“I can’t be sure, but, like, they just got me my favorite flowersandmy dream dress.”
“Wow. You know, that doesn’t sound like a crush.”
“No?”
“Sounds like they’re in love with you or something.”
I tip my head back and laugh. “You think?”
“Possibly. I’ll be there in five,” he adds. “Try the dress on.”
“Wait. Right now? But I thought we were getting sushi tonight.”
“Slight change of plans. I’m taking you somewhere fancier.”
“But we just went somewhere fancy two days ago. We don’t have to always—”
“Just try the dress on. For me? Please?”
“Okay, okay, fine. Only because you asked nicely,” I say.
When he rings the doorbell five minutes later, I’m ready. More than ready. The dress fabric is so light and fitted so well to my body that it moves like water when I do, reaching for the door and smiling up at him, my stilettos clicking as I step back with a little twirl to let him admire me.
“Definitely,” he says, his gaze so scorching that I can feel the full weight of it, like the press of the sun against your eyelids.
“Definitely what?”
He picks up my purse for me, then grabs my hand, lacing his fingers through mine. “I think the person who sent the flowers is definitely in love with you. Who wouldn’t be?” The expression aglow on his face: helpless, irresistible affection. I can hear it in his voice too, when he murmurs, “I mean, just look at you.”
He doesn’t stop looking until we’ve headed downstairs, where a limo is waiting outside the iron gates. The chauffeur, dressed better than most businessmen, starts to open the car door, but Ares beats him to it, helping me into the back seat the way he had that night I was acting drunk.
“A limo?” I ask in wonder.
“Don’t act like you’ve never seen one before.”
“Ares,” I say, with suspicion now, studying him. He’s paired his jeans with a white button-down shirt and black tie, brandnew, from the looks of it. Formal attire, for him. “What do you have planned for tonight?”
A conspiratorial smile plays on his lips, and I’d almost forgotten how good he is at keeping secrets. Can’t force an extra word out of him if he doesn’t want to tell you. “You’ll see.”
The drive is pure comfort, even with the traffic. The leather seats warm, Ares’s hands warmer around my thigh, brushing bare skin through the high slit, and dusk falling beyond the windows. Vivid pinks and purples, the color saturated like an eyeshadow palette.
We arrive outside a building I recognize only from Airington’s past prom photos, would have otherwise mistaken for a winery or a museum, with the high hedge wrapping around the driveway and the Pegasus statue poised at the entrance. Rivera Restaurant.
I turn to Ares, wide-eyed. “You made a reservation for us here? But the wait-list is literally, like, half a year.”
“It’s only half a year if you’re not Chanel Cao,” he says, guiding me inside. “What do you think? It’s your kind of place, isn’t it?”
It’sexactlymy kind of place. Aesthetic extravagance, high chandeliers and rich mahogany, silvery light glancing off marble, every corner designed for photos. Stunning views of the river, almost as deep a blue as the mountains in the distance. Heavy velvet drapes pushed back by eager waitresses, revealing a grand ballroom—
“Chanel!”
Alice rushes up to me, and I think to myself, laughing insurprise as I hug her back,Wow, what a coincidence, that she’s here too,but after a delayed beat rememberingwherewe are, and wondering if Henry had also made a reservation and brought her here, when I see him behind her. Wearing a suit that would be considered casual for him, the same shade as Alice’s dress. Then other familiar faces, Rainie and Mina and Bobby from school, and Haili, beaming, pink-cheeked, recovered from the heartbreak, arms wrapped around a guy I’ve never met before. New boyfriend, maybe. But it can’t be a coincidence that they’reallhere, and then I realize—
“You... arranged all of this?” I ask Ares.
“He did,” Alice answers for him. “He’s been planning this out for weeks. God, you have noidea how hard it’s been keeping it a secret from you.”
Ares is watching my reaction, proud and a little shy.“I know how badly you wanted to go to prom, and this isn’t the same, of course, but... I thought I’d at least try to give you something close to it.”
