by Meg Jolie
“You guys have fun,” Tristan said.
He stood and as he did, he looked down at me with an expression on his face that I couldn’t quite read. He’d taken my hand in his, so gently I could barely feel it. He didn’t hold it, though. He didn’t even squeeze it. He just let his fingers run along mine as he got up. And then he was walking away.
“Don’t go too far,” Jamie ordered as she hopped up, too.
“Why?” Tristan asked. His tone was leery.
“You’re coming with,” she told him.
“No,” he said as he turned to leave again. “I don’t think so.”
“Please,” she said sweetly, drawing out the word. “We need someone responsible to drive us. You know, just in case.” He started shaking his head but Jamie turned to me and grinned. “Britta wants you to come with. Don’t you, Britta?”
Heaven help me because Jamie just might want to kill me. Because yeah, I did want him to go. But not just to drive us home. And even though she was obviously using me to get what she wanted, I gave her the answer she was looking for.
I nodded and smiled at Tristan. “You should come with.”
He hesitated in the doorway. He didn’t look particularly happy.
“Please?” I asked.
“Alright,” he said with a shrug and a sigh.
“Thank you,” Jamie gushed in a rare show of appreciation. “And since it only takes you like thirty seconds to get ready, maybe you could drive Britta to her house? Since it’s snowing out? She’s going to need to get ready.”
If we were going out, I definitely needed to change. More than that, I definitely needed to do something with my hair. I was pretty sure the only make-up I was wearing was a thin coat of lip gloss. And that was probably long gone thanks to the sleet, the hair stuck to my face and the popcorn I’d eaten.
“Do you mind, Tristan?” I asked.
He shrugged. “No. I can take you home. I think you look great just like you are. But you know if you think you need to get all dressed up for Corey…” He shrugged as he let his words trail off. Then he turned and stomped up the stairs.
6
Half an hour later, my hair was as flat as I was going to get it. I’d changed into jeans and my favorite pair of boots. I’d gotten them for my birthday last year but I’d rarely worn them. Corey didn’t like them because they had a three inch heel, putting us too close to the same height.
Tristan had dropped me off and then gone back home to do whatever it was guys did to get ready. We’d decided to take my Accord because Jamie had an aversion to the Subaru she and Tristan shared.
Not surprisingly, Jamie wasn’t ready by the time I got back.
Tristan heard me come in and he came down the stairs to greet me.
“You look good,” he said. It sounded more obligatory than complimentary.
“Thanks,” I told him. I was suddenly feeling awkward as we stood there, waiting for Jamie. “You know…” I started. Then I wondered if I should even bother finishing. What I wanted to say probably didn’t even matter. I decided to throw it out there anyway. “I really don’t care that Corey’s there.”
“Yeah?” he asked. He didn’t look entirely convinced.
“Yeah,” I agreed as Jamie came running down the stairs.
“Let’s get out of here.” She said this as if she’d been the one waiting for us.
We got to Krista’s just as two more cars pulled onto her street.
“I thought she was just having a few people.” Tristan’s words floated toward us from the backseat, where Jamie had made him sit.
Jamie shrugged. “It still looks like less than usual.”
I parked and we walked down the icy sidewalk. Krista lived on the edge of town. To anyone driving by, it would be obvious the house was a busy place. As we walked, I realized they must be keeping the music down. And there was no one hanging around outside. It was too cold for that.
Willow greeted us as we walked in.
“Sorry, Corey’s here.” Those were the first words out of her mouth.
I shrugged. Just how many times could I repeat the words…I don’t care!
And for the first hour and two beers, I didn’t. Care, that is. I spent the time talking with my friends. Krista’s parties were typically pretty mellow. It was easier to keep the noise down if she only invited a few dozen people.
Tristan had taken off in search of his own friends right away. I still caught glimpses of him now and then.
We were standing off to the side now that the house was starting to fill up. Jamie had run off to talk to one of Evan’s friends. Krista had left to circle the house; making sure things weren’t getting out of hand. That left Willow and I alone.
“Omigosh, just go talk to him,” she said.
“I am done with Corey Adamson!” I whisper-yelled to her. In fact, I’d seen him once. It never even crossed my mind, until Willow brought him up, to wonder where he’d gone. Not that I cared.
Because I didn’t.
“Not Corey!” Willow whisper-yelled back with a big smile. “Tristan!”
I shook my head and she rolled her eyes.
“You two have been eye-flirting all night,” she said with a laugh. “You’re actually pretty good at it. Better than you are at actual flirting,” she was kind enough to point out.
“Thanks,” I sarcastically replied. I wondered if that was actually what we’d been doing. Usually if I was caught staring, I’d look away. But not now. Not tonight. When I’d been caught staring, or if he was, neither of us looked away. Not until we had too. Not until someone else demanded our attention. “But Tristan is off-limits,” I finally reminded her.
She grinned at that. “Jamie?”
I nodded.
“If he wasn’t off limits…then what?” she demanded with a wicked grin. When I didn’t respond a smug look appeared. “I knew it!”
“No! There’s nothing to know!” I said. Now I was very actively trying to keep my gaze off of him.
“Don’t worry about Jamie. She’d come around. I’m sure of it.”
Willow might be sure of it, but I wasn’t.
“I need another beer,” I said, just to change the subject. I really didn’t, it was just an excuse to get away from the conversation. I’d already had two, my usual limit. My head was fuzzy enough so I’d just hold on to beer number three.
“This way,” Willow said.
I followed her into the kitchen.
Accidentally figuring out where Corey had gone.
My gaze collided with his taking us both by surprise. He had one hand sliding its way up Samantha’s waist. The other was holding his drink. Not that I was counting, but Sam was girl number three. Since me. And wasn’t he just with Tara? To his credit, he backed away from her ever so slightly when he saw me; a somewhat apologetic expression crossed his face.
I didn’t fight the urge to roll my eyes. Too little too late.
In the few seconds that he hesitated, his attention directed elsewhere, Sam followed his stare. When her eyes landed on me, she threw a look of disgust my way. Whether it was aimed at me or him, I didn’t know. Didn’t care.
I shrugged in response as Willow handed me my full cup.
“Hey, Willow, do you wanna dance?” Grant asked. He seemed to have appeared from nowhere but knowing the poor guy like I did, I was pretty sure he’d been following Willow. Just waiting for the music to change.
She glanced at me.
“Go ahead,” I told her, waving her away.
Grant gave me a thankful grin as he led her out of the room.
I followed them out of the kitchen at a much slower pace since I had nowhere in particular to go.
“Hey,” Tristan said as he came up beside me. “How did you end up all alone?”
“Jamie went to talk to someone,” I said.I leaned into to him, so I could be heard over the music. “Willow’s dancing with Grant.” His hand ran up my back. Not in a presumptuous way but in the way someone would when they want to
draw you in so they could simply hear better.
“Are you having fun?” he asked. His eyes were resting on something past my shoulder. I had a hunch it was Corey. I didn’t bother to turn around to find out.
I shrugged. My head was pleasantly fuzzy and that was all I was going to allow it to be. “It’s okay. How about you?”
He grinned. “It’s not so bad.”
“Can I have that?” Brian asked as he walked past. He was a friend of Tristan’s. He took the cup from my hand before I could reply. “Thanks!” he said as he walked away.
“Do you want me to get you another one?” Tristan wondered.
“No,” I said. “I’m good.” I was actually relieved to have it gone.
Tristan had an oddly curious look on his face. That’s when I realized we were holding hands. Kind of. My hip was leaning against his. I was turned in to him but our hands were behind our backs. His hand was cupped ever so lightly around mine. And mine? I was shamelessly rubbing my thumb round and round the palm of his hand as my fingers gripped his. For a moment, I was stunned. I realized it must be me that started this little flirtation.
“Come with me!” Jamie demanded as she appeared by my side. She grabbed my arm to pull me away. I moved to go, but not before Tristan gave my hand a tight squeeze. I think I surprised us both by squeezing back.
Jamie still had a grip on my arm as she pulled me down the hallway. I glanced over my shoulder, catching Tristan’s eye. He made a face and shook his head. At Jamie’s interruption, I was sure. I smiled back. She pulled me into Krista’s room.
“Corey wants to talk to you,” she informed me.
“So?” I asked with a shrug. My brain took a second to catch up. “Why do you know that?”
“Because he just cornered me to ask if I thought you’d talk to him,” she explained. She said it as if I should’ve known that. Or at least been able to guess. “Anyhow, the only reason I’m telling you is to warn you. I didn’t tell him what I thought one way or another.”
I nodded slowly. “What does he want?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea. Like I said, I just wanted to let you know. Personally, I think he blew his chance with you but…it’s obviously your call.”
“Okay, thanks for the warning.” I turned to go. I’d been worried she wanted to talk to me about Tristan. But with our hands behind our back, she probably hadn’t seen anything. And really, there wasn’t much to see.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “I love this song! Let’s go!” she said as she flung the door open.
The music was floating up from downstairs. I followed her but before I reached the staircase, someone’s hand gripped my elbow. I turned, smiling, because I’d thought…I’d hoped, it was Tristan.
It wasn’t.
“Where are you running off to?” Corey asked. His blue eyes slid over me. I smirked because, thanks to my boots, we were more or less the same height. At the same time, I tried not to be annoyed that his messy brown hair looked obnoxiously, perfectly styled.
“Well, I was going to go dance,” I said as I pointed to the staircase.
Jamie had paused halfway down, an annoyed look on her face. She raised her eyebrows, wondering if she should wait or if she could go dance to her song. I waved her off and she turned, flouncing down the stairs.
“You can dance later,” Corey said as he pulled me back.
He placed his hands on my waist, pushing me back into the hallway until my butt was parked up against the wall. He leaned in, sliding his arms around my middle.
“I miss you,” he muttered.
I laughed at that. “Yeah, it sure looked like it.”
He ignored that as he pulled me closer. His arms around me felt way too familiar. It would’ve been so easy to just let him pull me in. Physically and emotionally. But I’d worked too hard at trying to get over him to let one comforting gesture undo weeks of diligent forgetting on my part.
When his lips started to skim their way up my neck, I shrugged him off and ducked out of his arms. I needed my resolve to be strong enough to withhold one hasty moment that could cause everything to come crashing down. I wasn’t going to be careless enough to just hand my heart back to Corey. I didn’t get very far because he stepped in front of me, blocking me.
“Seriously Corey? You just had your lips on someone else, like twenty minutes ago,” I grumbled.
“No, I didn’t,” he argued. “I saw you and from then on, you’ve been all I could think about.”
All he could think about? Or simply thinking about me because he’d wrecked his chance with Sam for the night? That was my guess.
I needed to get away. My eyes scanned the crowd, looking for Willow since Jamie wasn’t coming back anytime soon. Instead, they found Tristan. He glanced at me a second after my gaze landed on him. He frowned when he saw me, making me wonder just what kind of expression I was wearing. I shot him what I hoped he understood was a pleading look as Corey gently cornered me again. The familiarity of his nearness came crashing down on me, pressing in, slowly shattering my resolve.
“Come on, Britta. I miss you.”
“You do not,” I said with a blatant eye roll.
“Yes,” he insisted. He closed the little bit of space between us so his mouth was next to my ear. “I do. I miss how you cover your mouth when you think you laugh too hard. How you chew on your pen when you’re studying. The way you twirl your hair when you’re day dreaming. I miss how you always close your eyes when you take your last sip of cappuccino, savoring it like it’s the last drop of caffeine on earth.”
“You’re making that up. I don’t do that,” I whispered.
I shook my head and tried to back away. His breath was hot, familiar next to my ear.
“Yeah, baby, you do. It’s adorable. What I miss most? I miss the way you moan into my mouth when I kiss you.”
A slow burn, like molten lava coursing through my veins took over, singeing my last little thread of common sense. When Corey’s hands moved from around my waist into a firm grip on each hip, I was afraid I wasn’t going to be going anywhere. My body tensed at the thought.
His presence was sucking me in, pulling me under. In no time at all I was drowning in my own uncertainty and indecision.
“What’s wrong?” Corey asked. I was grateful he had the decency to sense my hesitation.
“Tristan,” I managed to get out in a slightly strangled tone.
“Hey, Jamie was wondering if you’re ready to go,” Tristan easily lied as he finally appeared beside me.
“You’re not leaving?” Corey asked. His tone was aggravated and he didn’t bother to glance at Tristan.
I nodded, sidestepping him and finding myself clinging to Tristan. To his credit, he just slid an arm around me as if this wasn’t something entirely out of the ordinary. He started to swing me around, to head toward the door when Corey latched onto my arm.
“Come on, Britta,” he pleaded, his eyes never leaving mine. “Don’t go yet. I can give you a ride. Or if you just want to get out of here, we can go somewhere else.”
A ride home was the least of my concerns. Going somewhere else would be stupid for sure. But I hesitated as that magnetic pull Corey had always had started to drag me back in. Like the pull the moon has on the tides. He sensed my hesitation and latched onto it.
“Please?” he asked. His hand slid up my arm, around my shoulder. He subtly tried to nudge me away from Tristan.
Tristan’s grip remained neutral. He wasn’t going to drag me away, but he wasn’t just going to hand me over, either.
I realized I was holding onto Tristan like he was my life preserver. The only thing keeping me from being swept away. When my grip on him tightened ever so slightly, he finally made a move to pull me from Corey.
“Hey, Britta, why don’t we go talk to Jamie for a second?” he suggested. “You can decide if you want to catch a ride with her or Corey.” An irrelevant point, obviously, since we’d driven my car.
“Come on, man. Jamie can�
��t wait a few more minutes?” Corey asked. He was clearly aggravated.
Tristan shrugged. “You know how bossy my sister is.”
As we moved away, I could feel Corey following behind us. Tristan, obviously not having the same built in Corey-radar that I did, started to let his arm slide away.
I moved closer to him. “Could you just…”
“What?” he asked giving me an inquisitive look. “Hold on to you?”
I nodded, sliding my arm around his waist.
“Sure,” he said with a grin. “Not a problem.”
He pulled me through the clusters of people. I realized more must’ve arrived because the house was filling up. When Tristan led me outside, I didn’t hesitate, despite the cold.
“Did I do the right thing?” he asked, obviously concerned. “I mean, I thought that’s what you’ve been wanting…to get back together with Corey. But the look on your face, you just looked panicked.”
I shivered against the cold and Tristan put his arms around me. I little sigh slipped out. “You did the right thing. Thanks.”
“Good,” he said. He smiled down at me. Despite the boots I was wearing, he had to tilt his head. “We can go back in. There just wasn’t any privacy in there.”
“I don’t want to go back in,” I said.
“I’m ready to go whenever you can get Jamie out of here,” Tristan replied.
I pulled out my phone to text her. It seemed easier than going back inside. I hoped she was ready to go. But I doubted it.
Tristan hoisted himself onto the low deck railing, waiting patiently.
I glanced up when the door opened.
“Corey.” My voice clearly showed my irritation.
Without really meaning to, I stepped back. I found myself standing between Tristan’s knees, pressed up lightly against him.
Corey took in the sight of us and something flickered across his face. His expression turned dark and I was surprised to feel Tristan’s arm loop around my waist. It felt oddly comforting. I placed my hand over his to let him know it was okay. More than okay. I needed this. Needed him to anchor me to my resolve.
