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16: Dinner Catastrophe

Thursday 7:02 p.m.

Elizabeth's P.O.V.

We were running a little late to dinner, but nobody was worried since it sounded like Tyler and David were already at the restaurant waiting for the table. My heart was beating out of my chest from my nerves. I kept squeezing my hands and staring out the window trying to distract myself. Trying to keep my breathing normal was probably the hardest part.

"Hey," I heard Daniel whisper to me. I turned to him and gave him a smile, it was so fake it made me cringe inside. He just gave me a small smile and said, "Take a deep breath. There's nothing to panic over."

"I know," I said as my voice cracked. My eyes went so big from embarrassment, but Daniel smiled at me. I turned to look out the window cursing my luck out. This was far from my day. I felt his hand pull mine apart and intertwined with one of them. I looked at our hands than up at him. I gave him a small, real, smile and leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Corbyn kinda already stole my thunder, but I still wanted to tell you how pretty you look." He whispered to me. I could tell he was trying to keep it to just us, but that was hard when there were 5 other people in the car and 3 are in front of you. I closed my eyes and let out a small sigh as I took a deep breath.

"Thanks," I said, sitting up and looking at him, "you don't look so bad yourself." I chuckled. I was terrible at receiving compliments and giving them. I frown at the thought of Cayla always putting me in those kinda situations just to see her panic. I saw her pay one of the guys after I had a total anxiety attack. I felt my heart sink as we pulled up to the restaurant and the car stopped. We all thanked the driver and quickly got out. I could feel the oxygen getting caught up in my lungs as I looked at the entrance of the restaurant. My feet stopped as my heart beat out of my chest

"Come on. There's nothing to be scared of," Daniel whispered placing his hand on the small of the back. I swallowed the saliva collecting in my mouth and continued to walk to the entrance. The doorman, yes this place is so fancy that pay someone to open a damn door, Daniel pushes me in front of him. I stumbled into the restaurant feeling my pulse jump to a newbie running a 2k heartbeat. Daniel grabbed my hand and led me through the somewhat crowded lobby over to the guys. People kept turning around and looking at me making it harder to breathe.

A few young guys checked me out as we were trying to get through the crowd and smirked at me. More like smirked at my body in the short dress. It made my legs shake. I spotted a few older men with their wives checking out my assets as well. I looked down at my feet trying not to trip. I had already embarrassed myself enough tonight. I could feel the cold glares on me. It was such a familiar feeling that I didn't even have to look up to see the people doing it.

"That's called asking for it," I heard a girl say to her friends after looking at me. My heart got stuck in my throat and I grabbed Daniel's arm making me stand next to him.

"Are you good?" He asked. I looked at him to see his worried expression.

"Just some jitters you know," I smiled at him. He nodded his head a little and rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb. I felt my head pound as it seemed like the room was too dark and the conversations were getting louder. I pressed my lips tightly together as I could feel the red lights flashing in my body. I took shaky breaths out of my mouth trying to calm my heartbeat.

"Ah this must be Elizabeth," I heard an unfamiliar voice say in front of me. I quickly looked up from the ground and saw Tyler standing in front of us with a sweet smile. My senses slowly returned to normal as I nodded my head.

"I'm Tyler, Daniel's brother...which you probably already knew," he chuckled holding his had out for me to shake it. I awkwardly shook his hand.

"Elizabeth....which you already knew," I said as our eyes met. I felt my brain stabbing itself as my heart began to beat faster again.