The Pull of Destiny (31 page)

“I don’t have
many options,” I pointed out. “I’m broke right now.”

“We’ll loan you
the money for the dress, won’t we, Shaz babe?” Robyn said firmly.

“Yeah, sure,”
Shazia agreed heartily.

I opened my
mouth. “But-.”

“You can pay us
back when you can,” Shazia told me softly, her voice compassionate. “I know you
hate being indebted, but this is for a good cause.”

“Yeah. Shazia’s
dresses are soo last season,” Robyn joked.

“
Thank
you,
Rob,” Shazia said, giggling.

I gulped,
trying to gather my thoughts as Robyn and Shazia had their mock argument. Did
they just offer to loan me money for a dress?

“Guys. You’re
awesome friends. I’ll pay you back as soon as I can,” I said fervently, a lump
in my throat.

“
When
you can,” Robyn repeated. “No pressure.”

I nodded.
“Thanks.” My voice came out barely a whisper and I swallowed.

“Hey, I have an
idea,” Shazia said excitedly. “Girls weekend at my place! Aisha’s sending
someone over to do my hair and makeup, she can do all of us.”

“Yay!” I
exclaimed happily.

Girl’s weekends
always rocked, especially if they were at Shazia’s, since there was the added
bonus of a shirtless Ahmed.

“So be at my
place after you finish doing your afternoon things and we’ll go find you a
dress, Celsi,” Shazia said, leaving no room for argument. Not that I was going
to argue about it. “I gotta go. I have a paper to finish. Bye, lovies.”

“Goodnight,
Shaz,” Robyn and I said in unison.

There was a
click as Shazia hung up.
And then there were two.

“Don’t worry
Celsi,” Robyn said bracingly, as I struggled to guess what she was talking
about now.
She changes subjects as fast as Luke!
“Joanna and Wendy can’t
start anything in front of their parents. Just make sure you stay with Luke at
all times and you’ll be fine.”

“I guess so,” I
said.

I had long
stopped worrying about that. The dress issue weighed heavily on my mind. I
hoped that we wouldn’t head to an expensive store, but knowing Robyn, she’d
probably take me to the most exclusive shop on Fifth Avenue. She was just high
maintenance like that.

“I know so,”
she said, certainty etched in her voice. “Luke- he’s not going to let anything
happen to you. And I’ll be there.”

Despite myself,
I smiled. “It’s going to be a fun night,” I said, the old excitement seeping
back into my body.

Robyn snorted.
“Yeah right. They rarely are.”

Robyn’s ominous
tone couldn’t stem the anticipation I felt. After years of wistfully hearing
her regale me with tales about the woefully boring events her parents dragged
her to, I finally had the chance to attend one and see for myself whether
gala’s were a waste of time or a people watching feast. Even if it did turn out
to be boring, my date more than made up for it.

“See you
tomorrow, Celsi,” Robyn yawned. “You gotta get your beauty sleep. You don’t
need bags under your eyes tomorrow.”

I stretched
languidly. “Indeed I don’t. Goodnight, muffin.”

We both hung up
and I turned over in bed, burying my head in the pillow. I hoped to myself that
I would be able to find a dress that was cheap enough for me to pay the girls
back. Because going to the gala with Luke was a once in a lifetime opportunity,
and I didn’t intend to miss it.

Next Day

After an hour
at work on Friday afternoon, I headed to Shazia’s place, my clothes in an
overnight bag. The concierge let me go up in the elevator and I rang the bell
to the El Hamed’s penthouse. When the door opened, to my surprise, neither
Shazia or Robyn was standing in front of me. Luke stood there, looking both
surprised and pleased to see me.

Grinning
widely, he said, “Hey, you.”

“Hi,” I smiled
back, stepping into the penthouse as he held the door open for me.
What a
gentleman.
“What are you doing here?”

He shrugged.
“I’m waiting on Ahmed,” he told me, gesturing with his shoulder in the
direction of Ahmed’s room as we stood in the entrance hall. “We’re going to
Wendy’s place; she’s having a movie night.”

“Oh, sounds
like fun,” I said. Not as much fun as Robyn, Shazia and I were set to have, but
fun still.

“Yeah, but
Ahmed takes so long to get ready! He’s like a girl when it comes to that.”
Luke’s eyes flickered over me and he winced. “No offence.”

“None taken,” I
assured him. Ahmed
was
a diva when it came to his appearance, yet when
the shoe was on the other foot (as in, when Shazia took a long time getting
ready) he went on a rampage.
Hypocrite.
“Have you been waiting long? Do
you know if Shazia’s here?”

Luke stuffed
his hands in the pockets of his blue jacket. “I’ve been waiting since school
was out. Shazia’s in her room, she said she had to change.”

I heaved a sigh
of relief. Now all we had to do was wait for Robyn then the shopping could
commence. And hopefully end with me finding a perfectly wearable cheap dress.
Hopefully.
“Great.”

Giving me a
mildly curious glance, Luke blew the air out of his eyes. “What are
you
doing here?” he asked, then grinned. “My turn to be nosy, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely.” I
still couldn’t get over how easy Luke was to talk to.
And how fun.
And
how fun, too. I never used to think he was a friendly guy when I didn’t know
him that well. “We’re having a girl’s weekend.”

Before I could
continue, Luke looked around and (apparently) remembered that we were still
chatting in the El Hamed’s foyer.
Not polite behavior at all.

“Let’s go into
the living room,” he suggested, suddenly slipping his hand into mine and
leading me down the hall. “It feels kinda awkward talking here.”

You don’t
have to hold my hand, I’m not a 5 year old scared to cross the road! We aren’t
even near a road!
Still, I thought it was adorable that Luke was holding my hand.

Once we were in
the living room, he let go of my hand (damn) and I sat on a couch while he sat
on the armrest, swinging his leg against the side of the chair.

“So what goes
on during a girl’s weekend?” he asked me, sounding like he really wanted to
know.

I shook my
untied hair back as I explained. “Well, we give each other makeovers, do our
nails, talk about- we talk.”

Obviously I had
been going to say ‘talk about boys’. That would have been a giant giveaway that
we were going to talk about him all night long. Unfortunately, Luke pounced on
this morsel.

“Talk?” Luke
chuckled. “About boys?”

Damn, damn,
damn!
Guilty.

“No. We talk
about music,” I fibbed, not looking at Luke.

He nudged my
shoulder and I glanced up at him just as he was looking down at me, a cute
smile on his face. “You’re so lying,” he chortled.

I blinked
embarrassedly. “Well, maybe a little,” I conceded uncomfortably.

Snickering
loudly, Luke stood up and stretched. “Are you psyched for tomorrow?” he asked
suddenly, turning to face me.

I nodded,
smiling. “Yeah.” The minx in me made me ask mischievously, “Are you?”

Luke pointed at
himself, a ‘who, me?’ look on his face. “Don’t I look pumped?” he asked.

Still toying
with him (hey, who said he always had to have the fun?) I shrugged. “No, not
really,” I joked as he ran a hand through his messy hair.

“Dude, I’m so
stoked.” He grinned down at me. “We’re going to have a blast,” he said surely,
stuffing his phone into his pocket. “You’ll be glad you said yes.”

I smiled shyly
up at him, my heart thumping at the look on his face as he stared down at me, a
lopsided smile turning up his lips. “I think I already am,” I said, deciding to
be honest.

His grin grew
wider. “Cool. And Faith’s looking forward to seeing you too, so that’ll make
two of us.”

I couldn’t
think of anything to say in answer to that (thanks? Me too?
What?!
) but
luckily I didn’t have to, because at that moment, Luke started sniffing the
air, his head cocked like a cute Collie.
Hold up Celsi, did you just compare
Luke to a dog? Shame on you.

“What’s that
smell?” he asked, circling the chair I was sitting in as he sniffed.

Hoping that I
hadn’t stepped in dog poop on my way over here, I asked, “What smell?”

“It smells like
strawberries.”

I shrugged.
Maybe another aneurysm symptom was phantom smells. I definitely couldn’t smell
strawberries, even though thinking about them made me feel hungry.
Thank
you, Luke
. “I don’t know- I don’t smell anything,” I admitted.
Apart
from you, Mr. Yummy, but somehow I get the feeling that’s not what you’re
talking about.
Still, I was glad the smell wasn’t dog poop.

Still sniffing,
Luke walked around my chair again and stood in front of me, looking perplexed.
He
must be hungry, too
. “It’s coming from- CiCi, your hair smells like
strawberries.”

Oh, yeah. My
Herbal Essences shampoo!
Duh, Celsi.
“I washed it this morning,” I told him as he looked down at me, a mesmerized
expression on his face.
The boy must love him some strawberries.

“This is the
most delicious smell out there,” Luke said enthusiastically, sniffing the air
above my head.

“Uh, thanks,” I
said slowly, wondering if Luke had some strawberry fetish. That was pretty hot.
Weird, but definitely sexy.

“Can I have a-
closer smell?” he asked me, flushing slightly as I gaped at him. “You probably
think I’m weird, but I just have a thing for girls who smell of strawberries.”

Oh, my.

“Sure. Knock
yourself out,” was all I could say.

With a grin on
his face, Luke bent over, sliding his hands onto my shoulders, squeezing them
lightly and sensuously as he breathed in the scent from my hair, his breath hot
on my forehead.
No pressure.
I felt like I was about to faint from Luke
touching me so sexily and I braced myself.
Act normal, stay calm.

While we were
in that distinctly incriminating position, Robyn chose that moment to walk in.
A guilty looking Luke stepped back as Robyn cleared her throat, her eyes glued
to us.

“Am I
interrupting?” she asked curiously, absolutely dying to know what was
happening. I could tell. Robyn
always
had to know everything. Although I
suppose if I’d walked in on someone in the same position as Luke and I had been,
I would act nosy too.

“Uh, no,” Luke
said, blushing slightly as he sat down on a stool.

Robyn frowned,
not getting the answers she needed. So she decided to go for broke. “Luke- what
were you doing?”

Luke glanced up
at her, the embarrassed look still on his face. I didn’t understand that. It
wasn’t like Robyn had walked in on us kissing
(swoon)
or anything. So
why was he acting so- shady?

Rather
defensively, Luke replied, “I was smelling CiCi’s hair.”

Robyn tugged on
her ponytail as she looked from Luke to me. “Uh huh.” She gave me a teasing
smile. “Hi, ‘CiCi’.”

Rolling my eyes
at the impish look on Robyn’s face, I said, “Hi, Rob.”

Perching
herself on the edge of a couch, Robyn fixed Luke with a smile. “So, Luke, what
color dress should CiCi wear to the gala?”

“Um, I don’t
know,” Luke replied, shrugging. He looked at me, smiled. “I think she’d look
good in any color.”

His sincerity
made the heat rise in my cheeks and I bowed my head, hoping that Robyn wouldn’t
notice how flustered I looked. But honestly, just how sweet was Luke? No guy
had ever paid me so many compliments before.

“Yeah, but what
color would go with your tux?” Robyn asked, the warm, fuzzy moment totally lost
on her.

Luke gave a
surprised chuckle. “My tux is black,” he told her. “Any color would go.”

“I just want
you two to be color coordinated,” Robyn pressed. “What color’s your tie?”

“Astor!” Ahmed
bellowed from the foyer. “Let’s go!”

A clearly
relieved look on his face (Luke had obviously been interrogated by Robyn
before) Luke stood up. “I don’t wear ties,” he told Robyn carelessly. Robyn
gasped.

“But- you have
to!” she exclaimed, shock in her voice.

“Nope,” Luke
grinned, coming to stand behind me as Robyn frowned in his direction. “See ya,
Robyn.” He lightly massaged my shoulders as he bent his head down to mine.
“I’ll call you,” he whispered in my ear, right before he gave me a soft, shiver
inducing kiss on the cheek.