The Boyfriend List

by Novelle, R. S.

  And that was how she knew everything about what was starting to evolve between them was so right for her.

  Once she finally fell asleep, the faintest of smiles lingering on her lips through her dreams, her eyes didn’t open again until Petra burst through her door, beaming with joy and with a sparkling tiara on her head. Tangled in her sheets, Reagan had been in the middle of the most peaceful sleep she’d gotten in days and felt more than a little disoriented from being so rudely disturbed from it. It was early, entirely too early for anyone to be up, let alone up and bothering her.

  After opening the curtains despite Reagan’s sleepy protests, Petra jumped on Reagan’s bed and began bouncing up and down.

  “Rise and shine sleeping beauty!”

  Pulling the pillow up over her head, Reagan mumbled from underneath it. “Go away!”

  “How do I look?” Petra threw a model-like pout over her shoulder in what would’ve been the perfect candidate for one of her many selfies. Reagan peeked out from under the pillow just barely enough to get a glimpse of her in all her sparkling glory.

  “Like the devil incarnate.” She sleepily replied before burying her head back under her pillow.

  “You’re no fun.” Her friend groaned, then asked in her most sing-songy voice. “Why are we skipping class today?”

  “Cause I’m tired. Why are you?”

  “Because I have shopping to do. I still need a dress for tomorrow if you can believe that. Which reminds me....” Jumping from the bed, Petra swung open Reagan’s bare closet and began going through her garments one by one, dismissing each one individually. Peaking her head up at the clock, Reagan saw 9:30 in big red numbers then looked to Petra, part desperation, part resentment gleaming from her eyes. “What are you going to wear?”

  Resigning herself to the fact that she was going to be awake now, whether she liked the idea or not, Reagan finally sat up in bed and focused a little more on the issue at hand.

  “I have no idea. I guess something in there?”

  Petra turned slowly from the closet as though Reagan had just spoken a horrendous fashion sacrilege. “In here?”

  She nodded and shrugged before stifling a huge yawn. It was just a party, and suddenly she had more important things occupying her mind than finding a dress to wear – like whether or not last night’s adventure made her an Ian an official couple.

  “Get up.” Petra demanded, ripping the covers from her body and tugging her out of bed.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Get out of bed. You’re coming shopping with me. I can not have my best friend looking like a hobo on my birthday night.”

  “No way! You go shopping. I’m going back to bed.” Flopping backwards onto her pillows, she rolled over onto her side as though the debate had been settled.

  As far as Petra was concerned, though, the issue was far from over.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Friday

  When Petra said party of the decade, she wasn’t kidding. Having been born in Vegas, Petra had chosen a casino theme and every last detail had been well planned out. The hottest club had been rented, where extravagant buffets would line every wall and a six-tiered birthday cake had been created to hang from crystal speckled silver chains as the centerpiece. Ice sculptures had been ordered and would gleam in the spotlights, while her invitations had been crafted as custom-made gold betting chips. Dancers had been hired, the hottest DJ was booked, and there were even rumors that a certain multi-platinum singer would be making a cameo appearance. Two completely different event planners had been hired to oversee the set up and other functions, just to make sure that everything went flawlessly.

  And the fact that neither had been able to produce a dress that was to Petra’s liking yet was really not a good sign. Her perfectionism had kicked in full speed, and there was nothing, absolutely nothing, that was beyond her critique at this point.

  So naturally when Petra wanted to take the dress search into her own hands, they started at the trendiest, i.e. most expensive, boutique the city had to offer. Of course they had, Reagan had thought to herself with a subtle eye-roll when they pulled up to the curb, where else would they have gone?

  But her spirits were dampened the moment they walked through the perfectly polished, glass double doors and were offered tall flutes of sparkling champagne. If she hadn’t been able to afford the beautiful red dress she’d found downtown, she sure as hell wouldn’t even bother looking at the price tags in here, she decided as she brushed away the offered beverage.

  Not helping her mood was the fact that she’d literally tumbled out of bed and into Petra’s car. There hadn’t even been time for a coffee stop along the way. Truthfully, she didn’t feel like she belonged someplace like this to begin with. Not if she couldn’t afford what was on the rack. And if that wasn’t bad enough, because she’d been rushed out the door she couldn’t even pull off looking as though she belonged, she thought as she caught a glimpse of herself in one of the many mirrors the store offered. Tugging at a reluctant strand of hair, she made a face at her own reflection.

  As she glanced around, hands crossed over her chest while she wandered aimlessly through tidy racks of endlessly expensive dresses, she began to wonder what she was even doing here to begin with. Petra wasn’t going to buy her a dress, no matter what promises she’d made in order to have a willing companion to join her on her expedition. Nor did Petra need her opinion on which dress to select for herself, since she never seemed to listen to what anyone else had to say anyway.

  But as Reagan looked back at her friend, she noticed Petra had the entire sales staff corralled in the corner, and was gesturing dramatically to give them an idea of the type of dress she was looking for. Oh yeah, Reagan reminded herself with a smirk, I’m here to keep her from driving the staff crazy. And she began walking in their general direction. As the search party went off to find something suitable, Reagan wondered if one of them might be able to find her a cup of coffee as well. She was going to need something if there was any hope of getting through this.

  “Find anything out yet?” Petra wiggled her way up beside Reagan before selecting a black dress and holding it up, eyeing herself in the mirror. Shooting a sideways glance at her, Reagan shook her head and Petra returned it to the rack without question. So she was going to take her opinion into consideration, maybe the trip wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  “I found out I’ll never be able to buy a pair of shoes from here.” She cleared her throat as she carefully returned the glittering heels to their shelf. “Even after college.”

  Petra rolled her eyes and held up a pair of earrings to her face. “You know what I’m talking about.” Just then, three sales women returned with several dresses in their arms, and Reagan let out a breath of relief when they were forced to relocate to the dressing room to let the real fun begin.

  Slumping into a chair beside the trio of floor-to-ceiling mirrors, she waited quietly for Petra to emerge with the first dress on. While the staff’s timing had been impeccable, and Reagan was hoping her friend would forget about the conversation she’d started, she very much doubted she was going to be let off that easily. At some point that morning, Reagan knew she was going to have to confess what had really started to develop lately, and she wasn’t sure she was entirely ready for the conversation. She wasn’t even sure if she really believed what was going on herself. It had happened, but she needed to talk to Ian and see where they stood now before anyone else knew what was going on.

  “You know,” Petra’s shrill voice was a little muffled as it piped through the thick curtain. “I can’t figure out if you’re avoiding the subject because you don’t like what you’ve found, or because you do, and you want to keep it a secret from all the other girls in the world.” It was clear by her tone she was teasing, but Reagan wasn’t in the mood to indulge her.

  Turning to analyze her complexion in the mirror behind her, she pat gently at the dark circles under her eyes. It was a fair price to pay for the de
licious excitement she’d had, she considered with a tilt of her head. “I have absolutely no idea what you mean.”

  Emerging from the center curtain in a beautiful form-fitting yellow dress, Petra’s expression was anything but happy and Reagan was quickly made aware that it had nothing to do with the garment. “I don’t understand you sometimes.” Shoving her hands onto her hips, she glared down at her friend as she lectured her. “You expect me not to notice when you practically disappear for five days after a tragic break up,”

  “It was not that tragic.” Reagan interrupted, inserting another eye-roll.

  But Petra ignored her. “Then you hatch some crazy plan to solve all your guy problems, but only bother give me the bare bones of what’s going on? What the hell? And where the hell were you last night?”

  All the blood drained from Reagan’s face, how had she known? “I don’t want to talk about it right now is all.”

  Petra broke her tirade momentarily to admire her figure in the mirror, then promptly turned to glare at Reagan again. “Yeah. I got that part. Not good enough.” Sauntering back toward the dressing room, she pulled the curtain shut with a snap.

  Reagan’s heart was thudding hard in her chest. God knows she wasn’t trying to keep Petra out of the loop, she was just trying to figure out where in the loop she actually was. The whole thing was still a big confusing mess. But she could feel the confession bubbling up in her, it was rising in her throat, threatening to break out. “You want to know what’s really going on?” She recognized the hesitancy in her own voice as it mixed with the toxic desire for confession.

  “Yes, actually I do.” Her friend snapped back.

  “I kissed Ian.” And there it was. Though she could barely hear it herself, it’d been done. Released. Out in the world. No way to get it back now...and she’d regretted it almost as soon as she’d said it.

  Stunned, Petra snapped the curtain open and took a few steps toward Reagan. Her expression was taut, frozen, stern. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I heard you right.” She replied primly.

  Unable to suppress the grin that was turning up the corners of her mouth, Reagan nodded her head. “Yes, you did.”

  “What?!”

  “I. Kissed. Ian.” Reagan repeated, and the grin spread slowly into a full smile as she remembered each amazing second she’d spent with him.

  “Oh. My. God.” Petra was clearly at a loss for words. Real words, with a real expression.

  “Well, actually he kissed me first, but I did kiss him back.”

  “Ohmygod!”

  “Yeah.”

  “Ohmygod!” Her voice had risen a full octave with each expression.

  “You said that already.” Reagan pointed out delicately.

  “When?”

  “When did you say it?”

  “No!” She stomped her bare foot against the floor. “When did you kiss Ian? I need details woman!”

  “Yesterday? His apartment. While I was locked out.” She waited for Petra to finish gasping before she continued. “Then last night. At the stadium. Until almost three in the morning.”

  Petra extended her hands out as though she might faint. All of her suspicions had officially been confirmed, and she was clearly relishing the moment. “What?!” Her voice raised at least two more octaves. “And I’m just now hearing about this? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “And what would I have said exactly?”

  “That you kissed Ian! Simple! Why do you have to complicate absolutely everything?”

  As equally frustrated with her friend for keeping this very juicy information from her for almost a full twenty-four hours as she was excited about the new development, Petra went behind the curtain in a huff to try on the next dress. But Reagan noticed she was quicker this time, and that when she emerged she spent more time looking to Reagan to fill in the details than she did looking at herself in the mirror. That had to be significant.

  “I blame you, you know.” Reagan began fiddling with her nails to keep from making eye contact.

  “Me? I’d love to take the credit, but what’d I have to do with this?” She made a face in the mirror at herself that expressed her distaste in the garment she had on before sauntering back into the changing room one more time.

  “If you hadn’t told me Brett was on the soccer team, I wouldn’t have gone to see him. If I hadn’t gone to see him, I would never have followed him down the street. If I hadn’t followed him down the street, I wouldn’t have had the pretzel incident and wouldn’t have gone home with Ian to take a shower...”

  Petra’s head popped out of the curtain to interrupt her. “You took a shower with Ian too? Wow, you move fast.”

  Reagan shook her head in dismay. “Stay with me here. Then I never would’ve over heard his phone call and gotten jealous and he wouldn’t have felt the need to make it up to me and so I never would’ve kissed Ian. The first time.”

  “My head’s spinning.”

  “Welcome to my world.”

  “I knew this was going to happen. I told you. Wait.” She put up a finger. “Hold that thought.” Petra disappeared behind the curtain, but quickly reemerged in yet another dress. “So where’d you two leave it?”

  “We didn’t.” She shrugged. “We haven’t really had time to talk about what it all means yet, because I’m here with you now.”

  “It was good right?” Petra’s eyes were sparkling with mischievous charm. “The kiss?”

  Reagan was smiling dreamily as she remembered the moment. “Oh yeah.” She grinned.

  “I knew it. Wait.” She looked as though an idea just occurred to her. “Have you slept with him?”

  “Petra!”

  “It’s just a question.” She shrugged, though a wicked expression flashed from her eyes.

  “Not yet. I don’t move that fast.”

  “Obviously.” The giggle that escaped was meant to indicate the years it took for Reagan to even get to this point. “But you are in love with him, right?”

  “I think so.” Reagan’s voice was barely above a whisper as she considered the answer. But she knew that when her lips were saying I think so, what her heart really meant was yes. And Petra could see through her answer.

  “I knew it!” Petra squealed with excitement, practically bouncing up and down.

  “But I don’t know how he feels. I mean, he said he loves me,” Reagan blushed at the confession, “but I’m not sure where he wants to take all this. Not really.”

  Petra hesitated as she scrutinized her reflection, then shot a wicked smile over to her friend. “I do.”

  “What does that mean?” Reagan’s eyes opened wide.

  “I know exactly how Ian feels about you. Think the party was the only thing we discussed on the phone?”

  “You...what...I don’t even have a word for you right now. Well?”

  “Well what?”

  “Are you going to tell me?” She was practically levitating from her chair in anticipation.

  “Can’t.”

  Reagan stood straight up. “What?”

  “I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”

  “Since when do you keep a secret?”

  Petra considered this. “Since now.” She nodded.

  “You can’t do that.”

  “For the time being I can.” She shrugged. “But trust me, it’s good.”

  “Great.” Sarcasm rolled from Reagan’s tongue as she slouched back against her chair in despair.

  “What’s keeping you two apart anyhow?”

  “Honestly?” Reagan looked up almost forlornly at Petra. “I don’t even know any more.”

  “Good.” Petra gave herself a nod of approval before turning to Reagan. “What do we think?”

  Reagan took one look at the silver sequined, practically painted on dress, and smiled graciously. “Perfect.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Friday Afternoon

  Ian hated shopping almost as much as he hated extravagant parties. But if ever there was an occasion
to make an exception, it was going to be tomorrow night’s event. And when he’d heard the disappointment in Reagan’s voice as she’d explained her dilemma at the boutique, he knew exactly what the perfect surprise would be to cheer her up. So what if it was Petra’s birthday, he planned on buying Reagan as many gifts as it would take for her to be confident in his intentions.

  After having gauged approximately where she must’ve been on campus based on the sequence of events she’d described, Ian grabbed a coffee from the locally owned shop and began strolling up the street, keeping an eye out for a stunning red dress displayed in a hole-in-the-wall boutique. It wasn’t long before he thought he’d stumbled on it. And damn, had Reagan been right. One look at it and he couldn’t stop thinking about how amazing her body would be in it.

  After loosing himself to a few minutes of fantasy, he stepped carefully inside and was quickly approached by an over eager clerk who welcomed him a little more enthusiastically than was necessary.

  “I have sort of an...unusual situation.” Ian began to explain, and the clerk listened intently. “My girlfriend, well, the person I’m about to make my girlfriend,” he corrected, “was in here the other day, I think, and tried on that red dress.” He was pointing toward the window display. “But she left before she could purchase it. Do you remember her, by any chance?”

  “Oh sure!” The clerk exclaimed, and Ian released the nervous breath he’d been holding. “Beautiful girl, she was a lot of fun.”

  “Okay cool.” And this, Ian thought, was going to be the trickiest part of all. “I want to get her the dress, but I don’t actually know what size she wears.”

  “And you don’t want to make the wrong guess.” The clerk finished on his behalf.

  “Exactly.” Ian snapped his fingers. “Do you remember...” As his voice trailed off, he began to think about how impossible the situation might actually be, and he wasn’t exactly one for making a backup plan.