The Prelude of Ella and Micha (The Secret 0.5)

She’s tense as a board as the song ends and switches to “Ordinary World” by Red. Then, suddenly, Ella’s dancing. Ella and I are dancing. I’m not even sure where the hell the burst of confidence materializes from, but she’s now swaying and grinding and rocking to the slow beat of the song. And I’m instantly lost in her movements.

I’m so fucking lost.

Flirting has always come naturally to me, but I feel like a real amateur at the moment. I try to get a grip over myself, but as I start rubbing against her, I’m hyperaware of every breath, every graze of her ass, brush of her back, feel of her hands as they rise up and loop around the back of my neck. Our bodies align perfectly—too perfectly. They should always be together like this.

I’m struggling to control myself and not reach around to slide my hand across her breasts, because I’m dying to touch her like that. Then her head falls to the side, giving me a straight view to her heaving chest, and my hands start to wander, take on a mind of their own, gliding around to the front of her and splaying across her stomach. My fingers play with the hem of her shirt, debating, before I summon up enough courage to slip them underneath the fabric.

God, her skin is so fucking smooth.

Her muscles tighten, and we both freeze.

She blinks up at me in confusion.

I stare down at her, my pulse pounding with desire, confusion, lust, heat, want, love, lust, love.

Then she starts to lean up.

Fuck, maybe she wants to kiss me.

I start to lean down.

Our lips inch closer.

We’re about to kiss. Maybe my fear over my feelings was inaccurate. Perhaps I jumped to assumptions. Maybe she can handle my declaration of wanting more. Perhaps she does feel the same way about me as I do about her.

But just when a sliver of space is left between our lips, Ella’s eyes snap wide. Reality painfully crashes over me.

“Oh, my God … Did we just …?” She trails off with a deer in the headlights look.

I open my mouth to say—well, who the fuck knows? Maybe something that could possibly make the situation even worse. Thankfully, Ella’s friend Renee comes bouncing up to us and stops our conversation.

“What were you two just doing?” she asks with speculation, her gaze flicking back and forth between us.

“Nothing,” Ella sputters, scooting forward and putting space between our bodies.

Leaving me feeling cold.

Renee assesses us closely. “Okay …” She shakes her head then focuses on Ella. “Well, anyway, I think you guys need to come have some fun with me.” She grabs Ella’s hand. “We’re about to play truth or dare and need more players.”

Ella throws a glance at me yet easily lets Renee drag her across the room with me trailing at their heels.

“Truth or dare?” Ella questions. “What are we, like eight?”

Renee snorts a laugh. “Yeah, right, Ella. You’re the biggest daredevil I know, so don’t pretend like you don’t love the idea.”

Ella reaches back through the crowd as we squeeze toward the bedrooms and catches my hand. There’s no clear reason as to why she does, but I don’t care. I just grasp on for dear life.

“Who’s playing?” Ella hollers over the music.

Renee releases Ella’s hand as we reach a shut door at the back of the house near the kitchen. She brushes her chin-length hair out of her eyes then extends her hand for the doorknob. “Mara, Jonny, Grantford, Tammy…” Renee yammers off a list of people.

Ella makes a face at the mention of Tammy, shooting a dirty look at me, probably because I hooked up with Tammy a couple of weeks ago. I’d be offended, but I think I might detect a slight bit of jealousy in her eyes so I’m more elated than anything.

Renee opens the door and we enter a room that has zero furniture inside it. The only thing occupying the shaggy orange carpet are the people Renee yammered off along with a few others I don’t know and my friend Ethan Gregory.

Ethan starts to give me a chin nod, but then his gaze darts to Ella’s and my hands clasped together. As his brow arches in perplexity, I shrug. I might be kind of slutty, but I’ve never gone around holding a girl’s hand; I’ve never had a girlfriend, just hookups. Right now, I’m sure Ella and I look like a couple, but that’s more than fine with me.

“Okay, Ella.” Renee nudges Ella in Grantford’s direction and our hands slip apart. “You take a seat over there.” Then she shoves me in the opposite direct. “Micha, you go sit by Tammy.”

As I look over at Tammy, who’s batting her eyelashes at me, I realize that not only is everyone sitting in a circle, but there’s also an empty beer bottle in the center of them.

“Wait.” I glance back at Renee. “I thought you said we were playing truth or dare?”

“Did I?” She thrums a finger on her lips. “You must have misheard me.”

Fucking Renee. She’s always lying and tricking people into doing shit. Although, I have the slightest bit of suspicion that Tammy played a part in this. Ever since I hooked up with her, she’s been following me around at school, asking me when we’re going to get together again.

Blowing out a frustrated breath, I plop my ass down in the empty spot next to Tammy. Ella has already sat down by Grantford, who gawks at her chest when she rests back on her hands and crisscrosses her legs. She appears a little dazed, lost in her thoughts as she stares at the bare walls and closet door of the room.

Even when the game gets going, Ella remains oddly out of it. I half expect her to leave at any moment, not because we’re playing spin the bottle, but because Ella’s the kind of person that will get riled up over the fact that Renee lied about the game. Instead, she twirls a strand of her hair around her finger, oblivious when Ethan kisses Mara.

Then Grantford takes a turn, and it’s clear he has his sights set on Ella, yet he gets stuck kissing someone else. She doesn’t even notice when Jonny spins and the bottle lands on Ethan, causing Ethan to get all squirrely and Jonny to take another turn. The only time she actually focuses on what’s going on is when Tammy gives the bottle a spin and bounces up and down excitedly when the tip points at me.

“Yes! I get Micha.” She grins at me as she gets up and turns toward me, wiggling her hips.

When I glance over at Ella, her expression is unreadable, although there’s something in her eyes that I’ve never seen before, something that makes my adrenaline pump a little faster. The longer we stare at each other, the more intense the sensation grows. While Ella knows I hook up, she’s never actually seen me kiss anyone, and I think the idea is bothering her.