His attention was fixed on me.
I told myself I was imagining it, that the lights were playing tricks, but for a split second, I could have sworn there was hunger in his eyes.
Ryan followed my gaze and stiffened. “Is he still staring at you?”
“Nope,” I said too quickly.
“Sure looks like it.”
I laughed weakly.
He spun me gently, trying to keep it playful, and when I turned back, Matty was gone. The air in the room felt thinner without him in it, which made no sense and too much sense all at once.
Ryan leaned close, his lips near my ear. “You wanna get out of here?”
My stomach twisted at his connotation. “Just—one sec,” I said, trying not to sound as panicked as I felt. “I need to use the bathroom.”
He nodded, looking excited. “Yeah, sure. It’s right down the hallway behind the kitchen. I’ll wait for you here.”
I slipped from his hands and wove through the crowd. The hallway beyond the kitchen was dim, quieter except for the muffled bass thudding through the walls.
Halfway down the hall, I stopped and pressed my palm to the wall, breathing hard.
You’re fine.He’s gone. You’re fine.
The bathroom door stood slightly ajar. I pushed it open, flicked on the light, and closed it behind me.
Cool white light hummed overhead. The mirror showed a girl I barely recognized, her cheeks flushed, hair mussed from dancing…eyes too bright. I turned on the tap and let the water run, focusing on the steady stream instead of the reflection staring back at me.
The door suddenly eased open, and he filled the doorway like he’d been carved to fit it…Matty.
He didn’t speak right away. Just looked at me, water dripping from my fingertips into the sink. Then he stepped inside and quietly shut the door, sealing out the music and laughter until it was just us and the sound of running water.
“I told your date you wouldn’t be coming back,” he said quietly.
I gaped at him. “Why would you tell him that?”
His mouth curved. “I just figured it’d save him the disappointment,” he said innocently. “His night was never going to end with you.”
For a second, the room tilted. I couldn’t breathe or think. Because what he’d said, what it seemed like hemeant, was everything I’d ever wanted to hear. Every fantasy I’d built around him when I was alone in my room, staring at his face glowing on a screen. Every dream that had felt too pathetic to ever believe it could come true.
But hearing it now, in his voice, with that look in his eyes…it didn’t make sense.
My fingers tightened around the edge of the sink until they ached. I jerked my head away from him, staring hard at the trickle of water circling the drain.
Click.
The sharp flick of him locking the door filled the room, loud in the sudden stillness.
Slow footsteps followed, the sound echoing against the tile, each one drawing closer.
Closer.
Until the heat of him pressed against my spine and a shiver raced through me so hard my fingers rattled against the sink.
I slowly looked up.
In the mirror, he loomed behind me, his broad shoulders swallowing the frame. I looked small and breakable next to him, his eyes locked on mine with an intensity that pinned me in place.
