She hasn’t seen me yet, but she’s wearing it. The same dress she wore the first time she came to my house, only to tell me she’s wearing it for someone else. The same one she wore when I carried her through the muddy forest. The same dress she wore when she put her legs in my lap in the car ride home.
Thefucking dress.
We’ve hardly seen each other in the last few weeks, and it’s been harder and harder to resist her. I don’t want to approach her first and I don't want to scare her off. Since winter break, most classes have gone by in a blur. We listen to whatever Anderson has to say, she texts me what I should do for the project, and I do it. We’re going to have to get together soon to work on our presentation, but I was planning on waiting until then to see if we could talk.
What I wasn’t planning was seeing her tonight. Especially not dressed like that.
The Bailey Foundation is one of the most prestigious and popular nights for businessmen and their families. It’s a night filled with good food, expensive drinks, decent music, and obnoxious men hoping to expand their businesses or create greater trading links. My dad told me to stay by his side tonight, but it’s hard to do when I can see Scarlett, Wren and Kennedy walking around and I’m itching to be near her again.
My dad has kept us busy, talking with boring businessmen about stocks and shit I couldn't give a damn about. Maybe another time, but not when she’s here. Especially not when she’s looking likethat. She’s not got a ribbon in tonight, so her hair rests angelically on her shoulders, her natural wavy style, not straightened.
I realise I’ve been looking at her for too long when my dad elbows me in the ribs. Hard. “Isn't that Catherine?”
The words take a while for my brain to process. Catherine Fables, my ex-girlfriend, and the reason I was banished from the company. Okay, that wasn't her fault. We weren't addressing the unhappiness in our relationship for a long time, so it was my fault too. When she called it quits, it felt like a piece of me had been torn out. It was bound to happen, yet I was so stupidly confident that it wouldn't.
We were friends before we got together and good ones at that. But after her mom passed away, we started to drift, and I realised that I couldn't be what she needed, and she needed to take a step back. I was fighting for something I knew I'd never get back. Both of us being in the public eye just made that harder.
Still, it feels like the wind is knocked out of me when I see her after following my dad's line of vision. She's just as gorgeous as she was the last time I saw her. Her dark brown skin glows in the lighting of the venue, her curly hair flowing down her back against the midnight blue dress she's wearing as she smiles at the tall brunette who is talking to her.
She must have felt my eyes on her because she turns around and her smile falters a little. She whispers something to the boy who nods and kisses her on the cheek before she makes her way over to me.
"Evan," she says simply as her mouth twitches into a small smile. "It's nice to see you."
I clear my throat, trying to smooth out my voice as I say, "You too."
She nods a little before turning over to the corner where Scarlett stands. I haven't been able to take my eyes off her all night. "Is that your girlfriend?" she asks.
"No, uh.. Not yet, anyway," I reply. One way or another, I'm going to get her to come back to me and saying it out loud only solidifies that fact. I redirect. "Is that your boyfriend?"
I nod over to where the brunette is standing as he watches our conversation. "Connor?" she laughs. I shrug, not remembering much from my time at Drayton Hills. He looks oddly familiar, though. "He's Nora's brother, remember? My friends who are twins?"
"Oh, yeah," I say, trying to put my finger on the twins she used to hang out with. "He's a football player, right?"
"That's the one," she says, looking back at him and only him.
He's got a medal around his neck, the ones they give out to the kids at these events, so they don't feel left out. He gives her a double thumbs up and she snorts, turning back to me, that knowing grin on her face. Weird.
"Anyway, good luck getting the girl. You really deserve it, Evan. I know things were hard between us, but I think it was for the better. You're happy now, right?"
I look back to Scarlett as she laughs, throwing her head back as Kennedy and Wren's faces turn red with laughter. "The happiest."
Cat turns to me, resting her hand on my shoulder. "Perfect. I'll see you around, Evan. It was really nice to see you, seriously."
"You too, Catherine," I reply.
And then she's gone. I feel all the tension evaporate from my body as she walks over to the guy she still didn't confirm if he was her boyfriend or not - not that it's any of my business anymore. But she seems happy, that's all that matters.
My dad appears back at my side after a few minutes as my gaze settles on Scarlett once again, sudden nerves running through my body.
“Are you going totryto look happy, son?” he asks once one of the most boring people I’ve ever met leaves the conversation. “You’re scaring people off.”
“Thisisme trying,” I say, painting my face into a fake smile, baring my teeth and everything. I really couldn’t care less about tonight if I tried. He glares at me. “What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to act like you’re happy to be a part of B&Co,” he replies.
I scoff. “Am I happy, though? I’m hardly a part of it anymore, remember?
“Maybe if you clean up this ‘woe is me’ act, I’ll reconsider it”
