Platinum (All That Glitters #3)(33)

Trihn saw Eric’s Jeep idling in a parking space. She jogged to him and hopped inside.

“We have to quit meeting like this,” Eric said with an easy smile.

“Next time, I’ll make sure I drive to here first. I hate inconveniencing you.”

“Trihn, I’m joking. I don’t care. It’s just good to see you with a smile on your face again.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sure it’s too good to be true.”

He gave her one of his signature looks. “Give it a chance before you sink the ship.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, glancing out the window.

“Also, what the hell did you do last night?”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

He fingered a lock of her dark hair. “You have paint all in your hair. I thought Neal was the artist.”

She rolled her eyes. “Ugh. Let’s not mention that cheating douche bag. Damon and I went to a paint rave last night.”

“Cool. That doesn’t sound as fun as what I was thinking.”

“I’m sure I don’t even want to know.”

He smirked at her. “I think I’m going to try it when we get back to your place.”

Trihn shook her head in exasperation.

But she didn’t ask questions when Eric disappeared into Bryna’s room once they’d gotten to the apartment.

She quickly showered out the rest of the paint from her hair, changed, and dashed to her first class. She made it with only a few minutes left to spare. Despite the late start, she felt like she was walking on a cloud. Even though she worried that what she had with Damon was some kind of ticking time bomb, the elation she felt from a new relationship propelled her through the rest of the day.

Soon, she was walking out of her final design class and straight toward her professor.

“Excuse me, Professor Brown. I’m just here for the fashion show paperwork,” Trihn said.

“Ah, Trihn. I’m so excited that you’re going to be participating.” The professor shuffled things around on the desk and then produced a packet. She handed it over. “Here you go. You’ll need to submit preliminary sketches of your designs by the beginning of next week. Samples of the clothing material should be in the week after that. We can work on full designs and models in March, so try not to stress. Please let me know if there’s anything I can help you with.”

“Thank you so much,” Trihn said.

Just hearing the list of things she needed to do left her overwhelmed. It was a challenge she wanted to take on, but she knew it was going to be a lot of work. The seniors used the show as their final portfolio, and she was just doing it for the experience. It was a lot of pressure.

She was leafing through the packet on the way out of the classroom when her phone started buzzing noisily in her purse. Her heart stuttered. She hoped it was Damon, but when she glanced down at the phone, she frowned. For a minute, she contemplated letting it go to voice mail so that she wouldn’t have to deal with Lydia, but in the end, she pressed the Answer button.

“Hello?”

“Trihn, hey!”

“What’s up, Ly?”

“We picked a date!” she practically shrieked into the phone.

Trihn’s heart sank. She had known this was coming. Lydia had said they were getting married, so picking a wedding date had, of course, shortly followed. But Damon had successfully taken her mind off the weight of her issues, and she hadn’t been prepared for it.

“You did?” Trihn managed to ask when Lydia hadn’t said anything more.

“Yes! We’re getting married the first Saturday of August.”

“So soon?” she whispered.

“Yeah. We didn’t think there was any reason to wait.”

“Did you already pick out a venue?” Trihn asked. She hated that she was being the supporting sister. All she really wanted to say was, I don’t give a f*ck about your wedding. I think you marrying Preston is the worst mistake of your life, and then hang up.

But she knew Lydia would have been dismissive. She’d never cared what Trihn thought about Preston.

“We’re going to get married on the beach at the house in the Hamptons.”

Trihn couldn’t hold back at that. “Are you f*cking joking?”

Her world had fallen apart in the Hamptons. It was the place she had found out that Preston had been cheating on her. It was all bad memories. She couldn’t believe Lydia would want that.

“God, Trihn, do we have to do this?”

“You’re marrying him, Lydia. After the shit he pulled, you’re still going through with it. Fine. I think it’s dumb, but if you think you love him and think that he’s faithful, then go through with it,” Trihn grumbled. “But the beach house?”

“That’s where we first really started dating.”

“I can’t do it, Lydia. I can’t pretend to be happy for you and go stand up as a witness to your marriage on that beach.”

“Trihn—”

“No,” Trihn said. “The answer is no. You’re my sister. I love you. But I can’t be your maid of honor. I can’t act like I support you marrying Preston when I never even supported you dating Preston.”

“Is this all because you’re still in love with him?” Lydia demanded.