“Hmm,” he said contemplatively.
He studied me as he stood there. I could tell. I just wasn’t sure what he was looking for—or what he found. A breeze stirred the night air between us.
“Do… you want something from me?” I’m not sure where I found the gall to ask such a forward question.
“I’m still trying to figure that out.”
His words sent a chill down my spine that settled near my tailbone. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was in danger—not physical danger, but emotional. Though, I wasn’t sure why exactly.
“Why did you say hi to me at the party?” The question had been haunting me for over a week.
“You know, it’s the polite thing to do when you see someone you know,” Grey said coyly.
I frowned. “And now? Why did you come after me?”
He was so close. Tension filled the air in that tiny space separating me from him. I found myself wanting to close the gap between us and… I didn’t know what.Push him? Hug him?He looked like he gave great hugs.
“I’m not sure.” Grey rubbed the back of his head, causing his shirt to ride up in the front and reveal a strip of his stomach. “I felt like I needed to. You looked upset.”
“Why would I be upset, Grey?”
He was correct, but he didn’t need to know that.
“I was simply embarrassed for intruding on an intimate moment between you and your… girlfriend.” The word only caught in my throat for half a second.
Grey narrowed his eyes slightly. I could still feel the magnetism pulling us closer, but it seemed to have weakened slightly at the mention of his girlfriend.
“Speaking of which,” I said, taking advantage of my clearing head. “You should probably get back to Carina.”
Grey gave a short, dry laugh. “You’re right, Ethan. Have a good night. Sorry if I bothered you.”
He whipped around and walked away from me. I watched him leave, feeling a dull ache in my chest that I couldn’t explain.How had he created it?I wanted to call after him, to have him come back.But to what end?I didn’t have a plan for what to do with him, and I certainly didn’t have the energy to come up with one. So, I watched him leave, wishing somehow that the interaction had gone different.But then, what did it matter?He had a girlfriend, and I was interested in Piper.
Iwasinterested in Piper.
Confused and hurting, I got into my car and drove home.
“You’re sulking again,”Josh said at breakfast the next morning. His hair was still wet from the shower but meticulously combed in his usual side part.
“No I’m not.” I sounded sad, even to my ears.
“Totally sulking,” Kellan said through a mouthful of food.
We sat in the dining hall, Kellan and Josh working their way through mountains of pancakes. Meanwhile, I chased a grape around my plate with a fork.
“What happened? Did your date with Piper not go well?”
I blinked at Josh. With everything that had happened after the concert and my subsequent agonizing over it, I’d almost forgotten that I’d gone there with Piper. “No, it was fun.” Minus the panic attack and the dull ache in my chest that had yet to fade, it had been the perfect night.
“Then, what’s the problem?”
“I—”How much should I tell them?The whole point of last night was to trynotobsessing over Grey. Instead, I’d been an idiot and taken Piper to a place that had guaranteed I would run into him. And look at what it’d done to me. Every ounce of my pain was my own damn fault.
“What did you do?”
Damn it, Kellan already knows.
I gave them a guilty smile. “I might’ve taken Piper to a Dreamscape show last night.”
