Star Struck(18)

“Thanks for helping me get ready,” Hailey said.

“Thank you for this dress,” Brenda returned.

“You look nice,” Garrett said.

Brenda and Hailey said, “Thank you” in unison.

They all chuckled.

“I’ll see you two at the party. I need to go pick up my date.”

“And who might that be?” Garrett asked.

“You’ll see.”

Hailey looped her arm through Garrett’s. “Come on in. Would you like a drink before we go?”

Garrett didn’t trust his emotions right now. Her perfume reached out to tease his senses. The cream colored dress was too long to be a mini, but short enough to accent her long legs. The five inch heels was enough to drive the average man over the edge. He had to get out of there soon. “Don’t you think we should get going? We don’t want to be late,” he responded.

Hailey seemed to purr. “If I didn’t know better, I would think you didn’t want to be alone with me.”

“What would give you that idea?” he stuttered.

She giggled. “Oh nothing.” She picked up her clutch. “Come on. We have a party to go to.”

Garrett couldn’t hide his smile. The night with Hailey would be far from boring.



***



Hailey pretended to be enchanted by the music, but instead she was trying to get a grip on the feelings that came from nowhere. She asked herself. When did she start finding Garrett attractive? Grant it, he was a good looking man; but he was always Garrett, her buddy, her pal. The player. Trevon’s best friend. Tonight when she opened the door, she saw more than just a pal. She saw a man who for an instant made her forget the whole purpose of going to the party in the first place. She found herself attracted to him. She shrugged it off. It must have been the glass of champagne she drank before he came. Yes. That was it. Alcohol was the excuse.

Instead of thinking about Garrett and admiring how sexy he looked in his brown Sean Jean pinstriped suit, she needed to figure out what she would say when she finally saw Trevon’s fiancé for the first time.

“How does she look?” she blurted.

Garrett must didn’t hear her, because he didn’t respond. She reached and turned down the radio. “Didn’t anyone teach you any manners? Never, ever, mess with a man’s radio.”

“If you didn’t have it so loud, I wouldn’t have had to,” she responded. His attitude reminded her of why she had never looked past them being buddies.

“What’s on your mind?”

“All I wanted to know was how does she look?”

“I’m surprised it took you this long to ask me.”

He turned his system completely off. “She’s pretty.”

Hailey grunted. “You would say that.”

“Well you asked,” he teased.

Hailey rolled her eyes and turned to look out the window. It seemed no matter what time of day or night, traffic in Los Angeles seemed to be at a gridlock.

“She’s pretty, but doesn’t hold a candle to you.”

Hailey looked at him. His eyes were on the road and the cars ahead. He took the next exit but was caught by the light. “Now you’re trying to pump up my ego.”

He looked at her. With the light beaming enough in the light, she could see his eyes. “There are millions of men who could do that. I’m telling you what I think. Although you try to hide it, you’re not just beautiful on the outside, there’s a beauty within you that few women can compete with.”

The sound of a horn blowing broke the trance. He drove on. They remained silent until they reached their destination.

They pulled up in front of the Renaissance Hotel. A valet took Garrett’s keys. She waited for him to open her door. She took his hand and exited the car. He looped his arm around her as they walked inside the hotel. The elevator door opened to take them to the ball room. He leaned down and for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her; instead he whispered in her ear, “Show time.”



~ 12 ~



Garrett couldn’t resist teasing Hailey. Whether she wanted to admit it, he could tell she was attracted to him too. Although they both were threading on dangerous grounds because of their affiliation with Trevon, he decided the day Trevon showed how insensitive he was to Hailey’s feelings, that he would let things play out. He hoped Hailey realized Trevon wasn’t the man she thought he was. Garrett also hoped that she would look past his past and see that he was more than what she thought he was.

He felt like a million bucks walking in with Hailey. He could see why Trevon got caught up. He knew he was the envy of all of the men; whether they were married or not. Hailey was oblivious to the attention and clung to his arm as they made their way to the ballroom.