Page 41 of Enemies to Prom Dates
“Practice saying the words?”
I shrugged. “Practice anything. Now you know someone with experience.”
I didn’t say more than that. Just let the words hang for a bit. Then finally:
“I can still hear you breathing.”
“I’m leaving!” she announced and opened her car door. She nearly fell in her haste to get out.
“You’re an easy target, Bennet,” I said, chuckling.
“You’re an asshole, Fitz!” This she shouted over her shoulder as she stormed up her driveway. I waited until she was safely inside then pulled away with what I knew to be a shit-eating grin.
* * *
Beth
I closedthe front door behind me in an utter daze.
Practicing. With Fitz.
Had he really been joking or had he meant something else entirely? After all, this was Fitz. My nemesis. My competition. My mortal enemy.
The person to whom I’d confessed everything, including my virgin status.
“Ugh!” I groaned, slapping my forehead. Was I feverish? Why would I do something like that?
Or worse, did I know why but was in a state of utter delusion?
“Beth? Is that you? Did I see you getting out of a fancy car?”
I heard my mother calling from the great room. I made my way toward the room and saw her sitting on the couch in the dark. She had the wall-mounted TV on but the sound was very low.
There was a window that looked out onto the driveway. I think purposely designed by her just so she could see the nature of the cars pulling into it.
“You did,” I said. Of course Fitz drove a fancy car. His father’s car as he called it, but it was his. A sleek, black Audi. Some model I had absolutely no clue about. It had been luxurious and so very like him. Not to flashy, not too overdone. But something that screamed money.
“What are you watching?” I asked.
“I’m not,” she said, holding up a book. “I just like the background noise. Where you’ve been?”
I’d told her this morning I had rehearsal, but she must have forgotten. “With Fitz. We’re co-hosting the Fall Fashion Show, remember? We’re trying to come up with some kind of skit.”
She frowned. “Fitz Darcy. Is he still as insufferable as ever? I swear that boy walks around town like he’s some kind of prince. And don’t get me started on his father. You’d think that man owned the whole town.”
“Not the whole town. Just three restaurants and a fashion boutique on main street,” I said.
“You know what I mean. He’s showy. People who like to show off how much money they have don’t impress the people of this town. Here it’s all old money.”
“You mean old, white money.”
My mother appeared to be affronted. “Elizabeth Bennet, don’t you get fresh with me. This isn’t because the man is black. You know I’m not a racist.”
It was hard to know that when you lived in a town with mostly white people and your mother considered the one African American man in townshowy. Hell, at this point, I would much rather have showy money than no money.
“You’re not actually interested in his son, are you?”
“Fitz is considered the best looking, most athletic, most popular guy in our class. The question should be who wouldn’t be into him?”
