Page 64 of Exposed

“It’s for both of them. Since they both missed out. Come on, this will be so much fun. And it will be the best surprise ever. The birthday to end all birthdays. Plus…I think it’ll be a pretty great time to re-propose to Brooklyn.”

“You want to propose to Brooklyn on Penny’s birthday? This really doesn’t feel like a great birthday present.”

“Are you kidding? Penny has been meddling in my love life for years. She’ll be thrilled. And…I mean…it’s prom. That means you’ll get lucky at the end of the night. Come on. Say yes.”

“Yes!” Penny said. “I can’t wait!”

We both turned to see her hurrying over to us.

Shit.I hadn’t seen her come into the kitchen. “Penny, how long have you been listening? It was supposed to be a surprise.”

She swatted her hand through the air. “I’d rather be in on it anyway. I’m so freaking excited! Prom?! And are you really going to propose? This is going to be so much fun!”

James laughed. “Are you sure? I know you said you wanted a night in…”

“No, this is so much better. I’ve always felt like a loser for not going to my own prom. Now I can tell everyone Ididgo to prom. And no one has to know it was a decade after I graduated.”

“Why didn’t you go to your own prom again?” I asked.

“Because no one asked me. I was really shy. I was basically an invisible nerd.”

I couldn’t picture that at all. And I was pretty sure she was wrong about all of it. “The guys at your school were probably just too scared to ask the hottest girl out.”

For the first time in years, James didn’t give me a death stare when I talked about Penny looking hot. Instead, he just pulled her into his arms. “That sounds right to me. And this is going to be the best prom ever. So much better than whatever lame prom your high school had back then.”

She smiled.

“Definitely,” I said. “Plus, this time all of us will be going together.”

“What do you remember about your prom?” Penny asked, looking up at James.

“Not much really. I do remember getting really high in the limo.”

Penny shook her head. “And you?” she asked me.

“I was a total downer.”

“Yeah, I think we all need this,” Penny said. “But is there really time to plan it? It’s only three days away…”

“I’ll handle everything,” I said. “It’s for your birthday. Leave it to me.”And Tanner.I definitely needed Tanner’s help if I was going to pull this off.

“It’s for Penny’s birthday,” James said. “I want to help too.”

“That would be great. Prom, guys! This is going to be epic.”

“It definitely will be,” Penny said.

I would have loved for it to be a surprise for her too. But, she already looked really happy about it. “I should go get started. Maybe we can meet up after your classes to talk about some ideas?”

James nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

“I’ll try to have a few venue options by then. I gotta go, I have a million things to do.”

Penny laughed as I hurried out of their apartment.

This really was going to be epic. As long as I could get Tanner on board to help. But…of course he’d help.

The traffic this morning didn’t even bother me. Or the weird moat outside Tanner’s apartment. I half expected Tanner and Nigel to be sitting in wingback chairs, ready to scold me for sleeping at Brooklyn’s last night. But I’d texted Tanner a heads up. And Nigel had been with us for way too long last night.

---