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“Did you invite him tonight?” he asked, a bitter tone in his deep voice.
“What’s it to you? Go back to fucking your wife.” I pulled my arm away and bolted down the stairs.
Finn greeted me with a huge grin on his face, pulling me into one of his bear hugs. As he suffocated me in his chest which, by the way, smelled like man sweat, Alex walked slowly down the stairs. With a flat stare, he narrowed his eyes, mumbling something about Adriana using all the soap in the bathroom.
Samantha laughed. “Poor baby. If soap’s your biggest problem, I’m sure Mommy can refill the bottle for you next time.”
Adriana laughed along with her. I placed my head down, ignoring the both of them, then encouraged Adriana to leave or we’d be late.
It took exactly five minutes and twenty-one seconds before my phone buzzed. I was sitting in the back of the car by myself. Finn was telling Adriana off for blasting ‘Like A Prayer’ by Madonna.
Alex: You didn’t answer my question.
I sat there quiet for a few moments, not knowing how to respond. Outside the window, the freeway appeared like an endless road before us.
Me: I don’t need to explain myself to you. I don’t have a ring on my finger. Please stop texting me. I get it, Alex. It was fun while it lasted. Have a nice life.
&nbs
p; “Charlie, c’mon!” Finn shouted.
I shook my head to focus. “What, Finn?”
“Please tell Adriana we aren’t listening to ‘Immaculate Collection’ all the way to the concert,” he whined.
I had no say in this matter, and to be honest, I loved that CD. My phone buzzed again. I was nervous to look. I didn’t know what I wanted him to say. Was there anything he could say that would change how I felt?
Alex: We need to talk. I had no choice, Charlotte.
Sure, he did. You always have a choice. I didn’t know what was coming over me, but I wanted to shut it out, just for tonight. To forget I was seeing a married man who also happened to be my best friend’s brother, and to forget I told the man who had consumed me to go have a nice life.
It took us a few hours to get there, constant bickering in the car and a thousand pit stops because Finn decided to drink a Big Gulp as we left Carmel.
We met up with Elijah and the rest of the group, and I couldn’t have been any happier as the crowds surrounded me, the music playing.
The crowd danced, people cheered, the bands would rotate, and we were having fun—no worries, no drama, just pure unadulterated fun. Finn and I had danced, nothing sexual this time, just laughter and fun, something I had missed over the last year. Senior year had been hard, and it wasn’t over just yet.
The concert ended, so we decided to grab a bite to eat, go back to the hotel and change. I shared a room with Adriana but, of course, she bunked with Elijah. If Dr. Edwards found out he’d kill her, and I’d be her accomplice, and therefore, my dad would kill me.
I wore a black dress Adriana picked out a few weeks earlier. I’m not one to wear dresses unless the occasion called for it. To complete my outfit, I paired the dress with some strappy black heels. Dad would kill me if he saw them, hence, shoving them to the bottom of my duffle bag and sneaking them out of the house.
Applying some lip gloss and only a small amount of mascara, I let my hair loose to flow down my back. Staring into the mirror, I begged myself to forget he existed, at least for tonight.
The club was packed. Every teenager at the concert was here. It was an under-21 club, so no alcohol of course, but it didn’t stop the bumping and grinding that was going on. Adriana was lost somewhere on the dance floor rubbing her ass against Elijah.
Finn was chatting with some other boys from Carmel that had shown up. I hung out with a few girls I knew until a tall, lean guy stood next to me. He was cute and reminded me a bit of Leonardo DiCaprio when he starred in Romeo and Juliet.
He smiled at me, I smiled back. Leaning in, he whispered in my ear, “I don’t do cheesy lines, but I love this song. You wanna dance?”
Like I said, he was cute, and it was just a harmless dance. It wasn’t like I had a ring on my finger and went to bed every night with the person who I made a vow to spend the rest of my life with. I grabbed his hand, and we danced to a few songs. He was a good dancer—smooth—and I moved my body enjoying the thud of the beats.
There was this force that pulled me, and I knew someone was watching me. I searched around the room, the bodies were crammed in tightly, everyone busy in their little world. I tried to focus again without being rude to Leo.
I felt that familiar pull like the floor was about to collapse beneath me, and I was about to be yanked in a different direction, but I couldn’t see anything. Once again, my imagination was playing tricks on me.
I continued dancing with Leo until those emerald green eyes found me, standing in the corner, staring at me intently.
He’s here.
