I was ready way before the girls, so I put the Texas Rangers game on the TV in the living room while I waited for them.
Annie came downstairs first, in a pretty black dress with a halter top neckline and lace accents around the waist. Her brown hair was down but pulled back at the top, with loose curls that fell around her shoulders.
I stood up. “Nini, you look great,” I told her, using the nickname I’d had for her since we were learning to talk, and I couldn’t quite say Anaya, or even Annie.
At the bottom of the stairs, she twirled, giggling as she showed off her outfit. Our mom came out from the other room with her phone.
“You both look so good!” she gushed. “Let’s get a few pictures. Is Delaney coming down?”
Annie nodded. “She’s almost ready. She’s finishing her makeup.”
“Okay, I’ll get the two of you first then.” She lined us up in front of the fireplace mantel in the living room. Our mom had been taking photos of us our whole lives; we knew the drill by now. We smiled as she took at least ten identical shots.
Distracted by movement in my periphery, I looked away as she was taking at least her twentieth picture. Olivia descended the stairs, an absolute vision.
I thought I was going to pass out—forgetting how to breathe, I got lightheaded, my eyes fixed on Olivia. Finally, I felt a jab in the side, courtesy of my sister, and I took a breath and closed my mouth.
I want to be clear: Olivia always looked beautiful. Wearing her soccer kit or dressed up for church, in jeans and a T-shirt or in sweats. But this … this was something else entirely.
Her dress was jade green with a deep V-neck and spaghetti straps. The material was something flowy and kind of gauzy, with a crisscross pattern across her midsection where the skin of her stomach showed under several layers of sheer fabric. The skirt was long, reaching all the way to the floor, but with a slit on one side where almost her entire leg—long and muscular—peeked out as she walked.
Her hair was down, flowing past her shoulders, but with some of it up in the back in complicated-looking mini braids that formed sort of a crown. She wore more makeup than usual, and I wasn’t sure if it was the makeup or the dress, but her eyes were electric—a deep green that sparkled like emeralds.
I couldn’t look away.
It was an outfit designed to grab and hold the attention of everyone around her. Well, she certainly had mine. Then again, Olivia always held my attention, whether she knew it or not.
Olivia reached the bottom of the stairs, and both Annie and my mom immediately started fussing over her.
“You look so beautiful!”
“Come on over here, now, Delaney. I promised your mom I’d take some pictures for her.”
Laughing, Olivia looked up and met my gaze. Her smile softened as I watched her scan me from head to toe and back up again. Her cheeks were flushed when she focused back on my face.
Olivia allowed my mom to pull her over to where I was still standing by the fireplace. Mom lined all three of us up, nudging Olivia closer to me on one side, while arranging Annie on my other.
While my mom was fiddling with Annie’s hair, I leaned close to Olivia’s ear. “You look amazing,” I whispered.
She tilted her face toward me, pursing her dark red lips. I wanted to kiss the gloss right off them.
“So do you,” she murmured.
Our eyes locked. She had never looked at me like that before—a mixture of awe, happiness, and desire. It was hypnotic.
“Okay, smile!” my mom called, breaking the spell.
After a few more pictures, we left for the dance. Inside the hotel ballroom, the space was crowded with our classmates and chaperones. The music pulsed, the beat syncing up with the pounding of my heart.
If Olivia feels something more than friendship for me, I could find out tonight, I thought.
We found a table to be our home base for the night, and Annie sat down. She wasn’t big on dancing, or really anything that might draw attention to her.
Olivia tugged on Annie’s hands. “Come dance with me. Please?”
Annie shook her head.
“I’ll dance with you,” I found myself volunteering.
