Two Truths & a Lime (The Love Game #3) - Elizabeth Hayley Page 0,79
voice soft but firm. When her eyes met mine, I continued. “You are the bravest person I know,” I said fiercely. “Not wanting to get into a confrontation with this guy doesn’t make you weak. It makes you smart.”
I saw the tears well in her eyes as her bottom lip began to wobble.
“I don’t want to go back to school next semester,” she said. And with that admission, she broke into sobs.
I gathered her as close as I could with the console between us. “You don’t have to. We’ll figure it out, Tay. Me, Drew, Brody, all of us—we have your back.”
She clutched me harder and let all her fears and frustration out. And I continued to hold her as she fell apart, thankful for the knowledge that I could help put her back together again afterward.
Chapter Twenty-Five
S O P H I A
“How do I look?”
I emerged from our bathroom expecting to find Taylor sitting on her bed where she’d been when I’d gone in to get ready a half hour ago. Instead, I found myself asking an empty room about my appearance.
A moment later, I heard her call from the kitchen. “Should I be like most of the male population and just say ‘great’ without looking at you?”
“I’d prefer that you don’t,” I answered, heading out of the bedroom. “I need an honest opinion.”
“And because you know I’d tell you if you looked like a harlot, you came to me?”
“Yes. Well, and also because I have no one else to ask.” I glanced down at the tight black dress that showed off my figure. “I don’t look like a harlot, do I?”
Taylor tossed some spaghetti into a boiling pot of water and leaned against the counter as she studied me.
“What? Should I go change? Is my eye shadow too much?” I headed over to the microwave and stared at my reflection, stooping down a bit because my heels added about four inches. “Is it my hair? Should I put it up or something?” I asked, turning back toward her.
“Relax,” she said. “I’m just taking it all in.”
She’d never been shy with her words, which was why I trusted her opinion more than anyone else’s, even if she hadn’t been the only one here. Not only would she not censor herself, but she had an innate sense of fashion.
“Yup,” she said, moving the slotted spoon she was holding up and down the length of my body. “It’s all working. Your hips, your ass, the off-the-shoulder dress. If I wasn’t like…the straightest female ever, I’d wanna fuck you.”
“Um, thanks. I think. I’m not sure that comment makes you the straightest female ever, but I’ll take it as a compliment.”
“Good. Because it is. You look hot. Like really hot. And Drew thinks you’re beautiful even when you look like shit, so he probably won’t be able to keep his hands off you.”
Again I chose to take it as a compliment. At least the beginning and end of it.
“Where’s he taking you, anyway?”
“I actually don’t know. He said it was a surprise. I’m hoping we’re not going hiking or something,” I said with a laugh. “I don’t think these heels’ll make it.”
“I’m sure you’re fine. He would’ve told you to wear something specific. And you’re meeting him in the lobby, so you can always run back up to change if you need to.”
That was true. Plus, I couldn’t see Drew planning something that involved anything other than letting us relax. It’d been a long few weeks since the deck opening, and both of us had been too busy to see each other much, even though we lived in the same building.
“Okay.” I sighed deeply as I wondered why I was so nervous to go out on a date with a guy I’d been dating for months. “I guess I’ll get going.” I grabbed the small yellow clutch before smiling and saying, “Don’t wait up.”
I hurried down to the lobby, excited, and a little anxious, to get this date started.
Seeing Drew in dark-gray chinos and a crisp white shirt with the top few buttons open did two things to me: one, it made me relieved that we definitely weren’t going hiking, and two, it caused me to second-guess why we’d even decided to go out at all when we could’ve just stayed in bed. Because as good as Drew looked in fitted pants and an untucked shirt, he’d look even better without either of them on at all.