Part 28 (2/2)

”And this”-Trista put her hands on my shoulders and pushed me forward-”is Cara.”

The bouncer slowly ran his eyes over my body. If I hadn't been tipsy it might have made me uncomfortable, but instead I stared right back at him. He was mountainously tall and muscular, but he was cute. And young. Could he have been in college? From movies and things, I imagined bouncers to be older, unsmiling, and intimidating, but he wasn't that at all.

”Cara, huh,” he said. ”Do you care-a if I stare-a?”

I burst out laughing. Had he really just said that? I imagined telling Claudia about it and laughed even harder. But then I heard Trista clear her throat and realized I wasn't exactly being alluring and flirtatious. I pulled it together as best I could and looked up at the bouncer with what I hoped seemed like genuine admiration. ”You are so funny!”

As I said it, I placed my hand on his chest. It was a lot like leaning against a wall. A really fuzzy wall. What was his blazer made of? I started rubbing it. ”You guys, you have to touch his jacket-it's so soft.”

Trista, Ree-Ree, and Kristie joined me in petting the bouncer's chest. We all agreed the material felt insanely good.

”I love it,” I said. ”I just want to cuddle up with it.”

I blushed when I realized how that sounded, but the bouncer only smiled. ”I like your new friend,” he told Trista. ”You guys can go inside.”

He gave me a wink, and I wondered if Eddie would get jealous.

Trista linked her arm through mine. ”Impressive,” she said as we made our way to the door. ”You had me worried for a minute, but you pulled it off. You're a natural.”

Nothing felt better than a Trista compliment. I practically floated into the club.

Clubbing with the Populazzi was a million times different from going to the Works with Nate. Trista, Ree-Ree, Kristie, and I all danced together, losing ourselves in the beat and the flas.h.i.+ng lights. Marsh loved to dance and was almost always out there with us. The other guys floated in and out, sometimes dancing, other times watching from the bar.

We kept ordering drinks, but I was sure I was sweating out the alcohol as fast as I was drinking it. My fuzziness never grew. I felt just soft enough at the edges not to worry about how I looked and let my body move any way the music pushed it.

We stayed until the club closed. We were all starving afterward, so we had the limo stop at Denny's for a late-night breakfast. It was almost five in the morning when we got back to Trista's, so of course we were all staying over.

The Hang was too small to offer any real privacy, but we did the best we could. Trista and Brett got the bed and buried themselves in a sea of covers. Kristie and Eric pulled several oversize pillows and their sleeping bags into the closet and blocked the entrance with beanbag chairs. Ree-Ree and Marsh ducked under a heap of blankets in the middle of the floor.

I gave Eddie a nervous smile. I was suddenly very aware that even though we were surrounded by people, this was really the first time we'd been alone since that night at his party.

”I have an idea,” he said. He opened the narrow linen closet by the bathroom and pulled down the last of Trista's blankets, then took them out to the patio, where he piled them onto a double chaise. It was freezing, but Eddie turned on the outdoor heaters and crawled under the blankets. I was so cold, I didn't even feel self-conscious about cuddling tightly against Eddie. He put his arms around me and I rested my head on his chest, my leg thrown over his. We were a little island of warmth in the middle of the tundra.

I enjoyed the coziness for a minute, then picked up my head and scooted higher on the chaise to look Eddie in the eye. ”I had a great time tonight,” I said.

”I'm glad.”

He kissed me then-a long, sweet kiss that warmed me even more. I leaned in for another ... but Eddie's mouth opened in a huge yawn.

”Sorry,” he said. ”I'm what they call a sleepy drunk. Promise you won't hate me if I crash out?”

”I promise.” I even crossed my heart. I guessed I was what they call a dorky drunk.

”Great.” Eddie kissed my nose, and then he lay back and guided me into cuddle position.

”Mmm, my spot,” I said, claiming his chest as my pillow. I could feel him laugh for a second, and then his breath came long and slow.

He was asleep.

I looked out over Trista's yard. Beyond the strings of white lights, everything was cloaked in blackness. I couldn't believe my life. I had spent the whole night dancing with my friends, and I was about to go to sleep cuddled up with my boyfriend. Just before I closed my eyes I saw little flakes dancing in the glow of the Christmas lights. I almost giggled. It was too perfect-I was living in a snow globe.

I snuggled even closer to Eddie and fell asleep.

I woke up to the sun blasting through my eyelids. Eddie was still out, so I gently untangled myself from him. My hot-girl dress felt weird and sticky on my body after sleeping in it, and while Kristie's brilliant bra had been my best friend the night before, it now felt stiff and confining.

I slipped inside The Hang, which was all but silent. Trista and Brett were asleep on the bed, and I felt weirdly like a kid sneaking through her parents' bedroom. There was no way I could stay here without waking everyone, and I didn't feel comfortable roaming around Trista's property by myself. I figured I'd go home. I ducked into the bathroom to quietly wash up and change. I tiptoed around the blanket pile that was Marsh and Ree-Ree as I gathered the rest of my things, and then I wrote Trista a note to thank her and took off out the door. I shot Eddie a quick text as I waited for my car to warm up, so he didn't think I left because anything was wrong.

Over the next week, Trista helped make sure I wouldn't ever get caught again without the proper clubbing attire. We hit Forever 21 and Victoria's Secret to get me a few choice dresses, bras, and thongs. And though Trista was insane-o rich, she was all about a bargain. I spent barely any money, so there wouldn't be any credit card issues.

Two Sat.u.r.days later I experienced my first Populazzi holiday: Valentine's Day. I'd never had a boyfriend for Valentine's Day, and I was racking my brain about what to get him, but Trista said there was only one acceptable V-Day gift: lingerie.

”You really think Eddie would look good in lingerie?” I asked.

I was joking, but Trista didn't get it. She looked at me as if I was hopeless. ”The lingerie is for you. We'll all go shopping together this week to get it.”

She didn't mention where we'd go, a fact Claudia seized on. She was convinced Trista would take us to some crazy-exotic s.e.x shop filled with weird paraphernalia. Every time we spoke, Claude tortured me with more bizarre details of the imagined den of iniquity, and there was no way I was going to be able to handle the outing without turning bright red and hyperventilating over the idea that someone might see me. I didn't even want to think about what I'd do if I had to use my credit card.

”What,” Claudia said, ”you don't think Karl would be cool with a charge from Priscilla's Pa.s.sion Pit?”

”Stop.”

”How about Lolita's Love Loft?”

”That's it. I'm not going.”

”s.e.xistentialism?”

”No. There's no ... Okay, if it was actually called s.e.xisten-tialism I might have to go inside.”

As it turned out, I didn't have to worry. Trista took us back to Victoria's Secret, a place I could enter without a qualm and which would look totally acceptable on a credit card statement. I did feel weird going to the ”s.e.xy” section of the store, flipping through filmy, lacy things that required far more confidence and cup size than I actually had.

I couldn't even begin to choose anything to try on, but luckily I didn't have to-what Trista pulled for me was perfect. It was more like a slip than anything hard-core, with thin shoulder straps, a lacy top, and a mesh skirt that came down to the tops of my thighs. It was red, so the mesh was a little see-through, but not so much that it would be embarra.s.sing. It was tasteful and cute-I actually thought I looked pretty in it. Trista and Kristie picked out beautiful and tasteful things as well. Ree-Ree's ... I saw it on the hanger and wondered if they were selling it to wear or to use for cat's cradle. For Ree-Ree it was perfect.

On Valentine's night, we made the guys wait outside until we were ready to reveal our presents. We actually made them wait an extra ten minutes after that. I thought that was a little mean given the freezing weather, but Trista said it built ”delicious antic.i.p.ation.”

Finally, Trista had me unlock the door, but I didn't open it. I ducked into the bathroom with the other girls, and then Trista yelled for the guys to come in. Only when they'd shut the door and taken seats did Trista hit the remote to turn on music so we could strut our lingerie-clad selves into the room.

The guys loved it. They hooted and catcalled like wild, Eddie as loud as any of them. The whole night, it seemed as if Eddie couldn't take his eyes or hands off me. He stared at me, whatever I did. When I sat in his lap while we all played drinking games, he kept running his hands up and down my little slip.

The attention made me feel beautiful and s.e.xy ... but also a little scared. Eddie and I had been pretty tame in our makeout sessions so far. I knew even Kristie was doing a lot more. I wondered if he'd take the lingerie fas.h.i.+on show as an invitation to go a little further. Not that a little further was a problem, but a lot further might be. Eddie and I hadn't talked about whether or not he was a virgin. Things might be on the table for him that weren't at all for me.

When we eventually made it out to our chaise and started kissing, it kept nagging at me. Part of me wanted to say something, but stopping a perfectly wonderful makeout session to define things that might not even need defining seemed like the worst turnoff in the world. I did not want to turn Eddie off. But wouldn't stopping things when we were actually getting close to doing something I didn't want to do be even more of a turnoff?

”Eddie,” I finally said between kisses.

”What's up?”

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