The Pull of Destiny (35 page)

Joanna shook out her hair.
“What’s the appeal then, if you’re not planning anything?” she asked coldly.

“I just- I wanted to do
something nice for her,” I explained, tugging on my ear.

“Why? You don’t even know
her!” Wendy gave a surprised laugh at my answer, staring at me.

“She’s helping me with my
extra credit work in Science, okay?” I lied.

“Like you care!” Joanna
spat bitterly. “Since when has Luke Astor cared about anyone but himself?”

Since he looked in the
mirror and saw a jerky, egotistical son of a bitch staring back at him. In
essence, since he realised that if he didn’t change, he would turn into his
father.

Shrugging, I stared into
Joanna’s cold grey eyes. “Maybe I’ve changed.”

She snorted scornfully.
“Yeah right. You’ll never change. You want to nail her, don’t you?”

I burst out laughing, more
from surprise than anything else. Me nailing CiCi? Hell no! The thought never
crossed my mind before, but now it was, and in a big way. Great.

“Jo-,” I started, putting
a hand on her bare shoulder. She shook it off.

“No! Don’t ‘Jo’ me! You
say you invited a total nobody to one of New York’s most elite events just
because she’s helping you in class?” Her eyes flashed angrily and I took a step
back. “So thank her with flowers! Take her out for ice cream! Don’t bring her
to a place like this and not expect me to think you’re trying to get her into
bed!”

Why the sudden obsession
with my sex life? Even if I did want to get CiCi into my bed (oh, God), it was
none of Joanna’s business.

Wendy nodded, crossing her
arms over her chest. “I couldn’t have said it better myself,” she agreed in a
smug tone as I glared at her balefully. “She’s an outsider, Luke. She won’t fit
in with Manhattan’s rich and famous.” She smirked. “You should have thought of
that before you started feeling all charitable.”

Taking a deep breath, I
looked down at my sneakers. “She’ll fit in,” I said firmly, more for my benefit
than for Wendy’s.

“How? She’s from the
ghetto! El Barrio, remember?” Snickering, Wendy continued. “Your dad’s gonna
hate her! This is gonna be classic.”

My heart sank. Uh oh.

I hadn’t thought about the
dad factor.
Lucas
George Astor Senior was, without doubt, the biggest snob out there. When he
found out that CiCi was from East Harlem, he would go off on her big time. I
wished I could say I was lying, but I had seen it happen enough times to know
that it wouldn’t be pretty. Why hadn’t I warned CiCi about it when I had the
chance?

Simple case of
not thinking things through.

Still, I
couldn’t let the girls see that Wendy had raised a very valid point- what would
dad do when CiCi walked into the ballroom?

Smiling with a
confidence I didn’t feel, I said, “Don’t worry yourselves. I got this.”

Wendy
snickered, a sound I was starting to get tired off. “Please,” she said
disdainfully. “All you’ve got is a hot mess on your hands.”

“Speaking of
hot messes, what the hell is she gonna wear?” Joanna asked snottily.

I shrugged
casually. “Uh, clothes, maybe?”

Joanna glared
at me angrily, her nostrils flaring slightly. “I mean she’s poor,” she started.

I raised a hand to stop
her. “Quit bringing that up!”

So what if CiCi was poor?
When we were together, it didn’t matter.

“I’m not lying, am I,
Wendy?” Joanna once again looked to Wendy for backup. This time, Wendy got the
hint, took it and ran with it.

“She’s as poor as a church
mouse,” she said, flipping her hair.

“So how’s she going to pay
for her dress?” Joanna smiled vindictively. “Bet you didn’t think of that!”

Wendy nodded in agreement.
“You’re gonna bankrupt her,” she said snidely. “There’s no way in hell she’ll
be able to afford a nice dress, unless she robs BCBG.”

Cattily, Joanna said,
“Prepare to be stood up.”

“Celsi Sawyer.” Wendy
shook her head, giving me a pitying look. “I can’t believe you would stoop so
low. You’re getting weird, Astor.” She inclined her head in Joanna's direction.
“Let’s go, Joanna. Leave him with Faith. She’s probably the only date he’ll
hang with tonight.”

Joanna smirked, the
expression looking unbelievably ugly on her face. “Have fun.”

They sashayed away from me
in the direction of the ballroom, leaving me feeling pissed off, confused and
just a little bit tense.

What had that been about?

As soon as they were out
of earshot, the bathroom door cracked open and Faith peered out.

“Are they gone?” she
whispered, looking around the door.

I nodded. “Yup, all gone.”

She sighed with relief,
opening the door wider and stepping out to stand next to me. “Good. Joanna acts
like I’m two. I’m almost six. I don’t like it.”

Smiling ruefully, I took
her hand. “Neither do I,” I admitted.

Hand in hand, we walked
back to the ballroom and joined Hope, who was sipping on some wine. I picked up
her glass and snuck a gulp, winking at her.

Dutch courage.

Thanks to the girls, all
thoughts of me nailing CiCi had been pushed to the back of my mind (in
retrospect, probably a good thing, since I couldn’t think straight while I was
imagining it) because now I was sure that I was going to be stood up. And there
would be no way to defend myself from dad if I didn’t have a date for the night
because I was the one who had messed up by inviting CiCi when I knew full well
that she was poor. Just thinking that she had to buy a dress because
I
had invited her to the gala made me feel like a slime ball.

I was a jerk and I knew
it.

Hope shook her head
disapprovingly as I set her wine glass down.

“If your dad saw you-,”
she started, a warning note in her voice.

I spread my arms wide.
“What? He’s doing the same thing!” I grinned.

“Still, you’re a minor.
You can’t drink.”

I winked at her again,
patting her hand. “That doesn’t stop me,” I joked.

She smiled affectionately
at me. “I know,” she said grudgingly. “You’re impossible.”

“But he looks nice, right
mommy?” Faith spoke up, swinging her legs against the side of the table.

Hope smiled and nodded.
“Oh, yes, he looks very handsome. Your dates a very lucky girl.” She looked
around the ballroom where people were meandering to their seats as the chairman
of the event took to the small elevated stage at the front of the room.
“Speaking of which-.”

“She’s not here yet. Maybe
she won’t even show.” I slumped dejectedly in my seat, drumming my sneaker clad
feet on the ground.

I should have just called
Lynn like Wendy had told me to. I was such a dumbass.

“Nobody normal would stand
you up,” Hope said, pinching my cheek gently. “And since I know you wouldn’t
date a not-normal person, you have nothing to worry about.”

I gave her a lopsided
grin. “Thanks for your faith in me.”

Faith looked at me.
“What?” she asked, having heard her name.

“Not you, princess,” I
told her and she giggled.

“Oh, sorry!”

My phone vibrated in my
pocket and I slipped it out and flipped it open.

It was a text from CiCi.
Apprehensively, I opened it, sure that she was just texting me to let me know
that she was over it and was going to watch Shazia’s fashion show debut
instead.

I’m outside the hotel.

A short, simple, to the
point message that made my heart soar with relief. She didn’t bail on me! I
could take that as a win.

“Mommy, look at Luke’s
face,” Faith giggled as I put my phone back in my pants pocket.

“Must be a message from
his date because he sure looks happy,” Hope agreed, an interested look on her
face.

“He lit up like a jack ‘o’
lantern,” Faith continued, a cheeky smile on her face.

I growled mischievously as
her. “Did you just compare me to a jack ‘o’ lantern?”

“I’m sorry!” Faith
collapsed in a fit of giggles.

“Is your date here?” Hope
asked.

I nodded, getting to my
feet. “Yeah, she’s outside. I’ll be right back,” I told them.

Feeling like I was walking
on air, I exited the ballroom and spotted Robyn and her boyfriend approaching
me.

“Hey, Robyn. Hey, man,” I
said, waving to the duo.

“Hey, Luke, what’s up?”
Robyn’s date replied, beaming at me.

“Hi Luke! Your dates in
the foyer, go get her!” A smug look on her pretty face, Robyn added, “I’m sure
you’ll find that she looks beautiful tonight.”

Grinning back at her and
already beginning to move away, I said, “I think she always looks beautiful.”
The amazed look on Robyn’s face was classic. “Have fun, guys.”

I left Robyn looking
bewildered and walked to the foyer. People (probably guests of the hotel) were
hanging around but I saw CiCi immediately and, for almost 10 seconds, I forgot
to breathe.

CiCi spotted me and slowly
walked towards me, one hand playing nervously with the skirt of her shockingly
pink dress. She had a nervous smile on her face which faded as our eyes met. A
warm feeling coursed through my body and my
heart started thumping irrationally as a
spark of chemistry passed between us. Hell, not even a spark. A huge, lightning
bolt of electricity that had my mind going round in circles.

‘I’m just happy
to see her, that’s all,’ I thought to myself, but somehow, that theory wasn’t
washing. Sure, I was happy to see her, but there was something else underlying,
something more.

Robyn was
right. She did look beautiful. My eyes roamed over her body, noting how the
pink dress offset her dusky brown skin perfectly and clung to her in all the
right places, how her locket was lying against her skin and how her rich brown
hair fell down to her shoulders.

For a second,
even though the foyer wasn’t empty, it was just me and her as I moved closer to
her, unable to take my eyes off her.

Before I could
tell her how beautiful she looked, how beautiful she
was
, she caught
sight of my outfit.

“OMG, I’m
overdressed, aren’t I?” she burst out, actually wringing her hands as I drew up
to her. I opened then closed my mouth, not sure what to say. “Luke, why didn’t
you tell me this was a casual event? Then I would have worn one of Shazia’s old
dresses instead of buying this hugely expensive dress!”

She pulled at
the dress, a pensive look on her face as she bit her full bottom lip.

Didn’t she know
that I couldn’t think straight right now?

I settled for
giving her a blank look and saying, “Huh?”

I didn’t, in
all honesty, understand what she was on about. Hell, with her looking this
amazing, could you blame me?

She gestured at
me. “You’re wearing sneakers! And I’m wearing 4 inch heels!”

I finally found
my voice and some modicum of control against my raging hormones. “No wonder you
look so tall. CiCi, what-.”

“You could have
told
me not to get all dressed up, Luke!” Her forehead was creased with
worried lines as she looked at me. “I feel so stupid! I mean, you’re not even
wearing a tie!”

I scratched my
neck. “That’s because ties are uncomfortable. And I’d rather be dead than wear
pointy dress shoes.” I cringed as CiCi gave me a blank look, still looking
upset.

“Luke-,” she
started.

I took her
hands in mine, squeezing softly. “CiCi. You’re not overdressed,” I assured her,
looking deep into her eyes. “If anything, I’m underdressed.”

She still
looked uncertain, her pink glossed lips parting. “You mean- I’m okay?” she
asked hesitantly.

I stared at
her. Why did she not realize how beautiful she was?
“You’re more than okay. You- you’re pretty much perfect.”

Her eyes lit
up, even as she said, “Flattery will get you nowhere.”

I gave her a
crooked smile. “I mean it,” I said honestly. “You look amazingly beautiful.”

I swear I saw
tears in her eyes as she smiled gratefully at me. “Thank you Luke.” Clearing
her throat, she continued shyly. “You look very handsome.”

“Thanks,” I
said, breathing in her scent. Strawberries and cream. Delicious. “Shall we?”

CiCi nodded,
looking uneasy as I took her hand and led her to the ballroom.

“I’m scared.
Nervous. All those things,” she whispered to me.

I squeezed her
hand, marveling how it seemed to fit perfectly in mine. “Just don’t look
directly into anyone’s eyes,” I joked.