“Right. Well. Have a good rest of your night, Sloane.” He shoved his hand back in his pocket.
“Yeah. You too. Get home safe.”
“I will.” He nodded and then walked backwards down the sidewalk as if he wanted to see me for as long as he could. Prolong our moment.
But he still walked away, and I went upstairs, alone, to my apartment.
Eleven
I finished Rory’s dress and lingerie ensemble, and she came over to my place to try it on so Lucah wouldn’t see it.
“Sweet fucking Jesus,” she said when I pulled it out of the garment bag. My friends were really fond of cursing. No wonder I couldn’t help myself.
“Is that a good sign?” I asked.
She nodded, not taking her eyes off the dress as she pulled it all the way out of the bag and held it against herself. She twirled around and laughed.
“I know you’ve made dresses before, but you really outdid yourself.”
“Yeah, well. You’re welcome. I sewed on those rhinestones myself. I didn’t trust the interns.” I would never do that again. You’ve never known tedium until you’ve had to hand sew hundreds of rhinestones onto a dress. Trust me.
“And this,” I said, presenting another bag with a flourish of my arm, “is what goes under it.” She clapped her hands and dashed to the bathroom to put the lingerie on.
She strutted out a few minutes later and gave me a twirl. I walked around her to make sure that everything looked good, and then helped her step into the dress. I zipped up the side and stepped back.
Rory spun around, making the skirt billow out just the way I wanted it to. The bra was perfectly hidden, and the dress was exactly the right length. I couldn’t ask for more than that.
“I don’t have words,” she said, twirling around again. “I feel like a princess. But a sexy princess.”
“Princesses aren’t sexy?”
“Well, most of them, at least the Disney kind, are all virginal and wide-eyed, and are practically children. I feel like a princess who’s been on the throne for a while and knows what the hell she’s doing. I can’t wait to show my ginger prince.” She spun one more time and then sighed.
“So when are you going out?” I asked.
“Next weekend. We’re going to head out of the city and have it be just the two of us. We haven’t gone away on a trip before, so I’m really looking forward to it. If we weren’t already pre-fiancés, I’d say he was going to propose.”
I helped her out of the dress, and she went to take off the lingerie.
“Maybe he’ll propose again,” I said through the bathroom door.
“Maybe. That might be something he would do. He’s such a romantic, that one.” So was his brother. Must be genetic.
She came out in her regular clothes and gave me a hug.
“You’re the best. Have I told you that lately?”
“Not today,” I said, hugging her back. She was so short, I had to bend down quite a bit. I used to be jealous of her height. She was just so cute and sweet and didn’t have to worry about being taller than her mate. I had an aversion to being with guys who were shorter than me, which cut me off from a lot of dating possibilities. But then again, Rory was always telling me how jealous she was of my height, so there you go. The grass is always greener and shit like that.
“So, how are things going?” she asked. I knew exactly what things she was asking about.
“Things are . . . confusing.” It was the best word I could come up with.
She nodded. “Things can be that way sometimes. Anything I can do to help?”
“Nope. I have a feeling they’re going to continue to be confusing for some time.” She gave me another hug and asked me if I wanted to go to the bar on Friday. We hadn’t gone with just the four of us girls in a while. We were all so busy with our own lives. It made me scared a little. I didn’t want to lose my friends to life.
“That sounds great. Chlo and Marisol coming?” I asked.