Wicked Love | √

Twenty Nine

"WHAT the hell do I wear?" I ask with an annoyed sigh as my fingers rip through my perfectly organized closet. I touch every piece of clothing hanging up, but still nothing seems right for the night ahead of me. And every ounce of me wants tonight to be picture perfect.

I am met with silence so I pop my head out of my closet to focus on my friends in my room. Elizabeth is relaxed on my bed alongside my roommate Annabelle. They are snacking on a bowl of popcorn giggling while I'm fully stressing out.

Because I'm going on a date. With Preston Rothwell. Like a real actual date in the city.

And what in the hell do I wear for that?

I step out of my closet to face my friends. "Seriously, are you guys going to help me here?" I huff out while my hands land on my hips and my face twists in frustration.

Elizabeth tosses a piece of popcorn into her mouth before she shoots me a look. "James, it's Preston. He'll die at anything you wear," she tells me as if it's fact.

"Very true," Annabelle echoes.

"Not true," I fight back as I roll my eyes. "Can you two just help me?" I say begging for their assistance. They go on dates. They dress up. They know what to do in situations like this. I don't. I don't go on dates. I mean I have but only with a couple of guys because my mother made me. They all ended terribly.

Guys have always seen me as too intense...too much. I don't come off sweet or sexy. I come off hard and too focused. I can never just relax. Because I'm not easy. Never have been.

Nerves crawl over me like a dark and twisted vine and for a moment I can't breathe and I wonder if Preston will also feel that way about me. If us taking this big step together is a massive mistake. The ink on my hip that is fully healed now begins to burn as if my body is yelling at me to run and hide.

The anxieties must begin to show clearly through my face because they both instantly abandon their popcorn and come to my side.

Elizabeth begins to flip through my rack of clothes. "You're nervous." She doesn't ask it as a question because it's not. Because she is my friend and knows me even when I try to hide from my own feelings that threaten to swallow me whole.

I want to bite out a sharp no on instinct. Because the part of me that tries to be tough all the time doesn't want to ever show weakness. But right now I am weak, and that's okay. So I don't. I don't lie or put up that wall that is usually indestructible. "Yeah," I finally breathe.

"Don't be," Annabelle says as she comes to stand by my side.

My shoulders lift in a shrug. "Easier said than done," I tell her with a grimace. "He's the one person I've wanted to go on a date with my entire life. It's hard not to be nervous," I admit. The confession has the vine loosening its grip on me until a wave of what almost feels like relief rolls over me. The sting on my hip even falls away.

Suddenly arms circle me on either side. Engulfing me and tightening around me until the vine of anxieties is completely gone. My two best friends hug me like their lives depend on it, and it makes a smile stretch across my lips.

Elizabeth pulls back with a grin and that knowing look glimmering in her brown eyes she gets from time to time. "He's madly in love with you. Like wild, crazy, stupid in love. It's going to be the best date ever," she assures me.

The use of the word love makes my heart do weird things and suddenly the nerves make a reappearance. I am far too scared to acknowledge that feeling. I know I care about Preston deeply, but love? That's a big step. Way too big. Way too soon and far too scary.

"And if the date sucks, text us and we will make up some kind of emergency and get you out of there so you can come home and eat tons of ice cream and we can shit talk dumb boys all night long," Annabelle suggests, causing emotions to clog my throat and tangle in my chest.