The Seven Day Gangster

Chapter 21

"I am not wearing that."

I looked distastefully at a super short, super red dress that was Marlee was holding up. It looked trashy and showed far too much skin than I was comfortable with.

Marlee had offered to help me get ready for later that night. Everyone was going to hit up a bar so Marlee decided that I needed a lot of help with regards to my attire. Which was true. I wasn't going to show up in a t-shirt and jeans.

But looking at the closet, that option actually started to look somewhat appealing.

I was not going to wear something that covered less than my towel.

And what kind of message would that send to Nathan, if I showed up looking like a desperate prostitute?

Nathan.

Thinking about him brought a small blush to my cheeks.

"Snap out of it Arianna."

My head shot back up and I stared at Marlee, embarrassed. She was studying my expression with narrowed eyes, looking suspicious. "Why is your face so red?"

"Her face is always red."

I turned around to see Alex striding in, a dark grey dress on her shoulder.

Why were all my thoughts about Nathan only? He wasn't the only person living in this house.

I mentally pinched myself and rephrased my earlier thoughts. What kind of a message would showing up in a slutty dress send to any of the people I would be hanging out with?

There, now I wasn't thinking only about one guy. One insignificant, unimportant guy.

I sighed. I was hopeless.

"I found this at the Rack. It's super cute. How does it look Marlee?"

Marlee pursed her lips and studied the dress. "It'll look good on you. Really cute. Maybe then Sam will grow the balls to ask you out."

I laughed quietly to myself as Alex turned a fierce shade of red. "Can you just drop it?"

Marlee shook her head, feigning regret. "I feel like you guys are going to get old together, and up till the day you die neither of you are going to share your feelings. It's tragic."

"It's not tragic," snapped Alex.

"It's like Romeo and Juliet all over again," continued Marlee, shaking her head sorrowfully.

"That's not even what the damn story is about."

"Whatever."

I laughed loudly, clapping my hand over my mouth when Alex glared.

Alex turned over and narrowed her eyes at me. "I think the more important thing to address right now are your plans with my brother."

I opened my mouth, surprised, and quickly averted my eyes. "What do you mean?"

Marlee rolled her eyes. "Oh Jesus, we have two love stories in our midst. And both of you guys are too stubborn to say anything about it." She looked at me. "What's going on with you and Nathan though?"

"Nothing," I said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. "We're just friends."

"Friends?" asked Marlee dubiously.

"Good friends," I relented with a slight shrug.

Marlee rolled her eyes. "Stop avoiding the issue. Do you like him?"