Page 16 of Reverse Perspective

“You would,” he says, smirking.

“Do the guys know about you asking me?” I ask.

“Not at the moment,” he says. “I should probably warn you though….”

“That bitch is going to be there, isn’t she?” I ask.

“Yeah. Angela signed up yesterday,” he says.

“Wonderful,” I sigh.

“You realize that this is a wonderful way to just make me feel worse about myself, right?”

“Do you trust me?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“You know that I would never do anything to get you hurt, right?” He continues.

“I know,” I sigh.

“Then just trust me. Don’t ask any questions. Just show up.”

“How fancy is this?” I ask.

“Uh. Pretty fancy. It is definitely formal attire,” he says.

“Okay. I’ll have to buy a dress then,” I say. “I generally avoid formal events so I don’t have anything to wear.”

“You’ll look great in whatever. Try to challenge yourself to not wear black, because those lights get very hot up there,” he says.

“We’ll see about that,” I say. “Saturday, I’ll sneak off during lunch so I can go back to the house and get ready. I don’t feel like answering a thousand questions from them.”

“Yeah. You sneak off and I can take them home,” Todd says. “That will give you time to get ready and leave before they get there.”

“They’ll be mad at you for helping me evade them.”

“That’s okay. You deserve a night for someone to treat you like a princess,” he smiles.

I say goodbye to Todd before going back up to my office. For a moment, I am alone, and I can sit in silence, and reflect on the morning. A little while later, the guys are coming to my office.

“Hi,” I say when the door opens. I know it’s them even though I have my head laid on my desk.

“Hey,” Mason says. I sit up, and he starts kneading my shoulders. It’s not out of character for him to do this but I’m going to take what Todd suggested seriously and not let things progress. I think outside of their normal habits I will shut everything down.

“That’s nice,” I sigh. “I have a migraine.”

“It’s just a tension headache,” he says. He hits a spot in my neck that makes me wince slightly. He presses in on that knot and it forces a groan out of me.

“Feel better after talking to Todd?” Dean asks.

“Yeah,” I say. “Supposedly he knows how to keep his mouth shut. Not that I’m trying to hide anything but I’m not really good at processing emotions. I’ll get there, eventually.”

“We understand and Todd has always refused to tell us what you say to him,” he says. “You are allowed to have a life away from us, Sadie.”

“I know. I just always assume that they would tell you. Sometimes you guys are just not the ones that I want to talk to you about,” I say. “Saying that out loud sounds really shitty. I just mean that sometimes what I want to talk about… is you guys.”

“I understand,” Dean says. “Like I said, you can have a life away from us. We’ve tried to get you to find some friends that are girls, but you don’t take very well to them.”

---