Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,138

the room. The signs of the guys that lingered in here, just like they did everywhere in the apartment. Tiddles stared at me from the window ledge, and I tilted my head back to gaze at Archie. “Okay, you’ve convinced me, and I don’t want to cry because Rachel will scold me for messing up my makeup.”

Holding out his arm, he said, “Well, we can’t have that.”

Out in the living room, the other guys were waiting, and they all looked great in their suits. They’d gone for somewhat matching—Archie and Jake were in deep gray suits, while Coop and Ian had on almost black. They looked amazing.

“I need a picture.”

“We’ll get them there,” Jake said, but I shook my head.

“No, I want a picture here, with you four together. I want that picture for me.”

Archie brushed a kiss to my cheek, and they indulged me as I snapped a few photos of them. I pulled out my ID, and Archie tucked that into his wallet for me, then Jake took my phone. I didn’t bother with anything else, because if I knew Archie, he already had my overnight bag secreted away somewhere.

I adored him, and he usually thought of everything.

“You got your lipstick?” Coop asked, and Jake turned to stare at him.

“Did you get a vagina when we weren’t looking?”

Coop and I both flipped him off while I chuckled. “No, but you’re right. I’ll get it.” Because they’d kiss it off me otherwise.

Ian caught my arm, then brushed a kiss to my cheek. “Because the numbnuts over there forgot to mention it, you look beautiful.”

“Numbnuts would not be me,” Archie chimed in. “I told her exactly how beautiful she was.”

“Frankie doesn’t need us to tell her that just because she’s all dressed up,” Coop said. “She’s beautiful every day.”

“Smooth,” Jake said with a chuckle, but his eyes twinkled when he met my gaze. “He’s not wrong though, Baby Girl. You’re always beautiful.”

I laughed. “Okay, you know I’m a sure thing, so no need to suck up.”

That earned me a swat on the ass from Ian, but oh so worth it.

The limo ride over, we laughed and there was actually champagne in the back of the car. I stared at Archie, and he just grinned as he poured our glasses. Jake held his up. “To senior year, because who would have thought this is where we’d be?”

I laughed. “To Archie,” Coop said, “because he was the one who said we corner her on Monday. We find out what the hell is going on.”

Another round of laughter threaded through the car. “Well, in that case,” Archie said. “To Coop, because you’re the one who got her there.”

“And to Frankie,” Ian added, “for not giving up on us.”

“Hey,” I sniffed. “Don’t start the tear things again. Besides, you guys didn’t give up on me, so I think it works out pretty even.”

“Fine, we’re all awesome and we’re not making her cry,” Jake said. “So here’s to great sex, good music, and a lot of laughter.”

On that, we clinked our glasses and drank. Between the five of us, we killed the one bottle of champagne and I was barely tipsy, but I was loose and happy. Prom was different from Homecoming. One, it wasn’t at the same hotel that Homecoming had been held at. They changed the venue, and for that, I was grateful. We just needed no reminders of that night.

Second, it was far more formal in some ways than Homecoming was. It was one of the few really traditional rituals I supposed that still lingered from decades past. The point of school dances had been to teach young men and women how to socialize with each other. How to interact at formal occasions. There were rules for a reason, not that we paid attention to most of them now.

The two big things tonight would be the music and the crowning. There would be some awards handed out. Prom was for the seniors and the juniors. Underclassmen were not allowed to attend, unless they had permission from a parent and had been invited by a senior. It was a whole thing.

There was also a spring dance that took place that was open to the whole school. Most juniors attended that rather than prom. That dance was the following weekend and happened at the school and not the party barn where our prom was being held. Despite the colorful name, the party barn was a great location with nothing close by, which meant we