“Fineee.”
I laugh and walk into the bathroom, then see my reflection in the mirror mid-smile. My cheeks are flushed, and my lips are a little swollen. I barely recognize the girl staring back at me, in a good way.
When I step back out twenty minutes later, I’m wearing a burgundy leather mini dress and matching burgundy knee-high boots.
When Eli looks up to see me, he quickly puts his phone face down on the bed and stands up, walking over to me.
“Wow…you look…toogood.”
I put my hands out on his chest when he gets close enough, and smile up at him. “Too good?”
“Yeah,” he says, kissing me. “Kinda jealous other people will get to see you like this.”
I laugh lightly. “Well, it’s a good thing you’ll be with me all night, so everyone will know I’m taken by you.”
He bites his lip. “Yeah, you are.”
He sits down on the edge of my bed and pulls me to sit on his lap. We start kissing again, not being able to keep our hands off each other, and it builds quickly, turning into something much heavier. His hands skim my ribs, then move down to my hips, eventually reaching the hem of my dress. His fingers graze under the tight fabric, moving closer to my thighs. I’ve never even kissed a boy before Eli, but the way he makes my body feel has me thinking about all the other things we could do together.
I stop his hand before it goes too far and whisper, “I want to…” I say, looking into his eyes. He looks pained. “But not yet.”
“Have you ever…done anything more than kiss someone before Lydia?” he asks me, voice so low it sends a shiver down my spine.
I shake my head. “No. You were actually my first kiss.”
He pulls back, a little surprised. “Really?”
I nod. “Yeah, I know. It’s a little embarrassing.”
He shakes his head. “No, it’s not embarrassing. It kinda makes you hotter to me. Knowing I’m the first.”
I smile at him and wrap my arms around his neck. “I’m just not…ready to go all the way yet.”
“I’m not trying to rush you, Lydia. But I hope when you’re ready, it’s me that gets that part of you, too.”
“It won’t beyourfirst, though,” I say, trying to gaugejust how muchexperience he actually has. We haven’t had that talk, and I don’t know if I really want to know how many girls he’s been with or who they are. I’ll just start obsessing over all the ways they’re probably better than me.
“No,” he tells me. “But having your first still means a lot to me. That’s special, Lydia.”
I hate thinking about him having sex with other girls. It makes me feel this feeling I’ve never felt before. Jealousy? No, that seems so little for the feeling it gives me, actually. I want him to only think about wanting to be with me. Not about anyone else he’s been with before.
“Do you still think about anyone you’ve been with in the past?” I ask nervously.
“I’m only thinking about you, Lydia.”
* * *
The party is already in full swing when we pull up. Tyler’s house is on the West Side of Charlotte. It’s not big or flashy, but it’s alive and inviting. There’s music playing loudly from inside, lights flashing through the windows, and a group of kids standing around and laughing near the porch, half-drunk already.
Eli finds a place to park on the street and looks around, assessing the place.
“I know these people aren’t rich and flashy like you’re used to, but…”
Eli looks over to me. “I don’t care about that, Lydia. Honestly, Iprefernot being around stuck-up rich kids all the time.”
I love that he’s different from a lot of the kids at our school. He doesn’t judge like they do, doesn’t make people like me feel less than him.
We walk in hand-in-hand, and I immediately spot Simone near the kitchen with Tyler. Her eyes light up when she sees me.
