Page 37 of The One I Love
“How are you just now telling me this! Why didn’t you call me over sooner? Oh my God, this is a huge deal and I am so excited! Are you excited? You must be excited. What time is the date? Who’s it with? When was the last time you went on a date? Girl, this is so big!”
“Easy, Tiger,” I say as we sit back up. “That’s why I called you. The date is in an hour. I thought I could do this alone, but clearly I can’t.”
“An hour!” Whitley starts ripping through her purse andpulls out her cell phone. “We need reinforcements. I’ll call over Betsy. She can?—”
“No!” I grab her wrist to stop her from texting. “You can’t ask Betsy to come over.”
“Why?”
“Because then she’ll find out who I’m going out with, and that can’t happen. Even though she’d probably know. Or would guess. But I don’t want her to know any more than she already does.”
Whitley’s eyes double in size. “Are you going out with Wes? Amelia! How?—”
“Of course not,” I interrupt. “I don’t want her to have to lie to Wes if she knows who I’m going out with tonight.”
“Amelia…Who are you going out with?”
I wasn’t thinking when I called Whitley over that I’d have to tell her. I mean, I wasn’t thinking. I was panicking. But I need to tell her. I don’t want tonottell her then have Shane show up at my door. I can trust Whitley. She’s family. She’d understand the need for the secret. At least, I hope she does.
“It’s Shane.”
She doesn’t say anything for a second. But then I watch the realization on her face. And the shock that comes with it.
“Shane! Like Shane, your guy-best-friend Shane? Amelia! He’s hot as fuck!”
“Thanks?”
“Yes, thanks. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love your brother. He’s the most handsome man in the world in my eyes and my soulmate. But Shane? I could put him in Jake’s line of work and I think he’d do very well, if you know what I mean.”
“No,” I say definitively. It’s bad enough my brother is a thirst trap on the internet. I don’t need my boyfriend being one too.
Boyfriend? Did I just think that? No. Tonight is a test date.So not that boyfriend is out of the question, but I need to take it one day at a time.
“Okay. Let’s get back on track.” Whitley starts going through my clothes and holding up different shirts and pants. “Where is he taking you? Or is it a surprise?”
I shake my head. “He wanted to make it a surprise but then I told him I was nervous enough as it was and that I needed as many details as possible. He’s taking me to that new Italian restaurant in Franklin and then we’re going to go see a band we like.”
“Perfect,” she says. “Something you two would normally do, just on a bigger scale.”
Whitley starts holding up, tossing, and rummaging through the clothes on my bed. Before I know it she has four different outfit options displayed.
“How did you do that?”
She puts one in my arms. “Magic. Now go try this on while I get the makeup ready. It’s time to get you ready for the ball, Cinderella.”
“Holy shit,Whitley. I think you’re my fairy godmother.”
“Nope. Just an aged-out beauty queen with a knack for layering.”
I look at myself in the full-length mirror Whitley brought in from Mariah’s bedroom, and I can hardly believe what I’m looking at. I know it’s me, but it doesn’t look like me. Well, it does, but just a different version.
Whitley picked out a pair of jeans and a flowy white tank top with brown booties. It’s May, but a little cool tonight, so she paired it with a long cardigan I would have never thought to wear for a date. I thought I could only wear this on days when Ididn’t want to leave the house. Knowing I didn’t own any jewelry, she raided Mariah’s jewelry box for earrings and a necklace. Finally, she fixed my hair and used a straighter to create loose waves and did just enough makeup to make me look like a new woman. Of course, during all of this she grilled me on how things happened for Shane and I to be going out tonight.
Needless to say she was quite happy to find out this all started at her wedding.
I turn back and forth in the mirror, looking at myself in awe. “I don’t know how I can thank you.”
“Easy,” she says as she starts to hang back up the clothes that didn’t make the cut. “You can have fun tonight.”
