Just as I approach the house after dropping Maddie at school my back pocket vibrates with a text from Lexi.
Lexi: Meeting Cristian so will bring him with. C U soon x
I should be jealous about how well she is getting on with my best friend now that I'm stuck working all the time but honestly, they are so alike, I'm not sure how it didn't happen sooner. Plus, he has the balls to call her out when she's getting out of control which is something I've never been able to do, thanks to my crippling fear of upsetting people.
Finishing up in the kitchen, I hear a car pull up outside and spy Cristian and Lexi heading towards me as I reach the front door.
“Fucking hell Mia! How am I only just finding out that you live in a mansion now?” Cristian squeals as he prances through the door, spinning around in the open hallway as Lexi howls with laughter. “There's so much space!”
“You're such an embarrassment, Cris.” Lexi grins, “Pull yourself together, it's only a house.”
“Bitch please, like you didn't have an orgasm the first time you walked in here?” he retorts, bringing himself to a stop as I lead them through to the lounge where I've laid out some snacks and drinks on the coffee table.
“So, what's up?” Lexi's tone turns serious as she sits down and grabs a sandwich, “You said you needed to chat?”
“Well, mum's sending me over some tickets for the fundraiser gala next Friday, and I was hoping that you'd do me a favour and come with me, so I don't have to go on my own.” I do my best sweet and innocent face, battering my eyelashes at her and hoping she won’t be able to resist my charm — or desperation.
“Not a chance, you know me and those things don't mesh well.” She waves her arms in front of her face in protest as Cristian gets stuck into the buffet. “Remember what happened last time?”
“Please, mum won't take no for an answer and Peter will be there with Amber, I need a date.” I contort my face into a sweet and innocent smile, hoping to guilt her into agreeing, “You're my only hope.”
Lexi sits, shaking her head as an out of breath Ethan walks through the door. A smile creeps across my face as Cristian's tongue hits the floor.
“Sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I heard something about you needing a date for next weekend.” He looks me in the eye, nervously rubbing the back of his neck, “I'm available.”
“Perfect,” Lexi claps her hands as though she solved the situation, “You two can go to the party and I will stay here and look after Madison.”
“Great, what time am I picking you up?” He's staring at me with a sexy little smirk on his face and I want to slap him for putting me in this position. After this morning, why would he want to spend an evening with me?
“The gala starts at eight and the dress code is black tie.” I don't trust myself to spend the whole evening with him, but I don’t have any other choice, it's either him or go alone. As quickly as he appeared, Ethan is gone again.
“Imagine the look on Peter's face when he sees you with him, especially after I've finished with your hair and makeup.” Cristian beams, trying to talk and chew simultaneously.
"Oh my gosh, Lexi did you buy me a..." As I enter my bedroom and turn to my sister, the confused expression on her face tells me that she's not responsible for the beautifully wrapped present sitting at the foot of my bed. But if it's not from her then who?
"Daddy got it for you." Madison is sitting on my bed playing on my phone. "He said it's for tonight."
As we sit down on the bed and wait for Cristian, me and Lexi glance at each other with intrigue. Please don't let it be lingerie!
Since Ethan invited himself as my date last week, I still haven't had chance to tell Lexi about what happened between us. Part of me wants to fill her in on every single detail but another part of me knows that she'll lecture me for making such a big mistake. She told me not to get involved but I couldn't stop myself, and now look at the mess I'm in.
"Well, are you going to open it?" Lexi picks the box up and shakes it, reminding me of when we were kids, and we'd found where dad stashed the Christmas presents, then she hands it to me. "Come on, I'm dying to find out what's in there."
I take the gift from her, inspecting it while Madison and Lexi observe intently. Whatever it is, he's gone to a lot of effort judging by the expensive champagne coloured paper, wrapped with satin coffee coloured ribbon, and decorated with a perfect bow and sprigs of fake flowers. It's so gorgeous I almost don't want to know what's inside, but curiosity gets the better of me as I carefully unwrap it, revealing a black dress box.
Slowly I lift the lid from the box, shading the contents from Madison's view just in case it's something she shouldn't see. A warm glow flows through my body as I catch sight on the pastel pink material and a smile creeps across my face as I carefully lift the dress from its packaging to get a better look.
"Wow!" Lexi's mouth hits the floor, "Try it on. Right now."
Checking that I closed the door when we entered my room, I slip off my ankle boots, unbutton my jeans pushing them over my hips until they hit the floor and step into the dress. Once the dress is at my waist, I pull my t-shirt over my head and slip my arms through the spaghetti straps on the dress. The plunging neckline is extremely low
