Page 148 of Veiled

“I…can’t…” I admit. “I’m all out of reasons,” I concede with a little smile on my face.

“Show me the dress again.”

I do, and his smile is right back in place. “If you don’t buy that dress right now, then I’m coming down there to buy it for you.”

“No, you aren’t, Mattey!”

“Okay, then go tell the nice salespeople to bag it up real pretty and give them your money.”

That makes me laugh.

“Want me to bring you home lunch?”

“Of course, I do.”

I look at the time on Sasha’s phone, “Wait, it’s late. Why haven’t you eaten yet?”

“I did,” he says before he tries to make himself look innocent, “but I’m a growing boy, Lee. I need sustenance.”

“You’re ridiculous. I’ll send you a picture of the menu when we sit down.”

“Sounds good.” We both move to hang up, but his voice picks up again. “Hey, Lee?” He waits until I’m looking right at him before he continues, “Be safe.”

“Always. Bye.”

I change out of the dress and back into my clothes before handing Sasha her phone. “Thanks, Sash.”

“No prob, babe!” She says with even more enthusiasm than normal as she walks back to the bathroom.

Emily looks at me, a big smile on her face. “Yeah, I’ll be driving us home. The lady gave her another full glass of champagne while you were talking to Matt. She said she couldn’t waste it, so she drank it all down in three gulps.”

“Good for her! At least she’s getting our money’s worth,” I laugh.

When Sasha comes back, Emily and I are waiting for her, bags in hand, to go to lunch.

When we get back to Scion, I rush into my room to hang up my dress before Aiden gets back. It’s silly, but now that the guilt is mostly gone, I’m really excited to show him.

Matt met us in the parking lot, claiming it was because he was starving and couldn’t wait another minute to eat, and proceeded not to touch the food until we got back to my room.

“You weren’t joking, this chicken-fried steak is amazing!” Matt says between bites. "I’m eating it twenty minutes later, I can’t even imagine how great it would have been fresh."

“I want to try that place for dinner some night too. They have a tapas bar and a tequila pairings class that would be super fun to do.”

“I’m sold. We should do it before Bravo graduation so the whole gang can go,” he suggests.

“Ooo, yes! What if we plan a pre-grad party there? Maybe the weekend before graduation, so no one is hungover when they get to see their families.”

“You know I’ll be there,” he says, closing up his now-empty food container. “What are your plans for the rest of the afternoon?”

“Just going to stay in here and study. You?”

“I studied most of the time you were gone. I need to go do some laundry now.”

“Ahh, so you were making sure I wasn’t going anywhere that I would need a babysitter.”

“Not a babysitter, just a—” he pauses, trying to think of a way to placate me, “spirit guide.”

I grab Aiden’s pillow off my bed and hit him with it, “Spirit guides are for the dead! Does this feel like I’m dead?” I ask, hitting him again.