“You’re right.” I forced a silly smile. “Sorry. It’s just my classes are super hard this semester.”
Her right eyebrow shot up. “Change majors.”
I scrunched up my nose.
“Okay, then your only choice is to have fun and be awesome.”
“Fine,” I huffed, still clenching the mask in my hands as we made our way out of the room. Kiersten linked arms with me.
“Whoa!” Gabe was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. “Lovely, ladies, just lovely.”
Saylor rushed up to us, wearing an awesome black-and-white-checkered dress that Alice would have worn in Wonderland. The overhead light flashed on the mask she held. Red. Why couldn’t I have a red mask? Stupid black.
“Damn.” Wes pulled Kiersten away from me and kissed her across the mouth. “If I wasn’t already married to you, I’d ask again.”
“Yeah.” I coughed. “So it’s not awkward at all being the third wheel. Totally fine with it, guys. Totally fine.”
Gabe snickered while Wes gave me a shy look and shrugged. “Who says I don’t have a date waiting for you at the ball?”
“Oh my gosh, Wes Michels! I knew you could do it!” I lunged into his arms and kissed his cheek. “You and your loads of money created an exact replica of Prince Charming?”
He burst out laughing. “Nope.”
“Channing Tatum?”
The girls sighed behind me while Gabe huffed.
“Sorry.”
“Ryan Gosling?”
“Naw.” He winked, clearly enjoying our little game. “But I think you’ll like him. After all, I’ve been told he’s really hot. Besides, I kind of grew up with him — well, at least went to prep school with him until his family moved away.”
“Ah, childhood friend.” My eyes narrowed. “Admit it. You’re setting me up with the friend in high school that got no play.”
“Actually…” Wes’s cheeks went a bit pink. “…pretty sure he got the most play in the entire school.”
The room fell silent.
/> Gabe walked up to Wes and patted him on the shoulder. “It’s okay, man. Let it out.”
“How is that possible?” Saylor asked what everyone was thinking.
“Hey!” Gabe crossed his arms and glared.
“Trust me. You’ll see,” was all Wes said as we filed out of the house and into the waiting limo.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to see, especially considering I was defective. The type of girl who couldn’t even kiss a guy without getting traumatic flashbacks. I was both a tease and a prude. How the heck had that happened?
“To the masquerade, Govna!” Gabe shouted in a fake British accent once we were all seated inside the limo.
I gave an exaggerated cringe. “And that’s why you never took any of those UK roles. Your accent sucks, Gabe.”
He rolled his eyes, and everyone fell into easy conversation about the masquerade, about the money it was raising for Gabe's foundation, about the new technology Wes’s family’s company was adding to all the local hospitals. They were like one big happy world-saving family. All doing something to benefit others, while I couldn’t stop thinking about myself, about my failure, about my sadness.
Everyone was excited for the future.
Everyone but me.