A Sensitive Arrangement

Chapter 28

It's official. Luke Benson is the best boyfriend in the world. This morning the student council was delivering Valentine's Day candy grams. Yes, it's a cheesy display of popularity, but it's fun and it raises money for charity. I was expecting my usual one from Olivia and maybe a few from the more enterprising girls in our grade who were looking to get in her good graces.

I was not expecting one from Luke. The boy attends an entirely different school for god's sake. But apparently I had mentioned them in passing, so he texted Olivia and they did what those two do best: scheme.

I should probably be grateful that my best friend and boyfriend get along so well. Especially when their scheming is normally to my benefit. Olivia had been quite vocal about her support for Team Luke. Which always felt a little weird to me. But as she put it, she's really just Team Alice and that means backing whatever makes me happy. And, right now Luke makes me happy. Like, stupidly happy. Stupidly perfectly happy.

We had plans tonight for Valentine's Day, although I wasn't sure exactly what they were. He had likely done some more scheming behind my back. But he was adamant that it stay a surprise. All I knew was that I was supposed to dress comfortably and warm.

To anyone else, that might have meant casual, but to Olivia Callaway, it was an excuse to get creative. She had already taken me to the mall to try on literally every cashmere peacoat in existence. I'm not sure what was wrong with my regular coat. Ella had bought it for me just a few months ago, and it seemed just as fancy and impressive as all the other coats I tried on. But apparently that was an every day coat and I needed an occasion coat. I guess there's some kind of difference. 

We also left the store with a matching hat, scarf, and gloves set because they complimented the shape of my face and my skin tone. I swear to God, Olivia's making this crap up half the time.

She insisted on doing something with my hair, and I happily conceded to the whims of her curling iron. If left to my own devices I'd probably show up in a ponytail, but I always loved the way she made it look. She had a magic touch. 

It surprised me when she didn't badger me about makeup. She didn't even mention it actually. I knew I should just leave well enough alone, but my curiosity got the better of me and I couldn't help but voice my confusion.

"You don't have to be anyone but yourself with Luke." She shrugged, smiling at me. Nothing could compare to the natural beauty Olivia Callaway radiated when she was genuinely happy. I thought perhaps I should be envious of that, but instead I was just grateful that so much of her happiness was directed at me.

"Myself, on the other hand, is going to take at least an hour to create." She joked. She could roll out of bed looking good. But if a face full of blush and a fancy updo made her happy, then I could get behind it. She had her own plans tonight with some of the girls from school. It was an annual thing they called Formalentines Day. Everyone would dress up and head into whatever the latest "it" restaurant in the city was, mostly just to be seen. I wouldn't exactly call it my favorite tradition. I was glad I had an excuse to skip it this year.

I left her to her art, making my way down to the living room to wait for Luke. I still had half an hour before he was due to arrive. I sprawled out on the couch, careful not to ruin the hair that Olivia had spent nearly forty-five minutes on.

Scrolling through the various forms of social media on my phone, a trashy gossip column caught my eye. It was a picture of Julian, dressed in a tux and looking like a supermodel. Who's America's Favorite Bachelor Spending Valentine's Day With? The article didn't answer its own question. It just provided a list of the "it" celebrities of the moment that he was rumored to be seeing. I doubt he had even met half of them.