Sugar

34

When I caught sight of the gown, my breath immediately hitched in my throat, rendering me speechless.

It was a plum-colored gown with a v-neck that was still quite in the realm of my comfortability. It had a thigh-high split on the left side of the gown, making it a little riskier than I would usually go for but still an absolutely beautiful gown, nonetheless

"Oh. My. God," Aria breathed from beside me, voicing the exact words that were in my mind currently as I stared at the dress. "Wait, there's a note!" She exclaimed, reaching forward and grabbing something attached to the front of the bag that I had somehow missed.

She read it silently to herself, making me impatiently stare at her, waiting for her to tell me what it said before I went actually insane.

"What does it say?" I exclaimed, moving my arms around animatedly.

"He wants to get into your panties!" She squealed, glancing back up to be with wide, excited eyes.

"Aria!" I groaned. "Read the damn note!" I demanded as I attempted to reach for the small creme colored card, dodging her hands as she tried to swat me away.

"Fine, fine!" She groaned, stepping further away from me to read the card as she tucked a stand of hair behind her ear. "Miss Thompson, as a thank you for coming with me to this event, I wanted to gift you this dress. Though, it's probably a little selfish in its motives as I cannot wait to see you in it. Vincent'." When she finished speaking, her mouth was hanging open as if she hadn't already read it beforehand.

I rolled my eyes, snatching the card out of her hands and glancing over it before placing it down on the counter and turning back to the dress.

"He does not want to get into my panties. He's just being kind," I sighed, feeling the expensive material of the dress as I glanced over it for the millionth time.

It had some time of deep purple, satin material that went around the waist of the dress, giving it more shape than if it was loose fitting.

I'm not going to lie, the dress is absolutely beautiful and I feel so lucky to own such a classy dress. The classiest thing I own is my pencil skirt from high school, so this is so incredibly nice to call my own.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Aria's voice tore me out of my own little world as she looked at me incredulously. "It's time to get you ready!"

• • •

As I stood in front of my mirror, flattening out any invisible wrinkles in the material of my dress, my heart felt as if it was going to jump straight out of my throat and make a break for it.

My blonde hair was curled loosely, the front slightly pinned back as loose tendrils fell to frame my face. Aria did my makeup, deciding to go with a more natural look with minimal eye shadow, mascara and a little bit of lipgloss to top it all off. I was wearing a pair of black heels that had thin straps that wrapped around my ankles.

"You look absolutely beautiful, Flo," Aria grinned behind me where she was stood, now wearing a pair of jeans and a button up shirt as she had a date night with Brandon that she needed to leave for.

"Thank you, Aria." I smiled warmly at her in the mirror, feeling so incredibly grateful to have her tonight and just in my life in general.

Another loud knock echoed through my apartment, making my heart beat that much faster than it already was. We met one another's gaze in the mirror, eyes widening playfully.

"Guess it's time to go," I breathed to myself mostly, checking my reflection in the mirror one last time before we both grabbed our belongings and headed for the front door.

I opened the door to reveal a quite dapper looking Darby, his expression just as passive as I remembered it. It made me wonder momentarily how different Darby would be if he was a robot, and in response, I came up with the conclusion that he may be the same.

"Miss Thompson, nice to see you. Mr. De Bellis is waiting," he spoke monotonously, keeping his gaze trained on my eyes as he informed me.

I nodded, following him out of the door and waiting for Aria to exit the apartment so I could lock it up. After double checking that it was securely locked, Aria and I walked side by side down the steps, and once we hit the pavement I quickly noticed Vincent standing by the car with his hands in the pockets of his ridiculously nice looking suit.

"Jesus Christ," Aria breathed from beside me as we both watched him. "He's even finer in person."

I bit down on my lip at her words, trying my best to not burst out into a fit of laughter.

"It's a curse, don't you think?" I mumbled, my amusement only multiplying as Vincent's gaze stayed trained on me as I grasped my dress, holding it up slightly so it wouldn't brush the ground due to how vertically challenged I happen to be.

"It has to be," she whispered back, also amused. "Okay, I've got to head out. Have fun, Flo." She stopped and turned to me, grinning when we were a little ways away from Vincent.

I smiled at her as she grasped my upper arms, my blue eyes locked on her own.

"I will. You too, tell Brandon I say hi." I smiled warmly, grasping her forearms before she pulled me in for a hug, squeezing me tight.

I wrapped my arms around her, squeezing her as tight as she was me. Our goodbyes usually aren't as emotional, making me a little confused as we stood there and held one another for a few moments. Deep down in my gut, I felt like something was wrong with her more recently, but Aria is never one to talk about her feelings openly and if there's one thing she hates more than that, it's when someone asks her if she's okay.

So, biting my tongue and refraining from asking her, we pulled away from one another and shared one last smile before she turned on her heel and waved, heading towards her ridiculously expensive car.

With a sigh, I waved back.

I continued, holding my dress up and approaching the smirking Vincent who was making me as nervous as he does on any other normal day except today wasn't a normal day. Today Vincent was wearing a suit that put his everyday wear to shame, his hair falling effortlessly over his forehead. His mismatched eyes seemed impossibly more alluring than they usually did.

"You look breathtaking, Florence." Vincent smiled softly, glancing over me, drinking in my done-up appearance.

I felt my cheeks warm up at his words, betraying me.

"Thank you, De Bellis. You don't look so bad yourself, you know?" I grinned, trying to ease the mood between the two of us.

"Shall we get going?" He asked, stepping back and pulling open the door to the back seat, motioning chivalrously for me to climb in first.

I nodded, picking my dress up as my heels clicked against the pavement, climbing up into the seat before Vincent closed the door behind me and rounded the car, slipping into his side. He and Darby shared a brief nod before Darby shifted the car into drive, beginning to pull out of the parking lot.

• • •

q: what is your favorite holiday??