A Sensitive Arrangement

Chapter 11

An hour and a half after opening presents, we were all downstairs, greeting guests as they came in. The dress code for Christmas dinner wasn't quite black tie, but we were still dressed up. Julian was looking sharp in a black business suit with a deep green shirt and tie. The colors seemed to match the dress I was wearing. I knew it was a coincidence, and not even a surprising one considering it was Christmas, but it still made me smile.

For normal people, Christmas was a day to spend with family. For the business elite, it was just another day to climb the corporate ladder apparently. When I was very young, our Christmases were small, just me, Dad and the Callaways. But then one year, my father and Mr. Callaway realized an associate had no one to spend the holiday with, so he was invited to join us. Which quickly became a rat race, and Christmas at the Callaway Estate suddenly became a thing, and it seemed like it grew every year.

Olivia normally soaked up the attention for about an hour before finding me in the corner, watching the action instead of participating. It seemed she was giving up early this year as she joined me on the armchair I was tucked away in, taking a seat on the edge of its arm.

"Is it me or are some of these men being..."

"Extra creepy this year?" I finished for her. We had noticed last year that the men had started staring at us just a little too long. Apparently this was just a thing that was going to get worse as we got older. Until a certain age, when the next cohort of pretty young women would inevitably take our place.

"I didn't wear this dress for them." Olivia knew she looked good, she always looked good. And she dressed to impress.

"You could try wearing something a bit less bold next year." I suggested, gesturing to my rather simple dress. Some would call it elegant. I called it camouflage.

"I shouldn't have to." She was right. "Besides, it's not like they haven't been looking at you too."

I shuddered as I looked into the crowd. There were a few too many eyes casting glances our way. I tried to refocus my attention on Julian. He was deep in conversation with some older gentleman, clearly charming the guy's pants off.

Julian seemed to have the ability to make almost everything he said seem interesting. I guess that's one of the advantages of loving facts and figures, and boring business strategies, you can convince other people to love them too.

One time, he had spent hours explaining some mathematical concept that he had learned in school, going into great detail about all of it's potential uses. I found it so fascinating that I even went to research it myself, and it must have been the driest stuff I've ever read. That's when I knew it wasn't the math that I found so captivating.

After a few minutes, he excused himself from the conversation, making his way over to Olivia and I. "How is life as a wallflower?" He teased.

"We're hiding from creepy men." Olivia scowled.

"Most of the men here are at least forty years old." Julian almost sounded as if he didn't believe her.

"Yeah, that's the creepy part." Olivia told him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You're sixteen."

"Julian, you're not this clueless. Most of the time anyway." Olivia chided, deliberately glancing in my direction to make sure we both caught her meaning.

"Look, I know it happens. But seriously? Here? These guys?" He asked, in disbelief.

"Yes, seriously, and it's not just me. They're looking at your betrothed too." She sneered. Julian and I shared a look of sheer discomfort.