Ryan whispers to me again, “I’m dancing with you because I love the look on your face. ”
Figures. “Love watching me make a fool out of myself?”
“No. I love seeing the girl Scott and Lacy say you can be. ” He stares at me as if he’s seeing beyond my skin and my heart pounds out of my chest so violently that he has to feel it. My nerve endings become raw. Somehow, Ryan’s seeing me and I’m exposed—as if I’m standing naked in front of a large open window. My hands slip from his neck, but as I try to step back, he clutches my waist, rejecting my escape.
“Ryan! I wondered when you’d get here. ”
The sound of an all-too-familiar voice creates the same electric shock as when I stuck my finger into a wall socket when I was four. My body seizes, then moves in warp drive away from Ryan.
Gwen wears a red sundress with printed white flowers. Her lip curls at my wannabe Chuck Taylors, worn jeans, and black T-shirt.
She links her arm with Ryan’s. “You wouldn’t mi
nd if I steal Ryan for a moment, would you?
There are some things we need to discuss. ”
They look nice together. Well matched. Like a couple should. “He’s yours. ”
Ryan
SECONDS AGO,
BETH AND I SHARED something… a moment, a connection. I saw it in her eyes. Something real. Now it’s gone.
Beth turns from me and heads in the direction of Lacy, Chris, and Logan. “Beth. Wait. ”
She faces me again, but walks backward—away from me. “Don’t worry,” she says with a hint of bite. “I’m not disappearing. ”
“Let her go,” says Gwen. “You can chat with her later. ”
I let Beth go, but only because I remember how persistent Gwen can be. She’ll follow me until she completes her mission. “What?”
“You don’t have to be snippy,” she chides.
“I’m not. ” Near the tree line, I notice Tim Richardson and Sarah Janes. Sarah sways and laughs a little too loud.
“Yes, you are. ”
Useless conversations. That’s another reason we broke up. “Is Sarah wasted?”
Gwen glances over her shoulder at Sarah and refocuses on me. “Yeah. She was trashed before we arrived. So, I was thinking, we should walk onto the football field together for homecoming. The crowd likes couples. ”
“We’re not a couple. ” Tim places a hand on Sarah’s ass and she stops laughing. “Are Sarah and Tim an item?”
“No. She thinks he’s dirt, but she’s drunk and, well, he’s Tim. Back to me and you. We were a couple and maybe we should try it again. You know, when you’re done experimenting with Beth. I mean, you don’t have to go to all of your practices, do you?
Ryan…Ryan? Why do you keep staring over my shoulder?”
Sarah puts her hands on Tim’s chest and pushes him. He doesn’t move, but I do.
“Excuse me,” I mumble to Gwen.
She blocks my path and I halt, irritated she’s still here. “What?”
“Did you hear what I said?”
Something about homecoming and Beth.