Aria was saying something to me, but I didn’t know what it was.
I caught the tail end, something about lip gloss.
Now she was holding up two wands of gloss. The first was a burnt umber color, the second a nude peach. I didn’t know what I was supposed to say though.
Was she asking which one I liked or which she should get, or something else?
I’d been like this all day, zoning in and out of conversation.
Vanessa had been with us earlier, and I’d accidentally called her Ryan twice throughout the day. After the second time, I got the feeling she suspected I had a man on the brain.
A man. Just one specific one I hadn’t been able to get out of my head.
It had only been that morning that I’d been with him, just hours earlier, and I couldn’t wait to see him again.
“Brooke.” Aria started laughing at me.
I blinked and focused on her. “I’m so sorry. What again?”
“You are so funny. You’ve been like this all day, and I doubt you even actually watched the play.”
I almost asked what play, but then it came to me. As I’d suspected, Vanessa wasn’t into plays or musicals, so she’d left us a few hours ago. Aria and I had gone to seeThe Taming of the Shrew, and then we’d gone back to the store after dinner to get lip gloss.
“My mind is somewhere else,” I confessed, not wanting to lie.
It was bad enough that I felt like I was sneaking around with her father behind her back. I was being serious when I said she was my little friend, and it felt wrong to keep that from her.
But it had to be kept. Ryan and I were just fooling around, and if she found out then we’d both look like hypocrites.
“Where is it?” Aria cooed, looking me over with suspicion.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re thinking about a guy.” She giggled, her cheeks tinged pink, and my poor face flushed with embarrassment.
“No, no. I’m thinking about work.” I nodded.
“Really?” She narrowed her eyes and gave me a look of suspicion.
“Yes. I’m meeting with Sally on Monday and I want everything to go perfectly.” That part was at least true.
I’d met with Sally very briefly yesterday to go over the plans for the coming week. She’d said she felt inspired to still do the marathon in January and wanted to do a few charity events in the meantime. She’d also agreed to my ideas for the website updates, which I was excited about.
It was all good.
“Okay, well I’m sure it will. So, which do you think will go well with my dress?” She held up the glosses again.
I breathed a sigh of relief. “The peach, but you need something much brighter on your lips for that dress.”
Aria had worked things out with Brad, so prom was back on schedule. We’d purchased the dress earlier and bought so many things I had to get a taxi to send it all home.
Vanessa had been a massive help because she had a personal shopper onsite at Neiman Marcus ready to help us. The prom dress hadn’t been part of the plan for the day’s activities, but we’d just thought we’d get it since we were out.
I’d enjoyed it, and it had been fun. It was a break for my Ryan-filled brain to embrace the happiness I saw in Aria as she tried on one beautiful dress after another.
I sincerely hoped like hell Ryan wouldn’t mind that I’d bought the dress for her. The one she wanted and got was to die for. It looked like a mini wedding dress fit for a princess, and it just so happened to be part of the Vera Wang Collection. I couldn’t even remember how much it had cost, but when I’d seen Aria in it, I knew I had to get it for her. She had cried as I’d handed it over.
“Brooke, I can’t believe you bought me that dress. It cost over a grand. I’ve never had anything that expensive.”
