Chapter Four

After Charlie died I shed my extroverted skin and became a full fledged introvert completely withdrawing myself from everything and everyone. It was the summer after Freshman year of college when the accident happened. 

Charlie was riding his motorcycle home from work, as he did nearly every night during the summer when someone ran a red light because they were looking at their phone and hit him. After years of begging, pleading and bullying I had finally convinced him to start wearing a helmet, but that day he hadn't worn one and a helmet could have definitely saved his life. Jacob came to see me after the funeral even though we'd been broken up for months at this point but even still he was the only person I wanted to be around. 

He was the only person who knew Charlie as much as I did. They were best friends. I hardly talk about Charlie anymore. I try not to think about him too often because the pain still feels raw.  Once I started to come out of my shell again I became sort of a helicopter parent and was constantly paranoid and anxious about anything going wrong which is why it was so weird that Alice was all the sudden taking a page out of my book. 

We finished primping ourselves and walked out the bathroom door and Bentley was there waitng for us. 

"This way ladies," he said gesturing towards the stairs. I watched as he placed his hand on Alice's back guiding her safely through the crowd. Once we got to the top of the stairs I saw the VIP table where Ryan was sitting and waiting for us. First we skipped the line and now we're at a VIP table with a complimentary bottle of alcohol?

Before I could get my hands on a drink, Ryan took my hand and said "Let's dance!" He grabbed my hand again and led me back down the stairs and guided us through the crown before nestlig into a spot right in the middle of the dance floor. 

I'm not going to lie, I loved the way my held felt tucked safely inside his. I also loved the way that simply holding his hand made my stomach turn in a good way and the sheer electricity I felt as our hands touched was borderline magical. 

He let go of my hand and turned towards me. I didn't see Alice or Bentley. I'm not even sure they followed us down hee at all, but once I looked into his eyes, I didn't really care. I was in la-la land. Completely mezmerized by everything about him. 

He placed his hands on my hips and drew me into him and began to move his body and mine along with the music. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kept pace. All those years of dance class when I was in school seemed to be paying off because I still had rythm. I could feel my heart pouding in my chest and up to my ears despite the loud music filling the space. FInally being this close to him and feeling more than just his hands on by body made me feel some type of way. 

Our bodies kept pace together, neither of us said a word to eachother but we didn't need to. Our bodies and eyes were speaking the same language at this point and it was nothing but pure lust. I felt like a horny teenager again and was about to say fuck it and kiss him when the song ended and something with a slower beat played. 

With the change of pace he pulled me even closer until almost the entirety of our bodies were pressed together and he moved his hand from between my shoulders all the way down my back and stopping just before he got to my ass. Feeling him was sending hot electricity to every nerve ending I had, especially the ones between my legs and I couldn't think of anything else to do but melt into him and let him guide us to the song.

I tipped my head back to look up at him and noticed his eyes were closed and he was swaying to the music. I took what few seconds I had of him not noticing my stares to really focus on his face to study his features. He had the most perfect lips and defined chin and cheek bones. His skin was a natural olive and his dirty blonde hair was perfectly styled to give the impression of mess, but it was definitely deliberate. 

Then, he opened his eyes and looked at mine. It was almost as if he was looking into my soul. He held my gaze for a long moment before glancing down to my slips and smirked slightly. He dragged his left hand up my right side ever so gently and brought his hand up to my face and litely traced my bottom lip with is thumb. 

Inside my head I was screaming, begging, pleading for him to just kiss me. Willing him to hear my thoughts and do it. 

He began to lower his head and I stopped breathing. I was ready. I started to close my eyes but he veered his head away from my mouth and instead ran his lips along my jaw and up to my ear. I could feel his breath hot against my neck. He very lightly nibbled on my ear lobe and then whispered, "You are so beautiful." My knees nearly buckled right there.