Deception

Chapter: Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

"You're not going to be mopey about this, are you?" Mattie questioned from beside Max and me. Lily was with us as well, but she'd ventured off to the bathroom. I secretly wondered if the typically bubbly girl went off to mope. She'd been doing a lot of that lately, as well.

"This isn't a fairy tale and I don't want to go to a ball Victor is hoisting at Berkeley or otherwise," I insisted.

"I don't think any of us want to, but he's making us. So we might as well enjoy it. It could be fun, so we should make the best of it. Besides, we need to be quick about finding our dresses. The balls tonight."

"It still surprises me how positive you can be," I sighed.

"Someone's got to be. As I said, there are a lot of mopey people here lately and it's not helping anything. So why not at least try to have some fun? A ball could be fun."

"I doubt it."

"Mopey O'Neill."

"Good job Mattie. I'm sure your buddy Zeke would enjoy that."

"I'm sure he would. I heard him call you that first."

"Zeke called me that? Mopey O'Neill?

"It's kind of catchy," Max mused.

"Glad you think so. Although it kind of is," I agreed begrudgingly.

"See? Told you."

"So Zeke called me Mopey O'Neill? How are you two on such good terms?"

"Who knows? But we are. Of course, we haven't been so much lately. You know, with all that's happened."

"Well, let's not mention him in front of poor Lily. I can tell she's still upset."

"Noted. She's being pretty mopey too, but I guess it can't be helped. I won't say anything."

"So about this dress shopping," I relented.

"We would be the ones who waited until the day of to go gown shopping," Max groaned.

"Blame Britt!" Mattie glared.

I glared back, sticking my tongue out at her. "It isn't my fault! You could've gone at any time and you didn't."

"Because we wanted to wait for you!" Mattie shot me a peace sign.

In response, I gave her the middle finger. "Whoa! What'd I miss?" Lily asked with a chuckle as she returned from the restroom.

"Nothing besides the fact they're arguing," Max explained with a sigh.

She titled her head. "About what?"

"How we're just now buying our gowns." Mattie grinned.

"Well, we did want to wait for Britt," Lily said thoughtfully.

"Ha, told you!" Mattie stuck her tongue out at me.

"I just wasn't sure I even wanted to go. It's a little too soon for me to be having fun again I think. I know we're all going but we don't even know if the guys are," I reasoned.

"Tamron's going," Max smiled.

"I'm making Jay," Mattie shrugged.

"Yes, but you have boyfriends to go with."

"Yeah, the breakups, "Lily sighed, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"At least I didn't mention it," Mattie offered.

"You were talking about him? Or me?" she questioned, looking at us.

"Sort of. Just about how we didn't want to upset you and we thought you've seemed sad.