When Perfect Meets Crazy novel Chapter 48

I chewed on my lower lip, reading and rereading the message I had typed, debating whether or not to send it. I was dressed and ready, waiting for Ian for to come pick me up but in the meantime I was debating the wisdom of my more immediate decision. To be fair, while we lasted, he was great. It had been fun. He deserved more than to be so smoothly cut off but again, what if all the message did was bring back things he was trying to forget. He worked with Olly though, which meant he had a constant living reminder of me.

I puffed out a breath noisily and hit send. One last song lyric. It read;

I leaned into love but forgot to fall.

Sorry.

Turning my phone off, I gave myself a final once-over. My pastel gown with blue and pink flowers against a pearly white background seemed appropriate for a tea party. I got it for one of my mom’s work functions. My makeup comprised of the same things I wore every day. A mascara and a nude lip stick which I swapped out lip gloss for.

I looked prissy, tea party worthy.

I all but had a heart attack when Ian showed up. When he said he’d pick me up, I didn’t really think he meant driving me there. I figured he’d show up on his bike and I’d be the one tailing him in my car. So you can imagine my shock when he showed up with a driver in a sleek black Bentley that drew one too many curious gazes on the street. Shit, shit, shit.

I immediately started drawing up lies to tell my parents for when one of our neighbours blabbed but Olly, being her usual fearless self, burst out of the house as if she was the one the car came for.

“Ian.” I heard her gasp in surprise as I rushed up to them.

Ian, for what he was worth, was standing all decked out in a baby blue tuxedo that had to be the cutest thing ever made and was standing next to the open passenger side door like a gentleman from an eighties movies. It was almost too much for my insides to take.

“You’re rich!” Olly’s excited outburst snapped me out of it and I crossed the remaining distance to them.

“Olly, Ian is Ian Carrington of Carringt--”

“You’re kidding.” Her lips parted in a slight ‘o,’ her gaze found mine. “Woah.”

“We have to go now.” I herded him into the waiting car before she could get past the initial shock and explode with questions.

“You owe me details,” she shouted as we drove away.

“I like your sister.” Ian smiled, angled his body so he was facing me. “She’s a lot more open than you are.”

“You came in a fancy car,” I countered. “You conveniently forgot to mention that earlier.”

“I said I’d pick you up.” He shrugged unapologetically.

“Yeah, you conveniently left out that it would be in a Bentley!” I hissed.

“Yeah, well Ellie’s a stickler for rules about things like tea parties. Apparently we have to arrive appropriately.”

“And you thought a Bentley in a suburban neighborhood wouldn’t have stood out?” I rolled my eyes, muttering under my breath, “I’m pretty sure my Prius would’ve made the cut it.”

Ian’s house was exactly what I pictured it to be. A sprawling palatial mansion with an unnecessarily long driveway. It even boasted scenic trees arching over the driveway, small sculptures at regular intervals, each slightly different from the last and a huge fountain at the entrance to the main house. The chauffeur drove past all of it, stopping at what I figured must be the tea party venue. It was a small clearing overlooking a garden and an artificial pond. Cutesy white chairs were arranged round a small round table. It boasted three empty seats that informed me we were one of the last ones to arrive. I palmed the wrapped gift I had brought along, mentally hoping it’d meet Carrington standards.

“Let’s go.” Ian beamed, helping me down.

I pasted on a smile, doing my best to ignore the unwanted wave of nerves that hit. On shaky legs, I crossed over to the party. I didn’t realize I had been nervously squeezing Ian’s sleeves with the hand he had tucked in the crook of his arm -he was really nailing the gentleman act- until he patted the hand down and flashed me bold smile.

“They’ll love you,” he said.

I refrained from informing him that nobody ever just loved me. It wasn’t a thing. I wasn’t Olly. I was tolerated, found polite and pleasing or liked if I tried hard enough. I’d die before letting him in on it.

Servants showed us to our seats, leaving one last unoccupied chair which I assumed was for his father who was the only one that was nowhere in sight. Ellie was on one side of me and Ian on the other. Her mother was seated next to her with an empty seat for her husband on her other side. His older sister’s husband sat next, followed by the wife.

“Guys, this is Avyanna.” Ian smoothly handled the introductions as we took our seats. “Avy, Ellie, my mom, Mike and Rachel.”

“Nice to meet you.” I smiled politely.

Years of attending my mom’s work functions, Policemen’s balls and family events had prepared me for this. Olly and I knew exactly how to act at parties. Formal parties.

“Avy?” Rachel wrinkled her nose. “Ivy?”

I forced my features into a placid expression despite the impulse to scowl. I usually got that a lot whenever I introduced myself. Whenever I went with Avy, I’d have people correcting me, saying Ivy as if I wouldn’t know my own name. And when I went Avyanna, I’d get Adrianna or Ariana. It was quite infuriating.

“No, Avyanna. It’s not a common name.” I corrected. “Avy.”

“Right. Sorry. You probably get that a lot. I’m sure it must annoy you.” She nodded apologetically.

I smiled back for a second before turning my attention to the girl beside me.

“Happy birthday Ellie.”

Ellie beamed angelically in that way that only children could. I smiled back.

A servant stepped forward, pouring tea for Ian and I, and refilling the cups of the others.

“So you’re my son’s...?” His mother trailed off, shooting me a curious look.

“Friend,” I completed.

“I thought you were bringing Tammy,” Rachel chipped in.

“We broke up.” Ian shrugged. “Last week.”

“Oh.” She blinked.

It was clearly news to everyone at the table because his mother pierced him with a sharp look, Ellie choked on her tea and Rachel was now eyeing me speculatively. Mike was the only one on the team who shot me a sympathetic smile.

“Why?” His mom asked.

“We weren’t working,” he answered.

I almost slapped a palm across my forehead. That pretty much painted me in at least nine shades of relationship wrecker.

“And a week later you found Avy?” His mom was clearly thinking along the same lines.

“I actually know Tammy. She was the one who did the breaking up,” I chipped before he could go ahead and seal my fate as a relationship wrecker by admitting he’d known me prior to the breakup.

“Oh.”

My response calmed everyone as the questioning instantly died down. As a reward, I helped myself to a cupcake. Never trust a boy to handle sensitive topics.

Conversation flowed smoothly, hopping from everything from the snacks down to stocks, until Mr Carrington showed up. It was clear he wasn’t a loving father from how all the conversation instantly died. His gaze dismissively flicked over everyone, lingering on me for only a split second.

“Happy birthday sweetie.” He dropped a kiss on Ellie’s head as he passed to his seat.

“Mike.” He nodded begrudgingly at the man who wore a forced smile back.

I mentally plotted how to make myself scarce without it seeming like I was running away.

“And who is the new girl? What happened to the old one?” He posed, his gaze finally coming to rest on me.

It could all of my willpower to not arch my brow and mutter, ‘Really? The old one?’

“Dad.” Ian seemed to be battling the same urge too. “This is Avy.”

“I need to use the restroom, then I’ll open my gifts. Thanks for the money, dad,” Ellie said, pushing to her feet.

As a sixteen year old, I’d love getting money as a gift but for a ten year old, it was clear from the way she said it, she didn’t feel the same way.

I hastily rose to my feet too.

“I also need to freshen up. The heat,” I added by way of explanation. “I think I should put my hair up.”

“It looks better down,” Mr Carrington said, leaning back in his chair to properly condescend.

“Hmm.” I smiled, flashing clenched teeth.

As soon as my back was to him, I rolled my eyes. It was probably just an irrational pet peeve but whenever boys tell a girl they prefer her without makeup or that she looks better without it or how to dress or not dress, it always pisses me off. It was an insult no matter how I looked at it. An insult to her makeup skills and an irritating form of patriarchy. It just rubbed me wrong. And that was when it came from a place of ignorance but good intentions as opposed to the condescending rich white male privilege era Mr Carrington had come from.

I had no plans of tying my hair up before. It was just an excuse to avoid seeming like I was running away but now, I was going to put it up no matter what.

“So you’re Ian’s friend?” Ellie said, peering up at me.

“I am.” I nodded.

“I liked Tammy,” she informed me.

“Same here.” I shrugged.

“I think I can like you too. You get one chance.”

I arched a brow.

“I like that you came and dressed properly. I know I’m old too for these things but...” she shrugged, staring at her pink flats.

I sighed, stifling the urge to roll my eyes. She was cute but Olly had taught me all I needed to know about the mind fuckery of having younger siblings. I so was not going to fall down that hole again.

“You’re never too old for anything you want to do,” I informed her, slightly shrinking away from her small frame that was practically begging me to care, to want to protect her. “Don’t let the patriarchy get you down. Or anything really. You want to do something, do it. As long as you’re not hurting someone...”

I frowned, letting the sentence hang unfinished as she stared up at me with wide innocent eyes.

“Actually, scratch that last bit. People can be crazy. As long as you’re not hurting your morals, you’re good. Also, you don’t need to like me or give me a chance, we’re probably never going to see each other again.”

She laughed, a light carefree sound.

We entered the restroom. It was huge and I wanted to take it home. It was that perfect.

“Here.” She handed me a comb. “For your hair.”

I had gone for a half-up half-down hairstyle and I could tell she was expecting me to leave it as it was or even take it all down following her father’s comment.

I smiled inwardly. Like I’d ever let anyone boss me around like that.

The look of pure surprise on her face when she saw what I had done with my hair after coming out of the walled off toilet brought a smirk to my lips. I couldn’t wait for him to see it.

“He used to do it to Tammy too, you know” Ellie revealed as we walked back. “He’d find something he didn’t like and drop comments till she felt obligated to change it. I usually helped her. ‘Chel too. I still have one of her jackets that she was forced to take off because he didn’t like it. She forgot to take it when she left that day.”

I shook my head in disbelief. There was overindulged rich white male-only-country-club privilege and then there was this.

“Well, I’m not Tammy.” My tone was full of promise.