Page 69 of Change My Mind
He bowed in an exaggerated way that made me laugh. “Why, thank you.”
As he came back up, his eyes locked with mine, and I noticed just how blown his pupils were.
It was my turn to clear my throat. “We should go get food.”
Eli nodded. “Do I need to shield you from people so that you don’t get ambushed with well wishes before you get to the buffet?”
I smiled, a warm feeling spreading through me. “This crowd should be pretty chill about leaving me alone, but let’s just play it by ear.”
Without a care as to who might see, I slipped my hand into his and started walking us to the buffet table.
Forty-Three
ADDIE
“Ads, you really need to fix your face.” Rachel dropped into the seat next to me, pushing a plate of cake in my direction. There were three cakes at this shindig because if a Harris or a Henry threw a party, then they were always going to provideoptions.
The cake that Rachel put in front of me was a piece of caterpillar cake that I had every year of my life at some stage in the week of my birthday until I went to Montreal, where I shifted to buying a singular cupcake.
I broke a piece of chocolate icing off my cake and hummed in approval. It tasted like my childhood. “What are you talking about?” I asked once the wave of nostalgia passed through me.
“I’m talking about the fact that you are looking very longingly at your current fuck buddy, which is unusual for you. Something you want to talk about?”
I broke off another piece of cake. “Depends, you want to talk about your fake boyfriend and how cuddly you two were looking even though The Dick is nowhere to be seen?”
She actually looked radiant around him. Easy. Confident.
“There is nothing going on between us. We’re covering our bases. Social media exists, you know. Besides, he is basically family now.”
She was lying. Rachel broke out in red patches when she lied, and they were starting to bloom along her chest and up her neck.
“There is nothing to talk about on my side either. Still just—” I caught Eli in my peripheral, getting swept up on the makeshift dance floor in the arms of one of my cousins, Steffy.
Steffy and I were ten months apart in age. If my uncle didn’t live so far away, we probably would have been quite close. As it was, we mostly only ever saw each other at big events where people liked to coo about how similar the two of us were. We both had green eyes, and our dads shared DNA. That was where the similarities began and ended.
She had the kind of blonde hair that people spend hundreds on to maintain, but it just grew out of her head like that. She was above average height, but nowhere near as tall as me. The fair skin of her nose had a dusting of freckles.
I watched as her arms looped around Eli’s neck and his hands settled on her waist. Their hips were nearly touching as they swayed slowly to the music.
They looked good together. Like matching puzzle pieces.
The chocolate cake in my mouth started to taste sour.
“I really wanna know how you’re gonna play this one.” Rachel’s voice was a whisper in my ear.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I snapped. My eyes didn’t leave Eli and Steffy.
“You’re jealous.”
“I’m not jealous,” I replied. Too quickly. Too harshly.
“Uh-huh. You’re playing with—” Rachel trailed off this time. Her eyes narrowed. I followed her gaze and found Steffy’ssister, Tabitha, exuding flirtatious vibes with the youngest Bounds brother.
I didn’t even have it in me to feel smug about it because I heard the deep, throaty laugh of my flatmate cut through the music, only to find him smiling down at my cousin. She was batting her eyelashes at him, a toss of her long blonde hair off her shoulder to reveal her neck, a quick lip bite to draw attention.
I looked beyond the dance floor full of bodies and saw Xander. He was in charge of the music tonight.
He was also very open to suggestions, and well, it was my birthday.
