Perfect Match (18 page)

The rest of the helicopter's occupants giggled and nodded.

“So …” SBB turned to me. “Remember my awkward shuffle out of your house yesterday?”

“I don't think I could forget it.” I nodded. “That was definitely some Oscar-worthy awkwardness.”

“I know,” she sighed. “It was weird, and I'm sorry for that, but when I get an idea as good as this one, I need to act on it without hesitation. You know that. Carpe diem!” She straightened her sequined head-band and took a deep breath. “I bailed on you yesterday because I realized that I could fix
everything
!”

She looked at Camille. “What you girls didn't know was that I'd promised to help Flan keep everyone's date's eyes on the right girl on Friday. But after what happened with Willa, and then my unmasking—er, unwigging, which really hurt by the way.
Never
glue on a wig. Anyway, things got a little out of control—”

“You're a movie star, guys have no choice but to fall all over you, say no more,” Camille finished. “I'm just baffled that I didn't pick up on your true identity earlier.” She shook her head. “Either I've been
way
self-involved this week—or you, my dear, are an excellent actress.”

“Thank you,” SBB said seriously. She turned back to me. “Anyway, I dropped the ball at the V-Day ball, I know, so when I heard the whole rundown from you the next morning, I knew I had to let your friends know that your intentions were always good.”

“So she hijacked us yesterday and took us to Fig & Olive to explain,” Camille filled in.

SBB shrugged. “I just told them over pink pepper-corn soup how hard you'd been working to find everyone's perfect match. And that you were putting in all that effort while simultaneously trying not to blow my cover—no small feat.
And
you did it even after my short-lived foray to the axis of evil—whoops!” she rambled on. “Obviously, after it was all out in the open, everyone instantly forgave you.”

“You went to my favorite restaurant without me?” I asked, thinking about how I loved to sit at the antipasto bar at the sleek Meatpacking restaurant. It was weird to imagine SBB and my Thoney friends making dinner plans sort of behind my back. “How did that play out? What did the other girls say?”

“It helped,” Camille continued, “that Bennett called Morgan twenty times to grovel and reassure her that he only had eyes for her.”

Hearing Camille say that, I thought I might have had a different reaction. But all I felt was relief. Finally,
things were as they should be—and now I could just put all that weirdness with Bennett behind me.

When Alex put his hand on my knee, I knew he was the one I really wanted.

He leaned in and said, “While we're on the subject of groveling, you should probably also know that I convinced a very pathetically depressed friend of mine to go grovel in front of Camille,” Alex said.

“Huh? Do you mean Saxton?” I asked, not so sure whether Camille would really be into that.

“Actually …” Alex looked at Camille and winked. “I mean Xander.”

Camille turned beet red and started fiddling nervously with her hair.

“You and Xander got back together??” I squealed, looking at my friend, who was suddenly all nods and shyness.

That
the best news I'd heard all day.

“So everything came together,” SBB said, clapping her hands. “Just exactly as I planned. I'm in high school for what, a week? And I've already perfected the social graces.”

We all laughed, and as the helicopter started to descend, I turned to SBB.

“I'm still a little jealous that you guys went to Fig & Olive without me,” I said. “But I guess I'm glad it
resulted in this. Wait,” I said, finally taking in the fact that we were landing on SBB's rooftop pad outside her palace in Long Island City. “What exactly
is
this?”

“Duh,” SBB said as we touched down. “Don't you know about the only family tradition I have with Gloria?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“After every major blowout fight, we make up and have a lovefest,” SBB said, as if it were common knowledge. “Remember our brawl after she got the same tattoo as me—and then my subsequent Sweet Fifteen birthday party in Cairo?” She shrugged. “Make-up lovefest.”

Camille put her arm around my shoulder. “Consider this your we're-sorry-Flan lovefest,” she explained. “SBB suggested we throw a party at her palace, and we all jumped to start planning.”

“And don't worry,” said Alex, who'd been awfully quiet. He gestured at my jeans and black turtleneck sweater. “We thought ahead. The Jade Moodswing dresses are waiting for you inside.”

“Love that your boyfriend was the one to come up with that idea.” Camille laughed.

“Me too!” I said, thinking about how important it was to have a good time in my opal dress so I
wouldn't forever associate it with Friday night's drama.

Alex hopped out of the helicopter and helped each of us down to the windy patch of concrete. My hair was blowing all over the place, and I was still a bit overwhelmed by the forgiveness backstory I'd just been fed, but it didn't stop me from feeling like Cinderella being helped out of her carriage by the prince. It was definitely a moment deserving of a kiss.

“Someone pinch me,” I said to Alex. “I'm worried that this is all a dream—or that the helicopter is going to turn into a pumpkin any minute or—”

“I'll give you a reality check.” SBB gestured behind her. “Since you last visited the palace, I had a whole row of landing pads installed. Now up to ten helicopters full of revelers can land at a time. And Cinderella won't have to take the subway home—you can just stay a princess for good!”

Harper, Morgan, and Amory arrived on our heels in a second helicopter and twenty minutes later, my friends and I emerged from the ladies' lounge. We were reoutfitted in our Jade Moodswing jewel-tone dresses and ready to party. SBB had brought over her team of stylists to get us glammed up in a jiffy, and we were all sporting her newest fragrance, Starlet.

The palace looked amazing, with white leather couches and deep purple and gold lighting. JR's latest CD was blasting, and there were candles shaped like skyscrapers dotting the banquet tables and lining the catwalk.

Wow, I'd thought the Rainbow Room looked pretty swanky on Friday night, but this put our crepe paper, balloons, and matted photos to shame. The palace walls were even sporting some particularly notable décor from the Valentine's Dance: five of the NYC
prints I was most proud of from my photography class.

Camille put her arm through mine. “We all put so much work into making the dance decorations really amazing. It seemed like a waste to abandon them even after most of us abandoned the dance.” She shrugged. “So we asked SBB if we could use them here. It just seemed like the perfect match!” We stepped back to admire the black-and-white cityscapes hanging from the wall next to the real cityscape visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

“Okay you two,” SBB said, grabbing our elbows and leading us over to the bar where Harper, Amory, and Morgan were waiting with flutes of champagne. “You can admire your own photographs later, Flan—”

“Hey!” I said.

“I'm kidding,” SBB said, hands on her hips all mock indignant. “I've been admiring them all day! But right now, it's time for a toast.”

I looked around for Alex. Where was he?

Reading my mind, Camille said, “Don't worry, he didn't go far. The rest of the party's about to arrive. Alex just went upstairs to let everyone in.”

“And before all the boys show up, I want to propose a toast,” SBB sang out.

We raised our glasses.

“To Flan,” she said, “whose intentions are always good, even when her matchmaking choices are spotty.”

There was a time when I would have taken this remark too seriously, but tonight, looking at all of my grinning, glamorous friends, I realized that I wasn't the only one who'd been through a lot this week. Even after all the drama, we'd come out smiling and with more than a few funny stories to tell.

“And to you guys,” I said holding my glass out to clink. “For putting up with my obsessive match-making.”

“You know what they say,” Amory said. “Practice makes perfect. Even though Phil turned out to be a total frog, I can't say I minded kissing him to find that out.”

Modest little Harper's jaw dropped, and Camille slugged her playfully on the shoulder.

“Don't act all prude, Miss Blueblood. You were totally pimping out your clavicles to Trevor just because he claimed to be an
artiste
!”

I busted out laughing and said, “Okay, okay, so Trevor and Phil and Saxton were lame. But look at Morgan and Bennett. My track record's not
all
bad. In fact, if anyone wants to go out with a really cute Australian guy, I could set it up—”

“NO!” All my friends cried at once, but all of us were laughing.

“Point taken.” I shrugged. “Cheers.”

“I can see we're right on time,” Alex's voice called from the doorway. Bennett and Xander and JR were all next to him, along with a few guys I sort of recognized as Daltonites but didn't really know.

“Is there enough champagne to go around?” Xander asked.

“At our palace,” SBB said proudly, snuggling up to JR, “there is always enough champagne.”

The guys filed in and everyone took a glass. The room was heating up with chatter and expensive formal wear.

“Omigod,” Amory whispered. “That's Jason James. He's JR's costar from
Demolition Dudes
. Huge obsession. How's my hair?”

“Flawless,” Harper assured her. “And isn't that Rick Fare, the tennis player? I think he goes to my country club.”

Camille looked at me. “Our friends might not need your matchmaking anymore, but I must admit, the whole experience worked wonders to lift the boy boycott.”

Xander was at her elbow. “I nabbed you a lamb chop lollipop,” he said, looking proud of himself. “There were only a few left on the tray, and I know they're your favorite.”

Camille grinned and snapped up the hors d'oeuvre. “Actually, there is something I like even more than lamb chops,” she said flirtily. “Wanna dance?”

Speaking of dancing … I spotted Alex sitting at a booth next to SBB and JR and sank down next to them.

“There you are.” He put his arm around me.

“You guys,” I said, “this party is amazing. And this place looks incredible. SBB, how did you do it so quickly?”

SBB shrugged. “Jade Moodswing's personal assistants were desperate for work after she went back to Paris. I just made a call. She definitely trained them well: at the first mention of the party being in your honor, they got down to work like busy little worker bees. I'll have to send Jade a thank-you gift,” she said, pulling out her BlackBerry to make a note.

Speaking of gifts, I was not going to wait any longer to give Alex his!

But just then, a waiter approached, bearing a giant red box tied with a white bow. “For Miss Flood,” he said. “Special delivery.”

I looked at Alex, but he just shrugged. In fact, he looked a little uncomfortable. Oh no, I
really
hoped this wasn't another valentine from an unwanted admirer. But everyone's eyes were on me—I had to open it.

Nervously, I broke the seal on the envelope, but
when I opened the card and saw the familiar handwriting, I breathed a giant sigh of relief.

I hate to miss a Valentine's Day with my favorite youngest daughter. Here's a token to help you capture it until I can get the full report!

Love,

Dad

Inside the box was the new Nikon camera I'd been admiring for months. It probably wouldn't have occurred to me that I needed a replacement for the battered old camera I'd been using, but now I was super psyched to trade up, thanks to Dad. And when I showed Alex the card, he looked even more relieved than I was.

“Well, I guess I can share you with your family,” he joked. “Now, I hope you won't be too embarrassed, but I asked the DJ to play the salsa song we practiced to the other night. Do you still remember the moves?”

“You lead,” I said. “I'll, uh, try to follow.”

After JR's hip-hop song came to a smashing close, the familiar music came on and I could hear Paco's shouts in my head. My heart started racing. I really didn't want to be accused of having elephant feet
again, especially not on an empty dance floor in front of all my friends!

But when Alex put his arm around my waist, all the moves came right back to me. Soon we were spinning around the parquet floor. I was grinning and a little dizzy, but then I reminded myself that Alex made me feel like that most of the time, even off the dance floor. Before I knew it, the music had ended and I looked around at all my applauding friends.

“Encore!” Camille shouted.

It was a little embarrassing, a lot exhausting, but mostly it was just a blast.

Alex and I slid into some open seats by the bar and ordered two large ice waters to catch our breaths.

“Breaking news,” JR said, coming up behind us with SBB. “The weather just got too wild to fly anyone home. Looks like we're going to have to keep this party rocking till broad daylight.”

I looked out the windows and couldn't believe my eyes. I'd been having so much fun I hadn't even realized how hard the snow was coming down. I also couldn't believe it was already midnight.

“Oh, these pilots
claim
they don't want to fly until it calms down for so-called safety reasons.” SBB gestured over at her fleet of sexy dark-haired pilots. “Personally, I think they just don't want the party to
end,” she said. “You should see how much caviar they've eaten!”