Bianca took my hand in hers, squeezing softly, as if she was asking me if I was okay.
I was. I didn’t mind hanging out at places like these. I loved it, in fact, but I also didn’t want to come face-to-face with the one person that had enough power to ruin my entire night.
I looked up at her, smiling, trying to convey that I was okay. That I was excited to be here.
She didn’t wait for me to say anything. I knew that there were more things said in those two little gestures than any words could do.
We passed next to the two large groups, all of them people from our school. Some the same age as we were, some younger, but all of them seemed to be having a good time. A couple of girls in front of us started dancing as the song changed to one I couldn’t quite recognize.
“There they are.” Bianca almost squealed, pulling me along.
I tried to see who she was looking at, but there were way too many people for me to figure out who we were heading toward.
Some of the students nodded at us. Some ignored us completely as we squeezed between them, and I thanked the invisible forces of the universe that none of them were from the hockey team.
Every single one of them knew that Noah and I were friends, but most of them didn’t know that we stopped talking. The memories of other parties where I showed up alone flickered through my mind, reminding me of all those times where people would tell him where I was without me realizing that they knew me.
I just hoped that none of these people that saw me would do the same.
“Brandon, Xavier,” Bianca started, making me look at the two guys that would be with us.
Holy mother of all gods.
I had no idea which one was which, but I was surprised that they weren’t tackled already by the girls standing around.
The guy standing on the left was slightly taller than me, with sandy-blond hair, and a blinding smile that looked brighter than my future. There was something boyish in him, something screaming boy-next-door, and I hated myself for immediately comparing him to Noah, and the obvious differences in them. His eyes weren’t blue, but green with brown flecks around the irises.
His hair wasn’t dark, he wasn’t as tall, he didn’t smell the same, and on and on and on, until I had to physically shake my head to lose those thoughts.
While the guy on the left looked like the kind of guy you would bring home to your parents for a Sunday barbeque, the guy on the right side looked like the kind of guy our mothers warned us about.
Dark hair, and a chiseled jaw, he didn’t smile at all. The leather jacket he wore did nothing to hide the fact that this guy screamed danger. His silver eyes were as cold as the ice trapping the lake right in front of us, but the way he looked at Bianca screamed of lust and nights you would never forget.
The tattoo on the side of his neck was a stark contrast to his skin—a crow with spread wings, and its head upturned.
“You must be Sophie,” the boy-next-door one spoke, extending his hand toward me. “I’m Brandon.” I gingerly placed my hand in his, shaking it as if in a trance. “And this is Xavier.” He pointed toward Mr. Danger.
Xavier barely glanced at me, tipping his head down, then turned his attention back toward Bianca.
I was pretty certain that she wouldn’t be coming home with me tonight.
“It’s nice to meet you, Brandon. Xavier.”
“Likewise.” Even his voice sounded sweet like honey, but it did nothing to me and my insides like Noah’s did.
“So, what brings you to our little town, guys?” I asked first, ignoring the eye-fucking that was happening right next to me.
“Just passing through,” Xavier answered.
“Both of us are studying at Emercroft Lake,” Brandon explained, pulling my attention back to him. “Xavier was born there, and I got a scholarship.”
“That’s nice. I’ve never been there, but a friend of mine told me I should visit. She said that the nature there truly is mesmerizing. Winworth is nearby, right?”
“Mhm,” Xavier grunted. “But trust me, you don’t wanna go to Winworth.”
“Why not?”
“Because,” he finally looked at me, “they eat sweet little things like you for breakfast over there.”
