Chapter 35

I heard Keegan announce herself in the hallway and Dario excused himself. When Keegan reached my room, I saw her hair pinned up and her hands full of her makeup. I giggled at her struggle and scooted over so she could share my seat and mirror.

We put our makeup on while laughing and singing to our "Get Ready" playlist. We shared products, we drank lazy mules, we smoked a joint. I was feeling really good when I looked at Keegan and said,

“Girl, I have to confess something.”

Keegan set her drink down and gave me her full attention and I cringed my face when I said,

“I think I have a crush on Dario.”

Keegan’s eyes went wide and she said,

“OOOOOH I FUCKIN KNEW IT!!!”

I laughed and took a sip of my third drink and asked,

“What do I do?”

“Obviously you tell him, you guys fall in *love*, and then you guys can live happily ever after.”

Laughter spilled out of me and I said,

“I don’t think Dario likes me like that.”

“Oh girl, I would bet my left arm he *does*.”

I raised a brow and asked,

“What would make you so confident?”

Keegan blushed and confessed,

“Ambrosio might have mentioned something about it.”

My eyes widened and I asked,

“What exactly did he say?!”

Keegan laughed and finally confessed,

“Dario asked him if it would be ok if he asked you out!”

Keegan let out an excited squeal and I started to get nervous. Ask me out? Like a date? My mind wandered to Emiliano, the man in my dreams. I *finally* knew who he was, yet he was married to another with a son on the way. I couldn’t hide my disappointment with as much poison I had in my system. I dropped my head and Keegan asked,

“What’s wrong? I thought you’d be excited.”

I looked up at Keegan with tears in my eyes. When she saw my face she knew exactly what battle I was fighting inside myself. She hugged me and said,

“I know this is tough, babe. But maybe Dario will be a welcomed distraction. You have to let that man go.”

I heard Keegan’s voice crack, and I knew she was thinking about her and Ambrosio. How he will never fully commit to her. How she too has had to let him go many times, too many to count. She knew she couldn’t expect me to voluntarily abandon Emiliano, just as she has returned to Ambrosio every single time he came back.

She finally let me go and we both took deep breaths and fanned our eyes to clear the tears threatening to ruin our fresh makeup. I grabbed some tissues and we blotted out tear ducts, clearing the danger. When our eyes were finally dried, we sprayed our setting sprays and changed into our dresses.

As we were taking turns zipping each other up, we heard Ambrosio announce their arrival. We were both dressed by the time the boys reached my closet. Ambrosio told Keegan she was beautiful, he took her by the hand and slowly spun her around. He hugged and kissed her and it was such an intimate moment I felt like an intruder.

I stepped out of my closet to see Dario admiring the canvas painting on my wall. He looked incredible in his suit. When he turned his eyes to meet me, he smiled and said,

“Hera, you look- wow.”

I was a little embarrassed when I said,

“I still have to take the pins out of my hair.”

Dario followed me to my bathroom and watched as I took the pins out of my hair. Once my hair was all down and voluminous and curly, I ran my hands through it and shook it a few times to get it exactly how I wanted it. I sprayed some hairspray then took a step back to admire my work. I was actually impressed with myself.

Dario and I stepped out of my bathroom as Keegan and Ambrosio stepped out of the closet. Keegan took the pins out of her hair too and she looked amazing. We decided to take a few selfies, then I took some pics of Keegs with Ambrosio, and Keegan took lots of pictures of Dario and I together.

Ambrosio wanted a drink so Keegan walked him out to the kitchen to make him one. Dario grabbed my hand to stop me from following Ambrosio and Keegan and he asked,

“Boró na se vgálo mia fotografía?”

*“Can I take a picture of you?”*

I gave him a puzzled look, why does he need a picture of me? I decided to tease him a liitle and asked him,

"How do you want me?"

I watched Dario's eyes dart from the bed behind me to my body. Dario cleared his throat then instructed me to sit in one of the chairs by my bed. He had me rest one of my arms on the arm rest as the other stayed up, as if I was looking at my nails, but Dario directed me to pretend to look out the window. He dimmed the lights, then bent down and took a few shots. Dario showed me the pics he took on his phone. They were actually stunning. I immediately said,

“Send me one of those, I want to post it on my insta.”

I stood close to Dario as I gave him my number and watched him send me the pictures. His smell was intoxicating. As I received the pictures, I noticed Dario set one as his phone wallpaper. I blushed and asked,

“Ti eínai aftó?”

*“What’s that about?”*

Dario looked at me and flashed me a smile, he shrugged his shoulders then said,

“Eínai mia pragmatiká oraía eikóna.”

*“It’s a really nice picture.”*

I bit my lip to hide my smile. Dario stayed close as I chose the pictures to post on my insta. The first one I chose was one of the ones Dario took of me, I looked like a boss bitch. The second one was a selfie of Keegan and me. The third one was one of the ones Keegs took of Dario and me; he was sitting in one of the chairs while I stood, brooding, silently asserting my dominance.

I posted the pictures and captioned the post with well wishes for a safe New Years to all of my followers. Then Dario and I met Keegan and Ambrosio in the kitchen to take one last shot together before heading out to the party.