Page 89 of My Fiancé's Brother
“I'm so glad you are here,” I said into her ear.
“I don’t know anyone here, do you?”
I gave her a tight smile. “Not really.”
“Where's Matt?”
I shook my head. “No idea.”
Julie dragged Jackson around the table, making introductions.
“Come on, I'm sitting over here.” Beth walked me to one end of the table. There were two empty seats next to her. One for me, one for Matt. Julie pulled Jackson to sit with her on the other end of the table. Beth and I chatted together while waiters circled the table, taking everyone’s food order. It seemed like the entire room knew each other.
“I kind of feel like I crashed someone else’s birthday party,” I said under my breath.
Beth rolled her eyes. “Seriously.”
The meal lasted forever. The food was good, but the service was slow. At least everyone seemed to be having a good time. I watched as Julie threw back her head with laughter and hung onto Jackson’s arm. He seemed to be holding his own.
“Someone has had enough to drink,” Beth said, as Julie batted her eyelashes at Jackson.
I discretely checked my phone. No texts from Matt. He had yet even to acknowledge that it was my birthday.
Everyone sang happy birthday to me. Super awkward since I was celebrating my day at a table full of strangers.
“Now it’s time for champagne,” Julie announced. We all waited while waiters dutifully passed out glasses of champagne to everyone.
Julie stood up. “I would like to make a toast, to my dearest friend, Emily.”
I gave a smile back. I wanted to go home and crawl into bed.
“Emily, do you remember your 19th birthday?”
Oh no.
“Let’s leave that one in the past,” Beth sounded terse.
Julie tossed her hair and looked around the table. “But it's such a fun little tale.”
I licked my lips. She wouldn't go there. Would she?
Julie touched her neck. “I guess most of you didn’t know Emily when she was younger. She was such a shy timid little thing. Never had a boyfriend. And she had an enormous crush on this guy. Was he a football player?”
I swallowed. “Hockey player.”
She laughed. “That’s right. He was the star hockey player. You knew his class schedule by heart, didn’t you?”
Jackson was watching me with a hard-to-read expression on his face.
Nerves made my hands shake. “It was just a little crush.”
“Little crush? You don’t do little crushes. You obsessed over him for months.” She looked around the table. “For example, she knew that at 11 AM, on Tuesdays, he would be coming out of one class, so she always stationed herself at a table in the cafeteria right where he departed. And when he walked out, she would stick her nose in her books and not look up. It was adorable.”
“I'm pretty sure no one cares about that,” I said in a small voice. Except the entire room was listening.
“One day, and I have no idea how she managed to work up the nerve when he was walking by, she found the balls to talk to him. And she invited him out on a date.” Julie put her hand on her heart. “I was so proud of my little Emily. What she didn’t tell him was that she invited him out on a date on her 19th birthday.”
I rubbed my forehead, avoiding Jackson’s eyes. “It was a long time ago.”
