"Lincoln wanted to ask you to be his date, y'know," Stephanie says.

She convinced me to stay over at her apartment tonight to hang out, and get ready for dinner together tomorrow. It's not like I mind though, I've become close with her, and she's one of the nicest people I've ever met. Lincoln, Ray, and Jason are apparently having a guy's night out at some club. We're sitting on the sofa in her living room, drinking wine and eating chips. Classy, I know.

"Really?" I'm surprised, "do you know why he didn't?"

"Apparently Jason convinced him not to," she frowns the slightest bit, "something about it being too awkward."

My heart sinks a bit but I try not to let it show on my face. "So he's going alone?"

"Nope, he's taking Tina," she smiles, "according to Ray, they dated on and off again in high school. Things never worked out and they agreed to just be friends."

"Ah I see," I say, feeling a bit disappointed.

She looks like she really wants to tell me something, but holds it back and takes a long drink of wine instead.

__________________

I finish putting on my makeup, and glance over at Stephanie who's looking through her closet for a pair of shoes.

Her smooth brown hair that's normally pulled back into a ponytail has been let down and curled into gentle waves. She's wearing minimal makeup - just enough to bring out her features, like her stunning green eyes. Her long dress is light grey with a long slit up the side, hugging her tall slender figure. It's a very natural look but she's also naturally beautiful, Ray really hit the jackpot with her; brains and beauty, and personality too.

I look at myself in the mirror. My long black hair has been curled. I'm wearing a long off-shoulder red dress with lace details. My makeup is heavier than Stephanie's, but still modest. I'm not a huge fan of heels, but Stephanie convinced me to borrow a pair of her red ones.

"Found them!" She calls from her closet. She comes out, holding black suede heels. The heels are so high my ankles hurt just looking at them.

We put on our coats and head to my car.

__________________

The majority of the guests are already there by the time we arrive. Part of the restaurant has been roped off, with a little "Private Party" sign. There are forty eight guests, so we sit at eight tables of six. We look at the seating map, we're at table five.

On our way to the table, we're stopped a bunch of times by people saying hi and hugging me. It makes me feel really happy, even slightly overwhelmed. Stephanie grins and whispers, "You say you're shy and awkward but please don't forget how charming and likable you are."

I blush a little.

The guys and Tina are already seated when we reach the table. Stephanie takes her seat across Ray. Mine is across Jason. "Hey, you guys clean up nice," I compliment, genuinely impressed. They're all wearing suits, Ray and Jason wear black suits while Lincoln's is navy blue.

"You look nice too," Jason says with a warm smile.

"Thank you." I not to blush. I do my best to not forget what Leena said, I'll see Jason at dinner, then no more. no more. no more.

I apparently focus too hard on this because Tina touches my arm. "Are you OK?" she asks with a concerned look.

"Yeah I'm fine. You look so good," I smile, looking at her. She's wearing a long navy blue strapless dress. Her naturally wavy hair has been straightened, it looks very smooth and shiny. "Thank you, so do you," she says, cheerfully.

I pause and look at the guys. "Wait, you guys are in charge, shouldn't you be preparing to make an opening speech or something like that?" They give each other mischievous grins. "Oh god, where is this going guys," I groan.

"Well we were hoping you could do that part," Ray says, trying to hold back a big grin. "We thought it'd be really sweet and cute."

I bury my hands in my face, "I hate public speaking, why wouldn't you at least ask me ahead of time?"

"Because we knew you'd say no," Lincoln chuckles, "come on, everyone loves you."

They're not wrong about the first part. I want the ground to open up and swallow me right now. I can barely do presentations in my seminar classes where there are less than twenty people in them.

I peek at them from behind my fingers. They all have encouraging smiles on their faces. "Alright alright," I groan, knowing they're not going to let me get out of this. I watch as Jason checks the RSVP list to make sure everyone's arrived while Ray and Lincoln handle setting up the microphone.

I turn back towards our table and glare at Stephanie and Tina. They both burst out laughing. "We swear we didn't know they were doing this!" Tina manages to say, holding her hands up innocently.

"The expression on your face is killing us," Stephanie laughs.

I see Ray gesture for me to go over. I take a deep breath and get up. The microphone and speaker are set up in front of all the tables. I can see the flickering candles at each table, creating warm dancing shadows against faces. Everyone is looking at me with warm smiles on their faces. I see everyone at my table giving me thumbs ups.

"Hey everyone, thanks for coming tonight," I nervously look around, "thank you so much for inviting me, I've missed seeing you guys around at the office and events."

"We love you Katie!" I hear Tiffany from the marketing committee shout, followed by a couple more.

"You're all the best. Makes sense though, ASA is the best student society. No one parties like us," everyone laughs before I continue, "There's another 4 months left of this school year. I'm sure you guys will do great with everything left that you have planned. Good luck and I hope I'll see you around soon! Enjoy dinner!"

Everyone claps as I head back to my seat. Jason passes me on his way up to the microphone.

He gently touches my lower back and whispers into my ear, "Great job Katie."

Even after I've already sat back down, the spot where he touched me feels tingly and warm.

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One time I had to speak in front of an entire lecture hall of people. I was so terrified I barely even remember it anymore

Thanks for reading! :)