The Art of Being Emily - Katie MacAlister Page 0,51
arty stuff like really old looking pictures and big urns. Doors opened on either side to show huge rooms. Fang took my coat and dropped it off in a small room at the end of the hall, then shooed me into the room on the left.
“Lalla!” I said, a bit relieved that I knew someone besides just Fang. Holly had decided she wasn't up to a “posh party” and stayed home, so I really was on my own. Except for the guys and Lalla and Peg, that is. Fang mumbled something about saying hi to some mates, and went off to talk to a group of guys who were standing in the corner laughing at each other.
Lalla looked up from where she was talking to a friend. “Emily! Oooh, you look ever so nice! That's a stunning brill dress. This is Ronnie.”
“Hi, Ronnie. Thanks, Lalla,” I said, assuming that “stunning brill” was good. “I like your leather bustier. It's really coolio.”
She stood up and turned around so I could see all of it. “It's fabulous, isn't it? Crimson leather. I got it at Garfinkles. Tash got me a discount on it.”
Tash. Grr. I knew that since she was Devon's cousin, she was likely to be at the party, but that didn't mean I had to like it. And speaking of Tash...”Have you seen Aidan tonight?” I asked, looking around the room. It was pretty crowded, and growing more crowded with each ring of the doorbell. The room on the other side of the hall was just as filled as this one, and I noticed a lot of people had drinks and munchies in their hands.
“He's here somewhere. If I know him, he's probably playing bartender. Why don't you go see? Drinkies and food are just through that door.”
“OK. Thanks. Nice meeting you, Ronnie.”
I headed off to the huge dining room (I'm thinking forty or fifty people could have fit in it) that had a long, long table covered in food, plates, napkins, etc., and at the end was a portable bar with two guys behind it, pouring out drinks. Neither one was Aidan.
“You all alone, li'l girl?” a guy asked behind me. He plopped his arm down over my shoulder and puffed beery breath in my face. “Jus' say th' word, and ol' Josh'll take care of you, yes, I will. Take care of you. Li'l girls shouldn't be 'lone. 'S very bad thing.”
I shrugged my way out from under his arm. “Um, no, I'm here with...with...Aidan.”
“Aid'n? Aid'n? Oh, yeah, bloke in the back snogging the blond bird. You don' want him, li'l girl. He's procopied.”
“Yes, well, I'd better go find him.”
“Repocopied.”
“You said he's in the back? That way?”
“Preecopeed.”
“Preoccupied, and I'll find him myself.”
GOD! Drunks! Ew! I hurried down another hallway, smaller than the first, until I reached the back of the house. People were wandering all around here, too, everyone laughing and drinking and joking with each other. I never knew Devon had so many friends! I looked into each room as I passed it, and at last found Aidan in a room that looked like our library, only much, much nicer. Lots of glossy leather chairs, leather books, dead animal heads on the wall, expensive looking rugs on the floor, that sort of thing. Aidan was sitting in a big leather armchair with Tash in his lap, leaning over sideways and laughing at something Devon was saying. Devon, oddly enough, didn't have any girls hanging off him. I was a bit surprised, because he usually always had at least one girl with him, but this time he was by himself. I guess he was being polite, since he was the host.
“Oh, look, there's your little schoolmate,” Tash said, her scratchy voice making my ears hurt.
“Emily!” Devon said, grabbing two drinks from a table and beetling straight for me. He handed me a glass, then leaned forward and kissed me. RIGHT ON THE LIPS!
“Um,” I said, trying to look like I greet guys by kissing them all the time. “Hi, Devon. Great party.”
“It is now that you're here,” he said, half turning to wave his drink at the people in the room. “You know everyone?”
“Um—”
“Good. Drink up, drink up, there's plenty where that came from.”
I looked down at the drink. It was clear and had one tiny little sliver of ice and a curl of lemon. “Oh. Thanks. I will. It's just that I'm not really one for...um...vodka.”