On His Knees by Tabatha Kiss
Chapter 70
Seth
Ipause as I pass by Drew’s open doorway. He’s standing in front of his mirror with a tie in each hand; one red, one blue. He holds the red up to his white dress shirt, then the blue. Then red. No, blue.
“No tie,” I say.
He turns, startled. Guess he was so focused on getting it just right, he didn’t hear me come home.
“No tie?” he asks.
“Yeah, ditch it.” I step into the room. “Gotta look natural, you know? You get all fancy on her and she’ll know something is up.”
“Or she’ll think I just wanted to look nice for her birthday dinner.”
“Dude, it’s Heidi.”
Drew raises a brow. “Good point.”
He tosses both ties away and checks out his reflection again. It’s already perfect, but he’s clearly nervous for the night to go well. It will, but I guess that’s easy for me to say.
Drew pops his collar, then puts it right back down. Good choice, buddy.
I sit down on the corner of his bed with my own bundle of nerves in my gut.
Just tell him she’s not coming. Tell him she had a thing come up and that we’ll all get together for dinner soon. That’s what Jenna wants.
But…
“What’s up, Seth?”
“Nothing,” I say, clearing my throat. “Just feeling a little nervous about tonight.”
“You’refeeling nervous?”
“Not as much as you, obviously. Maybe. Probably.” I fidget. I run a hand through my hair. “So, I’m bringing a date to dinner, as you know...”
“As I know...”
“And I’m feeling a little nervous about it,” I say again. “I really like this girl and it’s the first time I’ve... unveiled her, so to speak. I just want you guys to like her, that’s all.”
Drew nods in understanding. “What’s not to like about her?”
“Nothing,” I say, my heart skipping deep down. “She’s gorgeous and wicked smart and funny and... gorgeous. I really like her.”
I love her, actually.
I want the world to know.
“Yeah, I can tell,” he says. “Never seen you this fucked up about a girl before.”
“Oh, fucked up is exactly the way I’d describe it, too.”
“If she’s a fraction as great as you keep saying she is, then I’m sure we’ll like her, too, man.” Drew smiles. “Don’t worry too much about it.”
“Right.” I nod.
See? Right there.
Drew says not to worry about it. They’ll love her. They already love her, they just don’t know it’s her yet. They’ll love us together, too.
“You’re right. It’ll be fine.”
“It’ll be fine,” he repeats to himself in the mirror.
“Tonight’s not about me, anyway,” I say. “It’s about her. It’s about Heidi. It’s my little sister’s birthday.”
Drew abandons the mirror. “That’s right,” he says. “Speaking of, is everything in place?”
“Everything is in place,” I say.
“Everything?”
“The hand-drawn map you gave me was a little dorky, but yeah.” I grin. “Everything.”
“Thanks for doing that for me, man. I would have set it up myself, but—”
“But Nora’s going on maternity leave soon, and you were stuck at the office because you’re learning how to fill her glorious Jimmy Choos. Yeah, I know. Gloat more about how a billionaire is leaving you in charge of her empire for months.”
He laughs. “You think I can pull off Jimmy Choos?”
“You’ve got the calves for it, sure.”
Drew exhales hard and shakes out his entire body.
I look at the clock as he does. It’s almost seven. Jenna should be heading to the hotel soon, along with our closest friends and family. My parents. My sister’s favorite band and all the other little surprises in store.
I want to enjoy this night with Jenna, together.
“Okay,” Drew says. “I’m going to head over there.”
I raise a fist. “Delta Xi.”
He raises his. “Delta Xi.”
Tonight is the night.
She’ll understand.