Persuaded

CHAPTER FIVE

Chapter Five

"Hey guys."

Our little group came to life when Gregory walked over. Even Collin and Kylie had put away their phones and joined us. His smiling eyes scanned over mine to settle on everyone, but me. "This is my cousin Lilly, from Bloomfield," he smiled and brought the beautiful brunette forward a bit.

His cousin? Apparently Sydney already knew they were related. Her arm was companionably wrapped around Gregory's in nothing short of a death grip.

Of course, I couldn't blame her for staking her claim and it looked like I wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Hello, Sydney." Kylie smiled in a perfect imitation of a beauty queen. "Don't you look good?" she cooed. "Almost as good as Gregory does." Her mouth widened into a flirtatious boyfriend-stealing smile aimed right at him. "My, I don't think I have ever seen a specimen as perfectly built as you. How often do you work out?"

Madison smirked next to me and whispered, "She's good."

"Just wait, she'll get better," I responded. "She hasn't even started yet."

Right on cue, Kylie gushed, "Oh my goodness! Is that a 1967 Mustang GT convertible?"

"Uh, yeah, it is." Gregory smiled down at the shocked look on Kylie's face.

"Are you serious? How did you find it? And in red too. Red GT convertibles are only the rarest Mustangs in the world."

He released his arm from Sydney's grasp. "Would you like to see her?"

"Yes. I'd love to." She beamed up at him.

"Would anyone else like to check out Lydia?" Gregory asked before he started to walk Kylie towards his car.

"Sure!" Carson and then surprisingly Collin echoed. All thoughts of showing Madison and I The Beast were obviously gone. The guys practically sprinted to the thing. After a couple of seconds, a pouty Sydney followed.

I guess she's not quite willing to give him up, yet. Good luck. I turned toward Madison and Lilly. Madison was watching the guys with a sort of pensive look on her face. I wonder if she's still baffled by Carson's interest in her.

As quiet as I am, I find I really don't enjoy silences. So without Madison talking I figured that left the conversation up to me. I took a deep breath and smiled at Lilly. "Hi, I'm Amanda," I tried.

To my astonishment she smiled a real smile back and said, "Hi. You were at that party a couple of weeks ago, weren't you?"

"Yeah, at Kylie's house. Did you have fun?"

"Sort of. I mean it was a great party, don't get me wrong, I just don't really like large crowds. The piñata was fun, though," she added as almost an afterthought.

"It's okay. Actually large crowds aren't much of my thing either."

"Well, Gregory worries about me. He tells me I need to get out more. Sometimes though, I wonder if he just wants to have someone to hang with so he doesn't have to go alone." She shrugged and grinned. "Of course, he's gotten so totally cute that it does my ego good to be around him. You should see the looks I get from other girls. It's amazing what three years can do to a guy."