Page 57 of Game Over

What if he thinks you look ridiculous?

What if he didn’t like the way the dress hugged your body in places?

No.

I wasn’t going to let those anxious thoughts ruin this night. This was going to be a good night, I knew it. My attention was brought back into focus by the sound of my doorbell. Glancing at myself one final time in the mirror, I took a deep breath, ran my hand down the dress to smooth it out, and headed down the hall.

CHAPTER 24

Yellow

I pulled up to Allie’s house, nervous as hell. I spent most of the day in my own head, overthinking everything. Would Allie really want to be seen with me? What if she thinks this isn’t worth it? What if I fuck up?

Over. And over. And over. All damn day.

I ended up calling Carson to help get out of that cycle, and also went ahead and scheduled another therapy appointment. Getting another message from my older brother that I left unopened had put me on edge and my head in a weird headspace. Regardless, I was determined for us to have a fun night.

Allie’s house was bathed in the glow of the sunset. The large flower beds bursting with different kinds of flowers were a wash of color swaying in the evening breeze. It truly looked like an image plucked straight from a countryside painting.

Walking up and ringing the doorbell, I smoothed my suit out while I waited. I tapped my fingers against my legs to try to expel some of the anxious energy running through me. We’ve been on plenty of dates at this point, and I’ve met her family, but I knew her work was important to her too. Especially with her considering applying for this big promotion. Which I have no doubt she would get if she did. I wanted this night to go well for her. After what felt like an eternity, Emma answered the door and let me in.

“Hey Spencer, good to see you. Give her just a second, and she’ll be out.”

“Hi Emma, doing alright today?” I stepped inside, giving Emma a quick hug as I did. Since Allie and I started dating, Emma was also around. She’d sometimes have movie nights with us, or we’d all go out to dinner. Most people would find it annoying, or some may even find it odd, but Emma had become like a sister to me. We’d bicker back and forth, I’d purposely make her mad, and she’d do it right back to me. How Allie put up with us together was beyond me.

“Oh yeah, I am. We’ve kinda been hanging out. I’m only gonna be staying for a little longer, so I can make sure Dolly is taken care of, since y'all will probably be out for a little while, and then I’ll be heading home.

“I gotcha. That’s really nice of—” My response died on my tongue as I watched Allie walk, practically floating, down the hallway, looking ethereal as ever. My mouth suddenly felt too dry. I swallowed to try and help, but I was so damn nervous it felt like my tongue was getting stuck in the back of my throat.

“Hi there,” She said, smiling at me with those beautiful, full red lips.

“Hi back.” Lame response much?

Walking over to her, I took her hand, lifting it above her head and twirling her in a circle. “Allie, I-I don’t even know what to say. Look at you. You're magnificent, sweetheart. Every single part of you is jaw-dropping. Like a statue of a Greek goddess.” Slowly lowering her arm, I placed a kiss atop her hand, her wrist, slowly making my way up.

The dress accentuated her soft curves. It was strapless, putting her muscular shoulders and back on display, as well as showcasing some of her tattoos. The heels she had on accentuated her legs, and you could see the muscle definition in her calves that she worked so hard for, and god, if that didn’t do something for me. Fuck she was amazing. I couldn’t help but drink her in, not caring if her best friend was standing mere feet away.

“Thank you. You don’t look half bad yourself, stud.” She stuck her pointer finger in the air and made a circular motion, wanting me to spin for her. I happily obliged because having her eyes on me was one of my favorite things. “Yeah, I knew the all-black suit would look good on you.” The heat in her eyes was hard to miss as she raked them over me. The tension between us steadily grew the longer we stood here.

“Okaayy, well, as fun as this is, if you two would wait to pounce on each other until you’re not right in front of me, I’d appreciate it. No need to remind me that I am painfully and incredibly single,” Emma said, laughing as she walked over to Allie to fix an errant piece of her.

“Shit, sorry, Em. Thank you again for watching her. I appreciate it, and I’ll text you.”

“You’re good, girl, you know I never care. I’m gonna eat your food and watch your TV, and then I’ll head out.”

Allie and Emma hugged at the threshold before she shut and locked the door behind us as we left.

“Ready to cut a rug, sweetheart.”

“Did you just say cut a rug? What is this, the 1920’s?” She laughed, and a little snort came out. “Yes, lover boy, I'm ready to cut a rug with you.”

I placed a soft kiss against her cheek and then opened the car door for her.

We arrived at the building a little over thirty minutes later. A good amount of people had already arrived, and we could hear the music pouring out as we walked up. Thankfully, we didn’t have to carry our badges with us, and just had to show the tickets we had saved on our phones to the security at the front. Once we made it inside, we wandered over to the bar they had set up.

“What can I get ya?” the bartender asked when we made our way to the front.

“I’ll take an Angry Orchard, and she’ll have a Dr. Pepper with Crown in it, please. Oh, and a couple of cherries, if you can.”