Dances with Monsters(87)

Heath cleared his throat and got to his feet, giving Connor his back as he reached for his sweating bottle of cold water, drinking half of it in one gulp in an effort to shock his body into calming down.

"Listen, man," Connor said. "I know I'm giving you shit here. But really—I'm glad that you like this girl. Really glad. I hope it works out. It's good to see you happy. Happier."

Heath snorted over his shoulder, but he appreciated his brother's words. "Well, thanks, I guess," he replied. "We'll see how it goes."

"Now, about the ballet," Connor asked seriously. "Do you have to wear your own tights, or do they hand them out at the door?"

He yelped and dodged out of the way, not fast enough, as Heath hurled his water bottle at his head.

***

Drew knew she'd been a worthless employee on Thursday, and as she hustled home early at four that afternoon, she knew she owed Bunz a huge debt of gratitude. Bunz had been letting her leave early several times a week to go to the Y to work on her showcase piece, and when she'd heard about the dinner date that evening and the movie afterward, her eyes had lit up and she'd seemed absolutely delighted, practically insisting that Drew leave at three-thirty. Drew had refused to leave that early, but when four o'clock came around, Bunz had all but kicked her out.

"I owe you," Drew had said, grabbing her bag and jacket.

"Just make sure I'm the maid of honor and that I do the wedding cake," she'd replied. "Now get the hell out of here!"

Drew burst into her apartment and shut the door, locking it off of muscle memory, and hurried to the bathroom immediately. Rocky ran at her feet and she quickly bent down and petted him, dropping a kiss on the soft spot on the top of his head, right in the middle, before jumping into the shower. She'd been fretting since Tuesday night about what to wear; she knew Elements was a dressy place, but that they were also going to the movies afterward. She wasn't sure which to dress for, but ultimately decided she'd better dress for the restaurant. It was spring, a chilly spring at that, but she had a pretty pale pink, short skater-style halter dress with a large, open diamond shaped back she really wanted to wear. She knew she'd be cold, and had a cropped white trench coat to wear over the top, but her legs would just have to suffer, as the dress ended several inches above the knee. That brought up another matter.

She glanced down at the inside of her ankle. The cuts had healed additionally, but were still visible. She didn't want to draw attention to them by putting a bandage over them, and besides, a bandage slapped on the inside of her ankle would detract from her outfit. She decided to use makeup, and applied concealer and powder as best she could to match her skin tone. The healing wound's appearance was greatly reduced; in fact, the cuts couldn't even be seen from a distance. A person would have to be up close and personal with her skin in order to see that it wasn't flawless.

Her stomach knotted in on itself with nerves as she applied her makeup and fixed her hair, managing to coax the mix of fine and coarse strands into large, smooth waves. She added a little gold jewelry in the form of gold diamond studs, a delicate gold chain necklace, a single gold midi ring and a gold bracelet on the opposite wrist. It was a quarter to six when she heard a knock on her door, so she hastily stepped into her nude high heels and grabbed her jacket and clutch before scurrying to the door. She peeked through the peephole, and unlatched her locks and opened the door.

Heath was resplendent in crisp charcoal gray slacks and a simple black and white pinstripe button-up shirt, tucked into the pants. She could never imagine seeing him so dressed up—he looked like a completely different person. He had a tiny bit of product to tame his dark hair, but he was still scruffy and wore his large-face black sports watch. And she knew instinctively that no matter what he did or where he went in life, a tie would forever be out of the question.

His eyes lit up at the sight of her, and she felt nervous, flattered anticipation as they moved down her body. She knew she looked nice because she had put a lot of effort into looking this way, and she could tell by his reaction that those efforts paid off. She didn't need or even want to hear him say it aloud; the look on his face and the slight smile on his lips and the fact that he couldn't seem to stop staring were compliments enough. But she couldn't stop herself from paying him one in kind verbally.

"You clean up very well, Mr. Riley," she said shyly. Without giving him a chance to reply, she added, "I need to feed Rocky really quick before we leave. It'll just be a second."

He bobbed his head and watched as she turned toward the kitchen after laying her jacket and her clutch over the back of the couch, knowing he was watching still as she moved into the kitchen. She dished Rocky out some food, which he was waiting patiently for, and refreshed his water bowl. When she turned back around to head for the door, she was pleasantly surprised to see Heath picking up her white jacket and silently holding it open for her. She had never had anyone help her into a jacket before as an adult, and certainly not a man that she was interested in. She had never taken Heath to be such a gentleman and with every new revelation that this was just his way, she was surprised anew. She knew his mother had raised him as a teenager and Drew supposed that she'd instilled in him the gentlemanly qualities that he frequently seemed to display. She would have liked to meet his mother, knowing that he had been extremely close to her, and briefly lamented the fact that she never would.