Page 71 of Don't Be in Love
No, it’s not, she glared.
“So what? It was a masqueradeball!All there is to do is dance!”
“Exactly. She was theonlyperson he danced with—for the entire night. No Victoria in sight.”
“What if it was his cousin or something?”
“Well, there’s something elseif you had let me finish. She said it looked like they were arguing.”
“I argue with my cousins all the time.”
“She said that his hand was very low on her back—the girl’s back not my aunt’s.”
“Obviously,” someone deadpanned.
“And let me preface this by saying that her dress was completely backless.”
Adelaide avoided my gaze now. I should regret the hand placement, but I didn’t. Holding her like that was enough of a fix for the withdrawals I had been having since kissing her.
“Woah!Why wasn’tthatthe first thing you mentioned?”
“How low?”
“I don’t know, Kate! Want me to call my aunt and ask her to point on a diagram.”
“Yes.”
“So he’s not with Victoria anymore?”
“Dorian Blackwood is back on the market,” someone hollered.
I exhaled.
“It’s never too soon to start campaigning to be his date for The January …”
Jesus Christ, they were already talking about The January. The last thing I needed was a gaggle of girls bombarding me for the next two months over needing a date. James would love to hear this.
A door creaked and footsteps spread the carpet. No more noise came from the neighboring nook.
Adelaide squeezed by, every part of her body brushing mine to get out of the tight space.
“You need to figure out who saw us so we can shut this down,” she commanded.
“Adelaide—”
“No. Don’t follow. We need to walk out separately.”
“Don’t be like that.”
“Be like what?Difficult?I’m not having my entire future blow up in my face over gossip that revolves arounda manwho can’t keep his hands off of every woman he sees.”
My shoulders fell. “Fine. Isolate yourself. Come up with one of your plans. I don’t care.”
I turned and left.
If she was going to believe what everyone else thought, then fine.
25
