She grabs a tissue from her bag and wipes my face. “Oh, baby. I wish he were here too. But don’t worry, I believe your father is still here with us, and he is smiling down at you.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” I say, giving her a small smile.
I hear someone screaming my name, and both of us look up at the same time. Nancy’s running towards us with our friends right behind her.
“Well, let’s dry our eyes, because this isn’t supposed to be a sad moment,” mom insists. She gives me another tissue to wipe my face and takes one out for herself. “Also, your father wouldn’t want us to be crying like this on your special day. He’s probably making fun of us right now, wanting us to stop crying like babies,” she chuckles.
I laugh, knowing she’s right. My father would always tease us whenever we would cry just to get us to stop. He told me that when we cried, it would eat him up inside; he would rather see us cry tears of joy.
“Edith!”
My mom moves out of the way just in time for Nancy to run into me, wrapping her arms around me, my other friends doing the same.
“We did it!” Sam yells.
We break apart, giving my mom a chance to snap a couple of pictures of us as a group. After she takes her photos, Jonathan pulls out his phone for a selfie. The rest of us do the same, taking our own group and individual photos. When we’re finished, Nancy asks us to gather around so that she can tell us her news.
“So, you guys, I have a surprise for all of us this evening—you’re going to love where we’re going,” she explains.
This isn’t good. We all look at each other, shaking our heads no. Whenever we’ve allowed her to make plans for all of us in the past, it never turned out good. That’s why we agreed to make plans first, before she has a chance to.
Jonathan doesn’t waste time telling her no. “Nope, anytime you’ve made plans for us, somehow, someway, things always turn out bad.”
“Why don’t we all figure out what we want to do together?” Nick suggests.
“I would have to agree with Nick. Let’s all have a part in planning what we do tonight,” Sam adds.
Nancy’s mouth drops open with shock. “Really, guys? You’ve never complained in the past, so I don’t know what’s changed now.” She turns to me. “Come on, back me up. I think you guys will like what I have planned tonight.”
These are the type of conversations I try to avoid. I’m always the deciding factor on if we’ll end up doing something or not, because they can’t all agree on what we should do. Also, I don’t want the blame on me if things don’t turn outright.
Everyone stands there, waiting for me to answer. My friends, who don’t want to do whatever she has planned, are giving me pleading looks while Nancy is glaring at me.
A thought crosses my mind, giving me a way out of this situation.
“Hey, I’m going to have to do a range check, my mom and I were going to go out to eat today.”
Their faces all fall in horror.
“But—” they all say.
My mother holds up a hand, stopping anyone from speaking. “You go out with your friends tonight; I have something to do. We can get together later this week.”
Huh, what could she possibly have to do?
She’s messing up everything.
“Mom, are you sure?”
“Yes, now go with your friends.” She kisses me on the cheek and tells my friends goodbye.
After watching my mother leave, I turn back to them. “Well, I guess I’m with you guys. Does anyone else have anything planned for us to do this evening, other than Nancy?”
No one speaks up, which makes Nancy give me an evil smile, because she knows she’s won.
“All right, let’s get this party started!” Nancy sings.
All of us groan as we follow her.
Here’s to another night we’ll surely not remember.
“ARE WE THERE YET?”
This is Nick’s seventh time asking if we’re almost to our destination, and we’ve only been driving for about forty-five minutes.
“No, and asking me that every five minutes isn’t going to change my answer,” Nancy snarls.
“Well, if you would’ve just told us where we’re going, then I wouldn’t have to keep asking, now would I?” He rolls down the window and sticks his hand out. “All we’ve seen are trees for the past fifteen minutes! Are we even still in Chicago, I feel like we have left the city?”
He sits back with his arms crossed, staring out the window.
Sighing, I lean over and whisper to Nancy, “You know, he has a point. All we’ve seen are trees; can’t you just tell us where you’re taking us?”
“Really?!” she snaps, taking her eyes off the road to look at me. “You’re supposed to be on my side, not his.”
“I’m on both of your sides, but he has a point.”
She ignores me and goes back to focusing on the road.
“Nancy, I’m hungry. Either we’re almost there, or we need to stop to get something to eat. I can’t sit here much longer,” Sam complains.
Nancy throws her hands in the air. “Oh my gosh, you guys are so annoying. We’re literally almost there. Just look!” She points to the window toward some lights in the sky. They’re shaped like circles, shining in the air and moving in different directions.
Nancy veers right, getting off at an exit. As we get closer to the lights, we get caught in line with other cars that turn into the parking lot of a place called Delfino’s.
This must be new, because I’ve never heard of this restaurant before.
As we turn into the parking lot, a man in a black suit shows up, tapping on our window. Nancy rolls it down and hands over a black envelope with a red card inside. He takes the card, scans it, then tells us to follow behind the other vehicles to park.
She follows his instructions and pulls into a parking spot next to the other cars.
“Come on, let’s hurry inside.”
“What is this place?” I ask as we’re getting out of the car.
Nancy takes my arm, and Sam takes the other.
“Delfino’s, it’s a new restaurant that has everyone talking. The owner named it after his family. I thought it would be a nice place for us to come and celebrate graduation,” she explains, dragging both Sam and me behind her. “It’s opening night, so no one knows too much about this place. The owner wanted to keep everything a surprise until the day it opened.”
“Well, this place looks amazing,” I praise. The restaurant is an upside-down replica of the Colosseum building in Italy, surrounded by a lake. I’ve never seen anything like this, and it’s fascinating to gaze upon. Who would have thought that something like this could be created?
Glancing over to my left, I see a woman dressed in an expensive designer dress. Behind her are a group of women and men dressed in a similar taste as her. “Um, Nancy, these people are all dressed up.” I look at my friends and my own outfit, trying to send her a message. “I didn’t know there was a dress code to eat here. Why didn’t you tell us? Also, I’m going to assume this place is expensive. I hope you know we don’t have any money to pay and eat here.”
“Don’t worry; everything is taken care of tonight.”
She gives me a wicked smile and holds up a black card. I shake my head, laughing, because I know whose credit card, that is—it belongs to Alex, Nancy’s boyfriend. I forgot that he told her a week before our graduation that he wouldn’t be able to make it, so this must be his way of making it up to her.
“I can’t believe you guys are still together. I thought you both would’ve broken up by now. You know you get bored easily?”
She licks her lips seductively, giving me a wink. “Not just yet.”
I laugh, pushing her off my arm.
Getting closer to Delfino’s, I really get to see the details of the building. Because it’s the exact replica of the original Colosseum in Italy, it makes me wish I could go to Italy to see the real thing.
As we s
tep onto the red carpet, one of the staff escorts us inside, telling us to wait here and that someone will call us to be seated soon. The room that we’re in is shaped in a circle surrounded by candles, giving it that soft glow. There are lights up in the ceiling, but they’re dimmed low, letting the candles be the main lighting. As I walk around viewing everything, I can hear soft classical music playing in the background. On the walls are different paintings dated back to the beginning of the nineteenth century. In the middle of the room is a three-tier marble scalloped fountain that has running water pouring out of it.
“Wow, this place is stunning,” Jonathan states.
Sam places her arm on Jonathan’s shoulder as she looks up at the chandelier and over to the water fountain. “Yeah, this place is great. I can bet that the prices on the food here are probably outrageous.”
“Don’t worry about the cost. It’s all taken care of tonight.” Nancy again flashes Alex’s card to us, causing another round of laughter. I’m not surprised that she has his card; whenever he can’t make something, he usually gives her his card so she can go crazy doing whatever she wants.
A waiter comes over to offer us some hors d’oeuvres. “Um, what is this?” I ask, looking down at what appears to be crackers with cheese and cranberry sauce on top. It looks like something I could make at home.
“It’s called Cranberry Brie Bites. It’s a crescent with cheese and cranberry sauce,” she explains, pushing the tray towards me.
Curiosity getting the best of me, I go on and try one of the bites. It takes me a minute to decide, but I find it’s not half bad. Looking over at my friends, it seems they share the same opinion.
“I won’t lie; this is actually good. I was suspicious at first, because it didn’t look appealing, but I like it,” Nick says, taking two more off the tray and popping one in his mouth before adding another.
Each of us takes one more as our group name is called. Walking to our table, it’s like we’ve entered a whole other world. There’s a band playing music with people dancing on the dance floor. Next to the stage is a sushi bar and two grills where people are sitting watching their food be prepared in front of them.
As we take our seats, we continue to look around in amazement. This place is remarkable. Our waiter pours us each a glass of wine before leaving, giving us time to look over the menu.
Sam takes both the menu and wine glass in her hands. “Okay, this place is out of this world.”
“Nancy, I have to give you credit, you outdid yourself this time,” Nick congratulates.
Nancy beams with pride as she takes a sip of her wine. “And you guys thought I would ruin tonight’s celebration. Have a little more faith in me.”
I look over at her, giving her a raised eyebrow.
“Really? Have a little faith in you? You must’ve forgotten what happened two weeks ago when we had a little—” I do air quotes with my fingers. “—faith in you,” I chuckle. I hide behind my menu so that I don’t have to see hers and Nick’s face for what I’m about to say next. “You are the reason we always wake up the next day in weird places or situations. This last time had to have been the worst with you throwing that big party. I woke up on the porch of our cottage and found Nick locked in a closet with Tessa.”
Both Sam and Nancy gasp while Jonathan spits wine across the table, laughing it up.
Tessa is the girl that’s had a crush on Nick ever since freshman year, but he keeps telling us that he doesn’t like her like that; that they’re only friends.
We, on the other hand, don’t believe him. We think he likes her, and he’s just scared to get into a serious relationship right now, being that in his mind, we’re all still young and having fun.
“What! Why am I just now hearing this?” Nancy laughs.
I’m trying to hold in my laughter as long as possible, but I can’t hold it anymore after hearing Nick’s response.
“Hm, let me see.” He taps his chin with his finger, then snaps his fingers together. “I know, maybe I knew your big mouth would tell everyone,” he says sarcastically.
As I look up from my menu, Nick’s staring at me with a boring look.
“Oh, man, this is the best news ever.” Nancy waves her hand in front of her while laughing. “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but you know me, I have to know—” she lifts her eyebrows up and down, giving Nick a smirk—“Did you guys do anything?”
He rubs a hand down his face breathing out a sigh, and adjusts his tie. He and I both know that nothing happened between him and Tessa, so I don’t know why he’s dragging this whole thing out. But the anticipation is getting our friends as they sit and wait to find out what happened. He looks at each and every one of them before replying, “Let’s just say, a man never kisses and tells.”
All of them groan, throwing their menus down on the table. He did all that just to give them that answer.
Nick snickers as he takes some bread from the center of the table, taking his sweet time buttering it, and then pops it into his mouth.
“You’re a jerk, you know that?” I groaned.
He just shrugs his shoulders, ignoring me.
Our waiter comes over and takes our orders. Taking advantage of the fact that Alex is paying for everything, all of us make sure to order whatever we want. Once our orders are placed, the conversation continues while we wait for our food. Going down memory lane, we discuss how our lives have changed since starting college, and how excited we are about the future. Jonathan surprises us by telling us that he got the job in New York he applied for, so he’ll be moving at the end of the week, and Nick will be going with him, which isn’t a surprise to any of us, since the boys go everywhere together. I don’t know how things will work out between Tessa and Nick; only time will tell. We all congratulate them both on moving and Jonathan on his job in New York. But they’re not the only ones leaving; Sam’s studying aboard for her master’s program that starts in two days. It makes me sad that things are coming to an end, with all of us going our separate ways. I’m going to miss all of us being together all the time, yet I know this won’t be the last time we’re all together.
“I’m going to really miss you guys,” I cry, blinking to keep the tears at bay.
Sam wraps her arms around my shoulders, squeezing me tight. Both Nick and Jonathan get up from their seats and come over to join in.
Nancy clears her throat as she looks at us. “Hello, you do know I’m still going to be here with you, right? Dang, you act like you’re going to be all alone here.”
“Is someone feeling left out? Would you like us to give you some loving, too?” Jonathan teases. She rolls her eyes and grabs her wine. Being the loving guy he is, Jonathan grabs her and pulls her over into our hug so that she knows she’s loved too.
“I’m going to go to the restroom really quick. I’ll be right back,” I say, grabbing my bag.
Turning down a hallway, I spot four security guards standing by the men’s bathroom. Who could possibly need that many guards just to go to the bathroom? Slowing down, I wait to see who’ll come out, but after a few minutes, no one emerges from the bathroom. Shrugging my shoulders, I move in the direction of the lady’s room when the men’s door opens. Trying to hurry out of the way, I end up running into the man who just came out, causing me to spill everything from inside my purse onto the floor.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry.”
Reaching down, I grab my purse, stuffing my things back into it. As I reach for my wallet, a hand lands on top of mine, and I freeze. Staring at it for a second, I look up to find piercing blueish-green eyes looking back at me. Never in my life have I ever seen eyes like these before.
They’re captivating.
I’m so lost in his eyes that I almost miss the slow smile spreading across his handsome face. He begins to speak to me, but I miss every word. He waves a hand in front of my face to grab my attention, yet I continue to stare. He gives up trying to get my attention and starts helping me gather my things off the floor
.
I shake my head, noticing that I probably look like a fool staring at him. I don’t know what’s come over me, but I quickly get myself together and help pick up my things. He puts his hand out for me and helps me up off the ground. His security guards move in closer, blocking people from seeing us.
“Oh. Um. Thank you,” I say, taking the items from him. My cheeks begin to grow warm as I give him a small smile.
“Oh, so you can understand me? I was wondering for a second if you spoke English.” His voice is rough, and I can hear his Italian accent coming through as he speaks to me.
“Oh, um, yes, yes, I can understand you. I was just . . .” I through my hands in the air, giving up. What more could I do? I had already made a fool of myself, why not just say what’s really on my mind. “Your eyes are so beautiful. I was lost in them for a second.”
I should have chosen better words.
Thrown off by my compliment, he laughs and helps me up. Smiling down at me, he hands over more of my things. “Never heard that before. But thank you. You have beautiful eyes as well.”
Tucking my hair behind my ear, I thank him. He takes a minute to roam his eyes over me checking me out. When his eyes reach mine, I quickly look away.
“May I ask what brings you here tonight?”
My hands start to sweat as I rub them together. It’s been so long since I’ve talked to a guy that I found attractive, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do or say.
He stands there, waiting for my response. When I look back up at him, he raises a questioning eyebrow at me.
Wiping my hands down the front of my dress to help calm me down, I answer him.
“I’m here with my friends. We’re celebrating graduating from college today,” I say softly.
He smiles and nods his head. “Graduation, huh? Well, congratulations. This is the perfect place to celebrate, if I do say so myself.”
“This was all my best friend’s idea.”
“Smart best friend.” One of his bodyguards comes up to him and whispers in his ear. He looks at me and then down at his watch. “Well, I wish we could continue to talk, but I have a meeting to get to. You and your friends have fun tonight, and hopefully, I’ll see you later in Dungeon.” He takes a couple of steps back, looking me over one more time before turning around completely and walking away.
Roses Are Red (Edith's Fatal Love Trilogy Book 1) Page 2