Beauty and the Dork

Confessions

Margot was smiling her best heart-stopper smile, leaning into me and waiting for Jason to respond. I could tell how nervous she was from how tightly she was gripping my hand.

"Um, wow, uh," Jason started, trying to understand what was happening. Margot took this as an opportunity to get us in.

"You remember Eddie," she said, nodding at me as she pulled me inside, moving past Jason. She turned to the rest of my dorks and gestured for them to follow. "And these are my other friends – hope you don't mind the addition!"

Hellfire filed in, greeting Jason quickly, but knowing better than to stay and chat. Well, most of them, anyway.

"Jason, my name is Dustin Henderson – I just wanted to thank you for allowing us to join tonight. I look forward to getting to know you better," Dustin chirped, putting his hand out. Jason looked at Margot, his expression settling into one of anger. Margot ruffled Dustin's hair.

"Why don't you go get Eddie and I a beer, Dustin?" she asked kindly. Dustin smiled at her and nodded before traipsing off. Margot looked back at Jason, smiling. He set his hands on his hips.

"You told me—" he started, his face turning red.

"I know what I told you. I'm sorry for that," she started. She looked up at me, smiling nervously.

"Margot, you can't be – hey, man, do you mind giving us a moment?" Jason asked, trying to pretend to be nice to me. I looked at Margot and she smiled.

"It's okay – I'll join you in a minute," she assured. I felt my stomach drop and nodded. I was so worried that Jason was going to talk her out of this. I took a deep breath and padded towards the boys, keeping her in my eyeline.

I watched her as Jason started gesturing wildly, pointing to me and then getting embarrassed when he saw me watching. Margot remained calm, nodding and listening to him, but cutting him off when he got too worked up.

"It's weird that they're supposed to be friends," Jeff said, coming up next to me with an extra beer in hand. I took it from him.

"Why?" I asked, not understanding his point. He shrugged.

"The Margot we know is nothing like those people," he commented. "It's just hard to understand why she chose them to begin with."

I smiled, knowing the answer to his quandary. Because the Margot we knew was the real Margot. The one everyone else had gotten to know was a mask of hers – nothing comparable to the real thing. I took a sip of my beer and looked back at them.

Jason was shaking his head, but Margot patted his shoulder and was calming him down. She looked at me, finally, and smiled brightly. This was her real smile, even if it was strained a bit. Jason shooed her away and she sighed before walking over to me. I felt my mouth dry, convinced she was going to tell me to leave and that we were done. I was pleasantly surprised when she took my hand and leaned close to me.

"Sorry about that," she said quietly. I shook my head, feeling like a god when she dropped my hand and wrapped an arm around my waist. I placed an arm over her possessively and smiled at her.

"Everything okay?" I croaked, trying to play it cool as she scratched my side.

"It is now," she replied. I looked back over at Jason, and he was staring at us, incredulous. I felt my chest tighten with nerves. "Come on – I want to get a drink."

She started pulling me along, holding me close to her. People were staring at us, shocked by the fact that we were with each other. I felt a surge of pride as I noticed the guys glaring at me with envy, and I pulled her closer to me. We got to the kitchen, and she dropped me while she poured herself a glass of punch. I felt like I was in a fishbowl, being studied by everyone around us. Margot noticed how my nerves picked up and set a hand on my chest, making me look at her.