“I’ll be great,” I assured her. “As soon as I’m done with this feast, I’m going to get out there and bust a move.”
“Sure you are.” Josie rolled her eyes as she stood up.
“Don’t tempt me.”
“I’m not tempting you,” she said, propping a hand on her hip. Her eyes gleamed. “I’m daring you.”
“What? Are we in sixth grade?” I called after her.
She waved over her shoulder. “See you on the dance floor, Move Buster.”
I grumbled into my soda can before taking a drink. I’d never backed down from a dare, and I wouldn’t start. I’d be on that dance floor before little Miss Sixth Grade got her daring butt back in there.
I was going in for my crispy chicken wing when I felt the air around me charge, like an electric storm was rolling in. The hair on my arms rose when I looked up. From across the room, Jesse’s eyes had locked in on me and, from the tilt of his brow, I couldn’t quite make out if that was pain or confusion lining his forehead. My wing dropped to my plate, and the air, the noise, the people, everything was sucked out of the room as he continued to stare at me.
It was the stuff people talked about. The love-at-first-sight mumbo jumbo I’d rolled my eyes at. That wasn’t our “first sight,” but I felt a lot of that other thing swirling around in places that had felt empty for so long, I’d forgotten I had them.
When that same little arm pawer dropped her hand on his other arm, Jesse’s gaze shifted her way. Suddenly, I could breathe again. That was, until I watched her smile up at him, pop up on her tip toes to whisper in his ear, then raise her eyebrows at him. I was back to being unable to breathe. My claws were out that time.
I didn’t know that girl from the one sitting across from me at the table, but I hated her. Like, raw, unadulterated hate. All because she was touching, whispering, and smiling at the guy I wanted to be touching, whispering to, and smiling at.
She was in my place because I’d let Garth Black pour poison in my ears. I couldn’t even remember what he’d said, or why I’d been so sure I needed to stay away from Jesse. Right then, all I could think about was being close to Jesse.
I was out of my seat and weaving through the dance floor before I even knew I’d done it. He wasn’t watching me anymore, but I was watching him. I couldn’t look away, and the closer I got, the more impossible looking away became.
He noticed me right before I stopped in front of him. The tight circle of girls around him didn’t budge, so I not-so-gently shouldered my way through them.
“Plenty of single guys around, ladies. No need to suffocate this one.” Of course I knew what they knew: there were other guys, but there was only one Jesse Walker. I grunted when one of them threw an elbow into my side as I pushed by. Damn. Those chicks were out for blood. I should have worn my steel-toed boots. I would have if I’d known I’d be entering a combat zone.
Once I made it through the main swarm of girls, I squared myself in front of Jesse and the bicep petter. “Hey. You.” She hadn’t noticed me because she had eyes for nothing but Jesse’s muscles. “You rub his arm any longer, you’re going to wear the skin right off. Go find yourself another cowboy to pet. I need to talk to this one.”
When she finally did look at me, I saw those county girls could make the same vicious expressions as the urban girls I was used to. Mental note made.
“Jesse,” she said in a syrupy voice, “you know this . . .” her eyes ran down me, her nose wrinkling as she took me in, “this . . . thing?”
My fists balled at my sides. I reminded myself to take a slow breath. She wasn’t saying anything I hadn’t heard before. She wasn’t saying anywhere close to the worst I’d heard before. I was winding up for my comeback when a white shirt angled in front of me.
“Bye, Shelby.” Jesse’s voice was cold and his shoulders were tensed. He was a tower in front of me, but when Shelby huffed, I couldn’t resist peeking my head out from behind him.
“Bye, Shelby.” I made my voice as syrupy as it would go and gave her an exaggerated wave.
Another vicious look, but she kept walking. For the most part, the rest of her fellow Jesse worshippers followed her.
I almost smiled, but that brick wall of a back turned around and those eyes of his made the whole inhaling and exhaling thing difficult.
“You came,” I said, stepping back because being so close to Jesse made my head light. Logical thought process became next to impossible to attain.
He lifted a shoulder, but that was the only response he gave me. Was Jesse Walker giving me the silent treatment?
“Are you having a good time?” I tried next, taking another half step back because I could still smell that soapy, shampooy scent of him, and that was messing with my head, too.
He lifted the other shoulder.
So yeah. Jesse Walker was giving me the silent treatment. I was probably the only person who could claim that honor.
“Are you going to talk to me, Jesse? Or are you going to communicate with me with shrugs the rest of the summer?” Might as well get down to business. I didn’t know how long Josie would be gone, and I needed to talk to Jesse. I had to clear the thick air between us.
He caught himself in the middle of another shrug. With a sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “What do you want me to say, Rowen?” he asked, his voice tight. “I’ve been racking my head all damn week trying to figure out what to say to you when I saw you again, but I couldn’t think of anything. Obviously.” He wiggled his shoulder and gave me a small smile.