol down my neck and all over my dress. Ladylike and dignified: nailed it.
I pushed back my chair and leaped up, cheeks burning. But before I could grab my napkin, Hugh was already there with his.
“You need to use sparkling water,” he explained as I half-heartedly tried to stop him dabbing at my dress, “or the sugar in the wine will ruin the fabric.”
“I can’t believe I’m such a klutz.”
“You’re fine, don’t worry about it,” Cameron said as he joined Hugh in trying to clean me up.
I froze, remembering the last time I was sandwiched between them like this. It was too much; I excused myself and fled to the bathroom, with the excuse of needing to dry the dress.
I actually did the exact opposite. By splashing cold water on my face to calm down, I managed to soak the dress even more, but I was past caring. I simply had to hope it wasn’t dry-clean only, or I’d owe Jasmine a bolt of fancy fabric at the very least.
Did the guys care about what happened between us back then? Did I care?
I stared at my flushed reflection in the mirror, trying to figure out how I felt.
It had started out as a bit of fun, really. Neither Hugh nor Cameron had been able to get dates for prom—which made no sense because they were clearly the hottest guys in school. I’d offered to talk to whichever girls had turned them down, but they refused to give me names, claiming they were just going to hang out at Cam’s house since his parents were away.
I’d been asked a couple of times, but not by my guys, so I didn’t want to go, and I asked if I could join in with their plans instead.
We’d decided to get dressed up as if we were going to prom, so I wore a slinky, blue, bias-cut gown. Of course, I had to wear a more modest dress over the top so my mom would let me out of the house, but that came off as soon as I was out of her sight.
The guys wore tuxes they’d rented, and they looked totally adorable.
At our exclusive prom for three, we listened to music and made weird cocktails with whatever we could find in the house. We must have had ten times more fun than anyone at actual prom.
“Hey, Muri,” Hugh had said, fixing me with his intense glare that was more effective than CIA truth serum. “Which one of us is hotter?”
“Don’t ask me that.” I laughed, throwing a pillow at my friend.
“No, really, if you had to choose, who would it be?” Cam asked with a wicked glint in his eye.
The secret notes I’d made at home trying to compare the two only confirmed there was no answer; they were equally hot and equally perfect.
“You’re equally gross.” I’d lied, and stuck my tongue out to lighten the mood.
They laughed, but then Hugh turned the music up and stood before me, holding my hand out like a gentleman in an old-fashioned romance novel. “Let’s see who dances better, at least.”
Dancing was the only thing we’d been missing from our prom night, so I couldn’t refuse. Hugh and I started slow dancing to the romantic tones of All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor.
Obviously, the situation was quite ridiculous, and we should have been laughing. But as Hugh’s hands slid from my upper to lower back and I tightened my grip around his neck, goosebumps broke out all over my body, and for once, I felt like being completely serious. We spun around the room for a couple of minutes, our bodies and faces getting closer and closer until I could hardly breathe. The song came to an end, along with a tap on my shoulder.
“My turn.” Cameron grinned, and Hugh easily let me go and placed me in his friend’s arms.
The next song was more appropriate, some 1970s soul number, and we danced slowly on the spot, swaying in time to the music.
Cameron let his fingers trail down my arm from my shoulder to my fingertips, then in a single smooth movement, he dipped me low and kissed me softly on the lips.
I kissed him back, gripping his arms tightly until he brought me back up to standing. We explored each other’s mouths, tentatively at first but growing in confidence as we each realized the other was just as eager. I pressed my body against his and felt a hard bulge in his pants, which made me gasp with surprise and delight and fear.
After making out for a minute, the back of my neck tingled as Hugh placed light butterfly kisses on my skin. I almost bit Cameron’s tongue in shock, but it felt so good I did nothing to stop him. In fact, I leaned back slightly, sandwiching myself in between these two men as they both explored me with their lips.