Bentley (Hawthorne Brothers Book One)(25)

“So does his family know you’re coming?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” I replied.

“Well, do they know you exist? Since you haven’t met them, maybe they just know he’s bringing a date, but not that you two are together or whatever,” she said.

“Well, I would imagine he’s said something. He’s close with his family, and says all the time how much he likes me and likes being with me. It would only make sense to me that they’d know,” I said.

“I wouldn’t count on it unless you know for sure. Sometimes guys can be more reserved with that kind of stuff. I dated that Jason guy a while back and he never once told his family about me, even though he told me in person he loved me. He kept it from them until we went to visit one day and they had no clue who in the hell I was or that he was even with somebody,” she said.

“Bentley wouldn’t do something like that, though. I think he cares too much about me and hates drama too much to try to sabotage things. It’ll all be fine. They know,” I said, zipping up the next dress.

“Oh, red mama,” she said as I walked out in the red dress.

“I feel like Jessica Rabbit,” I said, spinning around.

“Hey, that’s not a bad thing. It has cleavage, but not too much, though the last one didn’t have any at all, which might be a little more conservative. Hm, I don’t know. You still have one more in there, but which one are you liking more?” she asked.

“I don’t even know,” I said as I looked at myself in the array of mirrors near her seat.

They both looked good, but they were admittedly very different looks. One was, like she said, conservative, while this one pushed the envelope a little without making me look trashy. I’d never really done the wedding thing before, so I didn’t even know if cleavage was acceptable. Were people usually more covered up?

“Have you ever been to a wedding?” I asked.

“A few,” she said.

“Do people wear things like this?” I asked.

“They do, but not all the time. They probably aren’t meeting family for the first time, either. Or they’re just a date and not anything special,” she said.

“I don’t know. I’ll just try on the last one and we can see what happens,” I said, walking back into the stall.

“Make it good!” she shouted as I unzipped the red dress and set it next to the lace one.

The final one, a navy one, had no real texture to it. It was kind of like the lace one in cut and color, but without the fun lace. I put it on, feeling more like I was going to a job interview, before I walked out and saw Nina’s face, which didn’t light up like it did with the other two.

“I like it, especially for something work-related, but not for this. You could always get it if it’s on sale for a job interview after we graduate, but yeah, not a wedding dress unless they’re like, Amish or something,” she said.

“Well, I don’t think I’ll be going to many Amish weddings in my lifetime, so I think it’s a no,” I said, laughing.

I took it off and changed back into my street clothes before bringing out all the dresses and hanging up the three that I didn’t like.

“So, it’s between these two,” I said as I laid out the navy lace and the red knockout dress.

“I love the red on you, but I think the navy is the way to go. You still look sexy, but it’s more of a ‘what’s under this dress’ kind of sexy instead of ‘here, look at what’s under this dress’ kind of sexy. Stick with the navy,” she said.

I agreed, hanging up the red dress, looking at it with sad eyes as we walked out of the dressing room, navy lace in tow. I’ll come back for you one day, I promise.

The dress only came out to forty bucks, as I guess it was on sale and had been sitting there for a while or something. I couldn’t have been happier, thinking it would be at least double that, as the girl behind the counter bagged it up for me and gave me my receipt.

“Want to get a coffee?” Nina asked as we walked out.

“Sure, that sounds good,” I said.

There was a Starbucks inside, and we walked into the fairly barren coffee shop as a barista was cleaning equipment and looking bored.

“What can I get you?” she asked.

“I’ll have a venti iced coffee,” Nina said.

“I’ll have a venti caramel iced coffee,” I said.

“Oh, add that to mine as well, please. I forgot all about it,” Nina said, taking out her card.

“I can get mine,” I said.

“No, I’ll get it. I want to treat you,” she said.

I didn’t argue with her, instead taking my free coffee like a drug addict when it was handed to me before we walked over to a table in the corner and sat down.

“So, ever talk to that guy again? Steve, was it?” I asked.

“Yeah, I did, but it didn’t go anywhere. It never seems to go anywhere with guys. I don’t know where all the good ones are, but I can’t seem to find them,” she said.

“I know your problem,” I said.

“This should be good,” she said, likely thinking I was going to rip on her.

“The problem is the age and type of guy you’re going for. Look at Bentley, he’s out of college age even though he never even went. You need a guy a couple years older—one who never went to college or who’s been out for a little bit. They’re more settled down and wanting something serious. The guys in college just want to screw around and have fun, while these guys want something more,” I said.

“Maybe you’re right. A girl I know, Helen, found a guy on some online dating site who I think is 26, maybe 25. Anyway, they’re now getting married in the fall and she said she never would’ve found a guy our age to commit to something like that. Like you said, they all want to have fun and drink and party and just all the stupid shit that doesn’t contribute to a functioning relationship. Like, I know I sometimes get wild and crazy, and want to lust over boys, but I do want something serious. I probably don’t go about it the right way, but I think I just get so wrapped up with a guy thinking maybe this one will be different, but they never are. It sucks,” she said, taking a sip of her drink.

“At least you acknowledge that, though. Most girls don’t, and instead just keep getting hurt and used over and over without anything ever changing in their lives. I think you just need to settle down, calm down, and quit going to all these parties and instead focus on something else. Maybe you should join a dating site and just see who’s on there. Give it a week. A pretty girl like you is going to get tons of messages anyway, so it’s not like you have anything to lose,” I said.

“Yeah, I don’t know. Maybe I will, but I feel like there’s just a stigma with it, you know?” she asked.

“Maybe with your grandparents, but not with people we know. Everybody is doing it. I see girls on those sites and apps all the time around campus. They’re all swiping right and messaging and getting dates left and right. That could be you, Nina,” I said.

“Yeah, I’d probably get tons of matches,” she said.

“Aw, see, there’s the stuck-up bitch I know and love,” I said.

“Shut up,” she said, laughing, before taking another sip.

“But seriously, you’ll find someone. I think if you do what we talked about just now, things will really turn around and you’ll find that happiness. Maybe after college is over and you leave these guys behind, things will really pick up,” I said.

“True. I never really did think about that, but we’re obviously leaving this town, or at least I am, and the dating pool might get very open,” she said.

“Yeah, who knows if I’ll leave anymore. I might have to stay here,” I said.

“Bentley?” she asked.

“Yeah, he can’t exactly leave or anything. He has the shop, and a house, and a life here that I could never pull him away from. His family is here, his friends, and just yeah, it would be too much,” I said.

“So what would you do? Would you just stay here forever?” she asked.

“I don’t know about that. Hell, I don’t even know that we’ll be together in a few months. Maybe his family won’t even like me,” I said.

“Anna, everybody likes you and I’ve never met anybody, especially a parent, who didn’t. If anything you won’t like them, but who really does like their in-laws?” she asked.

“Why don’t we get out of here and get back home? I’m sure Maggie is pissed we didn’t bring her along,” I said.

“She surprisingly hasn’t blown up our phones just yet,” she said, standing up and pushing in her chair.

“Thank you, guys,” the barista said as we thanked her and smiled.





Chapter Twenty-One



Bentley



“Just trim me up as usual,” I said.

My barber, Tony, brushed off his supplies and looked me over as he saw the small amount of growth I had since the last time I was in.

“Want a two on the sides and back? We doing a shave today as well?” he asked.

“Yeah, that all sounds great,” I said, before he put a guard on his clippers.

With the cape snug around my neck, he tilted my head down and began to cut the back and sides of my hair with relative ease. I rarely ever had the top touched at all. I spent far too long growing this out to the perfect length to have it cut now. I think I cared more about my hair than my car, and that’s saying something, all right.