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God, I loved his laugh. I didn’t know if it was necessarily the sound of it that I loved, or the fact that he had begun to do it so readily. When I first met him at Ollie’s house I’d known he was someone who didn’t smile much. All of that was different after his parents visited.
I set everything down on my bed before strolling over to the window. I spotted Liam outside speaking to the guys. His hands moved as he spoke, almost like he was directing something. I don’t know why, maybe he felt the weight of my gaze, but he looked up then and saw me in the window.
He glowered up at me, but unlike every single time he’d looked at me like that before this time there was a playfulness to the pout in his lips, and I couldn’t stop the grin that overtook my face.
It quickly faded though when he headed inside. One of those brief moments of panic overtook me, and I feared he might be coming to punish me. Punish me for what? I didn’t know. I got punished a lot for things that had no merit.
He returned a moment later, and I breathed out a sigh of relief.
I watched as he lifted a thin silver device and aimed it at my window.
Wha—?
The window went black.
The view in front of me completely disappeared, and I was left with nothing but a big wall of nothingness. I tapped my finger against the glass. Then my fist. The view didn’t reappear.
My shoulders sagged dejectedly.
Well…there went that.
Liam said to dress nice, and since he made it sound like I’d be up here for at least an hour, I decided to get ready.
I started with a quick, hot shower before moving on to my hair and makeup. I didn’t do anything crazy, but I did straighten my hair. The straightener had been a gift from Talia. I’d felt bad, but she insisted it wasn’t a big deal, and she’d wanted to get me something, so I’d accepted it.
Talia was someone else I needed to hang out with more often. I’d have to tell Rebecca I was finally ready to go to the mall and ask if Talia could come with us. I was sure those two would get along great. Plus, they already knew each other pretty well since Ollie, Talia, Liam, Brady, and Jeremiah hung out at Mo’s a lot. I noticed Liam didn’t come by much after I started working there, but Rebecca had told me he was a regular. I frowned at that thought. Did Liam not come there anymore because of me? I hoped not. I’d have to ask him about it.
When I finished with my hair, I moved on to applying a little bit of makeup. Since I had the time to kill, I decided to try to conquer the complicated winged eyeliner. After messing up five times and smearing black eyeliner all over my face I decided that maybe winged eyeliner wasn’t for me.
I rifled through my closet and found the perfect dress stuffed all the way to the right side away from everything else. I’d never had a reason to wear it before that day. It wasn’t fancy, but it wasn’t casual, either. It was black with a lace design over a nude-colored slip. I knew it would be striking on and make a statement. The back was open almost to the butt area, and the straps holding up the dress were a thin spaghetti type. The front was cut into a triangle shape over the breasts. I slipped it on and appraised my reflection in the floor-length mirror on the back of the closet door. It was a tight fit, not because it was too snug, but because it was meant to hug every single curve and accentuate them. The fabric clung to my hips and thighs before flaring out. The nude slip ended at the knee, but the black lace design continued all the way down to my toes.
I did a little twirl, and when I stopped to face the mirror I was surprised to find a full-blown smile on my face. I couldn’t remember the last time I smiled that big. I reached tentative fingers up to my bottom lip, almost like I thought if I touched it, it might disappear. It remained, though, even brighter than before.
There was a knock at the door then, and Liam spoke hesitantly, “Are you ready?”
“Yeah, you can come in,” I called back as I bent to pick up a pair of strappy black heels. Little pieces of clothing and shoes continued to trickle in. All from Liam, I knew, even though he never said anything.
The door cracked open, and he stepped inside.
His hair was damp from the shower and brushed away from his face. I was so used to the shaggy strands hanging slightly in his eyes that it was a bit strange to see him so…so formal. He was even dressed nicer too, in a pair of khaki pants with the bottoms rolled up slightly and a knit t-shirt in a maroon color. The red tone of his shirt made his blue eyes appear even icier. With his sharply-cut cheekbones and pursed lips, he could cut you straight down to your soul with one glare. But he wasn’t glaring, not right then, anyway.
His gaze swept from my feet to the small stretch of legs visible through the lace fabric, up my thighs, over my chest, before finally he met my eyes. His lips parted in a small sigh. “Wow,” he breathed, shaking his head, “you look amazing, Ari.”
I’d be lying if I said the compliment didn’t please me.
“You don’t look too bad yourself.” I winked at him.
Oh my God. I winked. Like some fifties movie star or something.
Before I could freak out too much, he grinned and shoved his hands in the pockets of his pants.
“Everyone’s waiting for you.” He fought an even bigger smile.
“For me?” I raised a brow as I adjusted the strap on the heel. When it was in place, I strode toward him, my body heating from the lust in his eyes.
“It is your par
ty.” His hand landed on my waist, but before I could even relish in his touch his hand dropped away and disappeared back in his pocket. He did that a lot around me, as if he was imprisoning his hands in his pockets to keep from touching me.
