Simone looks over at me, hesitant. “You good?”
“I’m good,” I lie easily. “Go. I’ve got Katie and Harper.”
“Are you sure? I know tonight is—”
I wave her off. “Yes, I’m okay now. I promise.”
“Text me if you need anything,” she says, already being pulled into the crowd.
The rest of us stick together for a while, mostly just listening to Katie talk about which guy she has a crush on this week, and her and Harper going back and forth about which ones they might try to hook up with tonight. I smile and nod, sipping on my drink until thebuzzing in my ears gets louder than the conversation. Everyone seems solight,floating through their lives like nothing weighs them down, while I feel like I’m made of stone.
“I’m gonna go grab another drink,” I tell them, slipping away before they can question me.
I don’t want another drink. I just wanna be alone for a moment. I’m trying so hard to distract myself tonight, but I can still feel the panic rising, the anxiety that follows me everywhere I go.
Thankfully, I find an empty couch in one of the back rooms of the house to claim. There are still people everywhere, but it’s the closest thing I’m gonna get to being alone. I just need a second to myself. I sit down, trying to breathe through the anxiety, and pull out my phone for a distraction. I don’t even notice when two guys enter the room until one of them flops onto the couch beside me, bumping me hard enough to spill some of my drink.
“Crap,” the boy says, turning to me. “Sorry—I didn’t even see you there.”
I look up, and my breath catches in my throat.
Elijah Harrison, aka Eli.
He’s always been beautiful, but this close-up is another level. He has perfect skin for a seventeen-year-old boy, a slightly sun-kissed tone like he spends all of his time outside, tousled black hair that has that purposely unkempt style, barely coming down to his forehead, and green eyes—sharp and soft all at once.
“You’re…wow,” he says, blinking. “You’re beautiful.”
I feel my face go hot. “Um…thanks.”
He holds my stare and smirks a little. “What’s your name?”
I’ve never really cared about boys. They’ve always seemed like a bigger headache than I wanted to deal with. But there’s something about him, and this moment, that’s drawing me in.
“Lydia,” I answer shyly.
“Nice to meet you, Lydia. I’m Eli.”
“I know.”
“You know who I am?”
I nod my head and let out a small laugh. “Yeah, we both go to Ardrey Kell.”
“You go to my school? There’s no way…I definitely wouldn’t forget a face like yours.”
“You don’t know me because I’m not popular like you are,” I tell him. “I don’t talk to many people there. I really only hang out with Katie and Harper.”
He scrunches his nose up. “Yeah, I know whotheyare…but it’s not for the same reason I wish I knew whoyouwere.”
Is he flirting with me?
I can feel my heartbeat in my fingertips.
I would never normally look twice at someone like him. He’s so clean-cut, preppy, ajock,and the kind of popular that typically would never look in my direction. But this conversation, this feeling, whatever is happening right now…it weirdly feels like a breath of fresh air, and I wanna hold on to that.
“And how do you wish you knew me?” I ask him.
His smile gets a little bigger, like he’s feeling what I’m feeling too, and then he shrugs. “I wish I knew you enough to have your number.”
