Breaking Rule Number Two

Chapter Five

Rule number five was no lying, which is one she'd broken all through the summer and even now as fabric of all kinds covered every surface of Casey's room and they tried on outfit after outfit, Lorelei was still lying.

She was a liar.

Lorelei had always been a rule follower. She's the type of girl who stuck with a planner all year and read the manuals from cover to cover. She liked things to be in order and to make sense and now look.

She broke the rules and now it was all going to hell. She was going to hell, obviously for being such a terrible friend.

So maybe she said yes to the double date out of guilt, maybe she was trying to do better. Maybe she realized her mistakes and she was trying to right them, either way, anxiety still clawed at her, making it difficult to stop moving. She didn't even eat dinner and barely did her makeup she was that nervous.

Even as they pulled up to the school ice rink, her heart thumped in her ears and she was having trouble breathing.

Before Lorelei could convince her friends to turn the car around and go back home, Casey squeals and points at someone standing at the entrance. "There he is!"

Damien is in a nice button-up shirt and jeans, his hair neatly combed over to one side, and a giant smile on his face. He's waving to get the girls' attention, though the biggest thing Lorelei notices is that he's alone.

Casey parks and they both get out, though one did so rather reluctantly.

"He looks so good," Casey whispers as she locks arms with Lorelei.

"Mm, yeah, sure," is all Lorelei can get out of her mouth. She's too busy searching for the guy she's supposed to be on a date with who is apparently missing.

"Hey," Damien says, his eyes taking in all of Casey as if she was the only thing he saw. "You look amazing."

Casey blushes, her grip tightening on Lorelei's arm. "Thanks."

Lorelei tries to pull her arm away, but Casey has a death grip.

"And Lorelei, you look great as well," he nods to her. "You both ready to go in?"

No.

"Of course we are!" Casey chips, practically floating over when Damien offers his arm to her instead.

The tension is relieved in her forearm, but not anywhere else.

Damien lead them inside, opening each door, and providing decent commentary about the last time he skated until they reached the concessions.

With every step, dread twisted its way around her heart, the anticipation of her mysterious date making it hard to focus on anything of value.

Damien glances down at his phone while in line for skates. "Ah, the second part of this double date is parking, he'll be right in."

There it goes again. That dreadful, horrendous panicky feeling.

She hasn't been on a date since...him.

She'd really been trying not to think of him but when they pulled into the parking lot, she couldn't help it. Their first date was at this exact ice skating rink. It was the catapult of it all, how everything started.

She couldn't not think about him here.

"So, there's an hour left of public skating," Damien says as he picks up his skates and Casey's, leaving Lorelei to get her own. "And then we have the rink alone, so do you want snacks first or I can go get us drinks?" He wiggles his eyebrows at Casey. "How does that sound?"