The Matchmakers

TWENTY ONE

"SO DO YOU UNDERSTAND why boys can't stay the night anymore?"

"Yes," Sophie groaned, worming deeper into the pillows of the couch as her cheeks flamed. She almost wished the white cushions would eat her up so she wouldn't have to listen to another moment of Grady's revenge lecture.

Cause, oh yes, it was every bit as mortifying as she'd expected it to be.

It might have even been worse.

Only the tantalizing promise of a beautiful night at the Vackers' Solstice Gala with her handsome fiancé kept her going. After all, with Della and Biana involved how could the night be anything less than perfect?

Her friends had been preparing for days, hardly leaving the property while simultaneously banning all visitors from Everglen. They even borrowed some of Havenfield's gnomes for the celebration preparations, which shrouded the festivities in an aura of mystique and anticipation, for Havenfield's residents in particular.

The only bummer was, Sophie had barely seen Fitz since he (accidentally) slept over, only managing to spend some time with him when he snuck away to Havenfield for a couple minutes at a time, and during their nightly hails before falling asleep. But during their limited time, he'd managed to make Sophie even more excited, going on and on about the glowing decorations, the expansive buffet, and the silver and teal theme in honor of the hosts and the moon.

She'd joked with him, "Of course the Vackers' theme would be teal."

He'd smiled right back—ever the charmer—and opened his eyes wide. "Well, teal is the Vacker color."

Then he'd been infuriatingly vague about the details. She didn't know what types of decorations were going to be strung up, what was going to glow, what types of food were going to be served, or even whether she'd need a cloak (he'd told her she would need it for the trip to the party, but he'd refused to tell her whether the gala would be held inside or outside).

All that annoying obstinacy had done was to increase the air of mystery for Sophie, and her anticipation level was so high it could have been flying in an airplane.

She couldn't wait for the party, her excitement even slipping into dreams that prominently featured an Everglen decorated similarly to Foxfire during the Opening Ceremonies. She didn't know what that said about her subconscious, but she was willing to overlook the strange parallel for the sake of her very own fairytale ball. However, in order to go, she'd have to let Grady think he'd reached her with his ridiculous rendition of "NO BOYS ALLOWED."

"I just want to make sure you understand. Because I'm not going to be as cool about this if it happens again."

In her opinion, Grady wasn't being very "cool" about the situation in the first place.

Then again, he wasn't going after Fitz with a melder, so maybe he was being cooler than she gave him credit for.

Still, Sophie felt the need to groan, "Daaad," and justify for the millionth time, "It was an accident." It wasn't like she and Fitz had meant to fall asleep talking at... whatever ungodly hour it had been.

"And accidents only happen once," Grady reminded her. "That excuse isn't going to work again."

"Nothing even happened," she moaned, sitting up only to dramatically flop back into the couch.

Grady looked at her knowingly. "Sure it didn't."

His sarcasm didn't escape her notice.

Sophie rolled her eyes, her cheeks flaming as she crossed her arms defensively over her chest. "Fine. We kissed a bit, okay?" she admitted grudgingly. "And there may have been some cuddling. But other than that we just talked—like I've already told you five times."