Almost Alice » l.h

3.8

"What are you doing tonight?" Luke asked, his voice coming from the speakers of my phone.

It was the night of the party and I was really good at keeping it a secret. I didn't think Violet had told anyone since no one had asked me about it or seemed to show signs of knowing. No one was acting any weirder than they usually did.

"Um...I'm busy." I lied as I worked on picking out an outfit.

"Even too busy for me?" he asked, feigning hurt. "Ouch. That's cold, Al."

I giggled. "You know I'd hang out with you in a heartbeat if I didn't have plans."

"What kind of plans?" he wondered.

"Tutoring." I replied, holding a dress up in front of my body as I stood in front of my mirror. "Mr Lavoie asked if I'd help someone in his intermediate class understand Shakespeare. Apparently he spaces out whenever it's brought up."

"Oh, so it's a boy?" Luke questioned. "Make sure he keeps his hands to himself or-"

"Or what?" I asked teasingly. "Is Luke Hemmings jealous?"

"You know what? Yeah, I am." he admitted.

"You don't have anything to be jealous about," I promised him, "I'm just tutoring. Besides, this guy isn't as smart as you are."

"So you like 'em smart, huh?" he asked and I could hear the smirk clear in his voice.

I laughed. "Shut up, I have to go."

"Alright, alright." he chuckled. "Have fun."

"I'll text you." I told him before we both hung up.

I put on the outfit I'd chosen - just a plain red dress and a denim jacket to go over it - and started fixing my makeup. I left my hair as it is since I didn't plan on staying at the party for very long anyway, and put my shoes on before going downstairs to wait for Violet. She said she'd drive me there and promised she wouldn't stick around. I knew that Ross would recognize her car and would then call everything off and Violet was too nice to say no to me. I didn't doubt that she wouldn't warn someone about me being at a party alone with Ross, though, but I didn't think she'd warned any of our friends.

Violet said she'd cover for me if Amy asked where I was going. I was supposed to say I was double dating with her and her boyfriend - Luke and I had yet to double date with Calum and AJ which I still hadn't let go of but he was trying to avoid it - and she'd confirm that we really were. I'd definitely owe her one after this.

I was lucky that Amy was up in her room when I went downstairs to wait for Vi. My dad was in his office and my mom was probably in her room watching Real Housewives. Violet texted me when she was out front and I left the house, quickly getting into her car in case Amy happened to look out her window, and Violet pulled away from the curb as I buckled up.

"This is the dumbest thing you've ever done." she stated, glancing over at me.

"I know but I appreciate that you haven't told anyone." I told her and gave her a thankful smile. "I really just want to get this done and over with, you know?"

"I can't believe he's still keeping this shit up." she sighed. "He's been on you since day one and he's butthurt because you've never been on him."

"Has he ever been like this with any other girls?" I asked.

"No, he would just treat women like shit." she frowned. "And when he got denied he'd just call them a whore, make up some rumor about her, and move on. He never made deals with them like this or was on their case this bad."