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had invited her to spend the holidays with him and his family at some gorgeous ski lodge in
Vermont, promising some serious alone time.
Ariana knew what that meant. It meant no more excuses.
The question was, why wasn't she excited about it? After all, Daniel was perfect. He won Firsts
every semester, was captain of the lacrosse team, and model-cute, and had already been accepted
to Harvard early decision. But the thought of having sex with him made her feel as if she'd
swallowed a herd of elephants. That couldn't be normal. Any girl would kill to be in her position, to
have a boyfriend like Daniel. What was wrong with her? She studied her napkin--white, silk,
Italian--until the feeling passed.
"Well, I'm jealous." Isabella adjusted the strap of her deep purple satin dress. "My parents are
ditching me for Turks and Caicos. I'm campus-bound until Christmas."
"You can come to New York with me if you want," Noelle offered with a shrug. "My parents won't
even notice you're there."
I wish I could take her up on that, Ariana thought, then immediately felt guilty. She picked one of
the decorative red and gold-wrapped boxes off the table and ran the ribbons between her
fingernails until they curled."Or you could come to Vermont with us," Paige said with a toss of her
hair.
She was just passing the flask to Ariana when Thomas Pearson appeared out of nowhere and
grabbed it from her fingers. He dropped into the empty chair between Ariana and Paige and took a
swig.
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"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. Ariana's heart paused. 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...