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35
“I’m so sorry about what I said about Lucas. That was uncalled for. And I’m also sorry that I’ve been one ofthosegirls,” I say to Ashley, rolling my eyes and using air quotes around the word ‘those’. We’re searching through the racks of dresses in front of us on Saturday morning, trying to find the perfect dress for her to wear to her eighteenth birthday party. “I promise I’ll make more time for us to hang out.”
“I get it. You’re in the honeymoon period, and I was just feeling a little left out.” Ashley grins, pulling out a pale blue dress that I scrunch my nose up to. “I promise I’ll stop being a jealous bitch,” she adds, replacing the blue dress and pulling out the same dress in black.
I nod at the black dress, taking it off her and laying it over my arm with the other two dresses we found.
“So, how are rehearsals going? What is it, one month until showtime?”
“Uh huh.” Ashley shakes out her shoulder length blonde hair, dragging her fingers through it, as she stands in front of the mirror holding a white and silver dress against her thin frame. “A month and a half. Our first show is on a Thursday night.”
“Annd…?” I stretch out the word, raising my eyebrows. “How goes the plan for making Lucas fall madly in love with you?”
My friend shrugs and drapes another dress over my arm. “We’ll see.”
“Do you still like him?” I follow her over to another rack of dresses.
“Do you think I can pull off red?” She holds the dress up in front of her, studying her reflection.
“Ash!” I groan. “Focus. I want to talk boys, not dresses.”
She laughs. “Patience, my dear friend.” Ashley grabs the dresses out of my arms, heading towards the changerooms. “Good things come to those who wait.”
I roll my eyes. “You are so infuriating,” I call through the curtain. “You know I’m the not a patient person!”
Ashley lets out an audible sigh from behind the change-room curtain. “He’s back with Kelly.”
I wince. “Oh Ash, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine.” I can tell from her voice that it’s not fine. She’s disappointed. After pulling open the curtain, she plasters a smile on her face and comes out twirling in a black strapless sequined dress. “What d’ya think?”
I cock my head to the side before scrunching up my nose. “Try on the white and silver one.”
Ashley nods her head in agreement and drags the curtain closed again.
“He doesn’t deserve someone as awesome as you,” I say.
“I know.”
I smile. Nothing keeps her down for long.
After Ashley has tried on four dresses and finally settling on a dusty pink strapless one, we make our way to the food court for lunch. My stomach flutters as a hand reaches around in front of me, covering my eyes, and warm lips settle just under my ear. “Guess who?”
I turn my head, smiling up at Oliver as he swipes some hot chips off my plate. Macca stands behind him, his hair still wet.
“How’d the game go?” I ask.
“We won by twenty-three points.” Macca grins, pulling out the chair next to Ashley.
“I can’t wait to get back out there with you guys.” Oliver punches his arm. “Although I may not have a position left if Finch keeps playing as good as he did today. He killed it.”
As everyone at the table settles into comfortable conversation, I relax into my chair, deep in thought. Ashley has been hung up on Lucas since doing her first Lakewood Dramatic Arts performance in year ten. Full of nerves on opening night, she mixed up a couple of her lines, but he improvised and kept the dialogue going until she pulled herself together. No one in the audience could even tell that anything had been off. She’d fallen head over heels for him.
As I watch the way Macca tilts his head as Ashley gushes on and on about how her parents have booked the top floor of the nightclub,East End, an idea starts to manifest. He smiles and nods in all the right places, hanging off every word she says.Interesting.While Lucas is good looking with his man bun, hipster-slash-drama-geek kinda vibe, Macca is over six feet of muscles, with scruffy dirty-blond hair and the brightest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. The more I study him, the more I can’t believe Ashley has never shown any interest at all in Oliver’s best mate.
Oliver squeezes my leg, leaning in to brush his lips over my cheek. “What are you planning?” he whispers with a lazy grin as he rests his forehead against mine.
I shrug, dropping my gaze and tracing my finger over the top of his thigh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I whisper back, a small smirk teasing my lips.
