Page 133 of Choosing You

I feel stupid for not knowing that. Of course he would own a tux. He goes to these formal events all the time.

“I’ll see you later, Garret. I need to finish this bio homework. My lab partner bailed on me again.”

“Do you want me to kick his ass? Because I can do that now. As your boyfriend, it’s one of my jobs to kick the ass of anyone who pisses you off.”

I laugh. “No. I think we can skip the ass kicking. The semester will be over soon anyway.”

* * *

Garretand I don’t see each other much for the rest of the week. He’s either at class or in the pool. His coach has them training all the time. But he stops by my room every night offering to stay over in case the threatening phone calls start again.

The strange thing is that the guy hasn’t called back. And the letter still sits in my drawer. I keep taking it out, thinking I’ll read it again, but then I don’t. Garret’s right. It just brings up more questions. Questions I probably don’t want the answers to.

On Friday afternoon, Harper stops by my room after class to tell me about the date she has with Sean later.

“He said he’s making me a gourmet meal but he won’t tell me what it is.” She stands in front of my mirror, pulling her hair back different ways, then letting it fall at her shoulders again. “I think tonight’s the night. I think I’m gonna have sex with him.”

“Harper, you said you weren’t going to rush things.”

She flops down on my bed, scooting back to put her feet up. “I know. But we’ve dated for weeks now. And he’s so damn hot. I can’t wait any longer.”

“Yeah, but you don’t want a repeat of what happened with Cole.”

“Sean’s not going to dump me after we have sex. He’d never do that. He’s too sweet.”

“Are you sure? You might just be blinded by his hotness.”

“No. He reallyissweet. He does all these little things that Cole would never do. Like last week we were in my car and he noticed that my wipers were wearing out so he went and bought me new ones and put them on. He said it wasn’t safe to drive with bad wipers. Come on, Jade. You have to admit that’s sweet.”

Before I can answer, there’s a knock on the door. I open it to find a guy in a delivery uniform holding a garment bag and a shoebox. “Are you Jade?”

“Yes.”

“These are for you. Where would you like them?”

Harper’s now standing next to me at the door. “Ooh. Is this your dress for tomorrow night?” She takes the garment bag from the guy.

I take the shoebox. “Thanks,” I say to the guy. He waits for a moment, then walks off. I shut the door, wondering why he was acting so odd.

“Harper, was I supposed to give that guy a tip?”

She’s staring anxiously at the garment bag, which she hung in my closet. “What are you waiting for? Come see your dress.”

I join her at the closet and open the bag. Inside is a long evening gown in a deep purple color. It has three-quarter length sleeves, a rounded neckline, and an open back. Purple is my least favorite color, but I actually like this purple. It’s such a deep purple it almost looks black.

When we first met, Garret told me I should wear purple saying it would bring out the green in my eyes. I told him I’d never wear purple because one, I think it’s an old lady color and two, I can’t stand my green eyes and have no interest in drawing attention to them. Plus, I only wear black and white, at least when it comes to shirt colors.

Harper gasps as she runs her hand along the dress. “It’s gorgeous! And the fabric. . . I wonder what it is. He must have had this dress custom made for you. Don’t you love it? Try it on.”

I put the dress on while she checks out the shoes.

“These are like $3000 shoes,” she says as she holds up a pair of black heels.

“No pair of shoes is worth that much money. He better not have spent that much. If he did, I’ll make him take them back.”

“Jade, you’ve got to stop fighting with him about money. He’s not trying to buy your love or whatever you think he’s doing. It makes him happy to buy you things. And I’m sure it hurts his feelings when you yell at him every time he tries to do something nice like this.”

“Can you help me with the zipper?”

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