He smiles and bumps me back.
Melinda gestures for us to come the rest of the way into the building. We walk alongside her to see a few of the nearby displays—the photographer who took those black-and-white shots of the old woman is standing in his display area, also dressed in a suit and tie. I meet him and talk with him for a while about his pieces and about our individual techniques and styles. And then Luke walks with me down every row laid out in the room in an intricate pattern to create a labyrinth of extravagant art, all of it situated precisely as if even the layout had been handled with as much care and thought as the art itself.
We drink nonalcoholic champagne in tulip-shaped champagne glasses and meet with the guests—some came by invitation and are dressed up like the rest of us to fit the theme; others are people who came in off the street on a whim: tourists and locals alike, dressed more casually. The night couldn’t be more perfect.
Well … I guess it can—Seth and Kendra walk through the entrance and come toward me and Luke, all decked out in formal clothes—my eyes get increasingly wide seeing them like this. Luke I could actually imagine in a suit and tie, but Seth—never in a million years. And Kendra in a little black dress and tall sparkly black heels, with her blond hair all done up in a perfect wavy bun; I do a double take, having to make sure it’s actually tomboy, BASE-jumping, crazy Kendra and not just another one of Seth’s one-night stands who just looks like Kendra.
“Wow,” I say, looking her up and down, “you are rockin’ that dress.”
“Ain’t I, though?” She strikes a dramatic pose and wrinkles her nose on one side to give me a little of that Kendra flare.
I look over at Seth, tall and dark and one gorgeous walking surprise.
“And you!” I take a step back next to Luke and look him over with a dramatic sweep of my eyes. “Did you have to talk him into a suit?” I ask Luke, glancing over at him.
Luke laughs lightly and shakes his head.
“No,” he says. “I had nothing to do with this monstrosity.”
“Hey, I look damn good, bro, and you fuckin’ know it,” Seth says with laughter in his voice.
I wince and gesture my hand at him. “Keep it down, Seth,” I tell him quietly, trying not to laugh and looking over my shoulder for anyone who might’ve heard his foul mouth. Thankfully, no one was close enough.
Seth winces, too. “Sorry,” he says, realizing.
He really is a sweetheart.
Then I look between Seth and Kendra, the gears in my head churning. They didn’t come in holding hands, or even touching each other for that matter, and from what Luke has told me, they’re still just friends. But I’m not buying it—or rather, I don’t want to buy that.
“So,” I say suspiciously after taking a sip of my sparkling drink, “you came together.” I take another calculated sip; my eyes narrow with speculation.
A tiny burst of air moves through Kendra’s pooched lips and she rolls her eyes.
“Wash that junk outta your head, Ginger,” she says playfully.
Luke laughs next to me, and I gently elbow him in his side.
“Hey, she said it, not me,” he defends with laughter, and then kisses me on the head again.
“Pffft!” I take another sip. Ginger? I hate it!
Seth grabs Kendra by her waist and goes to pull her into his big arms mischievously, but she play-fights him off—with a little less Kendra flare here in public than she would normally show when it’s just the four of us.
“Keep your Sasquatch hands off me, Seth,” she snaps, pulling the thin black strap of her dress back onto her shoulder.