The Boyfriend Project

Chapter 55

We returned to my house forty-five minutes later after going and picking up my car from the school parking lot. Mom and Dad walked out the front door as we pulled up to the house. They weren't having dinner with Dad's boss or clients because of how they were dressed, so I assumed they were meeting friends. Dad was in a pair of khaki pants and a maroon polo. Mom was wearing a long black floral maxi summer dress. 

"Hi, girls." Mom walked down the steps. 

"Hi, Mom." 

"Hi, Mrs. Brock," Blakely said, walking up behind me. 

"What are you girls going to do tonight?" Mom paused a few feet away from the vehicle as Dad walked around the front of it. 

"We're going to Avery's party tonight. Is Sam home?" I asked, walking up the steps to the porch. 

"No, she went to her friend's house for the night, so you don't have to worry about coming home too early. We do want you home before two in the morning, though. We won't be home until late. So have fun at the party. We'll see you, girls, later tonight." Mom grabbed her dress and hopped up in the SUV. We waved goodbye to them and waited until they were out of sight before entering the house. I asked Blakely if she wanted to get something to eat or we could raid the refrigerator for something. She chose to raid the fridge, which I was somewhat glad for because I didn't feel like leaving again. I was sure we had stuff in there to make sandwiches, and I knew we had bags of chips or pretzels in the pantry. I went upstairs to take my bookbag up there and to check my phone for some ridiculous reason. I don't know what I was checking it for because I knew there wouldn't be a message from Easton. I guess I was hoping there would be a text from him telling me that he couldn't wait to see me tonight. Something similar to that. I kicked off my shoes and headed back downstairs to see what Blakely had found in the refrigerator to eat. 

"Do you want a sandwich?" Blakely asked, spreading mayo on wheat bread. 

"I'm not that hungry. I'll probably just snack on some pretzels and get a glass of sweet tea." I walked around the island to the cabinet where we kept the glasses. I couldn't see how she could be hungry, but she wasn't in the middle of a love triangle either. So we sat in the family room while she ate her sandwich, and I snacked on pretzels. We talked about the party tonight and what I should wear. Blakely was dead set on me wearing a dress, while I wanted to wear jeans and an off-the-shoulder top. No matter how bad I tried to fight her on this, I knew there was no winning this argument, so I did the adult thing and waved the white flag on one condition. I had a say in which dress I was wearing tonight. She told me that was fair enough like she wouldn't let me have a say in what I would wear tonight. 

"I'm going to go take a shower." I got up off the couch and took my glass into the kitchen. 

"Okay, I'll get some dresses out of your closet for you to decide on." She got up, taking her dishes to the sink.  

I grabbed my bra, underwear, and robe and headed to the bathroom. I turned on the water and let it run for a few minutes to warm up before stepping into the shower. The hot water ran down the top of my head, covering every inch of my body in warmth. I stood there for a few minutes as the hot, pulsating water hit my tense muscles. Finally, I got out, towel-dried my hair, put on my bra and underwear, and then my robe. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath in, opened the bathroom door, and headed to my room to face the mountain of dresses that I'm sure were piled up on my bed. 

I entered my room to find a huge pile of dresses sprawled out all over my bed. "Did you pull out every dress I own?" I glanced over toward my closet. 

"Close." She laughed. "Now, we just have to figure out which one you should wear tonight." She started holding them up. 

"We don't have all night." I motioned my hand at the bed. 

"I've already got most of them narrowed down to Yes and maybe piles. So, we're good." She held up another dress. 

I sat down at my vanity and dried my hair while Blakely held up dresses and divided them into piles. I put down my hairdryer and started brushing my hair when I saw her hold up a white floral skater dress. She began to put it in the maybe pile. 

"Wait!" I turned halfway around on the bench. 

"What?" She jumped, her eyes wide. 

"I like that one." I pointed to the dress in her hand, lying halfway down on the bed. 

"Really?" She looked down at the white floral dress. 

"Yes, what's wrong with it?" I raised an eyebrow. 

She looked down at it again. "Nothing." She mumbled, set the dress aside, and started hanging the others back in my closet. She grabbed her outfit and ran to the bathroom real quick to take a shower. 

I slipped the dress on and started curling my hair before Blakely returned to start on my makeup. As I sat there curling my hair, staring into the mirror, an unsettling feeling swept over me. A feeling that he wasn't going to be there and that I was getting ready for nothing. I was going to show up, or he'd be there with Savannah making me look like a damn fool.

"That dress..." Her voice trailed off when she saw the look on my face in the mirror. "What's wrong?" 

"What if he's not there tonight, and I'm doing this for nothing?" I set my flat iron down on my vanity table. 

"He's going to be there. I think you're just being paranoid right now. We've got to finish getting ready, so we won't be late for the party." She grabbed the flat iron and finished curling my hair for me. 

Blakely put the sides of her hair up, then applied my makeup and hers. We took one last look at our outfits, hair, and makeup to make sure everything looked great. Blakely borrowed one of my dresses. She decided on a black off-the-shoulder floral dress. 

"Are you ready to go?" Blakely asked, looking down at her smartwatch. 

"Yeah." I slid my phone down into my purse. "Can you drive? I'll give you money for gas." 

"Yeah, I'll drive. Don't you dare give me gas money." She rolled her eyes as she walked out of my room. 

I took one last look in my mirror, then followed her out of my room and down the stairs. I turned a light on in the living room so we wouldn't be stumbling around in the dark when we came home later. The minute we opened the door to leave, my pulse quickened, and my breathing became erratic. I stood there on the porch, staring at Blakely's car, unable to move. I had been waiting all day for tonight, and now that it was here, I was starting to wig out. 

"The porch can't go with us." Blakely eased me toward the steps. "Everything's going to be okay, but we need to go before we're late." 

I took a deep breath and moved toward the top step. I don't know why I was freaking out, but I have become exceptionally good at it lately. I finally made it to Blakely's car and got in the passenger seat. She got in, started the car, and took off before I could run back into the house. Twenty minutes later, we pulled into Avery's big driveway along with the other kids. I looked to my left as we were parking and saw Easton's car drive by and park over by a white sports car. His light quickly turned off; he got out of the car, walked around to the vehicle's passenger side, and opened the door, where I saw two long, bare legs swing out. In that instance, my heart sank, and all I wanted to do was go back home and sob into my pillow. He offered her his hand as she got out of his car. She was wearing a white dress with pink flowers and wedge sandals. I could tell it wasn't Savannah from the back of her hair. Then she turned her head slightly to the right as she stepped out of the way while he closed the door. It was Natalie Dixon. My mouth fell open, and the tears started to well up as I sat there and watched them walk toward Avery's house together. 

Author's Notes:

Poor Chelsi! Do you think he's there with Natalie? 

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