Gemma felt silly about her disappointment that no one had commented on her outfit yet.
But Madison
had
made a fuss about finally seeing her outfit since she was wearing black while the girls were all wearing bright colors.
She crossed her jeweled ankles and sat quietly.
“Mr. Grey,” Gavin said, leaning over Lucas and towards Madison.
“If you could excuse me for a moment, I’d like to give your girlfriend a birthday gift.”
“If you try to kiss me, I’ll kill you,” Madison scowled.
“First of all, gross.
Second, I’m faithful to my man Lucas, okay?” Gavin’s emerald eyes twinkled as he pulled out a bottle of Dom
Perignon
from behind him.
“Happy birthday, you old bag.”
He popped the cork off expertly, though nearly hitting Leah in the shoulder.
“Hey!” she shrieked, dodging.
Gavin leaned over and touched her bare knee. “Shit, I’m so sorry,” he said, his eyes devoid of mischief for a second.
Leah blushed.
Gavin turned back over towards Madison.
“So, do we have champagne flutes?”
“No, Lucas forgot,”
Madison
lamented.
“Well I guess we’re chugging it from the bottle,” Gavin grinned.
He held the bottle to Madison.
“Birthday girl gets first chug.”
Madison laughed and took a sip from the bottle, careful not to spill on her dress.
Gavin quickly snatched it back to take a full swig.
“Such a gentleman, Gavin,” Madison rolled her eyes.
“I am. If it’s less full, it’s less likely to spill on you gorgeous ladies.
Which reminds me, here you go Lucas.”
Lucas took a quick sip from the bottle before handing it to Gemma.
“Here,” he said, looking straight at her for the first time since she got into the car.
She smiled at him and reached for the bottle, her fingers brushing against his.
She took a sip and handed the champagne to Jillian, who didn’t notice that Gemma and Lucas’s eyes were still locked on each other.
They quickly averted their eyes.
When they got to the city, Gavin convinced the group to drop into
Pastis
so he could “eat a burger or two.”
Most of them had already eaten – or chosen not to in their tight dresses – but they didn’t mind the brief detour.
“More
pregaming
?” Leah dared to ask Gavin, who nodded enthusiastically.
The restaurant was actually quite empty, so they enjoyed the feeling of practically having the place to themselves.
They sat in a back corner booth, lounging on the deep red leather seats and sharing a bottle of wine and some raw oysters.
Gavin switched between bites of his burger and a
croque
-monsieur.
He even took the liberty of ordering Leah a French onion soup when she commented on how good it smelled.
Leah poked at it with a spoon, no doubt wondering how she’d look in front of Gavin with strings of melted cheese hanging from her mouth.
Gemma noticed Lucas wasn’t drinking much, though she remembered that he never really drank much when they went out.
Madison was distracted with helping Kate smooth down her blowout so she could flirt with a waiter, who according to her, looked like “an older Tyler Chase with blonde hair.”
Gemma felt a little buzzed.
She leaned in towards Lucas.
“Are you going to finish your wine?” she asked in a whisper.
It came out a little sultrier than she had expected.
She watched as he blushed.
Lucas pushed the glass towards her.
“You can have it.”
“Why aren’t you drinking?”
“I like being a little less drunk than everyone else, just in case,” he said.
Off her incredulous expression, he nodded at her glass of wine and said, “For example, if you were to get too drunk to walk, I could carry you without falling myself.”
He smiled.
“This is only
gonna
be my third glass,” Gemma protested with a giggle.
She plucked the glass of wine from him and eyed him from under her feathery lashes, taking a sip.
“You’re just…” Lucas shook his head with a grin.
“Just what?” Gemma said, tossing her glossy flat-ironed hair to the side and looking him straight in the eye.
Her boldness was involuntary and her stomach began to flip.
“Just a little different than your usual self,” Lucas concluded, lowering his eyes to the table.
“Is that a bad thing?”
“No, not bad.
It just takes some getting used to.”
“How am I different?” Gemma asked.
She crossed her leg under the table and felt it rub against his.
He didn’t move away.
He didn’t speak either.
“How am I different?” she repeated.
Lucas suddenly stood up from the table.
He touched her arm gently, though his face was not so lighthearted.
“I don’t know,” he said as he began to walk away. “But you are.”
~
The club was huge with high ceilings and two floors.
The architecture was old-fashioned and intricate which contrasted in a chic way against the minimalist, space-aged inspired décor.
A well-known deejay that Queen Bee had once collaborated with scratched on a stage on the lower level while Madison gathered her VIPs on the upper balcony.
Gemma wasn’t sure what had gotten into her at dinner, but she felt it was safe to say that it was the wine.
The buzz had long since left her and she refrained from another drink in her nervousness.
Leah, on the other hand, knocked back shots like a frat boy.
She was determined to dance with Gavin at the very least.
It had been awhile since any of them had seen Madison and Lucas.
The last time they were in public view, the two were dancing sensually, interlocked and face-to-face.
Gemma frowned at the thought.
“You look amazing,” a voice said from behind her.
Gemma turned to see Damian.
Her mouth dropped slightly.
He looked even more amazing in his white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, half-tucked into a pair of fitted designer jeans.
“Oh, thanks,” she smiled, eyeing his muscular forearms as they handed her a Tequila Sunrise.
“How long have you been here?”
“I came in with Madison, so awhile… you?”
“Lucky.
The rest of us had to wait outside to see if we’d get in,” Damian laughed.
“I mean, the basketball team got to stand in the VIP line, so we knew we’d get in, but some people really didn’t.”
He bit his lip back a little.
“I was hoping to see you here.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“Well,” Damian said, hooking his fingers with hers and swinging their arms just slightly.
It made Gemma smile.
“I’ve been trying to ask you to dinner for weeks but it was hard since Gavin banned the team from talking to you.”
Gemma smiled.
She should have known that Gavin was behind the delay.
“Well Gavin’s not here right now,” she said.
She had meant to sound sexy but her voice trailed off with the last word because she spotted Lucas over Damian’s shoulder, making his way to the bar.
“So in that case,” Damian leaned in towards her.
“Would you like to go to dinner with me sometime?” Gemma didn’t answer, looking over Damian’s shoulder as she watched Lucas order a drink at the other end of the bar.
He looked in her direction.
“I…um…” she stuttered absentmindedly.
He’s not looking at you,
she told herself.
“Of course.
We definitely should.”
She could barely hear what Damian was saying as she watched Lucas wait on his drinks, leaning on his side against the bar.
He
was
looking at her.
He was staring at her.
“Awesome. I’m excited,” Damian grinned.
Gemma forced a smile. “Me too,” she lied.
Feeling bad about how inattentive she had been with Damian, Gemma decided to make it up to him on the dance floor.
He was a great dancer and she was beginning to genuinely enjoy herself.
Her own dancing wasn’t on par with Queen Bee’s choreographed moves, but it was nice to move about freely without having to think about choreography.
She knew she was the envy of the girls around her and she reveled in it.
For the first time in awhile, Lucas was not on her mind.
“They’re watching us,” Damian yelled over the music.
“Who?” Gemma looked around.
It seemed like everyone was watching them.
“Your brother and the rest of the team,” he pointed up.
Gemma looked up at a balcony to see Gavin whispering to some of the other basketball players.
Lucas was among them.
“They’re jealous ‘cause I’m the only one who can actually dance,” he laughed.
Gemma smiled and pulled herself into him.
It was nice to be as close to him as she was.
Up on the balcony, Gavin grimaced and shook his head.
The team laughed, unaccustomed to his serious, protective side.
“Calm down, Gavin,” one of the boys said.
“You can’t expect your sister to be a nun.”
“I’m just
gonna
go downstairs and keep a closer watch,” Gavin finally decided as he weaved through the crowd.
“Don’t be a
cockblocker
, Hunter!” Matt, a stocky football player, yelled after him.
“Your sister needs some play too!”
Gavin gave him the finger as he made his way down the staircase.
Matt laughed to himself and turned his baseball cap backwards before leaning over the balcony again.
He nudged a few of the other guys as they watched Gemma dance.
“Careful, bro,” Adam, one of the basketball players shouted over the music.
“Gavin gets serious when people talk about Gemma.”
“Who’s saying what about Gemma?” Madison peered inquisitively at the boys as she sauntered towards them and wrapped her arms around Lucas’s waist.
“Nothing
bad
, we’re saying she’s hot.
It’s a compliment,” Matt said.
“And that we can see straight down her dress from up here.
Not that there’s a whole lot to look at.”
Another boisterous laugh rumbled from his mouth before he knocked his beer back and threw the empty plastic cup over the balcony.
“Oh please, just because a girl’s got smaller boobs doesn’t mean she can’t be attractive,” Madison chided.
She rested her chin on Lucas’s shoulder, frowning.
“Babe, your muscles are all tense,” she craned her neck to see what he was looking at over the balcony, but all she could see was Gemma.
“I didn’t say that she wasn’t attractive,
Maddie
, you did,” Matt snorted.
“
I
was gonna say she makes up for it with those lips.
Mad DSL right there.” The other boys laughed, loosening up in Gavin’s absence.