Fancy Dinner

Play list for this Chapter: The Lakes by Taylor Swift.

A week had passed since I had gone to Rosie's, because of the large amount of assignments our Professors had decided to dump on our heads. I groaned in frustration and put my head on my desk, looking out the window.

"Dove!!!" Abby screamed from somewhere and I flinched.

"What?" I called out to her and she came jumping in my room.

"Why are you still working?" She looked at me in disbelief and I shrugged.

"Why shouldn't I be working?" I asked her and she groaned.

"Because." She took a deep breath before speaking. "It's Lauren's birthday today and she invited us, remember?"

Oh right. Lauren. She was a psychology student in our class and friends with Cole and Abby, so she invited us to her birthday dinner, along with some other friends.

"She invited you and Cole, not me." I told her.

"Yes she did, now get your ass in the shower before I smack you!" She raised her voice and I got up muttering curses.

"If I fail this semester, it's on you!" I pointed to her and she gasped.

"No, it's gonna be on you. You should've finished your work earlier instead of reading all those books." She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. I rolled my eyes knowing she was right.

"Ugh. Fine."

"Now hurry, we have to be there in less than an hour." She told me and marched out of her room. "And wear something formal!" She called out.

"Okay mom!" I called out after her and chuckled. She can be intense sometimes. I sighed and made my way to my wardrobe, tossing out my new dresses to see if we bought anything formal and settled on a blue one that matched my eyes.

"Perfect" I whispered to myself and took a nice and long shower, then straightened my hair to make myself more presentable, putting on the fancy hair pin my dad gave me for my birthday last year. I put on some light makeup and slipped my dress on, along with my navy blue heels, and twirled in front of the mirror, smiling.

Quickly straightening my dress I walked out with my phone and wallet in my hand.

"Abby! I'm ready! Cole!" I called out to them.

"Here!" Cole called out and I walked into his room struggling with his bow tie.

"A little help, please?" He smiled at me sheepishly and I grinned at him, before making my way towards him and doing his bow tie for him.

"There. All done." I patted his chest and looked at him. "You look nice." I told him and looked at his crisp white dress shirt and black pants and bow tie.

"Don't get used to it." He told me with a grin and we both went out to see Abby coming out of her room, trying to put her coat on and wearing a dark green short dress that hugged her curves and ended a little above her knees.

"Why is my dress so short?" I looked at mine which ended up well above my knees and Abby shrugged.

"You look nice. Now come on, we're already late!" She grabbed both our arms and ran towards the parking lot.

We made it to the restaurant in under 15 minutes mostly because Abby kept shouting at Cole to go faster. We were deaf by the time we reached the restaurant. Stepping out of the car, I looked around at the fancy restaurant and made my way inside, my arm linked with Cole's.

Cole helped me take my coat off and Abby led us to our table, where a bunch of people I recognized were already sitting and chatting. The tables around us were already filled and people were dressed up in fancy clothes and the clinking of glasses could be heard as well as the scraping of forks against plates.

Did I mention Lauren's dad was rich? Like filthy rich?

"Is her family here too?" Cole whispered in Abby's ear and she nodded.

"Yeah some family and close friends." She whispered back and went towards Lauren and we followed her. Lauren was a nice girl, and I liked her.. I went to her and hugged her, handing her the birthday gift I'd bought for her and wishing her a happy birthday. She gave me a kind smile and gestured me to sit. I greeted her parents as well who were equally nice and I felt like liked them.

After saying hi to everyone, I looked around for a free seat and was about to move forward when someone bumped into me, hard. I was about to fall down but an arm caught me and I hooked my arms around the persons neck, closing my eyes. When I felt like I wasn't dead, I slowly opened one ye, then another and almost had a heart attack.

"You again!" I quickly moved away from him, and saw Nicholas looking at me with an amused expression. "What are you doing here?" I asked him in disbelief and someone cleared their throat behind us. I turned around to see Lauren and her father standing behind me and I moved aside.

"Mr. King, it's so good to see you here. Thank you for coming on such short notice." Her father shook hands with Nicholas who was looking at me.

"How do you know him?" He pointed to Lauren's father.

"I was.. um.. I was invited to her birthday." I gestured towards Lauren who seemed baffled by the whole exchange.

"Uh, please, Mr. King, have a seat." Her father gestured to the empty seats and Nicholas looked at me.

"Come. Sit with me." He told me and stretched out his hand towards me. I looked at it for a few seconds before taking it and he led me to the seat next to his, and I sat down, him following suit.

"How do you two know each other, if you don't mind me asking?" Lauren's father looked between me and Nicholas suspiciously, but Nicholas didn't bother answering.

"Um.. we met at a cafe.." I told him and he nodded simply, as if contemplating something. I looked over at Cole and Abby who were sitting with the rest of the college kids, staring at me with their mouths hanging open and I mouthed a sorry to them.

"Are those your friends?" Nicholas suddenly spoke and I noticed him looking at Cole and Abby.

"Yes." I answered.

"You live with them?"

"Yeah, we live together." He hummed in response and we drank our wine in silence. I stole a few glances at Nicholas who was wearing a black suit, the first two buttons of his short open. A light stubble could be seen on his perfect jawline, and he was typing something on his phone. I could smell his intoxicating cologne because of how close we were sitting. Our legs would occasionally brush together and the mere touch would make me feel electric.

We sat for a while more and chatted among each other, the girls glancing at Nicholas and me every now and then.

What's their problem?

I was almost finished with my wine when a couple walked towards our table, and I tensed almost immediately. Our table went quiet to welcome the new couple and I glanced at Abby and Cole who looked at me with a worried expression on their faces. I paled instantly when the couple's eyes fell on me and they smirked, the grip on my wine glass tightening.

"Dove, baby, you're here too." He spoke and walked towards me while I gulped, swallowing the emotion.

"Derek."