Billionaires Don’t Fall For Awkward Girls by Emma Dalton
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“I’ve been waiting for this forever!” Kara says as she falls down on one of the three folding beds we squeezed into my room.
Charlie face-plants on the one next to her. “Slumber parties equal homework parties.”
All three of us give her a face.
She lifts her head and chuckles. “I’m kidding! You should see your faces.”
Ally sighs happily as she lies down on her bed. “We need a hundred sleepovers to make up for the ones I missed in middle school.”
“I know, right?” Kara says as she bounces on her bed. “Every time a kid invited their friends to a sleepover, I was always so jealous. And I secretly hoped they would invite me. But they never did.”
“I hear you, sister,” Charlie says.
“I would hope they would ask me too,” Ally admits. “But then I hoped they wouldn’t because I’d be petrified to go. So many people in one place?” She shivers.
“Well, they all suck anyway,” Charlie says, sitting crossed-legged on her bed and flashing us each a smile. “All that matters is that we’re here now.”
Kara raises an imaginary cup. “Here’s to many more!”
We drink from our imaginary cups.
“Why are you so quiet, Dani?” Ally asks me.
I shake my head. “No reason. I guess I want this sleepover to work out.”
“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” Kara reassures me. “It’s perfect so far.”
Well, all we did since they got here was dress into pajamas and eat a snack Mom made. But it’s enough just to be together.
“What about discussing the book?” Ally asks.
“This isn’t book club,” Kara reminds her. “Shouldn’t we have interests outside of it?”
“She’s obsessed,” Charlie says with a chuckle. “With a capital O.”
Ally’s cheeks burn. “The book is amazing. The love story of the two main characters? What a rollercoaster of emotions. I wish real life was like that.”
“Heck no.” Charlie holds out her hands like she’s wading away even a speck of romance. “I don’t need that kind of drama in my life.”
They laugh.
Ally glances at me. “Are you sure you’re okay, Dani?”
I blink. “Hmm?”
“You’re never this quiet. Did something happen?”
“N-no.”
Charlie’s eyes widen. “Oh my gosh, something did! I know that look. Easton is involved. Except…” She narrows her eyes at me. “Something’s different. Majorly different.”
“No it’s not!”
Kara rolls her eyes. “Did you yell at him again? Or maybe you got annoyed at his laugh?”
“Nothing’s wrong with his laugh!” The words burst out of my mouth before I can stop them. “He doesn’t sound like an elephant. Why do you insist he does?”
They all gape at me.
My eyes widen when I realize what came out of my lips, and I slap my hands over my mouth.
“Us? You’re the one who equated his laughter to an elephant,” Charlie says.
“The world is coming to an end.” Kara gasps. “Dani is actually defending Easton Knight Jr.”
“I know, right?” Ally giggles. “Who are you and what have you done with our friend?”
“I’m still me!”
Charlie chuckles as she shakes her head. “You are so not you.”
I dive onto my bed and bury my face in my pillow.
“Seriously, Dani, what happened?” Kara asks. “All joking aside, you’re never this quiet.”
“Because I’ve never obsessed over anything like I’m obsessing over this,” my muffled voice says.
“Obsessing over what?” Ally asks.
“The kiss,” I say into the pillow.
“What?” Charlie asks. “I couldn’t hear you.”
“I think she said ‘miss,’” Kara offers. “You miss having time for dance?”
“You miss spending time with your dad?” Ally asks.
“Maybe she misses her mom working at school?”
I lift my head and say a bit too loudly, “Not miss! Kiss! I kissed Easton on Friday night.”
They stare at me with their jaws plummeting to the floor, eyes so wide they’ll bounce right off their faces.
With my cheeks scorching, I bury my face back in the pillow.
“Time out!” Kara practically yells. “You kissed Easton Knight?”
“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” Ally gushes.
“How does someone who hates Easton’s guts wind up kissing him?” Charlie asks with a laugh. “This is insane.”
I pluck my face off my pillow and tell them exactly how this came to be.
“I knew it!” Ally’s face shines. “This is better than any romance I’ve ever read.”
“No it’s not!” I cry. “It’s ruining my life.”
“How is it ruining your life?” Charlie asks.
“Because it’s the only thing I’ve been thinking about since it happened.”
“You like Easton!” Ally says.
“I do not!”
“You’re obsessed with him!” Charlie says.
“I am not! I’m obsessed with the kiss.”
They all ooh.
“I hate my life.” I slam my face into my pillow again.
There’s a knock on the door. I raise my head and say, “Come in.”
Dad peeks his head inside and smiles. “I heard happy chatter in here.”
“Dad!” I bound off the bed and wrap my arms around him. “You’re home early.”
“Just by a couple of hours.” He kisses the top of my head. “I finally have a chance to meet your friends.”
“Of course!” I grab his hand and pull him inside, introducing him to my friends.
With a smile, he settles down on the chair at my desk. “Dani’s told me so much about you. I’m sorry we haven’t had a chance to meet until now. I work extremely long hours.”
“She’s told us so much about you too,” Kara says with a smile. “You sound like such an awesome dad.”
“I try. She’s become a happier person since she became friends with you girls. I appreciate you looking out for my little girl.”
“Dad,” I say with an embarrassed laugh.
“My dad is worse than that,” Kara says. “He always calls me pumpkin in public and he makes it his mission to embarrasses me, especially in front of my boyfriend.”
Dad grins. “That’s our job. We don’t want our little girls to grow up too fast.”
“Or not at all,” I say with a roll of my eyes.
“Exactly.” He faces my friends. “So what book are you discussing in your book club?”
“You like to read, Mr. Wood?” Charlie asks.
“Definitely. That’s where Dani got her love for reading. Her mom and I used to read to her every night when she was a baby. And for many years after that. Even when she was too old for it.”
“Dad,” I groan.
“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, sweetheart. Those moments we shared together meant the world to me.”
“We’re in the middle of reading a regency romance,” Kara informs him. “Ally is obsessed with the genre.”
Ally’s face gets bright red.
“Nothing wrong with reading what you love,” Dad tells her. “What do you love about it?”
Ally seems anxious by the direct question—it takes a while until she feels comfortable around strangers and opens up, but she must feel at ease with my dad because she says, “I love when the guy is a gentleman and sweeps the woman off her feet, but still treats her with respect. And I like when the woman is confident and goes after what she wants.”
Dad nods. “You’ve got good taste, Ally.” He glances at Charlie. “What genre is your favorite?”
“I like all kinds,” she says. “As long as the story is intriguing. But I don’t have that much time to read, so I only read the books for the club.”
“Charlie does everyone’s homework,” I tell Dad. “She’d rather do other people’s homework than read. Can you believe it?”
He chuckles. “I was the same when I was your age. I did everyone’s homework.”
“You did?” I ask. “How did I not know this?”
He chuckles. “I got paid for it too.”
“Oh, I don’t charge,” Charlie says. “It kind of defeats the purpose.”
“No? You’d make a killer.”
Charlie shrugs. “Not my thing.”
Dad looks at Kara. “And what’s your story?”
“I write for the Edenbury High Times. And I love reading paranormal romances and the classics.”
“And she has a super sweet boyfriend,” I tell him.
Dad smiles at her. “If he’s a good one, hold on to him.”
She returns the smile. “I’m not letting him go anywhere.”
“Good.” He grins at all of us before getting to his feet. “This was great. I’m glad I finally got to meet you, girls.”
“It was great meeting you too,” Kara says. Ally and Charlie nod.
“Good night.” He turns to me and kisses my cheek. “Don’t stay up too late, okay? It’s a school night.”
“Okay.”
As soon as he’s gone, my friends gush how great Dad is. Then Charlie says, “So back to the matter at hand…”
“What?” I ask.
“Easton!”
I groan and cover my face.
“Does this mean…what does this mean, exactly?” Kara asks.
“No clue,” I moan into my hands.
“It means Easton and Dani will fall in love and have an epic romance!” Ally says.
I drop my hands and give her a face. “In your dreams.”
“In your dreams,” she corrects with a giggle.
“As if. I avoided him all day at school. And I’ll continue to avoid him for the rest of my life.”
“But is that what you really want?” Charlie says with a teasing grin.
I throw my pillow at her. “Yes, it’s what I want.”
“You don’t know what you want, do you?” Kara says with her own teasing grin.
“Of course she does! She wants to kiss Easton again.”
“Ally, that’s not true! I want to erase it from my mind and pretend it never happened.”
“So you can dream about him at night.”
I groan and smash my face into my bed.
“Okay, okay,” Kara says. “We’ll stop teasing you. But if you do feel something for him, Dani—”
“I don’t.”
“But if you do, you shouldn’t hide the way you feel. That’s what I did with Brayden and it sucked. Luckily things worked out for us, but you don’t want to miss out on something that could be amazing.”
“Can we watch the movie?” I ask. “We only have an hour before lights out.”
Even though it looks like my friends want to further discuss me and Easton, they agree. It’s a good thing we’re watching an action movie and not a romance because I need to do whatever I can to stop thinking about those darn kissable lips. I’ll eventually get over it, right?