Page 87 of Change My Mind
Although if I did have a time machine, I would go back to the beginning of the summer and move in with my parents so I couldn’t do something stupid. Like fall in love.
Josh nodded, the smile not dropping as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I was just stopping by to see you, Adrienne. I had a great time on our date last week, and I’d love to take you out again.”
Becky snorted. It splashed soup off her spoon and onto her face, which still wasn’t enough to distract me from the fact that I had no idea how to politely turn Josh down.
“Um…”
“How about I swing by this party you’re having? Way less pressure. Is it at your folks’ place?” Josh pointed to an invitation stuck on the back of my computer. I forgot it was there. There was no way I could blag my way out of this. All the information he needed was right in his eyeline.
“Yeah, it is,” I said, slumping back in my chair and letting my spoon clatter in my bowl. Josh’s smile somehow managed to widen further.
“Amazing. I’ll see you tonight then.” He pushed off my door and disappeared before I could say anything further.
Becky and I waited until we heard the door next to mine click shut.
“Is he fucking joking?” I exclaimed.
“Unfortunately, Ads, I don’t think he is.” Her eyes glimmered with mirth. “Them alien eyes of yours got him.”
“This is going to be a fucking disaster,” I mumbled, picking my spoon back up.
Becky didn’t disagree.
Fifty-Four
ELI
It was only when I fully took charge and threw myself into organising the catering for Clara and Jesse’s Engagement-ween party that I realised Addie’s birthday party had been small for this family.
There were so many moving parts, and the volume of food that we needed to prepare and cook seemed never-ending. But it was the perfect distraction from the disaster zone that had become my personal life.
Ever since I got that text from Addie saying she wasn’t coming home following her date with Josh, I had felt off-kilter. Stuck in a never-ending cycle of not feeling good enough and then also feeling stupid for even daring to think that the greatest rule keeper I had ever encountered would break any of the rules that we had set in place.
Although technically, she had broken one.
She was supposed to tell me that she was getting physical with someone else, but I let it go because the two of us hadn’t been together since her first dayat work.
And for the past week, I had been given license to work all hours of the day to make sure that this engagement party went off without a hitch, food-wise, so there hadn’t even been a chance for her to speak to me about it.
I was taking a fresh batch of mini sausage rolls out of the oven when the energy of the place changed. Which could only mean the guests of honour had arrived.
Jesse and one of his brothers were both Prince Charming. The Sondheim versions. Rachel and Jesse’s other brother were Megara and Hercules. And their muses were the remaining sisters.
Everybody—all one hundred or so of the guests—was staring at them. It felt like the room was suspended in time, just waiting for the first person to break the silence and approach them.
Before any of them could do that, I put the tray of sausage rolls down and grabbed the chilled glasses of the party’s signature cocktail, which Clara created, from the fridge.
It was a take on an old fashioned that used rum and whisky.
Clara spotted me first, her face breaking out in a massive smile as she made grabby hands for a glass.
“Have you tried these, Eli?” she asked, taking a sip of her drink the moment I handed it to her.
“I haven’t yet, no. But I’ve been following the recipe Darren gave me with the same kind of precision that I would a cake recipe.”
“You’re following it very well,” Clara said around the lip of her glass before taking another sip. She savoured the taste before swallowing with a sigh that made her sink back against Jesse, who wrapped an arm around her waist.
I looked away from the loved-up pair, which was a mistake because I immediately made eye contact with Addie. My breathcaught in my chest at the sight of her. Braids half up in a bun, and the rest draped over her shoulders. Her eyes were rimmed with black that made the green so bright, they sparkled. Her white dress made her skin look an even richer brown.
