Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
“My definition of nice and your definition of nice are two different things,” she pointed out as she shut the door, looking at him through the open window.
“Just don’t wear sweatpants and we’ll be okay.”
Well that certainly left plenty of other options. She wondered what he would do if she showed up in pajamas with little monkeys all over them. “I think I can manage that.”
Sebastian shook his head as Taliana stepped onto the sidewalk, smiling as if he knew she was tempted to disobey.
But four hours later, Taliana found herself sliding back into his car wearing jeans, a clingy black top, and four-inch pumps-the only heels she owned. She was hideously uncomfortable, but it was better than having to wear a dress.
“I was worried you were going to come out wearing something awful,” Sebastian said, clearly relieved she’d listened to him for once.
“I was tempted, but I didn’t want to embarrass myself more than I have in the past few days,” she explained, taking note of his t-shirt, dark jeans, and a watch that probably cost more than four years’ tuition at Trinity.
She spent the better half of the next fifteen minutes staring out the window, not noticing their arrival to the restaurant until the valet opened her door.
“Are you getting out or not?” Sebastian questioned over the valet’s shoulder, watching Taliana impatiently. “We’re already late.”
She didn’t bother replying as she slid out of the car, ultimately deciding it would be best to simply bite her tongue instead of instigating a fight. He seemed slightly surprised that she had nothing to say but took her elbow nonetheless and guided her inside.
If the music had already been loud outside, it was practically deafening inside. In fact, it looked more like a nightclub than a restaurant, judging from the massive bar on one side of the mood-lit room and the arrangement of couches on the other. Bollywood hits poured from the speakers as they made their way past the crowd at the bar and up the sweeping staircase to the second floor, where the restaurant was apparently located.
Just like the first floor, the massive room was packed, but tables and booths took up the space instead of a bar and couches. After doing a brief scan, Sebastian tugged Taliana toward the corner of the room where their group was already seated.
“I thought you two would never get here!” Michael greeted, sliding around the curved bench to make room for them.
Sebastian sat first, unknowingly saving Taliana from having to put up with Michael’s antics for the night. “You guys order yet?” he asked, draping an arm across the back of the bench, practically over Taliana’s shoulders.
“Chef’s tasting with a wine pairing,” Michael answered distractedly, eyes trailing after the scantily-clad blonde who’d just breezed by.
Taliana rolled her eyes at his lewdness and looked to Jude, who’d been trying to get her attention since she’d sat down.
“Hi, honey,” he greeted, leaning across the table to place a kiss on each cheek. “You look great. Though you definitely could have done something better with your hair.”
Taliana’s hand flew to her head, wondering if her attempt at fixing it earlier had backfired. “What’s wrong with it?”
“There’s nothing wrong,” Michael assured her, apparently having already forgotten about the other girl. “Unless you didn’t want to look like you and Seb just had a tumble between the sheets.”
Taliana gasped and tried to smooth the dark-brown waves while Sebastian smacked his best friend upside the head.
“Ow,” Michael complained, though he looked too happy for anyone to believe the blow wounded him. “That was a vicious love tap,? mon amour .”
“Well,? sweetheart, if you would stop lying to my girlfriend, I wouldn’t be so harsh.” Sebastian turned to Taliana and batted her hands away from her hair. “Your hair looks fine. Don’t listen to him.”
Taliana dropped her hands and shot a scowl at Michael. “Asshole.”
He merely blew her a kiss.
A team of waiters arrived at the table a moment later, some setting down steaming dishes while others filled their wine glasses. That was another perk of hanging out with a bunch of rich, connected guys, apparently.
Michael grabbed his glass once they’d moved back and raised it in toast. “Here’s to tonight.
Bon app?tit, mes amis .”
* * *
Dinner turned out to be a longer affair than Taliana expected, but for once she wasn’t complaining.
In fact, she was beginning to understand why everyone at school wanted to be friends with them. They were funny, they could be sweet, they were attractive, and they seemed to genuinely care for each other. Although they constantly took jabs at one another, they would always kiss and make up-literally in Michael’s case, which was made obvious when he planted one on Marcus’s forehead after he’d made a particularly nasty comment about Senator Patterson.
By the time dessert arrived, they had segued into story-time, with the boys remembering some of their finer moments together-particularly the more embarrassing ones.
“…so then Michael bursts through the gym doors, wearing nothing but limited edition Gucci sneakers and a bow tie, does a grand jet? in front of Headmaster Hawthorne, then sprints out into the hallway. Let me just say, this guy is…well endowed.”
“It was definitely one of my finer moments,” Michael snickered. “I was suspended for a week and got arrested for indecent exposure, but I don’t regret any of it.”
“Holy shit,” Taliana managed to say, clutching her laughter-sore stomach as she tried to clear the image of a naked Michael Richardson from her head. “Why did I hate you all so much before?”
“Hate by association,” Marcus explained. “Seb was your enemy, so technically we were too. Besides, it was Michael who threw the bad pitch in that game, and Jacob agreed with Seb’s call.”
Sebastian snorted and grabbed his wine glass. “What, and you were innocent in the whole thing? I don’t seem to remember you stepping up to tell us we were wrong, pretty boy.”
“And go up against you guys?” Marcus said with a knowing grin. “Seb, you and I both know you would have punished me for weeks if I had attempted that. Remember how you ignored Jacob for a whole month when he tried to-“
The sound of Jude clearing his throat caused Marcus to stop short and the rest of them to glance in Jude’s direction. The humor that had been on his face just mere seconds ago had disappeared, making way for worry.
“What’s wrong?” Taliana questioned, knowing it must’ve been something bad to garner a reaction like that.
Jude swallowed hard but didn’t take his eyes off something in the distance. “Trouble just walked in.”
Taliana followed his gaze, and her heart stopped when she spotted Blair standing in the doorway of the restaurant with an entourage of girls.
“Oh great, it’s the Persian Posse,” Michael groaned. “If Blair wasn’t enough, she brought back-up.”
“Has she noticed us yet?” Sebastian asked.
“Just did,” Jude answered, watching Blair from the corner of his eye. “Oh shit, she’s coming our way.”