Secret Whispers (Heavenstone 2)

I started to come up with an answer, but she waved at me to ignore her question. She was carrying two big bags. “I have something for you for tomorrow night,” she said, rushing over to slap the bags onto the bed. She reached into one. “This is your size.”

She pulled out a slinky, deep-V-neck black satin dress and held it up against me.

“Yes, this is terrific for you. I looked through your wardrobe. You have nothing as sexy as this. Naturally, you’ll need this black clutch to go with it.” She reached into the same bag to show it to me. Then she went to the second bag. “You don’t have a pair of these, but they’ll look terrific with the dress.” She opened a shoebox and held up a pair of red peep-toe pumps. “Come on. Start trying it on,” she said, tossing the dress at me. “Oh, I almost forgot.” She reached into the second bag again and took out a pair of chandelier earrings. “I just thought these would look darling on you.”

“How much was all this?”

“Not much,” she said.

I saw there were still tags on everything. “Ellie, you didn’t . . .”

“What?”

“Shoplift again?”

“Just try everything on and stop worrying, Semantha. At least have one great night before graduation without analyzing it to death, will you?”

She went into the bathroom. I looked at the dress and the shoes and felt a little excitement. Maybe Ellie was right. Maybe I needed to loosen up and try to enjoy myself for a change. Daddy was doing that, wasn’t he? I slipped on the dress. The shoes fit perfectly. Then I opened the closet that had a full-length mirror and gazed at myself.

“Well, that doesn’t leave much to the imagination,” Cassie whispered.

“Hot, hot, hot!” Ellie cried. “Put on the earrings, too, and let’s do something different with your hair and makeup, Semantha. You look too dowdy these days.”

Did she really want me to have a good time, or had she made promises about me that she wanted to fulfill? There’s a Cassie question, I thoug

ht, but I let her go on to show me how she thought I should wear my hair and do my makeup. The Semantha Heaven-stone I saw in the mirror the next evening looked like a totally new person, who was arguably brighter, far sexier, and, dare I think it, even happy about herself.

My legs were actually trembling when we were called down to the lobby to greet our dates. I didn’t realize I was walking with my head down, my eyes on the floor to hide my nervousness. Ellie nudged me, and I looked up to see our dates waiting. I wasn’t sure which one was Ethan. One of them was about six foot one or two, with a slim build and light brown hair trimmed in a traditional style, the way my father and his business associates wore their hair. The other young man was short and stocky, with longer dark brown hair not that neatly kept. It was over his ear on the right but not on the left. He had harder facial features and a cleft chin.

“Hi, Ethan,” Ellie said to the taller one. I felt a glob of disappointment settle in the base of my throat. Ethan’s eyes shifted quickly toward me, and I looked down again.

“Hey, Ellie. This is Kelly Morgan,” he said.

Why did he have to introduce his best friend to her? She had talked about Kelly as though she had met him.

“Kelly, this is my roommate, Semantha.”

“Yeah, hey,” he said. “You look terrific.”

I smiled a thank-you, but I couldn’t keep my eyes from drifting back to Ethan, who wore a small smile that tucked in the corners of his lips slightly. The softness of it touched me. I once read a romance novel—one of the books Cassie had mocked, in fact—in which the main character said she fell in love with her boyfriend first through his small gestures, the movements in his face, the way he tilted his head just slightly when he looked at her, and the way the tips of his fingers moved ever so gently over her arm and into her hand. She said she knew she was in love with him the moment she saw him and claimed she discovered what was meant by falling in love at first sight.

It was the magic he had only for me. Only I could see it telegraphed in a movement in his lips, a turn of his eyes. Those words had seemed like over-the-top romantic drivel to me then, but suddenly seemed possible, real, now.

“I think we should get going so Kelly and Semantha can get to know each other a little before we get to the party, Ethan,” Ellie said sharply.

He snapped to attention and reached for her hand. Kelly reached for mine.

“Usually, I don’t believe in blind dates,” he said as we followed Ellie and Ethan out to the car. “Who else but losers need to go on blind dates? But I can’t see you being a loser.”

I wanted to say thank you, but it seemed dumb, and I heard Cassie whisper, “Ask him what he’s talking about. You’re going on a blind date. I guess that means you’re a loser, then, huh?” Of course, I didn’t say it, but my silence surprised him. He opened the rear door for me and smirked.

“Thank you,” I said.

“She speaks!” he cried. Only Ellie and he laughed. Ethan looked back at me and started the engine.

Kelly got in and slid over the seat to be close.

“Okay, so let’s go through the required questionnaire,” he said. “What’s your favorite subject? What do you want to be when you grow up? What kind of music do you like? Seen any movies lately?”