Page 12 of Careless
“Hey, Lauren. Everything okay?”
“Everything’s great!” she practically squealed, the sound of music blaring through speakers likely behind her.
“It sounds like you guys are having fun,” I teased as I shook my head. I put my face under the spray, careful not to get my hair wet, as I quickly began to wash.
“What’s up?” I asked, wondering why she was calling me tonight.
“Go get that little black dress on and come meet us.”
“I told you that I’m staying in tonight.”
“No, you aren’t. I’ve got you a date.”
I sputtered, practically drowning myself in the shower. I quickly turned it off, ignoring the soap underneath my arms. “What?” I snapped as I put the phone to my ear. “I have a date?”
“Yes. We’re going on a cinco date. I don’t know if that’s a thing because I don’t know how to say double date or triple date. That makes no sense. But there are five guys and only four of us. And while Laurel wouldn’t mind taking two home with her, the other guy wasn’t feeling it. However, we showed him photos of you, and he’s super excited to meet you.”
I groaned. “Are you serious right now? I can’t believe you just set me up with a random stranger.”
“It’s a blind date. And all of his friends vouched for him.” Friends that they had literally just met. “And everyone seems like nice guys. Don’t worry, we’re all going to be together and have dinner. You don’t even have to drink since I know you’re going to have to drive home tonight. Just have fun. You deserve to have fun. This is your whole birthday weekend. We have to go back to school and finals and all that horrible stuff later. But Bradley’s here now.”
Bradley. Well, I wasn’t going to let his name give me pause. Just because he had a douchey name, according to my brothers, didn’t mean he was going to be a douche. After all, between my brothers and the Ashfords, we had ridiculous names. I was used to names that weren’t exactly of the social club set.
“Where are we going, and what time do I need to be there?”
I listened as she explained everything, knowing I was going with the punches and doing what they wanted yet again. However, maybe spending the night after my twenty-first birthday at my brother’s home alone while reading a book wasn’t exactly the way to spend it. I was in college. I was supposed to have fun. And I would.
I’d be sober tonight because I was driving, and I wasn’t an idiot. And I’d go dancing. Or whatever this cinco date was.
I only had fifteen minutes to get ready, and thankfully, my hair was already done. I’d put it back up in a bun when I’d gotten in the shower, so now I let the long dark blonde strands fall down my back in somewhat curls. I plugged in the curling iron, set it to as high as it could go, and quickly redid my makeup. It took me eight minutes to do my makeup, lotion up, and reshave my legs, not because I was planning on getting some tonight. No thank you very much. But because I was going to wear that little black dress. Instead of the strappy high heels, I went with wedges because I didn’t know exactly where we would end up, but I was going to have fun. The four Ls would all be there, so it wasn’t like I was going to be alone with some guy. And I needed to get over whatever crush I had on Callum. He was never going to see me as anything but little Felicity. And I needed to get over him.
With two minutes to spare, I got into my car and headed out to the park near the resort less than an hour away. There was a little restaurant there that had music and dancing, and I was excited now. I had left a note for Rune, and I wasn’t going to be a little old lady.
I turned up the music, sang along, and finally felt as if maybe this birthday weekend wasn’t so fuddy-duddy, as Atlas would say.
I pulled into the parking lot and was grateful I’d found a spot since this place seemed to be the center of attention for the night.
“You’re here!” Laurelin said as she threw up her hands. Then she practically jumped on top of me, and I was grateful that I could catch her without breaking an ankle.
“Hey there. Have you had any water?”
“I’m making sure she drinks water,” a tall man with a deep voice said behind her. “I’m Chad.”
“I’m Hansen,” another man said.
They all introduced themselves, and I knew I was never going to be able to figure out who was who. Each of them had the exact same color hair, haircut, and country club set. One of them had a dimple in his chin, and the other had darker eyes, but frankly, they all looked as if they could just step off an influencer’s photograph page and call it a day.
“Felicity, this is Bradley,” Laura said as she fluttered her eyelashes.
“Bradley’s about to go to law school, and he’s a Pisces.”
“Gemini, actually,” Bradley said with a laugh. He looked at me then, his blue eyes bright, and blond hair that curled right at the edges since it looked like it was a little too long.
I swallowed hard and tried not to feel too awkward, though I knew it was most likely a lost cause. “It’s nice to meet you too. I am sorry if you guys were waiting on me.”
“No, we were just having fun. Let’s go dancing.” Laura winked at me and gave me a hug. “I’m sober. I’m making sure that the girls aren’t having too much fun. But we’re glad you’re here. It’s your birthday weekend.”
“I’m glad I’m here too.” I squeezed her hand and then let Bradley lead me to the dance floor.
