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"I never agreed."
"You will agree. My deal with her father is too important to let you fuck it up."
"Is that all you care about?"
"What exactly do you pretend? To piss me off?"
"My spending time with her has nothing to do with you."
"So, what, you have a crush on her? Look at yourself; for her own good, leave her alone. You'll just fuck up her life."
"Oh, yeah, like you fucked up Mom's life?"
"Exactly like that."
I curse loudly on my way out.
I curse all the way to school. Part of me is afraid I will fuck up her life. Sweet, innocent Dani... Whose presence is an inexplicable cure to my anger; a breath of air when I feel like I'm drowning. Her laughter makes me feel something I never thought possible after the funeral: relief. The ground has been shaking beneath my feet since Mom died, and I only regained balance when I met Dani. She makes me face my pain and fight it instead of masking it with anger. This girl can undo me with just a look from behind her large, round eyes. She bites her lip so innocently, not knowing what it does to me. Seeing her blush makes me hard. Thank fuck she can't tell, but I've seen how she looks at me.
I'm already treading on a fine line, and if I keep this close to her, I will snap and kiss her. In fact, I’ll do much more than kiss her. Damn it. I wasn't a catch before, and I sure as hell am not now when I've turned into the literal dark version of myself. I have no future and no aspirations except to break out of this prison and never come back. There is nothing I can bring Dani except trouble. I've dealt with that my whole life. I know how to live with it. She's grown up in a glass ball, and I won't be the one to break it.
Of course, for that I'd have to stay away, and I can't.
Chapter Eleven: Dani
Damon avoids meeting my eye the entire morning. I corner him after Biology, once everyone has left the laboratory, and it's just the two of us left.
"You should avoid me today," he says when he sees me approaching.
"Friends don't avoid each other in bad times. Something happened today to make you extra moody?"
"I had a fight with George," he offers as an explanation. "We do a good job of avoiding each other usually.” He watches me intently, and I see his resolve to avoid me today weaken with every passing second. “Let's grab lunch," he says eventually.
"After dissecting a frog?" I say skeptically. "No lunch for me today."
He grins. In a fraction of a second, he's behind me, slinging his arms around my waist. He pulls me so close to him I can feel the rippled muscles of his stomach against my back. My knees take on the consistency of rubber.
"I can skip lunch. Let's do something else," he says in my ear.
"Like what?" I hold my breath, waiting for his answer. When none comes, I begin to panic. Then he lowers his hands, lacing his fingers with mine.
"This feels good," he says, burying his head in my neck. "Do you want to be friends, Dani?"
"Aren't we already? Don't you want to be friends?"
"I do want to, but you shouldn't be friends with someone like me. I'm no good for you. You've known me for a few weeks, and you've already done something you've never done: got detention."
"There is a first time for everything," I say.
"What are you doing to me?" he asks in a whisper.
"What do you mean?" I ask, puzzled, checking whether I've stepped on him. "I'm not doing anything."
"You have no idea," he says, raising our interlaced hands to my waist and squeezing me tighter to him. "I can't stand being here right now."
"Then let's go."
"You want to skip school?" There is a mix of humor and sadness in his voice.
