Just One Glance (Oh Tequila Series Book 5)

Oh my, I seriously couldn’t believe I was actually doing this. Getting waxed.
How do I actually get myself into these things?
Darcy’s face flashed before me and my nostrils flared as I fought the sting. Oh yes, her, the devil’s spawn.
I then spent the remaining portion of the torturous event imagining the millions of ways I could make her suffer in return. I was going to kill her, strangle her with my bare hands and enjoy every second of it.
As I walked out of the small room and into the lobby, I found the culprit of my downward spiral reading some celebrity gossip magazine. She was so engulfed in whatever drama lay inside that she didn’t notice my arrival until I tossed the stress ball I had been squeezing for the last thirty minutes and hit her in the forehead with it.
The magazine slipped from her hands and she fully intended to go all bitch on whoever was responsible until she saw me.
“Don’t you feel better?”
“My hoohah is on fire.” The words left my mouth before I could stop them. My brain to mouth filter was only getting worse. The more time I spent with Darcy the less I could control it. That could be a good thing, or a really really bad one. Looking around, I noticed a few other waiting guests of this torture chamber were smiling at my words. See, they knew exactly what I was referring to, fire down under was no joke.
“Oh stop, that is what the cooling gel is for.” Standing, she hooked her arm through mine and pulled me closer. “And by this time tomorrow you won’t even remember what it felt like.”
“Twenty-four hours.” Was she kidding me? “My crotch is going to feel like this for an entire day?” I knew my eyes had to be the size of saucers.
“No, silly,” she said nonchalantly she walked me toward the door. “That will subside very soon. But twenty-four hours is what they recommend you wait until you get busy with someone. We don’t want your girl down south to chafe and get irritated.”
Get busy?
She was warped, a psychotic mess, and I should run. I should run fast and never look back. She was pulling me into the depths of sin and I was letting her.
“Wanna clear number three off the list now?” I paused and she laughed. “Just saying, that guy in the blue shirt over there is eyeing you.”
Immediately I began scanning the street, looking for a flash of blue anywhere. Not that I was actually considering walking up to him and kissing him, but I’d be lying if I said that the curious feeling I had wasn’t distracting me. The idea of any guy staring at me was hard for me to believe. I wasn’t that girl, the type who gained the attention of any man. I was the one they scanned right over to get to the more attractive one. I had no appeal, and even if I continued to allow Darcy to drag me to all these places, and convince me to do all these things, I would still be that girl that every guy couldn’t see. I was invisible.
Then I saw him, the guy that she’d said was staring at me. The instant spark of hope I’d felt moments ago left in a rush. “That’s not a guy.” My words were nothing more than a disappointed mumble. “That’s a boy.” He couldn’t have been more than fifteen, sixteen tops.
I tried to hide the fact that my heart felt as though it was in my throat.
To know what it felt like to be desired by anyone was something I had never felt. I craved that feeling. Craved the rush of excitement, the desire that pooled between two consenting adults. But I’d only ever heard about those feelings, watched them in movies, and more than anything I wanted to experience them for myself.
***
“I’m hosting the faculty dinner tomorrow evening at five.” I rinsed my cup in the sink with my back to my father. “I expect that if you plan to be present you will be presentable. Dressed accordingly.” He scanned over my current attire and I felt my stomach grow hollow. I was in my pajamas, but after all, it was after nine at night and I was on my way to bed. “Conversation isn’t necessary on your part, as adults prefer to be in the company of other adults.”
Turning around to face him, I faked a smile and pretended that on the inside I wasn’t calling him an asshole. “I’m not sure I will even be home.” I braced myself and waited for what I knew would come. “Darcy mentioned a movie and dinner, just us and a few other girls.”
“Hm.” My father stared at me as if he could see right through me. I knew he was looking for the smallest indication that I was lying. I’d gotten better at keeping my cool, no longer did my nerves spike the second I told him the tiniest fib. I was a young adult, I deserved a life. But it’s all about control with him, it was with my mother, and it’s the same with me. “Darcy hardly seems like the type to spend a Friday evening at a dinner and theater.”
He was not a fan of my friend. She was the exact opposite of who he wanted me to be.
“In her defense, you don’t know her that well.”
“You forget I have access to all kinds of inside information on all your friends.” The earlier emptiness that had been lingering in my stomach filled with a sour feeling. “Surrounding yourself with the right kind of people is key to a successful future, you really should remember that.”
Looking at him, or should I say looking through him, because honestly I couldn’t truly see him at all,