"You two make a great team," she said.
I didn't reciprocate his greeting, and silence fell between us. My brain was still trying to figure out why he was sitting here but was failing to come up with any solid reasoning.
The silence grew more awkward, and Rush hadn't taken his attention off of me since he'd thanked Olivia. Even though music blasted from the speakers and people around us were talking in loud voices, it seemed eerily quiet in the small space that Rush and I occupied.
Fidgeting under his stare, I adjusted my skirt and placed some of my curls behind my ear. I almost got up and walked away, but I didn't want him to think he won whatever game this was.
Doing my best to try and ignore him, I leaned toward the loud conversation going on at the center of the table, but that only resulted in me leaning closer to Rush as well, the yummy smell of his cologne causing me to consciously make an effort not to breathe it in deeply.
Dang him for smelling so good! I needed him to leave, like now.
But instead he leaned even closer, his lips close to my ear, my pulse picking up with his proximity. His voice came out in a seductive whisper. "How's my sweet Georgia peach?"
My pulse slowed as the brief heat of desire I'd felt was immediately tamped at his crude remark. Yes, I was from Georgia, and yes, I'd heard every peach innuendo known to man, but I wasnothis sweet peach.
I quickly leaned away from him. "What did you say?" I snapped.
He looked at the crowd around us, mostly the football team and their groupies. "You and I both know that I'm the only one who's ever had a taste."
Anger bubbled up inside me. How dare he brag about that?
"Be careful, you don't want someone to overhear you," I said, bitterness lacing my tone.
A side smile appeared, causing a dimple to form on his left cheek. "I think you already let that cat out of the bag tonight at the very public press conference."
I crossed my arms, my eyes narrowing at him. "Is that what you came here to talk to me about? How you're upset about people knowing?"
"Oh, I'm not upset," he said, and though his smile was very attractive, it was pissing me off right now. "I'm quite happy actually. Ecstatic, really, knowing that after all this time you're still thinking of me, still thinking about how amazing it was."
I clenched my fist on my lap under the table, wanting nothing more than to punch him in the face. As I looked at him, he really did look happy, like he was enjoying this conversation. There was a lightness in his posture and a touch of laughter in his eyes, like this whole thing amused him.
I unclenched my fists and smoothed my hands out on my skirt, taking a breath. If me getting upset was what he wanted, I wasn't going to give it to him. I was done here. He could be left alone with all his weird intentions.
Turning to Olivia and touching her shoulder to get her attention, I said, "Let's dance."
She must have seen the pleading in my eyes because she said, "Uh, okay," as she looked between Rush and me. She hadn't heard our conversation, but I was sure she could tell I was desperate for a distraction.
I practically dragged Oliva out on the dance floor, my frustration bubbling out of me.
"Scarlet, slow down. What happened?" she asked.
"Just dance with me and have fun, and I'll tell you later. I don't want him thinking we're talking about him or wasting any of our breath on him."
I think she said okay, but her voice was too quiet for me to hear over the music. But since she was the best friend ever, she started dancing like we were just having fun out on the dance floor, and I couldn't have been more grateful.
Three songs in and the tension was finally leaving my body.
Rush? Rush who?
Dancing was exactly what I’d needed. Moving my hips to the beat, my arms raised above my head, my curls bouncing in all different directions, and not a care in the world.
Wilder soon joined Olivia, the two of them already lost to one another. It had actually taken Wilder longer to come dance with her than it usually did. He was such a sucker for her on the dance floor. To think that they almost hadn't become a couple was hard to believe now.
She'd been assigned to be his tutor and had wanted to be reassigned, but I had convinced her to give it a try. Then one tutoring session at a time, they'd fallen for each other. Not without obstacles of course, but they'd worked to find each other in the midst of re-finding themselves, and I couldn't be happier for them, even if I was a little envious sometimes, wishing I could find someone who felt for me what Wilder felt for Olivia, totally smitten.
But I was still young and had plenty of time. Now that I was single, the possibilities were just waiting for me.
A guy about my same height, 5'9", was making his way over to me, his eyes roaming over my body. He was cute in a boy-next-door sort of way, and I figured I'd let myself have a little fun. We started dancing together, moving easily to the upbeat song.
