When Perfect Meets Crazy

29 - He's with me

"So," I pulled out a chair to sit on at the table with the rest of the prom committee, "what have you guys come up with?"

Ian dragged a chair from a nearby table and joined our small circle. A few eyebrows were raised but no one outright objected. An invisible 'he's with me' stamp was on him.

I wasn't quite sure how I felt about that but I was both annoyed and placated to note that Claire wasn't in attendance.

"We were thinking of switching to Eloise's uncle's catering company." The secretary, Elaine, shrugged halfheartedly. "They're the only ones who'll take us on such short notice."

I arched an eyebrow in disbelief, my gaze drifting from one face to the next.

"Really?" My tone was heavily laced with disapproval. "That's the best you could come up with?"

I sounded so much like my mom that a part of me shuddered inwardly.

"I'd like to see you do better." Ralph sneered.

I rolled my eyes.

He really needed to get over himself.

"There was a reason we didn't go for that in the first place, remember?" I said, ignoring his jab.

They clearly did seeing as they all suddenly had something to pointedly stare at to avoid meeting my gaze.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.

Seriously?

Beside me, Ian leaned forward, watching the interaction with all the interest of a child opening a present.

"Okay." I sighed, pulling out my phone. "Give me the number."

Ralph grudgingly supplied the number of the catering service trying to bail on our deal.

I hit the call button and waited patiently.

"Hello."

"Hello," I replied amicably, putting the call on speaker. "Is this Sweetwater catering?"

"Yes." The voice on the other end replied.

"Perfect. I'm calling on behalf of Claire Anne high school."

"Ohh." The disappointed wariness in her tone was too heavy to be misinterpreted. It brought to mind the image of Louise harassing her over an angry phone call.

"I'm sorry we had to cancel on such short notice." Her tone was more passive aggressive and snippy than apologetic.

My gaze shot to Louise who looked like she was barely managing to keep herself from cussing the lady out.

I smiled inwardly.

"I'm sure you are," I cooed. "We understand that you need to put the needs of your business first and we'd be more than happy to take our deposit back."

At this, everybody at the table shot me looks of agitated surprise. Ralph and Elaine even threw in dirty looks and a hiss.

All of which I ignored.

"However," I continued. "We think it'd be in your best interest to reconsider."

The person on the other end began to reply but I cut her off. "Just like you, we have to consider there reputation of our school first which means we don't have time to hope you change your mind. We'll be contacting a replacement first thing tomorrow so we will need that deposit promptly. However, I feel it's only fair to warn you... The event is very important to the students here. I mean the student council can only do so much but since majority of the students already know we booked your company, when they find out that you canceled on us...," I paused, sucking in air through my teeth. "I can't guarantee you that we can stop them from coming after you. I saw you linked your personal account to business account on Instagram." I stopped, letting the implication sink in.