CHAPTER 9
Scarlet
The very second after…Tobias…texted me, I hurried to call myself an Uber to take me home so that I could change for our date. The whole time though, my mind continued to spin, completely stunned that Tobias Gentry was apparently a real person and not just a role being played by my ex.
It had taken a while to sink in, but I finally got it. Tobias was not Preston. I hadn’t spent the night with my ex-boyfriend. I’d spent the night with a complete stranger.
Initially, this realization had left an incredibly bad taste in my mouth. How could I have been fooled so badly? I had never been the kind of girl to take off with random men, but that was precisely what I had just done, and it was going to take some time for me to get over that. I didn’t even want to think about the inevitable moment when I’d have to tell my friends what really happened. Especially Mila.
I could already imagine what they’d have to say.
“What the hell? Are you kidding me? You didn’t even know him for real? Did you seriously hook up with a random stranger you knew nothing about? Scarlet, come on, you’ve got to do better than that!”
I leaned against the backseat, staring idly out the window and trying to make sense of it all.
“You all right, ma’am?” my driver said, peering at me through the rearview mirror.
“Huh? Yeah…” I said, not realizing until then all the noises I’d been making out loud to accompany my thoughts.
I wiggled in the backseat, pulling my party dress from the night before down. It seemed to rise further up my hips with ever bump in the road the car drove over.
I sighed again, and then gave a humorless laugh.
It was ironic that I’d been so convinced Tobias was Preston, and that I’d blamed his inability to recognize me on his poor memory when apparently, I had been the one suffering memory problems. It was so stupid that I had failed to realize Tobias wasn’t Preston.
No two unrelated people could really look that much alike, could they? But as I thought about his hair, eyes, and lips, there was no denying that the resemblance between the two of them was beyond uncanny. Still though, they weren’t completely identical. So how could I have forgotten the true face of the guy who’d been my first love so thoroughly that I had mistaken a complete stranger for him?
Shameful didn’t even begin to describe how I felt.
My phone buzzed from inside my purse. I pulled it out, correctly guessing that it was Mila.
Where r u? Still with your high school sweetheart? she had texted.
A pang went through my chest as I stared at her message. I wasn’t ready to explain what had happened yet. but I also didn’t want to lie.
I guess you two are still busy, she wrote back when two minutes passed without my response.
I sighed, knowing I couldn’t keep ignoring her. Otherwise, she would actually call me, and I knew I wouldn’t stand a chance trying to verbally explain my situation at the moment.
Everything’s fine. Call u later, I wrote, my fingers seeming to tingle from the discomfort of telling the lie.
K, she wrote back, with an emoji blowing a heart-shaped kiss.
I returned my phone to my purse, feeling more confused than ever.
He’s not Preston, so why exactly did you agree to go out with him again? a voice challenged in my head. There was no point in kidding myself though because I knew the answer to the question. Even if he wasn’t Preston, it was enough that he simply reminded me so much of Preston. I had always found Preston incredibly handsome, and the same could certainly be said for this Tobias Gentry guy. And obviously, there was the ridiculously hot night we’d had together; I hadn’t felt anything remotely like that in an embarrassingly long time.
I suddenly felt overheated just thinking about it and had to crack the window of the car.
Tobias Gentry was sexy and only in town for a couple days. I was single and free to mingle.
No harm in me taking advantage of the situation. It’s not like it’s going to last forever, I thought to myself as the driver pulled up in front of my apartment.
I quickly hopped out, knowing I didn’t have much time to get ready.
By the time I found the perfect dress, it looked a tornado had ripped through my entire apartment. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking about how well-off Tobias Gentry seemed to be, and I certainly didn’t want to look homely going out with him, especially since he was taking me to such an expensive restaurant. Curious, I had done a quick Google search of the place to get an idea of its atmosphere. My eyes had bulged clean out of my head when I looked through the menu and the prices. Needless to say, I didn’t want my meal to look like it cost more than me.
By the time I was satisfied, I had put on a long red form-fitting dress with spaghetti straps and a slit up the right leg, a pair of silver heels, and had left my hair hanging down in long waves. I’d applied my makeup carefully, making sure it was tasteful and classy. Then I sprayed on my favorite perfume and put on a pair of diamond stud earrings that I’d gotten a long time ago from my grandmother.
Checking the time, I quickly grabbed my phone and a clutch-purse and raced out the door, my stomach twisting in nervous yet excited knots.