Tierney waited impatiently on the front step of
the Harmans’ porch, holding her plastic-covered dress in one hand and her
make-up bag in the other. Twisting around with her elbow, she rang the doorbell
a fourth time. She was starting to get annoyed.
The door swung open with a creak to reveal Raquel
glaring at her, her fingers holding a large roller in place. “Stop that,”
Raquel snapped, throwing a quick glance over her shoulder. “You’ll wake Mom.”
Guilt washed over Tierney as she watched her
friend jab a pin over the roller and lock the silky curl in place. She’d
already had her hair done at one of the better salons, its twisted mass
gleaming in a riotous mess of colors around its pins. Several multi-colored
strands trailed daintily around her face and along the back of her neck,
nestling like precious metal against her skin. Raquel couldn’t afford anything
that fancy.
“Sorry,” she sighed, pushing her way into the
entrance.
Despite Raquel’s warning to be quiet, music
blared from Adrien’s room, wafting toward her as strongly as the scent of his
aftershave. When she’d seen him this morning, stubble had grazed his chin and
he’d grinned at her through hazy eyes. Tierney had left the party long before
midnight -- which had nothing to do with Julien’s absence, of course -- and
seemed to be the only one who had gotten an adequate night’s sleep.
Raquel shrugged and led the way upstairs. Instead
of heading for her bedroom, she indicated the doorway with a vague wave of her
hand and continued toward the bathroom, where her curlers waited. Tierney took
her dress into the room, draped it over the back of a chair, and retraced her
steps to the bathroom. After a moment’s contemplation, she swept the make-up to
one side of the counter despite Raquel’s protests. Then, flicking open her
make-up case, she pulled out a tube of foundation.
They applied their make-up in silence. Tierney
was lost in thought; Raquel concentrated on keeping her silky curls from
slipping out of their pins each time she moved.
That dizzying feeling of premonition spiraled
through Tierney’s nerves as the silence stretched out. She’d worried about that
whisper of imminent disaster since yesterday, when she’d realized with
startling clarity it had nothing to do with Julien, and everything to do with
Dare.
He couldn’t hurt her.
She’d reminded herself that she was safe
countless times, but she wasn’t worried he’d hurt her either. This feeling was
something else entirely, a complete mystery that scraped her memories of him
and of their encounters into the forefront of her mind. But he could do
nothing...
At least until she reversed the spell. Oh, why
did this have to be so *difficult*? Tossing her blush into the make-up case
with a little more force than was necessary, she forced herself to think of
Julien, a far more pleasant subject. With Julien, the night would be special.
Maybe even magical. Excitement fluttered through her as she applied her
lipstick and then stepped back.
Perfect. The exact image she’d always dreamed of
seeing swam in the silvery mirrored lake, the serenity in her eyes
contradicting the ball of nerves twisting inside. Her hair was perfect, her
make-up was perfect, and she... She reflected back both inner and outer beauty
for the last time in her life.
“I need your help getting into my dress,” Raquel
murmured around a tube of berry lipstick. She smacked her lips together,
frowning at her image. “Do you think I can take the curlers out now?”
Tierney shook her head. “Give it a few more
minutes. You should put your dress on first anyway. Then you don’t have to
worry about messing anything up.”
“Except my make-up,” Raquel sighed, leading the
way into her room. “I’ll probably get it all over my dress.”
“You’ll be fine,” Tierney soothed. She watched
her friend walk to the closet, where a pale violet gown hung heavily from a
thick metal bar. The gown draped in smooth lines, the clear, glittering beads
weighing it down and twinkling in the light.
“I just can’t zip it up.” Disappearing into the
closet, Raquel emerged a few seconds later with gown on and gaping at the back.
She turned around, docilely waiting for Tierney to zip it up. Then she swiveled
to face her friend. “Do I look okay?” she asked anxiously.
On Raquel’s tiny frame, the gown was stunning. It
wasn’t too decorative, but the cut accented her figure beautifully. The color
matched her eyes. Whoever her date was, he wasn’t going to be disappointed.
“I don’t think the curlers go,” Tierney said
thoughtfully.
Raquel rolled her eyes. “And here I thought they
went perfectly with the jewelry.”
Laughing at Raquel’s dry sarcasm, Tierney took
her own dress off the chair and removed the crackling plastic. While Raquel
disappeared into the bathroom to take down her hair, Tierney quickly removed
her jeans and tee shirt, then donned the dress.
She ambled slowly to the mirror. The dress
dragged a little without heels on, but other than that, it was perfect. A deep
vee slashed through the gown’s white satin bodice, ending in a point that was
almost -- but not quite -- scandalously low. From that plunging neckline, the
gown clung and tapered with her waist, then flared in layers of sheer white
chiffon. The back dipped much lower than the front. It also ended in a vee at
her back, the very tip brushing just above her tailbone. And on the bodice,
where satin met chiffon, a band of moonstones, pearls, and crystal beads danced
around each other.
“Oh, Tierney, you look gorgeous.” Raquel stood in
the doorway, her hair now piled and pinned at the top of her head.
Tierney grinned at her, boisterous confidence
soaring through her. “So do you,” she
replied, and meant it. Walking carefully to Raquel’s closet, she pulled out the
staggeringly high heels she’d left there the week before. “I don’t know how I’m going to manage to
walk.”
With some curiosity, Raquel watched her slip them
on. She burst into giggles when Tierney took a few experimental steps. “You’d
better hope Julien holds you up.”
Glaring, Tierney tottered out of the room. “Are
you ready?” she called over her shoulder.
“Yeah.” Still giggling, Raquel followed her out
of the room and down the stairs. Tierney kept a tight grip on the railing as
she descended, taking the steps one at a time. “Are you sure you’re going to be
okay in those?”
“I’ll get used to them,” Tierney shrugged. She
fiddled with the sparkling bracelet she’d already been wearing when she got
there. Encrusted with moonstones and pearls, it matched her dress almost
perfectly. “So are you going to tell me who your date is now?”
Raquel opened her mouth to reply, but the
doorbell interrupted her. Maybe Raquel wouldn’t have to tell her. Triumphantly,
she snatched open the door, only to find Julien and not Raquel’s date standing
there. “Hey, Jules.”
He stared at her, his gray eyes swimming with
shock, and absently handed her the bouquet of flowers. He didn’t even get mad
at her for using the nickname they all knew he hated. “Tierney, you look...”
“Thank you,” she laughed, starting to pull him
inside. But then she paused and looked at Raquel. “Your date should be here
soon, right?”
Her friend shrugged vaguely. “I guess so. You
guys go ahead. I’ll catch up with you after the Grand March.”
Tierney frowned. The Grand March was a tradition
at their school, where the principal announced the individual names of each
couple, who walked out on a stage decorated by the junior class, down a set of
steps, and out of the auditorium. It was pointless, really, but it gave the
girls a chance to show off their dresses, the parents a chance to take
pictures, and the younger students a chance to feel included. It was also the
gossip mill’s long-standing end of the year topic.
“We can wait for you,” Julien offered, but Raquel
shook her head.
“No, seriously. You guys go.” She unceremoniously
ushered them out the door. “Have fun. I’ll see you there.”
“If you’re sure...”
Raquel folded her arms across her chest. “Go.”
Shrugging, Julien and Tierney walked to his car.
He opened the door for her and remained to shut it behind her once she settled
inside. Raquel still stood in the doorway and, Tierney knew, would until they
left. Julien started the car.
“She must be going with Frankenstein,” she
muttered. As they pulled out of the driveway, Raquel went back in the house and
shut the door. “Though she and Tim looked awfully friendly the other day.”
Amused, Julien shook his head. “Tim’s going with
Angela Jeffries.”
Tierney sat back in her seat, utterly preoccupied
with this little mystery. At least it would be answered soon enough.
***
The stage was decorated like a castle.
Machine-generated mist curled hazily around the
base of the fake walls, tall and sparkling with translucent glitter, the
parapets rising from their heights like stately guards. Gauzy strips of cloth
draped from the ceiling, starting in the middle and hooked securely to the
rafters. Cerulean intermingled with azure, violet, rose, and white, giving the
effect of being surrounded by the setting sun, just at that moment when the sun
dropped below the horizon. The lights blazing behind them amplified that
impression.
Pale blue strips accented the castle and its
gleaming ivory towers, broken only by the ornate white gate. Set on hinges, its
feathery bars were bound by silver twine and guarded by two members of the
sophomore class, who waited stiffly to perform their duty as gatekeepers. They
were dressed formally in neat black tuxedos.
Tierney peered from the curtain, wondering when
they were going to start. It was already six o'clock, a full half-hour after
this whole charade was supposed to commence. She smoothed her hands over her
flowing dress for the thousandth time, butterflies running rampant in her
stomach. She still tottered when she walked. Flat surfaces were difficult, but
stairs were nearly impossible, almost like trying to climb Mount Everest in
stilts.
Either way, she was not looking forward to the
imminent obstacle.
"You're not going to fall," Julien whispered
beside her. He watched her, amused, as she alternately chewed on her lower lip,
smoothed her dress another time, and shifted nervously on the fear-inducing
height of her heels. He held her gorgeous, rare flowers in his hands, looking
utterly at ease and completely natural.
Her mouth twisted wryly. "That's easy for
you to say," she pointed out. "You're not the one who has to walk in
these things."
Julien looked mildly perturbed by that statement
and he asked, "If they're so hard to walk in, why did you buy them?"
Men, she thought, exasperated. Did they
understand nothing? Out loud she said, "Because they're *cute*. And
because you're over half a foot taller than I am. It's better for
pictures."
"Oh, right," he nodded sagely.
"That's definitely more important than being able to walk."
She smacked him. "Don't be facetious."
She glanced around the stage, sighing impatiently. No sign of getting started.
"What are they waiting for?"
Julien shrugged, unconcerned. He handed her the
flowers, careful not to crinkle the pale blue tissue encasing them. The ghost
orchids intertwined with autumn crocuses and cymbidiums, a full dozen and a
half of the first arranged painstakingly. She balanced them in the crook of her
arm, repositioning them twice before they satisfied her.
"I want to get this over with," she
moaned.
Just then, Jordana stepped in front of the
milling couples. "Okay, everyone, line up. They're going to start in just
a few seconds." She glanced over crowd, searching for specific faces.
"I need the prom committee in the front. The rest of you know where to
go."
The prom committee took their places at the front
of the line, the other couples shuffling into alphabetical order, according to
the last name of the male half. For the Collective, this proved quite
difficult. Tierney had to stifle her laughter. The three girls wore the same
dress in different colors, a particularly hideous creation of chiffon and
satin. The brightly colored chiffon covered a short skirt and fell to the
floor, while the bodice was decorated in some obscure sequined pattern.
Tierney delightedly noted that Dare's cummerbund
was neon green to match Lindsay's version of the dress.
"Come on, move!" Jordana called.
As if on cue, music swelled around them. Tierney
clutched her flowers tighter and latched herself to Julien's forearm. She knew
she would trip and fall, probably dragging him with her. She was surprised he
still had feeling left in his arm, after the death grip she'd had on it
earlier. But, oh, goddess, the stairs were not going to be fun, and as long as
she managed to get through it upright, Julien's arm would stay firmly attached
to his body.
She heard the principle giving his introductory speech.
The tones drifted back to her in bits and pieces, a word missing here, a word
slurred there. She was too nervous to focus on what he said anyway. Julien
squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.
"Jordana Cartiss, senior class president,
escorted by Adrien Harman."
The line of students surged forward. She caught a quick glimpse of Jordana's
sleek red dress, the gauzy scarf billowing behind her. The crowd hidden by the
castle walls burst into applause. The butterflies in Tierney's stomach
plummeted dangerously.
"I'm going to trip, I know it," she
hissed.
He grinned. "Ninety percent of the things
people worry about never happen," he whispered back.
The swelling applause drowned out the next two
names. Tierney adjusted her grip and stepped forward. "Why do I have the
feeling I'm about to fall in that ten percent?"
Raising an eyebrow, he shrugged helplessly,
indicating he hadn't been able to hear her and she should repeat herself.
She shook her head. It wasn't important anyway, just useless conversation to take her
mind off the nerve-wracking anticipation. She searched vainly for Raquel in the
crowd. Who was her date?
Leaning in, his mouth brushed lightly against the
shell of her ear. "What did you say?" he murmured, then drew back,
startled, realizing how close he'd gotten.
Shivering from that light touch, she pulled away.
"It doesn't matter."
He didn't look convinced, but let it go. Only
three couples remained in front of them. Luckily, Julien's last name was pretty
high up in the alphabet, so they didn't have to wait half an hour to be
announced. Her nerves might have killed her.
"Andrea McKinney, escorted by Benjamin
Cunningham."
Scattered applause this time. Neither half of
that couple involved themselves in any sort of activity, and frankly, Tierney
was surprised they had bothered to turn up for prom at all.
She could see through the gates now. The
auditorium was *packed*. All the more
people to witness her humiliation. She searched the crowd, looking for her
parents, but they were lost in the sea of faces.
"Samantha Adams, escorted by Joel
Daniels."
Oh, goddess, they were next.
They stepped up to the gate, Julien's sleeve
slippery beneath her fingers, and she took a deep breath. Sam Adams, who was about as alcoholic as the
shortened version of her name, walked confidently with her date to the edge of
the stage and paused briefly before continuing down the stairs.
"Tierney Anderson, escorted by Julien
D'Angelo."
She plastered a bright smile on her face, knowing
it was cheesy and fake, but too full of nerves to do anything about it. Those
stately gates swung open.
"You'll be fine," Julien whispered, a
cocky grin lighting up his handsome face.
Cheers erupted as the pair moved onto the
stage. No surprise there. Julien was
the starting point guard on the basketball team. She would be shocked if there
*wasn't* applause.
They made it to the stairs without any problems,
but disaster loomed imminent in the form of six narrow steps. She handed him
her bouquet, picking up her skirt with one hand, hopefully to narrow her
chances of tripping.
One down. Two. Three... With a sigh of relief,
she found herself firmly back on solid, *flat* ground.
He returned her orchids. "I told you,"
he said, though it was hard to hear him over the boisterous applause.
Tension draining from her shoulders, they walked
slowly down the aisle, the clapping dying out gradually. They made it to back
just in time to hear Dare's name announced.
He strode from the castle looking bored, Lindsay
beaming beside him. Her flowers were
red and clashed horribly with the neon green, but Lindsay had wanted red roses.
Dare had merely obliged her.
He met her eyes when they paused. Even through
the distance separating them, she could feel his eyes sweeping critically over
her. She tossed her head, meeting his eyes squarely, knowing that tonight, he
wouldn't be able to find anything wrong with her appearance.
Then the couple following them momentarily
blocked her view, cutting off eye contact.
Trying to look regal, but only managing to look
snobby, Lindsay took a step down, then another. Tierney held her breath, that
feeling of disaster augmenting to disturbing proportions. Lindsay's heel
wobbled precariously as she placed her weight on the slender spike, then she
lost her balance. Dare caught her quickly, crushing the flowers against her
dress. She gasped, mortified, the sound audible even over the buzzing crowd.
Tierney drew in a sharp breath. Well, at least it
hadn't been her. She felt briefly guilty, that thought creeping through her
head, knowing that even while it was honest, it wasn't nice. Then she brushed
her feelings of guilt aside. Oh, what did she care anyway?
Lindsay righted herself and the pair continued to
where Tierney and Julien stood, accompanied by only one or two snickers.
Tierney idly noted that Lindsay's face matched the bruised red of her roses.
That didn't stop her from jostling Tierney out of her way.
She stumbled into Julien, her soulmate's cruel
eyes following her descent with something like humor. A small smile played
around his lips as her date closed his arms protectively around her and glared
back.
"Watch where you're going," Lindsay
snapped. She swept by them, huffing and disgruntled. Dare followed like a
faithful puppy.
Letting go, Julien laid one finger against her
lips, quieting the stream of words he knew was ready to spurt forth. "Not
tonight," he said. "Console yourself with the fact that Lindsay just
made an ass out of herself in front of more than seven hundred people."
Realizing he was right, she managed to drag her
anger back under control. "Julien," she laughed, "you always
know how to make my day brighter."
Amusement curved his lips. "Let's make it
brighter yet. Do you want to go outside?"
"In a minute. I want to wait for
Raquel."
More couples streamed around them as they
finished their few minutes of high-school fame under the dim lights of the
auditorium. Some names Tierney recognized; others slipped past her. The school
was large enough that you could pass someone in the hall one day, and not see
them again for another two weeks. While Tierney didn't mingle with many of the
other groups, most of the students knew her because of Adrien, even while she
didn't know them. It was hard to spend time with him and not be noticed.
Impatient to be outside, she shifted to make more
room for the couples pouring into the back. A girl in a particularly gaudy
orange dress paused at the top of the stairs now, her date looking freshly
scrubbed and freshly shaved, his round features giving him a much younger air.
They were replaced by an Asian girl in a divine
black gown and one of the other members of the basketball team.
Eight couples later, Tierney finally spotted
Raquel waiting behind the gates, her date tall and confident next to her.
Tierney gaped. No wonder Raquel wouldn't tell her who she was going with.
"Raquel Harman, escorted by Elliot
Harington."
Harington's son? Raquel *hated* Harington!
Tierney watched open-mouthed as her best friend
made her way back to join her. Elliot, who apparently refused to remove his
eyebrow ring even for prom, sported a smart black tux, complemented by a chic
gray vest. His short, spiked hair had been arranged artfully to preserve that
"I just rolled out of bed" look. In contrast, his blue eyes shone
clear and animated.
Once they were a few feet away, Tierney noticed
the blush creeping across Raquel's cheeks. She stared at her friend, blinking
several times, then turned to Julien. "Outside?" she asked.
He nodded. Gesturing for Raquel and Elliot to
follow, they pushed their way through the thronging mass of students in the
lobby. He had to nudge someone out of the way with the glass door to get it
open, but eventually, fresh air flooded into Tierney's lungs, instead of the
smell of paint and glitter and glue.
Shoving their way through puffy skirts and
truckloads of flowers, the group finally stopped at the edge of the parking
lot.
"This is insane," Elliot muttered,
fishing in his pocket. A cigarette emerged, followed by a cheap, plastic
lighter. He placed it between his lips, then lit it, inhaling deeply. He
exhaled, but was careful not to blow smoke in any of their faces.
From the way Julien relaxed, she could tell he
appreciated this gesture. "It's worse than last year," he agreed,
glancing around milling couples.
One of the girls nearby caught his eye.
"Could you take a picture?" she pleaded, holding out her camera.
He accepted it readily, turning it over in his
hands twice before he figured out how to adjust it. Raising it to his eye, he
frowned, then lowered it. The shutter clicked open. A group of five girls
huddled together, looking young and carefree, their smiles and lives
immortalized with the quick press of a button. He handed her the camera.
In a flurry of skirts, she thanked him and
hurried off to pursue other victims.
"Do you have a camera, Tier?" Raquel
asked, digging through her purse. "I have one, but I forgot to bring
film."
A long stream of smoke flew between Elliot's
lips, then he said, "I told you we could stop to pick some up."
"I know," she sighed, "but I was
worried about getting here on time."
He grimaced, his eyes sweeping over the crowds of
gaudily clothed high school students, then lifted his shoulder in a careless shrug.
"We can always get some on the way to the prom." Dropping the
cigarette on the beaten concrete, he ground it out under his scuffed shoe. He
looked up and groaned. "Bitch alert."
Mrs. Harington strode toward them like a general
toward errant ranks, her hawk-like features drawn tight and thin. Her darting
eyes flared at the scent of acrid smoke. Somehow her face got even more
disapproving.
"Were you smoking?" she demanded.
Amazing how someone who always looked as if she'd
just swallowed something sharp and painful could produce someone as laid back
as Elliot. If the sour look ever faded from her face, they might resemble each
other. As it was, her features were too pinched to tell.
"Of course not, Frances," he said
easily, ignoring the way she drew in her breath when he called her by her first
name. Tierney wanted to laugh at the look of rage on the teacher's face, but
knew better than to risk her grade. Harington didn't tolerate insolence.
Except, apparently, from her son. "It's such a nasty disgusting
habit."
"A nasty disgusting habit is right,"
she snapped. "If I find out you were doing that or anything else
inappropriate at this dance--"
He cut her off. "I know, I know. You've
threatened me a million times."
"No drinking."
"I know."
"No drugs."
"I know."
"No smoking."
"I know."
"*Anything*, Elliot."
"I *know*!"
Evidently, this satisfied her. She nodded
knowingly at him, then her shrewd eyes fell on Raquel. "And as for you,
Miss Harman, if I find out you were party to anything, I will have you
expelled."
A moment of silence reigned while Raquel searched
for some appropriate response. Julien took advantage of those few seconds.
"We're going now," he said to Raquel and Elliot. He nodded
respectfully to Mrs. Harington. Grasping Tierney's elbow and carrying her
flowers, he led her away from the group to his beat-up convertible. She was
well aware he could have afforded a much nicer car, but chose to keep the one
he owned, because he said it had character.
It was one of the many things she liked about
him.
She glanced around to see if she could find her
parents, but they’d probably left already. Her father *hated* traffic. It had
been enough that they were there.
Opening the door, Julien waited until she ducked
inside, pulling her skirts in the car and getting settled before closing it
behind her. She relaxed against the seat. He climbed into the driver's side and
slammed the door behind him.
"Ready?" he asked, glancing over at
her.
She watched him slip the keys in the ignition.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"You and Raquel are always forgetting
something." He started the car.
The soft strains of classic jazz broke into the
silence. With a disdainful frown, he switched the music over to a more
mainstream station. She didn't speak, letting the familiar song wash over her.
He released the emergency break.
"You okay over there?"
At her nod, he pulled out of the parking space.
***
The ride to the hotel was overwhelmingly
uneventful.
They made small talk, idle conversation about
everything and nothing, and listened to the radio. Julien fiddled with the
station every few seconds, nothing seeming to suit him. Tierney had the
impression that something bothered him, but feared asking him what it was.
Maybe she just imagined it.
But when they pulled into the parking lot, she
was sure of it. He turned off the car and instead of getting out, he stayed
where he was, staring blankly through the windshield. Her fingers played over
the door handle. She wondered if she should push it open, breaking the moment,
or if she should wait to let him make the decision on his own.
Her hesitation took the choice away from her.
"I was nervous about asking you to come with
me," he confessed suddenly. He slipped the keys from the ignition,
rattling them between his fingers. He shifted in the seat until he was facing
her. "You know, I really like you, Tierney."
She opened her mouth to reply, but didn't know
what to say, shutting her mouth abruptly. "Well, you obviously don't hate
me or you wouldn't have asked me to the prom."
"You know that's not what I meant."
She did. And even worse than that, she knew she
felt the same, even though it was *wrong*.
She had a soulmate. How could she feel this way about Julien when Dare
frayed at the edges of her consciousness?
It didn't make any sense!
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't
change how she felt, and she genuinely cared for Julien.
“Yeah, I know.”
Her words were chosen cautiously, hovering in
ambiguous torture on the air. He hesitated for a moment, then said, “Tierney,
I’ve liked you since I met you. No, I’ve wanted to *date* you since I met you.
You’re funny, you’re smart, and you’re genuinely nice to everyone you meet. I
didn’t hit on you at first because you’re Adrien’s little sister’s best friend
--“
“Julien--“
“No, don’t interrupt. I need to say this.” He took a deep breath, reaching a hand to
smooth a strand of her hair and brushing the skin of her neck. “You’re like
Adrien’s little sister. And then you and I got to be good friends, too. I
didn’t want to ruin that. But I’m graduating soon and I’ll be going away to
school. I don’t want to lose you.” He grinned wryly. “Well, if I haven’t
already by telling you this.”
She didn’t say anything, didn’t look at him.
Words hovered in her throat and she knew how much it must have cost him to say
this to her, when the risk of losing something important shone like a promise
over both of them.
“Tierney, do you think--“
She wasn’t ready for this. Two weeks ago, she’d
found her soulmate. In that same breath, she’d lost him. His superficiality
struck deep, the wounds ragged and bleeding. She was still too raw, still too
uncertain, and still too disillusioned. Her soulmate didn’t want her. How could
anyone else?
He’d seen into the deepest, most secret core of
what she was. He’d still rejected her.
But...
Maybe she was wrong to think that being soulmates
meant something. She and Dare certainly weren’t a match made in heaven, or even
in the dankest recesses of hell. She’d been a fool to think they had a chance.
He offered outer beauty, but it wasn’t enough.
Julien offered her herself.
She pondered that realization for a moment, its sincerity
touching deeply. Julien liked her for who she was, not for what she looked like
on the outside. The spell didn’t change people, only appearances. And he said
he’d wanted to be with her for months, long before the spell ever came into
play. He’d wanted her when she was hideous and he hadn’t cared that she was.
“-- that maybe we could go out? This could be our
first date?”
Her hazel eyes swung to meet his gray, but she
still didn’t say anything. Her face stayed utterly blank, but her mind whirled.
Julien was never anything but sweet to her. He
treated her like a friend, yes, but Raquel hadn’t been wrong when she said he
also treated Tierney differently from everyone else. He always paid her that
extra bit of attention, the kind that made her feel special and worthwhile, no
matter what else spun out of control around her. She loved spending time with
him, didn’t she? Whatever they did, they always had fun, regardless of how
stupid or childish or random it was. Somehow she knew that he truly, genuinely
cared.
And then her thoughts flew to their afternoon on
the beach, when he’d ended up sprawled on top of her. She would be lying if she
said she wasn’t attracted to him. His dimples were endearing, his gray eyes
soul-searching, and his touch gentle. The attraction was mental as much as it
was physical. But were those reasons really good enough to risk their
friendship?
Then, suddenly, she had the most stunning thought
of all, the kind of thought that makes everything fall into place, that
clarifies all those doubts and inhibitions trying to interfere...
Why not?
“Tierney?” he prompted.
And instead of answering, she kissed him.
[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][Epilogue]