Page 79 of Wicked Angel
“I’m not going without a date,” I informed my sister.
She tossed a look at Angeline, like,See, what’d I tell you about him.
I hated that look.
I nodded a good night at Angeline as I walked out the door she was still holding open. “Enjoy the limo.”
I heard some hushed whispering and then someone following me. “Why?” Angeline’s sneakers padded on the stone path behind me as I headed back over to my house. “Why aren’t you coming?”
“Because I don’t do that.”
“Do what?” She followed me, right into my house. “What, exactly, do you not do, Johnny O’Reilly?”
I turned to her. “I don’t show up at parties without a date.”
“Why not?” She squinted up at me. “I call bullshit.”
I rubbed the bridge of my nose.Here we go.Nothing was simple with this girl. She just had to keep talking.
And sending fucking gift baskets.
She’d sent me two already; one with gourmet coffee stuff and one loaded with organic energy drinks. With little notes about “staying positive” in the face of adversity, with sparkles on them. The thought of her buying that shit for me on her “low-limit credit card” just pissed me off.
“What’s bullshit? I said I’m not going.”
“Why are you being difficult? I’ve seen you show up at parties like a jillion times without a date.”
“First, I have no idea how many times is a ‘jillion’ because it doesn’t exist. I hope you plan on being a little more clear when writing press releases. Second, I’m not showing up at a nightclub opening without a hot date. Especially when that nightclub is owned by Dylan Cope, Summer Sorensen, and your sister.”
“Because…?”
“I’m not going.” I tossed my keys on the hall table for effect.
She stood back a bit, taking me in. “You’re jealous.”
“Of what?”
“Of their success.”
I headed into the kitchen.
She followed me. “Can’t you just get a replacement date?”
“No.”
She made a skeptical sound. “Because she wasthatspecial?”
“Because,” I said, slipping my phone from my pocket and thumbing through messages, “let’s see. Girl one already has plans, girl two said she can’t make it for no reason at all, and girl three hasn’t replied.”
“Maybe if you stopped calling them by numbers and remembered their names.”
“I know their names.” I stashed my phone in my pocket again. “Didn’t think you’d care for the details.” I headed for the fridge.
“You won’t go to the party because it’s a big night celebrating your peers’ success, and you feel shitty if you walk in without a flashy date.”
That didn’t sound like a question so I ignored it, fixing myself a drink while she hovered.
“You feel like it puts you in their shadow and you hate that.”
