I rolled my eyes, grabbing my clutch off of the table. “Let’s go, Paul.” I reached my hand inside of his arm and steered us toward the front door. As we stepped out, I turned to look back at my family, finding myself stuck on Logan’s face as he watched me walk away with a smoldering look in his eyes.
Pauland I enjoyed dinner with Mackenzie and Eric at a local steakhouse before the dance. The food was delicious, and it was a bit of a relief to be sitting at the table with my best friend. Not that Paul was a disappointing prom date, but I found myself distracted by Logan’s silence back at the house and having Mackenzie next to me provided a little reprieve.
Once we got to the dance, however, I lost that comfort as she and Eric hit the dance floor. They spent practically the entire night dancing, lost in a world that only included the two of them. It was sweet, their love for each other, but it meant that I was alone with Paul for most of the night.
Paul entertained dancing with me for a few songs, but then started campaigning for an early exit from the dance altogether. “Let’s go somewhere a little more private, Amelia. We have a lot to talk about . . . like our future.”
“Now? Is tonight really the best time for that?” I countered. I didn’t understand the desire to leave prom to talk about the future. I didn’t buy this dress to sit in his car and have a conversation about our relationship. This was supposed to be one of the most memorable nights of my life.
“Come on, Amelia, please? Maybe I could get us a room across the street? Try and score us a bottle of wine?”
“A room?” I scoffed. My mother’s warning from earlier this evening prickled in my mind. “Paul, this is our prom. We’re supposed to beatprom, dancing and enjoying some of these final moments with our friends.”
Paul looked slightly irritated, but eventually dropped the subject.
When the dance ended, I found Mackenzie as she and Eric were coming off of the dance floor. “Millie! What are you guys doing after this?”
I could see Paul light up at the open opportunity for more plans. “I was just going to ask Eric where you guys are heading off to,” he said.
“Oh.” Mackenzie blushed. “Eric got us a room at the hotel across the street.”
Paul gave me a look that said,See.
“I should probably get home, actually,” I threw out casually, “but you guys have fun!” Mackenzie smiled at me and gave me a hug before she grabbed Eric’s hand and dragged him out of the ballroom.
“I thought you didn’t have to be home until midnight,” Paul asked once they were out of earshot.
“Yeah, but the dance is over . . . and I should probably spend some time with my brother while he’s in town.”If he was even home.Sudden visions of him and Logan out at a bar surrounded by beautiful college girls flashed through my mind, souring my stomach.
The drive back to my house was silent. I could tell that Paul wanted more from this night, but I didn’t have it in me to extend this any longer. Maybe he could find an after-party or something else fun to do after he dropped me off. It wasn’t like I was trying to endhisnight—I just really wanted to go home.
When he pulled the car alongside the curb in front of my house, he surprised me by turning the car off. “Don’t move, I’ll come and let you out,” he said, and I was happy to see him smiling. It made me feel like maybe I wasn’t ruining his night.
Paul jumped out of the driver’s seat and jogged around the front of the car to the passenger door, grinning as he opened it. He held a hand out for me in a chivalrous gesture, which was actually really nice because the heels I was wearing were killing me. “Such a gentleman,” I said appreciatively.
Catching me off guard, Paul shut the car’s passenger door and stepped closer to me, lightly pinning my body between the car and himself. “I have to admit, Amelia, I haven’t been thinking very gentlemanly thoughts . . .” He traced a finger up the side of my arm before leaning forward to kiss me.
Paul and I had kissed plenty of times over the last few months, but I always found myself pulling away from him. Something about it never felt quite right. It wasn’t surprising, if I was being honest with myself . . . not after knowing what it felt like to kiss someone whowasright.
I humored him with this kiss for a few moments, but eventually turned my face away to break our mouths apart. “Thank you for the great night, Paul . . .” I tried to say, but Paul wasn’t letting up. He was aggressively kissing my neck now, pushing me harder against the car with his body. As I felt him begin to suck the skin on the side of my neck, I tried to gently push him backward and off me, and in the process, he tried to hang on by biting into my skin. “Ow, Paul!” I shoved him, finally getting him to take a few steps back. “What the fuck?”
“What do you mean, ‘what the fuck?’ Amelia?” Irritation flooded through his eyes. “You always do this. You always hold out on me.”
“Holdouton you? What does that even mean?”
“You never let us get any further than kissing. We’ve been together for months. It’s prom night. When are we going to take some more steps in this relationship?”
I scoffed. I didn’t even have the words to respond to that. Did he really think that I should beputting outjust because we’ve been dating for a few months? That just because I’d allowed this so-called relationship to continue for so long, I nowowedhim less physical boundaries? I shook my head at him. “You’re disgusting.”
I shoved passed him and stormed up to the house, not even caring that my new heels were sticking into the grass with every step. I heard him get back into his car and slam his door shut, but I didn’t look back. I would be, quite frankly, happy to never see or talk to him again.
I opened the front door of the house and found the entryway dark. It looked like my parents had already gone to bed. I reached down to unbuckle the thin straps of my heels and heard the soft sounds of laughter from a distance. People were in the basement.
I neatly tucked my shoes against the wall on the floor by the door and then padded down the hallway stairs. Taking my time descending down each step, it became obvious that Adam and Logan were home—and they weren’t alone. Soft, feminine giggles flitted over the lower tones of Adam’s voice.
Turning around the corner at the bottom of the staircase, I saw Adam, Logan and two girls I’d never seen before seated around the small coffee table in front of the sofa playing a card game. One of the girls, a beautiful redhead, was practically sitting in Logan’s lap and murmuring into his ear while he studied the cards in his hands. Adam sat on the opposite side of the table with a brunette who was playfully trying to peek at his cards.
I cleared my throat to make myself known, and all four of them swiftly looked over at me. Logan kept his face completely neutral, while Adam smiled and said, “You’re home early! Is Paul here?”
