making me stand still. Eli pushed a strand of my dark hair behind my ear. He lightly grazed my bruise, not enough to cause it to hurt, just enough to acknowledge it. “Grace Wall, you are love incarnate. I’d cut out my heart and give it to you.”
“Gross, don’t do that!” I laughed. Eli wasn’t smiling, though; he was staring at me with the same intensity as in the car. I bit the inside of my lip, unsure of what was happening.
Touching my bruise again, Eli whispered, “Do you have any idea how extraordinary you are?”
I tried to shake him off. “Eli…”
Eli captured my mouth. The kiss was unlike any we’d shared before. I felt him stealing my breath and returning fire into my body. I’d never be a shadow because Eli was lighting me up.
When he was finished with me, I was dazed. A fog of Eli had covered my eyes and I saw nothing else.
“Come on, we can’t be late for the party.” Eli winked at me, grinning from ear to ear.
We entered the big door of the barn, music blasting from speakers I couldn’t see. No one paid us any attention; they were all too drunk or busy with someone to notice. I stared around the building, drinking it all in. Being locked up in my house all the time had made me a collector of experiences. I locked every new moment away in my personal vault, to look back on when I was at home. This party was an especially keen collector’s item.
Eli pulled me against him, breaking my reverie. “Dance with me, Gracie.” His breath was hot against my ear and my focus blurred. Butterflies became beetles in my stomach. I may have been young, but I had to believe this was love. Eli made everything pink and rosy. He made me smile through the bruises on my face.
I shook my head against his chest. “You know I don’t dance.”
“I don’t either. It’s perfect!” Before I could protest, Eli swung me into his arms and spun me back out. He had me swinging all over the floor, carrying me to the tune. A laugh bubbled out of me as we spun around the barn. We were moving so fast the people around us blurred together with the yellow lights. I was thrilled, breathing fast, and completely in synch with Eli. Our heartbeats pounded so loud I could barely hear the fiddle.
Eli took a red cup from someone I’d never met before and thanked him. Eli had a lot of friends outside of me. He was big and joyful, with a personality you couldn’t help but love. His laugh was infectious, deep and rumbling. Eli told the best jokes, too, which meant he wasn’t just laughing, he was making you laugh. I wasn’t surprised that Eli had a lot of friends—I’d’a been surprised if he didn’t.
We’d come to a tacit agreement long ago that Eli wouldn’t introduce me to his friends. It was too complicated. I risked enough bein’ with Eli. I’d risk it over and over again, to be sure, but I just couldn’t have friends. I only had enough willpower to withstand bruises for one person, and that person was Eli.
I didn’t waste time bein’ sad that Eli had all these friends and I just had Eli, because Eli was enough. I thanked whomever was listening every night that Eli had come to me that day. Before him I’d been so utterly alone. I smiled at the memory, before smiling up at Eli.
“What’s in there?” I asked, watching as Eli nearly finished the cup in one gulp.
“You wouldn’t like it,” he replied, wiping his mouth.
“Is it beer?” I stood on my tiptoes, trying to look into the mouth of the cup as Eli raised it farther and farther out of my view.
“Could be,” Eli replied, laughter in his voice. “Want some?”
“Could be,” I replied. Eli lowered the cup, handing it to me. I inspected it carefully, sniffing it and squinting at it. It smelled like Daddy and was sludge-colored, with bits of foam on the top. I had a great urge to toss the stuff out, but a deeper part of me, a part I didn’t want to invite to dinner, wanted to imbibe.
I took a swig.
“Yuck!” I wiped my mouth off. “You like this?”
Eli shrugged. “It’s an acquired taste.”
“Who would want to acquire that?”
He smiled. “Told ya.” He reached for the cup, but I held on to it. “I thought you didn’t like it?”
“Why would you want to acquire it?”
Eli smiled. “It makes you feel good.”
Daddy popped in my head, angry and monstrous. I shook that image away quicker than a cat on a pile of firecrackers.
“Hmmm.” I peered into the liquid. Maybe it wasn’t sludge-colored. Maybe it was golden. I tipped the cup back and let the remainder of the liquid fall down my throat.
I followed Eli to the outside of the barn, where he sat on a hay bale and stared into the dark night like it was telling him something. Out there it was quieter. The rowdy sounds of dancing and kissing were muffled by the wood and only escaped through slats and weathered holes.
“You’re so handsome,” I cooed, jumping on top of Eli and straddling his waist.