NYAH
By the time the others arrived, the party was in full swing. Music played, drinks flowed, and pizza was on its way up after Larry buzzed in the delivery man. I hurried to the door with Karl behind me, determined not to let him pay.
I opened the door with my back turned, one arm outstretched for the pizza, the other fending off Karl.
Suddenly, a hand landed on top of mine.
“What the…?” I turned to see Caleb—and a brunette in a red dress—standing outside my door. I yanked my hand back like I’d been burned. “I thought you were the pizza guy!”
Dressed in skinny charcoal jeans and a black crew-neck sweater, he grinned. “Well… I’m not.”
The brunette rolled her eyes.
Karl finally broke the silence. “Hi! I’m Karl. Why don’t you come in? The partyisinside.”
The pizza arrived a minute later. Determined to enjoy myself, I opened the boxes and invited everyone to dig in. Caleb introduced himself and his date, Sarah, and they mingled easily with my friends.
After a few tequila shots, Elle started twirling. Deciding to head tothe club, Karl called an Uber and left with Donna and Mitch, leaving me stuck with Caleb and Sarah.
Caleb had been tapping something into his phone. “Here comes the car,” he said, nodding in the direction of headlights cruising slowly towards him. “I’ll sit in the front, I guess—unless you want to squeeze three-abreast in the back, Nyah?”
The car purred up beside them. It was sleek, black, and distinctly European, and probably cost more than my apartment.
“I… You hired a car?”
“Something like that,” Caleb said, holding the door open.
It was a ten-minute ride, and the driver must have been waiting for them for... what, two hours? The opulence was mind-boggling.
Sarah folded her long legs into the back and slid across with the practiced ease of what was probably a great many red-carpet arrivals.
The black leather seat beckoned me. “We could have just gotten a cab.”
Caleb shrugged. “We could have. But this way I know we’ll be comfortable and safe.”
And you get to flaunt your money.
“It’s just a car, Nyah,” Caleb said. “You paid for pizza—thank you, by the way—so let me pay for the cab.”
“Fine.” I got in, bracing for the chill of leather on my bare legs, but was delighted to discover the seat was heated.
Caleb climbed into the front. “Thank you, Taylor.”
“Just the three of you, Mr. Evans?” the driver asked, glancing in the rear-view mirror at me.
“Just the three of us.”
It seemed innocent enough, but it was difficult for me not to take affront at the obvious reference to my datelessness. Not that I wanted to be Caleb’s date, but Ellehadtold him I needed a dance partner, and still, he’d chosen to bring someone.
I glanced at the achingly beautiful Sarah in my peripheral vision. Part of me was delighted that Caleb hadn’t made the presumption that he’d be my date, but the other part was... well, it wasn’t envious, but it sure wasn’t happy for him, either.
As the driver pulled out into traffic, I leaned forward to speak tohim through the gap between the front seats. “Taylor, is it? Do you know where we’re going?”
“Yes, ma’am. Boudoir.” Taylor gave me a nod in the rear-view. “Have you there in no time. Would you like some music?”
“No, thank you.”
“As you wish.”
