I briefly considered a vodka with Red Bull, but cast that aside when I remembered Rachel once saying that everyone who drank that concoction ended up smelling like cedar chips from mouse cages. The last thing I wanted was to smell like a mouse cage for the rest of the night, so I opted for the next best thing.
“I’ll just take a beer.” When Nick turned away, I called out, “A light beer!”
“Such a girl,” he teased before walking away.
“You’re just temporary, you know,” a shrill voice said, tearing a hole straight through my happy bubble.
I turned to face Carla, who stood a few inches taller me and made sure I knew it by the way she looked down on me.
“As opposed to what?” I shot back.
She sneered. “As opposed to what I am.”
I rolled my eyes, shifting my weight in an attempt to appear uninterested. “Which is?”
“His future. Do you think for one second that his dad would let him end up with someone like you? A girl whose parents own a deli in the Valley?”
She said the words deli and valley like they were laced with poison. I was fighting the urge to claw her fucking eyes out when it hit me that she’d done her research on me. Someone was obviously threatened, whether she acted like it or not.
“Unlike you, I’m not trying to marry Nick.”
She forced out a laugh. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. That would never happen. You won’t last, and you won’t be around for long. Nick will eventually get bored with a girl like you. If he’s not already.” She cast a glance in his direction. “And I’ll be right here waiting. I always get what I want, sweetheart,” she said with a small shrug and a smirk. “Always.”
I glanced at Nick, whose eyes locked onto mine and then widened when he realized who I was talking to. He quickly grabbed the two bottles of beer and hurried in our direction.
I turned to Carla. “Not sure why you want someone who doesn’t even like you. But—goals?” I used my fingers for air quotes.
“You really think that he doesn’t like me? That our fathers haven’t been planning this union for years?” She let out another evil-sounding laugh. “Nick won’t have a choice in the matter. And either will you,” she informed me before stalking away.
Nick won’t have a choice in the matter? Her words rang in my ears as my stomach rolled.
“Jess, are you okay? You’re pale. What the hell did she say to you?” Nick stepped in front of me, forcing my eyes to focus on his.
“What the hell was that?” Rachel came up next to me and planted her hands on her hips.
“Nothing,” I said.
“Doesn’t look like nothing. You’re shaking, Jess.” Rachel looked around the room. “You want me to go kick her puta ass?”
Smiling, I looked over at my roommate. “No. She’d probably sue you.”
Rachel let out a sound somewhere between a frustrated scream and a growl. “You’re right. I hate her, Nick. How are you friends with her?”
“I’m not,” he said.
“Good.” Rachel gave him a hard look before heading back to Trevor.
I swallowed hard. “Let’s dance.” I forced a smile as I grabbed my beer from his hand.
“Do you want me to go talk to her?” His voice was tight with anger as he scanned the room, searching for Carla. “I’ll tell her to never speak to you again. To not even look in your direction.”
I reached for his arm and squeezed. “She’s not worth it, remember?” I exhaled before taking a long drink, loving the way he was protective over me.
“As long as you’re sure you’re all right . . .”
“I’m fine,” I promised as I pulled him back onto the dance floor, holding him close to me as the music moved us.
The rest of the night was uneventful and—dare I say it?—a bit boring. A bunch of guys you’d normally see acting carefree and crazy at a party were suddenly all dressed up and on their somewhat best behavior. To be honest, I’d take the regular old frat party over this stuffy formal stuff any day.
“Had enough?” Nick whispered into my ear before kissing my neck.
“Yes.”
“Good,” he replied before pulling me out of the ballroom without so much as a word to the people who still remained at the party.
A Better Man
Nick
I’d wanted the night of formal to be when Jess and I had sex for the first time. But with all the drama over the radio interview and the scene at school, things got intense, and one thing had led to another. So by the time formal rolled around, we’d already done the deed.
Jess was different; she made me want things between us to be special. I actually cared about her feelings because I knew they were genuine. Maybe it was because of what happened at the frat party that one night, seeing her so vulnerable and scared. It sort of fucked me up for a while, to be honest, although I never admitted that to her, or to anyone other than my older brothers.
Before I knew it, I was falling in love with Jess. I think the spark was ignited the day I first talked to her in class, but now that spark was a blazing inferno that I couldn’t imagine putting out. Something had been building between us, and the timing felt right after our restaurant date that night.
And thank God for that, because looking at the scene in front of me now, I was glad we hadn’t waited. If we’d waited for tonight, our first time wouldn’t have been special or romantic at all. It would have been a shit show, and I would have hated myself for it.