“Um, no I’m not, actually,” I awkwardly mumble, staring down at my feet.
“Why not? I mean, I know you’re not a partier, but this is a once in a lifetime thing to celebrate with people. You should totally have one.”
Avoiding his gaze, I now focus on my fingers fiddling with my car keys.
“Well, uh, I don’t really have any family that I’d invite other than my parents, and I’m not super close with tons of people so I just figured I’d go to other people’s parties and that’d be good enough.”
His smile falters, his voice switching into a warmer, more compassionate tone.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend. I was only curious. Well, you had better go to everyone’s parties who’ve invited you. You’ll never have this chance again, and who knows when we’ll all see each other next. Plus, being social is important.”
He playfully fist bumps my arm, pulling a small twitch of my lips upwards.
The only grad party I initially planned on going to was Ben’s since he’s my best friend. I’ve been invited to fiveothers, well six including Jared’s, but now I feel more pressured to go.
Ugh.
“Hey,” Ben says walking up to us.
Jared’s smile drops instantly into a tight line.
Huh, that’s weird. Does he not like Ben?
Regardless, I’m relieved to see him. Hopefully he can get me out of this conversation.
“Hey, Ben, what’s up?” I say brightly.
“Hey,” Jared replies shortly to Ben before quickly turning to me, ignoring Ben and resuming his bright demeanor.
“I gotta get back to training, but Charlotte, I’ll see you next weekend, okay?”
He waves goodbye at the same time he runs off toward the track. I wave back with a smile and turn back to Ben who furiously stares Jared down.
“You, okay? You seem upset.”
“What didhewant?” he retorts in an unnecessarily aggressive manner, brows furrowed and mouth downturned.
“Jared? He’s on the track team with me, remember? He was inviting me to his graduation party.”
Ben continues to stare daggers at the track where Jared’s working out.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I playfully touch him on the arm to see how he responds.
His face relaxes at my touch. “Oh, right, right. Yeah, I’m fine. I was just wondering what you two were talking about.” He pauses for a minute then grins. “So, you’re coming to mine too, right?” He winks.
Aaand I see we’re back to Ben’s flirty side. I roll my eyes, shoulder bumping him lightly.
“Of course, I am. Duh. You’re my best friend.”
He smiles, brushing my arm with his hand. A quick burning prickle instantly creeps up the back of my neck and into my cheeks at his touch, making me move away from him out of instinct. His brows furrow again as he catches me distancing myself from his touch, his smile dropping.
I instinctively clutch my left elbow in embarrassment at the awkward situation my body made by moving away on its’ own. He’s touched my arm plenty of times throughout our friendship, including hugs and play fighting, but we’ve changed since then. It’s…different now.
Is this what happens when you move into adulthood? I suppose it’s inevitable we’d change if I ever thought realistically about it. It just never occurred to me it would change likethis.
He kindly backs away a step to give me some space and plasters on a strained smile. Yawning, he stretches his arms, pulling his shirt up with them and tightening his white shirt on the rest of his torso. Now given a front row view of his deep v-cut that dips into his leather pants, my mouth waters and my tongue and teeth scrape the inside of my cheek as I fixate on his now exposed olive skin. That tingling sensation below fiercely returns, giving me an aggressive urge to run my fingers over his abs. His shirt, in seemingly slow motion, ruffles back down, covering his stomach fully again.
“Eyes up here, Char,” he whispers, winking.
