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“Let’s get out of here,” I tell her, and she nods before realisation hits her.
“Can I text Ally to come too?” she asks, and it’s then I remember Niko was my ride.
“Yes of course. I’ll text my friend Niko as well, then we can get out of here.”
We both pull out our phones and quickly send texts. It takes a few minutes before they emerge from the doors, rushing to us. Niko’s smile beams at me as he pats me on the back, notsaying anything in front of the girls. Ally wraps Sophia up in a hug and doesn’t say anything either.
We start walking outside and Niko hands his ticket to the valet and he pulls his car around. We gather in and Niko starts driving.
“I’m Niko.”
“I’m Ally and this is Sophia,” Ally says.
“To the bar?” Niko asks.
“Oh my gosh is that the same bar from all those years ago?” Ally chimes in with.
“The one and the same,” I tell her, a smile in my voice.
“I’m down,” Ally replies. “Sophia?”
“Yeah, I’m in,” she timidly says. I glance back at her from the passenger's seat, my brows pulling in for a second. I hope she’s not having second thoughts.
“We’ve gotta go celebrate your birthday properly,” I say into the car, and the three of us start singing happy birthday to Sophia which makes her crack up laughing, loosening the worry in my gut.
Chapter Sixteen
Sophia
Twirling my gorgeous new engagement ring around on my finger, I sit in the back seat of the car in shock. How on earth are the last few hours of my life real? Ally nudges my arm, pulling me from my thoughts. Lorenzo turned the music up so there’s not much talking going on. The guys are both focussed on the road ahead so don’t notice the rolling eyes and panting faces Ally is making next to me in regard to Lorenzo. I choke on the laugh I’m trying to contain, catching Lorenzo’s attention causing him to turn to me with a raised brow. I school my features and my fingers fiddling with my ring draw my attention to how loose it is.
“Lorenzo, can you hold on to this for me please? I don’t want to lose it,” I say, and I don’t. It’s beautiful and I hate to think what he spent on it. On me.
“Of course,” his smooth voice says, and the sound of it makes me melt. How did I not recognise it was him with his mask on? I slide the ring off and reach out, placing it in his hand. I pull my hand back, but he lightly grazes my index finger with his which has me gazing into the depths of his rich brown eyes. Slowly his lip pulls up on one side, a dimple appearing and heat rushes to my cheeks. I stand by my earlier statement. He is trouble with a capital t.
I spend the rest of the drive staring out the window. It isn’t long before we pull into the dirt parking lot. I glance at the bar. It looks exactly as I remember, if not a little run down and the wooden exterior weathered from the years. My eyes drop and I can’t help but feel overdressed in the black satin cocktail dress. Ally catches me inspecting my dress and grabs my hand.
“Who cares Soph. It’s your birthday for a few more hours so let’s go in there and get drunk and celebrate you turning dirty thirty,” she says, poking her tongue out at me.
“Dirty thirty, I like the sound of that,” Lorenzo says from the front seat, and I can’t help the blush I’m sure covers my whole body.
“You two can get a room later. Let's go party,” Niko says, opening his door and slamming it shut. Walking into the bar, heads turn our way at our fancy attire before someone yells out to Lorenzo.
“Well don’t you clean up well lad,” the old man behind the bar says to Lorenzo.
“Thanks Ted. Can I get a round of tequila shots?” he says, making me smile.
“You know I hate shots but since it’s your birthday, I’ll suffer through,” Ally whispers in my ear, which has me laughing loudly.
“Just the one then we can get you your fancy cocktail things you like to drink.”
“Sure. One I can handle, I hope. Stop me if I try to dance on the bar or do anything embarrassing,” she pleads. I wrap my arms around her waist pulling her into my side.
“Thanks for being my friend and sticking with me all this time Al,” I tell her, right before our shots arrive.
“Pfft you couldn’t get rid of me if you tried,” she says, squeezing me back. Lorenzo passes out the shots to us so we each take one.
“To the birthday girl. Happy birthday,” Lorenzo says, and Niko and Ally add in their happy birthdays as we clink glasses and throw our heads back, downing the liquor.
