selecting two empty cups before ladling some punch into them. She turned to make her way back to their table, the cups in her hands, and stopped short at the sight before her.
Standing there, looking impossibly gorgeous in a black and white tuxedo with a dark red vest, was Will.
For several seconds Annabelle couldn’t actually make herself believe that it was really Will. And then she recognized Ebony standing beside him, looking elegant and gothic in a dark crimson dress with crushed black velvet pieces. A squeal of disbelief and delight escaped her lips and she all-but dropped the drinks onto the table, rushing over to the couple.
“You look beautiful!” Annabelle cried, flinging her arms around Ebony’s neck in a tight hug.
Ebony laughed out loud. “Thanks,” she said, grinning as Annabelle stepped back. “I had to bribe Will to bring me. Some guy, huh?”
Annabelle looked up at him. He really was stunning in his tuxedo, his silky dark hair falling around his face, and couldn’t help grinning back. “Some guy,” she agreed happily. “You look amazing.”
He offered a cocky smile. “Of course I do. I told you I could pull off a tux, didn’t I?”
She laughed. “You did. You were absolutely right.” Suddenly realizing that she was staring, she tore her eyes away from him to look down at Ebony, who was smiling at her. “Did you guys come alone? Or were you able to bribe the rest of your friends into coming, too?”
“They’re here,” Ebony assured her, then frowned as she looked around. “I just don’t know where exactly…”
“Well hell-o gorgeous.”
Annabelle felt her heart plummet into her stomach at the flirtatious, seductive tone. Stricken, she turned slowly to look back at Claire, who had suddenly materialized on her right side with Claudia, her eyes hungrily taking in Will.
“Now I get what you see in him, Annabelle,” Claire teased, elbowing her lightly in the side. Annabelle gaped at her in horror as Claire looked back up at Will. “You pull off sexy effortlessly,” Claire told him, running a perfectly manicured French nail along his lapel.
Annabelle wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry or throw up. What did Claire mean that now she got it? Annabelle had never talked about Will with any of her friends. She didn’t even talk about Will to Trevor. How could Claire know that she and Will were friends? And besides that, Claire wouldn’t go after Will, would she? She wasn’t good enough for him. Ebony was the only one who deserved wonderful, kind, exciting, sweet Will. A montage of memories flooded her mind: Will smiling and laughing down at her, looking at her with his gentle, calm expression, and before knew what she was doing, her hand shot out and snatched Claire’s wrist, pulling her hand off of Will.
“Come on, sweetheart!” Annabelle insisted, in the sweetest voice she had ever mustered. “I want to dance! Let’s leave these two love birds alone!”
Claire’s eyes flashed with anger, but she couldn’t argue with the tone in Annabelle’s voice without causing a scene and they both knew it. “Of course!” she agreed, then shot a flirtatious look back at Will. “Save me a dance!” she called back at him.
Annabelle could have broken her wrist.
When they finally rejoined the others at the table, it took almost all of her effort to keep Claire from running off to go find Will. And when she wasn’t trying to stop Claire, she was trying to shut up Claudia, who wouldn’t stop talking about how hot Will looked. Between all of that she tried to pay attention to Trevor, who just sat there with a large grin, laughing with the others.
She was pretty sure she had never been more exhausted in her life.
Finally, when Claire and Claudia went to use the bathroom, Annabelle allowed herself a moment to relax. She stood and hurried to the refreshment table to retrieve the drinks she had wanted over an hour earlier. As she cut her way through the crowd, she felt her shoulders start to slump but immediately straightened them, forcing herself to keep it together. She only had to endure it for a little longer. On Monday Will would go back to his normal way of dressing that her friends detested, and she wouldn’t have to worry about them trying to seduce him anymore.
As she reached for a cup of punch, a hand caught her wrist. Startled, she turned to her right, and despite everything felt a grin appear as she looked up into Will’s