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curls and glass green eyes, was Billings. The true leader. The girl who made even Noelle pause with
uncertainty. She was also Daniel's twin sister.
"So what did I miss?" Ariana asked.
"About ten minutes of your boyfriend talking about your Christmas vacation plans. It was lethally boring-
even worse than when you get into your Emily Dickinson moods." Noelle rolled her dark eyes. A black-
vested waiter silently reached over her shoulder, clearing plates and neatly laying dessert forks over fresh
napkins.
Daniel gave Ariana a quick kiss. "Vermont is going to rock," he said with a wink.
Ariana gave Daniel a tight smile, her heart suddenly leaden in her chest. She knew what that wink meant. She
and Daniel had long ago decided that they would lose their virginity to each other on their one-year
anniversary. But when said anniversary had rolled around back in November, Ariana had chickened out. Of
course, she hadn't let Daniel know she was scared. She had simply insisted that she was not about to lose her
virginity in a dorm room. Daniel had been disappointed but understanding. The very next day he 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." Isobel 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 upon 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.
