Specs looks at me. “Then why go?”
It’s a good question. I’m twenty-three years old, a grown adult. I don’t have to do anything for my parents anymore. Yet… there’s something in me that’s still hopeful. That maybe, if I turn up to their party and speak politely to their guests, they’ll notice me.
But there’s also the chance they won’t.
There’s a good chance I’ll turn up and speak to some of the guests. They’ll tell me how much I’ve grown into a beautiful woman. One of Dad’s friends will try to get hands-y. I’ll have to put my back against the wall, and after an hour, I’ll slip away and find somewhere quiet to read.
My parents won’t notice I’m there, and they won’t notice I’ve gone.
Anger flares through me suddenly, making me tremble. They should notice me. They should notice their daughter.
“Are you cold?” Specs shrugs off his leather jacket. He hands it to me and drapes it around my shoulders.
I don’t want to tell him it’s anger making me tremble. I wish there was something I could do to make my parents notice me.
“Thank you.” I pull it around me and breathe in the scent of him, leather and motorbike grease and old books.
“It looks good on you.”
He gives me a shy smile and curls the corner of his beard. There will be no one at my parents’ party with a beard. Perhaps a few older men with mustaches, not even ironic ones.
A thought bolts through me so suddenly I sit upright, and my book tumbles off my lap. I go to snatch it, but Specs gets there first. He glances at the cover and hands it back without saying a word about the alien overlord.
“Would you like to come to the party with me?”
Specs’s eyes widen, and heat flares up my neck as I realize what I just said.
“I mean as a fake date,” I add hastily. “Just pretend that you’re with me. It’ll give my parents the biggest shock of their lives. There’s no way they won’t notice me if I turn up with you on my arm.”
“You mean… a big greasy biker?”
I’ve offended him. “No,” I say quickly. “I just mean someone different from their world. Someone who’s real. Someone who’s not afraid to get a tattoo, and grow their facial hair, and wear leather because it looks good.”
He chuckles. “You want your parents to notice you, huh?”
“Yeah. I want them to notice me this year. To know that I’m here.”
I hold my breath, waiting for him to answer. I think about all the reasons this is a terrible idea.
Specs leans forward and puts the invite back on the armrest. His hand creeps forward until it takes mine in his.
“I’ll be your fake date, Cassie, if that’s what you want. But I warn you, I’m going to make this the best fake date you’ve ever had.”
4
CASSIE
My satin dress clings to my thighs as I pace the pavement in front of the vineyard where the party is being held. Specs said he’d meet me here, and my stomach is in knots as I await his arrival.
I have no idea what my parents will make of the big biker.
As I look at the fairy lights adorning the vineyard’s courtyard and the elegant women arriving in SUVs with tinted windows, I wonder if I've made a mistake.
The roar of a bike has my stomach churning, and I clench my fists together on my sweaty palms. A Harley weaves its way through the line of SUVs.
The valet eyes the bike warily and speaks into his headset, no doubt warning security there might be trouble.
Specs pulls the bike into a small space, and I get to him just as the valet does.
