“You should be paying attention to the road,” I say. Good grief, how far away does Izzy live?
I turn my attention back to Judd. He asks, “What twelve schools are you considering?”
Ugh.
“Well, I’m thinking about Texas A&M—” I stop when I hear Charlie grunt. “What’s wrong with A&M?” I ask him.
“Nothing. But there’s like a million people that go there. And you get freaked out by big crowds.”
“No, I don’t,” I say, but he’s right. I really don’t like big crowds.
“Where else?” Judd asks.
“Well, I’m waiting to hear back from a small liberal arts college in Massachusetts.”
“Massachusetts!” Charlies howls, and swerves when he tries to look back at me again. “You realize the winters there last all year and it stays below zero for most of it.”
“You’re exaggerating and you know it,” I say.
Charlie pulls up in front of a cute two-story house and throws the truck into park. He twists around until he’s facing us. “I’m going to get Izzy. Don’t say anything until I get back.”
And then he’s gone.
Judd watches Charlie walk up the front path of Izzy’s house and then looks back to me, his forehead creased in confusion. “Wait, I thought Olivia told me all of y’all were going to LSU together.”
My stomach twists. “Well, we used to say that, but I don’t know…”
But Judd doesn’t stay in the truck long enough to get my full answer. The second he sees Izzy, he jumps out so he can match his sweater up with Charlie.
Izzy seems equally horrified at Charlie’s and Judd’s sweaters. She took a different approach to dressing up, and instead of wearing an ugly sweater, she’s wearing the skirt that usually fits around the base of a real Christmas tree as an actual skirt.
Once everyone is back inside, Charlie makes introductions, and thankfully talk of colleges is forgotten.
I had been worried about walking into the party wearing this monstrosity, but it only takes a few minutes for me to realize I’m almost underdressed. People have gone all out, and it’s impossible not to just stand there and stare at every person who walks by.
The main living area of the Browns’ house is a huge open space. Most of the furniture has been pushed against the walls to allow room for all of the guests. There’s a giant Christmas tree in one corner, the dining room table is filled with food, and there’s a bar set up on the kitchen island. There’s a man dressed as Santa making the rounds, passing out Jell-O shots. I’m sure he’s supposed to give those only to the adults, but since it looks like he’s been sampling them himself, he’s giving them out freely to anyone he passes.
As they predicted, Charlie and Judd are a huge success. And as I predicted, Judd isn’t much of a date. He’s currently competing against some twelve-year-old girl in one of those dance-off video games.
Not that I’m complaining!
Olivia and Drew arrive, and she introduces me to everyone there. Sometime later, Wes walks in with Laurel. His T-shirt has the wordsThis is my Christmas sweaterwritten in duct tape. But Laurel’s the one who has me crossing my arms across my chest when I see her sexy Mrs. Claus outfit.
And I thought Halloween was the only time of year where they turned every costume known to woman sexy.
“Hey, Sophie. You remember Laurel,” Wes says when they get near the couch where Olivia and I are sitting.
We both nod at each other, but then her attention drifts, no doubt trying to find someone else to talk to.
“Cammie!” she yells, and then scampers toward the kitchen. Wes drops down next to me on the couch, and I scoot closer to Olivia to give him some room.
“Have you seen Charlie and Judd?” Olivia asks, leaning across me to talk to Wes.
Wes laughs. “Yeah, they sent me a picture this afternoon.” Then he looks at me and asks, “Are you here with Judd?”
Before I have a chance to answer, Judd pulls me up from the couch and says, “Sophie, it’s our turn!”
“Our turn for what?” I ask as he drags me away, but my question goes unanswered. That is, until we stop in front of a karaoke machine.
