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He just wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about it.
Nick nodded at the floor, then looked at Quinn. “Stop doubting yourself. Give it a try.”
She let Adam pull her to her feet, and Nick was glad they were moving away. Adam’s presence left him doubly off balance somehow, like trying to walk a narrow beam during an earthquake.
Adam and Quinn were talking now, going through the choreography or the music or whatever. Nick had no idea. His brain could barely process the conversation.
No, his thoughts kept replaying the moment two minutes ago.
You volunteering?
He wasn’t offended. He wasn’t shocked. He was—
Nick shut that thought down before it could finish. His life was already complicated enough. He and his brothers were marked for death. They were ostracized by the Elemental community. Nick knew exactly what was expected of him: good grades, hard work, and the occasional girlfriend. He knew how to handle all three, could do it blindfolded.
But that stray thought had weaseled its way into the back of his head, lodging there so firmly that he couldn’t ignore it.
For the tiniest fraction of a second, when Adam had looked down at him, asking about volunteering, Nick had wondered what would have happened if he’d said yes.
Quinn threw her body into the music, trying to match Adam’s complicated choreography. He was a couple years older, but she’d known him since she was a kid, when their parents dumped them in the same ballet and tap combo class. She’d recognized his talent even then, the boy in scuffed dance shoes and frayed sweatpants who moved like a slave to the rhythm. They lived at opposite ends of the same neighborhood, so they’d gone to different elementary and middle schools—but when she was a freshman in high school, they’d caught up to each other. He’d been a junior, lean and agile and always smiling. With his dark eyes and dark hair—not to mention his talent—she’d crushed on him for weeks, following him around like a puppy dog.
He’d been totally sweet about it—until the day she cranked up her nerve and declared her feelings for him.
He’d kissed her on the forehead and told her he wasn’t into girls. Then, presumably to soften the blow, he’d confessed that he was personally crushing on the football team’s starting center.
Unfortunately, the wrong guys had overheard him. Quinn never knew who did it, but someone had punched Adam in the back of his head when he was standing at his locker. Perfectly timed, Adam’s head had snapped forward, right into the metal plate that stuck out to hold a combination lock.
She’d heard that it had taken fourteen stitches to close the gash on his lip.
She hadn’t heard it from Adam—he never came back to school. She’d tried to reach out on Facebook, but his Wall was full of epithets.
And the next day, his account was deleted altogether.
Quinn kind of lost track of him until last year, when he’d shown up at the Y, saying his basement apartment was just too confining. He’d gotten his GED instead of returning to high school, and now, at nineteen, he was working two jobs while taking here-and-there classes at the local community college.
But he could still dance like no one she’d ever seen.
Quinn missed a cue and almost ended up with her face planted in the wood floor. Adam caught her, and she struggled to right herself.
“See?” she snapped. “I can’t keep up with you.”
“No,” he said, putting a hand on her waist to set her straight. “I actually think your friend was right. It was missing a partner.”
“Do you know anyone who can do it with you?”
Adam gave her half a smile. “I thought you were.”
Her eyes flared. “No! This is your audition piece. I’m sure you know someone—”
“I do know someone. I’m looking at her.”
“Oh, I get it, you think having someone do a face plant on stage will make you look better?”
Now he grinned. He was insanely adorable and she was instantly reminded of why she’d had a crush on him in the first place. “Afraid?”
“I—just—you—”
“Yes,” Nick called from behind her. “She is.”
