The Way We Burn

Eight: Gigi

"Derek is bringing a friend, right?" I asked as I continued fussing with my hair that had already been more than fussed with.

It was the night of my sister's engagement party and as much as I was absolutely thrilled for Amaya, I was not looking forward to seeing Sully again. Well, I mean, parts of me were, but there were also parts that were very much over the constant rejection, and they wanted to avoid the dark and broody fire captain at all costs. He'd rocked my usual confidence after denying me even a drink of gratitude. Look, I wasn't conceited by any means, but it had been a long time since I'd worried about a man telling me no. I had a fairly easy time getting what I wanted from the male species. Sure, I was a bit alternative to what the general population found 'beautiful' but I'd found my market and it had done well for me. At least until Bennett Sullivan strode back into my life. Jerk had thrown everything of axis. Especially me.

My best friend (and Goblin's second mother), Elladine eyed me oddly. "Yeah," she responded, a wariness to her tone. "I think Connor's coming but I'm not one hundred percent sure."

"Connor?" I repeated. Ella nodded."Okay, Connor. Yeah. Connor's good."

Ella's eyes narrowed even more. "Okay, what's going on with you? Since when do you care about showing up stag?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to hide my apprehension about the whole night as I reapplied my bright red lipstick. Dior 999. Never did me wrong.

"I mean," Elladine began, walking up and plucking the black tube right out from between my fingers, "the Gigi I know doesn't give two shits about walking into a party alone. She pops on her skimpiest dress, thrusts a hand on her hip and draws the attention of every man in the room without even trying, so why is having a date tonight so important?"

"It isn't!" I shrieked (a bit too forcefully.)

"Bullshit," Ella snipped. "I thought it was weird when you asked, but I let it go. Now you're acting even weirder than before so tell me what's going on or I'm telling Derek to take Connor somewhere else."

My eyes went wide. "You wouldn't."

"Try me, Galena Castellanos. Try me."

I fixed Elladine with my harshest gaze but she didn't even flinch, so I gave in with a sigh. "I just don't want to look like the single, sad girl, okay? I'm the last free agent here. I'm trying to cut out the 'Well, when are you gonna settle down' bullshit."

"Still not buying it," Ella argued with a wave of her head, though she did look at me a bit softer than she had before. "You love nothing more than giving the ol' feminist 'Not All Women Want Marriage' spiel so there's more to it than that. Just give it up already. You know I'm going to get it out of you eventually anyway."

You could've heard a pin drop in the silence that followed. Neither of us was willing to budge. I wasn't going to admit that Sully was my reasoning to walking in with a hottie on my arm, and Elladine wasn't going to drop it until I did. It was going to be a battle of wills to see who gave up first, but instead, Ella's next sentence came out softly:

"It's that friend of your dad's, isn't it?"

I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut. "Please don't call him that. It makes it sound weirder than it is. My dad's more like his... mentor... or some shit. I don't know."

Ella rolled her eyes and let out an affectionate chuckle as she flipped her red curls over her shoulder. "Fine, but all this nonsense is really about him, right?"

I winced at the accusation behind her words. "Would you believe me if I said no?"

"Not even a little."