It’d only been an hour since Trevor had arrived at the party, and he was already done. He hated going to these types of events. All eyes were always on him, and especially tonight. Everyone and he meant everyone, was questioning why he didn’t show up with a date. What was the big deal? If he didn’t want to have a date he didn’t have to. There was absolutely no rule that said he had to show up with arm candy draped across him.

He glanced around the room again. Where the hell was she?

Trevor knew she was coming on the arm of Danny. He heard him talking about it again yesterday. He reached into his pocket to feel if the box was still there. It had become an unhealthy obsession for him to make sure he brought it along. Once again, the box glided against his fingertips, reminding him that he somehow had lost his sanity somewhere in the past few weeks.

“Danny!” He heard Matt holler. He turned to look towards the noise. What he saw knocked the wind out of him. On either side of Danny were Lexi and Maggie. He blinked a few times, trying to gather his thoughts. Maggie was magnificent. He felt his heart start to race as his hands became sweaty.

“You okay there, Trevor?” Matt asked, knocking on his shoulder. “You’re sweating.”

Trevor heard him, but couldn’t reply. His mouth was dry, as he struggled to remember how to nod.

“Wow,” Matt continued. “Cleans up pretty good now, wouldn’t you say?”

Trevor watched as all of them made their way closer to him.

Fuck! Has she always been this beautiful?

She looked like a classic 1940’s Pin-up. She wore a deep red, skin-tight hourglass dress, that hugged every curve she possessed. The neckline plunged well below her breasts, giving her one of the most impressive racks he had ever seen in his life. Her makeup was the perfect complement to her look. Deep, deep red lips, that beckoned him to taste. Her hair was swept to one side. His fingers itched to run through the loose curls. What the fuck?!

She moved with such grace; that he was taken aback. No, no, no! You hate her! Do not think like that. Do not imagine peeling – yes, peeling, because that’s the only way you would ever be able to take off a dress like that- the material from her body, as you kissed along her bare skin.

His lower half rocketed to life. He looked at his pants as he did his best to cover himself. “You betraying bastard!”

“Excuse me?” Danny asked as he stood in front of him and Matt.

“Yeah,” Lexi remarked. “Who you callin’ a bastard?”

“Ignore him,” Matt said while he tried to hold back his laughter. “You girls look gorgeous.” Matt leaned in and kissed Lexi on the cheek before turning to Maggie. “Absolutely gorgeous.” He pulled her into a hug.

“Dad,” Danny mumbled. “My dates. Not yours.”

“Thank you.” Maggie smiled.

Trevor watched as Maggie’s cheeks reddened. He could see the blush crept all the way down her chest. He had to close his eyes before he thought of just how far the blush went.

That was it. This was a bad mistake. Instead of saying anything, he turned on his heel and left.

Maggie watched as Trevor took off. Okay, so she wasn’t quite sure how Trevor would react to seeing her at the fundraiser, but just outright leaving wasn’t the reaction she pictured. She looked down at her body. Maybe this outfit was a bad choice. Up until that moment, she thought she looked drop dead gorgeous. Maybe not.

“Okay, that was uncalled for,” Lexi said from beside her.

Maggie shrugged. Who cares if he was once again going to be a prick? At least he didn’t tell her she looked like a stuffed sausage or something. Especially with all of these attendants around. “Who cares?” she mumbled as she looked to where Trevor had walked off.

“You really look unbelievable,” Matt said, looking Maggie up and down, clearly taking her in.

“Thanks,” she said as she felt the heat rise in her cheeks again. This was the tightest piece of clothing she had ever worn in her life. And, she was certainly not used to all this attention.

“Nice shoes.” Matt laughed.

She looked down at her flats and laughed as well. They were the only thing Lexi couldn’t stand about the outfit. But there was no way in hell she would have been able to wear heels. I mean she could have if she wanted to break her ankle in 1.2 seconds. Not the way she wanted to spend her birthday sitting in the ER. “You gotta play to your strengths,” she said.

“You know,” Matt remarked. “I’m actually not surprised at all. I wouldn’t expect anything less than this from you.”

“I’m not sure if that’s meant to be a compliment or not, but I’m going to take it as one.”

“It is,” he answered. He turned to Lexi and Danny and started asking questions.

Maggie moved slowly to the side away from the others as she took everything in. She’d seen pictures of parties like this on websites or on the entertainment shows late at night. But those photos did not compare to the real thing.

This was more extravagant than anything she had ever seen in her life. Where in the hell did people get the kind of money needed to pull off something like this?

“You’re kidding me?” She heard Matt say. She turned to him as he pulled her into another hug. “Happy Birthday, Maggie. I had no idea.”

“Oh.” She blushed. “It’s no big deal.”

“The hell it ain’t, sister,” Lexi chimed in. “When are you going to accept that we are not letting your birthday go?”

“I didn’t say anything,” Maggie protested.

“Yes, you did.” Lexi pursed her lips. “You acted like it isn’t a big deal when it is.”

“She’s right,” Danny said.

“I have to agree,” Matt joined in. “How about this…” He turned and grabbed two glasses of champagne from a waiter who was walking past them. Handing one to her he remarked, “We’ll pretend this whole party is for your birthday.”

“Oh no,” she protested. “We can’t do that. This is for the kids.”

“Well, you’re younger than me, so that makes you still a kid.” Matt beamed at his witty response.

“Exactly,” Lexi said. “I love that logic!”

Maggie not knowing what to say, decided it would be better to stay quiet. At this point, if she said anything to the contrary she’d probably have all three of them jumping down her throat. She held up her glass and plastered on a smile on her face instead. Might as well give up.

“About time!” Lexi hollered as she turned on her heel to grab a champagne glass of her own her, then clinking it with hers. “Let’s celebrate!”

Maggie couldn’t help but smile. Lexi was one of a kind, and at this point, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Wow! This was way more than she bargained for. They had been at the party for a little over an hour and a half. And, at this point, Maggie was done. Sure, the food was terrific, the drinks even better, but this wasn’t her cup of tea. Especially today. She looked at the dance floor. Danny and Lexi were on a roll. They hadn’t stopped bumpin’ and grindin’ for the last twenty minutes. The look on Danny’s face was priceless, though. Lexi knew precisely how to get him out of his comfort zone, and boy was he ever.

Serves him right! she thought as she watched Lexi dance around an awkward Danny. That will teach him to drag her to places she didn’t want to go to.

Looking around the room, she once again came up empty in her search of Trevor. She assumed he must have left. After his abrupt exit when she arrived, she hadn’t seen him. She shrugged. It was no skin off her nose. She took a deep breath and made her way out one of the side doors. She needed just a few minutes of fresh air before she went back inside and dealt with hurricane Lexi.

This place was beautiful. She walked down the balcony and over to the railing. The night air had a chill to it, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. She leaned on the railing and closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of the night. So much had happened to her in just a few short weeks.

She went from having a few lines in a movie to now being at one of the hottest parties of the year. She opened her eyes and looked out at the night sky. “Why does this feel like I’m doing this all wrong?” she whispered.

She crossed her arms over her chest. For the first time that night, she pushed aside her feelings and decided she would worry about it tomorrow.

“Hey.”

She felt her body stiffen as the voice carried to her ears. Oh no!

She cautiously turned only to see Trevor standing directly behind her. His hands in his pocket. No matter her feelings she now possessed towards him, he was still drop dead gorgeous. Even more in his tailored tux. He might be a total ass, but he was a hot total ass. Pushing aside those feelings she braced herself for the insults she knew were about to come from his mouth.

“A bit chilly tonight, isn’t it?” he asked, shocking her. Okay, what’s his game here?

She eyed him as she tried to figure it out. “Yeah,” she replied. “It’s a little weird that there is a chill in the air.”

“It happens from time to time at night. Have you ever been to Vegas? It’s hot as balls during the day, but the night can freeze ‘em off.”

She watched as he moved closer to her and leaned against the railing. “No, I’ve actually never been anywhere other than here and Florida, where I’m from.”

“Oh,” he said. “Well if you ever get to go, just prepare yourself for that.”

“Noted.” Not knowing what to do, she leaned against the railing again. Well, this is awkward. She glanced at him only to observe him staring out into the night. Okay, this was really weird. Maybe she should make her way back to the party. She moved back on her heels to stand upright when he turned to her.

“I heard it was your birthday,” he remarked.

Her eyes widened as she registered the words. Oh no, this was it. This is where he was going to do something to humiliate me.

“I overheard Danny mentioning it the other day,” he continued. “Other people might think it’s fun to go to these parties, but it’s really not. It’s more work than anything else. If it were my birthday, I would have told everyone to fuck off. There are probably a million other things you would want to be doing,” he remarked.

Taken aback by his words, she swallowed. After a quick recovery, she said, “I mean, it wasn’t my first choice of things to do.” She crossed her arms over her chest. She could swear she saw heat in his eyes as he briefly looked down. Not possible. “But it is kinda cool to say I’ve been to a party like this. Who knows when I’ll get another chance or if I ever will.”

“You will,” he said.

Now she knew she was in some sort of alternate universe. She looked at the sky. Universe, what did I do now? Wait, am I even really here? No, I’ve probably passed out on the waxing table after Lexi ripped, what I’m pretty sure was my clit from my body. Yep, I’m experiencing some weird hallucination.

“Anyway,” he continued. He pulled his hand out of his pocket and handed her a small box. “You’re not doing this the wrong way, by the way. You’ve just lucked out. Happy Birthday, Maggie.” With that, he placed the box in her hand and took off.

She was stunned at first. She didn’t know what had just transpired. She looked at the box in her hand then back to Trevor making his hasty exit.

Without thinking she slowly opened the box. Her heart sped up, as her hands began to shake. Lifting the top off, she saw, by far the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen in her life. A silver chain with a diamond star pendant. It was absolutely breathtaking.

She quickly placed the lid back on the box and started to run in the direction that Trevor escaped to. “Wait!”