Page 57 of Nerdy or Nice
"Oh, don't be snippy," she said with a smile in her voice. "You should be happy."
Whatever I was feeling, happinesswasn'tit. "Is that so?"
"Sure," she laughed. "Everything's fine."
I opened my eyes and slowly turned to look at Drake. When our gazes locked, something in his expression made me wince.
Fine?
Not hardly.
Chapter 32
Gwen
In the crowded hotel lobby, Drake turned to me and said, "Wait here. I'll get the vehicle."
I shook my head. "That's alright. I'll just walk out with you."
"Not a chance," he said, glancing at my bare arms. "You're not wearing a coat."
"So what?" I said. "I wasn't wearing one last night, and it was fine."
"Yeah, because I dropped you off."
That's right, he had.The valet service had been really backed up, so Drake had dropped me at the main entrance before parking the vehicle on his own.
It's not that I'd forgotten. It was just that compared to last night, everything now felt so different. "I'll be fine," I said. "The SUV's got heat, right?"
The question was only rhetorical. Iknewthe SUV had heat. Heck, it even had heated seats. Last night, the passenger's seat had felt so warm and luxurious that I hadn't cared one bit that I wore no coat.
But I cared now.
It wasn't that I was freezing. It was that I felt incredibly awkward standing here in yesterday's party dress and disheveled hair. Oh sure, I'd tried to whip the tangled tresses into shape, but my fingers had been a poor substitute for an actual hairbrush.
In the lobby, Drake replied, "Yeah, it's got heat. But it's a long walk."
I wassoready to be gone that I hardly cared. "Notthatlong."
"And you know thishow?You weren't there when I parked it, remember?" He glanced toward the lot. "And besides, it'll take some time for the engine to warm."
"Yeah, but…" I sighed and never did finish the sentence.
Already, we'd argued more than enough for a single day. After I'd gotten off the phone with my mom, Drake had been grim and silent, like it wasmyfault our morning had been ruined.
Who knows? Maybe it was.
He asked, "But what?"
"Nothing." I grimaced. "I guess I should've worn a coat, huh?"
His mouth tightened. "So why didn't you?"
"Because I don't have one," I snapped. And then, at the stricken look on his face, I instantly regretted it. "I mean, of course I have a coat – more than one, obviously. It's just that I didn't have anything this dressy, and…" I tried for a laugh. "I mean, it's not like we all have new duffles, right?"
Drake wore no coat either. But at least he had his tuxedo jacket for warmth. During our elevator ride down to the lobby, he'd even offered to let me wear it. When I'd declined, he'd tried to insist.
But the thought of doing the walk of shame in my party dressplushis tuxedo jacket had just about done me in. It was exactly the kind of thing my mom would relish, especially if people stared.
