“Hey!” Landon greets us, sensing the tension between the two. He pulls me into a tight hug and makes his way to Abby, then to Kendall, who’s standing at the end of our short train. “You guys look amazing!” he yells over the loud volume of voices and music as Jameson follows suit in hugging each of us before standing beside Kendall.
“Do you guys want to dance?” Abby asks, motioning to the dance floor.
Landon nods in response, inclining his head, motioning for us to follow him.
We begin dancing, slowly getting a feel for the crowd and each other. Whether it’s the pulsing music or the shot of Jose they took, things seem to quickly loosen up and it’s not long before we’re laughing and having a good time. Thankfully I become too distracted to search for Max—at least for a while. When the urge returns, I motion that I’m going to the kitchen for more water, declining when they offer to come with me.
“Hey, I saw you dancing out there. You’re really amazing,” a deep voice whispers in my ear as I fill a red plastic cup with water. I close my eyes and take a long drink, hoping ignoring this guy will give him a hint.
It doesn’t.
His hand reaches forward, lightly touching my elbow.
“Thanks, it’s the shoes!” I reply sarcastically, pulling out of his reach as I fill my cup again. I learned pretty quickly not to smile or laugh when a guy hits on you when you aren’t interested; it only encourages them.
“I’m pretty sure it’s the dress.” His voice no longer a quiet raspy whisper, but a familiar deep voice that has me spinning around in shock.
“It’s the dress, it’s the dress!” I squeal, laughing, as I throw my arms around Pedro Rodriguez, a good friend of mine from high school. He lifts me up, releasing a growl as he squeezes me tight.
“How are you?” I ask as he sets me down. His dark brown eyes gleam with excitement, and his infectious smile shines bright, making my own smile grow.
“Good, good! I’m heading back to Arizona State in a couple of weeks, so I had to come enjoy some end of summer fun!” I nod, smiling. “What about you, beautiful? Whose heart are you breaking tonight?”
“All of them!” I answer with a wink. “I’m going to head back to the dance floor. Do you want to come? Kendall’s with me, and my best friend Abby. You’ll love her! Oh and a couple of guys that are my neighbors’ buddies are here with us. They’re cool though.”
“Alright, let’s go make them all jealous!” He takes my hand in his and I feel the warmth of his skin as his arm brushes against me.
He leads us back toward the living room when my eyes find Max making his way through the crowd, wearing a lightweight gray shirt with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows and a pair of dark wash jeans. His eyes are on us as he continues streaming through the last few people. He takes a step and cuts in front of Pedro and stops.
Max’s eyes focus on me, starting at my face, then slowly drift all the way down and back up just as slowly. He’s never deliberately checked me out before, and the action sends a chill through my spine and has my pulse racing. I want to close the last few steps between us and slowly run my tongue along the strong edge of his jaw. It feels like I’m physically suffocating myself to not move forward and touch him.
“Hey, Miller, long time no see. I heard you were up in Alaska. Are you back for the summer?” Pedro greets him as I work to nonchalantly extricate my hand from his.
Max gives a brief nod. “No, I’m enrolled to start school in San Diego, with Ace,” he says, nodding toward me, but his eyes don’t follow.
“We were just going to find the others. You want to come?” I ask, trying not to sound hopeful.
“No, I just came from there. I think I’m going to check out the rest of the excitement, get a drink.” I smile, trying to hide my disappointment.
As we pass one another, my eyes flash to my hand as I feel his fingers brush against mine causing a spark to run up through my arm. I watch his knuckles touch mine, his index finger traces along the same pattern, catching my pinky before his hand falls. His focus is still trained forward, not looking at me. Watching the space between us grow with each step we both take in opposite directions causes a physical ache in my chest.
When we find the others, Kendall bounds over to Pedro and I watch the disappointment flood Jameson’s face before she moves to stand beside him again and completes a brief introduction.
A catchy remix starts to play that has everyone moving. More people have arrived making the dance floor so tightly packed it’s difficult to decipher who you’re really dancing with. I turn to face Abby, and we sing along to the music, laughing, and dancing with Pedro behind us both, until a cute guy begins dancing closer and closer, and I watch as Abby gets pulled to him like the tide.
It isn’t long before a pretty brunette swoops in and begins running her hands up and down Pedro’s chest, diverting his focus.
My eyes blink several times and my movement stops at the sight of Landon and Abby making out. I take a couple of breaths before looking for Kendall to see if she’s paying attention, but she and Jameson are engaged in a make out session a few feet away.
My eyebrows rise as I look between the four of them one last time and then turn with the intention of taking a break.
“Looking for me, bonita?” Pedro asks, coming up behind me.
“I thought you traded me in for a brunette?”
“No, you know me. I’m all about blondes.” He winks and wraps his hand around mine. We begin dancing as a new song blasts through the room. It seems to be getting louder, and with all of the noise and movement, it’s not long before everything fades away, my mind focusing on the beat of the music and my body as it moves with Pedro.
After a while Kendall and Abby find us, sans the guys, and all three of us dance with Pedro, laughing and having a good time.
I fan my face and motion that I’m going to head outside. Pedro nods, indicating his interest in joining me. We slowly filter our way through the crowd. We don’t manage to get far before a guy from Pedro’s class encases him in a hug. It’s obvious he’s drunk as he loudly tells Pedro how much he misses him. I nod my head toward the back door, silently informing him that I’ll meet him outside. Pedro’s eyes scrunch with reluctance before he nods and raises a single finger to show he’ll only be a minute.
My tunnel vision glasses are on, not wanting to see anything but the sky, as I slide through arms and bodies, heading for the dining room that goes out to the backyard. I can see the doors and feel the relief they promise when two large hands grip my hips and pull me backwards. The fingers dig too deep, too rough to be friendly, yet I still expect to see a familiar face as I try to crane my neck around. I stumble slightly as the arms pull me backwards so I’m tightly pressed against a hot, sweaty body reeking of cheap cologne and beer.
“Hey, baby!” The deep foreign voice growls as he clumsily tries to dance against me. One of his hands bars me to him while the other roughly paws at me. I turn again and catch sight of his dark buzzed hair and large, round head that is completely unfamiliar.
“I’ve retired for the evening.” I pull away from his sweat-drenched shirt.
“I’ll retire you,” he slurs with a grin and grips my arm, roughly tugging me forward, making me once again stumble as my chest collides with his. My eyes narrow as I take a closer look at his heavy stature and cocky grin that makes my blood boil.
Cringing as his hand slides across my jaw, he mumbles something I can’t hear over my own objections and the music. He’s bigger than I am, but he’s also drunk, and I feel repulsed. My palms lie flat against his chest and I shove against him. He grunts and smiles before locking his arms around me.