“Yeah, any minute. But, Adam,pleasedon’t embarrass me.”
Adam rolled his eyes as he moved past me to open the fridge. “I take offense to that—I’m hardly embarrassing.” He grabbed a beer and cracked the tab of it open.
I narrowed a look at him. “I thought you had to study.”
“Yeah, well, I’d have to seriously screw up these finals for it to have much of a negative effect on my grades”—he smirked in Logan’s direction—“and how could I possibly pass up the chance for a night out on the town with my brother?”
I looked back toward Logan, my mind catching on the word “brother,” and saw that he was watching me as if waiting for a reaction. Which was fitting, considering the white hot jealousy that rose in my chest at the thought of them going out. “Where are you guys going?”Who were you seeing?
To my disappointment and annoyance, a loud knock came from the front door. Adam instantly walked over to it, saying, “I’ll answer it!”
I sighed, still looking at Logan. He hadn’t said a single word the whole time I was in the kitchen. After our kiss last fall, we’d both figured out how to be normal around each other without ever talking about it. But this . . . tonight . . . we hadn’t done this yet. I was going out with Paul, and he was going off to do god knew what with god knew who. Was he as affected as I was?
I watched as he stood up from the kitchen chair and walked toward the front of the house, keeping his eyes on me all the way. His expression was still unreadable, the sudden anxiety I was feeling wedging itself firmly in my throat.
I followed, only to find that Adam had already let Paul inside of the entryway. He looked objectively amazing in his black tuxedo, and as he saw me coming from around the corner, he quickly swept me up and down. “Wow, Amelia, you look . . .”
“I would strongly recommend that you finish that sentence as respectfully as possible,” interrupted Adam.
Paul’s eyes snapped to Adam and then back to me. “Beautiful . . . I was going to say you look beautiful.”
“Thank you, Paul. You look great, too.” I felt Logan bristle next to me, but I ignored it. It didn’t hurt to know that he might not like seeing me heading off to my prom night with Paul, but that didn’t take away from the uncomfortable reality that Paul and Logan were in the same room. Or that I was feeling completely anxious about where he was going with Adam tonight.
“I brought you this,” Paul said, holding out a plastic container with a beautiful, white corsage inside.
“Oh, thank you! Shoot, I have your boutonniere in the kitchen, hold on one second . . .” I turned on my heels and hurried back into the kitchen to get the flower for Paul’s lapel from the fridge. When I noticed my parents in the backyard through the kitchen window, I grabbed the boutonniere and quickly opened the back door to call out that Paul was here, and then I made my way back to the front of the house.
I noted the awkward silence in the entryway when I got there. Adam and Logan were both staring down Paul, who was smiling as he looked back and forth between the two of them. I could tell he was uncomfortable despite his best efforts to appear confident. “Here you go,” I said brightly at him as I reached over to pin it to his jacket.
After I had it securely fastened, Paul took out the beautiful corsage, made up of eucalyptus leaves and a simple white carnation flower, and pulled it over my hand and onto my wrist just as my parents came around the corner.
“Oh, look at you both,” my mother crooned. “Such a good looking couple! Paul, that corsage is gorgeous. Nice job, dear.”
Paul dipped his head and smiled. “Thank you, Mrs. Campbell.” He then looked at my father and stuck his hand out. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Campbell.”
I watched as my dad shook his hand, a stoic expression on his face. “Thank you, Paul. Glad to meet you as well. So . . . what’s the plan for tonight?”
Adam, Logan, and my parents all turned to Paul expectantly, and I felt a twinge of guilt. He probably wasn’t expecting my whole family to be here to send me off. If he was nervous, however, he didn’t show it. “I’m taking Amelia to dinner with our friends, Eric and Mackenzie. From there, we’ll head to the venue for the dance. And then afterward, I’ll bring Amelia back home.”
“What time does the dance end?” Adam asked. I threw a glare at him.
“I believe it ends at ten thirty,” Paul breezily answered. He was really good under pressure.
“I’ll be home by midnight,” I announced. I didn’t miss the quick, confused look that flashed across Paul’s face, and I wondered why that would cause a reaction from him. The venue was only twenty minutes away from my house—surely I’d be home within ninety minutes of the dance ending. The confirmation seemed to settle everyone else, though.
“Well, you can’t leave until I get a few pictures of you!” I watched as my mother picked up the camera that she had waiting on the entryway table. I moved to stand next to Paul and felt his arm wrap around my waist, tucking me in close to his body. We both looked at the camera and smiled as my mom took pictures. I felt the hard stares of Adam and Logan the whole time.
After a few overwhelmingly awkward minutes of feeling on display while posing with Paul in front of everyone, I decided my mother had taken enough pictures. “Okay, Mom . . . we’d better go!” I smiled wide in an effort to hide my discomfort.
“Oh, yes, you’re right. You kids have dinner reservations to get to!” She put her camera back down and stepped forward to give me a hug.
“Thanks, Mom.” I gave her a firm squeeze.
“Paul, take care of my daughter,” my father directed.
“Yes sir, of course.”
“And we’ll see you back here at midnight,” Adam stated pointedly.
