A Midsummer's Nightmare

Bailey ran off to dance while I pushed my way toward the very, very back of the club. I slid into a booth, checking over my shoulder for camera phones aimed my way.

“Smile,” Nathan said again, sliding into the seat across from me.

“I don’t want to,” I snapped. “Why did you force me to come here?”

He ignored that question. “Smile, Whit. Make them think there is no place you’d rather be.”

“But—”

“Smile.”

I forced an obnoxious grin onto my lips.

“Happy now?” I asked through gritted teeth. “I’m smiling, goddamn it.”

“Good,” he said. “Keep at it.”

“Oh my God, there you are!”

I looked up just as Harrison plopped down in the booth. He winked at Nathan before turning to face me. “So, the intervention worked,” he said, sneaking his arm around my shoulder and squeezing. “I knew you couldn’t say no to Nathan.”

“Intervention? What are you…?” I turned to glare at Nathan.

“Harrison and I both agreed that you needed to get out of the house,” Nathan said.

“You said it was Bailey’s idea,” I snapped.

“She was in on it, too.”

I looked back and forth between them, letting the air hiss between my teeth. “So, you two were plotting against me… together?”

“Something like that,” Nathan said, shrugging. He looked to Harrison. “Take her out on the dance floor. She won’t dance with me.”

“No.”

“Yes!” Harrison exclaimed, grabbing my wrist and dragging me out of the booth. He was pretty freaking strong. No wonder he’d beaten the shit out of Theo so easily. “I want to see that cute little ass shaking right now. You can’t fight the music, baby!”

“You are so gay,” I said, just as he spun me around to face him. We were in the middle of the dance floor now, surrounded by a million bodies, all bouncing and swaying… and looking at me. I tried not to think about that as Harrison pulled me closer to him, his hands on my hips, forcing me to move. The truth was, I could dance. I really could. But this was too much. For the first time ever, I was feeling claustrophobic.

“Harrison, I’m not in the mood for this.”

“I can’t hear you!” he shouted over the loud techno music, but I knew he could. “Dance, sweetie. Just dance.”

Without warning, he twirled me around, catching me again easily.

He was a good dancer, too.

Just then, Bailey danced past us. Her long golden hair whipped around her shoulders, and her arms waved over her head. She was alone, but smiling. Laughing, even. She was the most beautiful I’d ever seen her.

I smiled. Seeing her enjoying herself so much, so unafraid—it made me happier than I’d been in a long time.

I took a breath and rolled my shoulders, telling myself to relax. I let Harrison twirl and dip me, let him dance me around the floor, let myself enjoy it. After a while, Nathan cut in and Harrison went to dance with Bailey. I cared about the three of them, and they cared about me. Cared about me enough to put up with my shit, enough to drag me out of the house when I’d been a wallowing hermit for the past few weeks.

I’d poured out the bottle of tequila because I didn’t want to keep hurting them, but closing myself off had been hurting me, and they wouldn’t let that happen. They loved me no matter what the rest of the world thought. I couldn’t just stop being afraid, but for them, I could try.

26

Bailey twirled her way into the house, her hips still shimmying to the beat of a song that had faded away when we left the Nest fifteen minutes earlier.

Nathan and I watched her, neither of us saying a word. I guess we were afraid to take her off cloud nine. She’d danced the entire night—with Nathan, Harrison, and me in turns. And it had been a blast.

We’d both overcome some fears that night, I thought.

“Okay,” she sang, bouncing toward the stairs. “Good night. I’m going to bed.” Then she was gone in a whirl of blond hair and body glitter.

Nathan looked at me and shook his head. “How can she sleep?” he asked. “She’s the Energizer Bu

“She probably wore herself out, though,” I told him as we climbed the stairs, keeping our voices down. It was past midnight (Sylvia had extended Bailey’s curfew just this once), so the adults were asleep. “All that dancing. She’ll crash as soon as she hits the mattress.”

“Well, at least she had a good time,” he said. Then he gri

“Shut up. I was not.”

He laughed. “Sure you weren’t.”

I elbowed him hard in the ribs as we rounded the corner into the guest room. “Don’t make me kick your ass.”

“I’m terrified.” Nathan sat down on the bed, beaming at me. “Seriously, I’m glad you had fun tonight. Harrison and I really were worried.”

“Thank you,” I said, reaching up and pulling the ponytail holder out of my hair. “I’m glad you guys got me to go out. I needed that push.”

“We just want you to be happy, Whit.”

“I know,” I said. “Which is why I’ve decided to stop wallowing and try to enjoy the rest of my summer. Because no matter what happens with Dad, I have friends. I’m not alone. And that’s what counts, right?”

“Sounds like dirty dancing with Harrison clarified some things for you,” he said. “Maybe I should try it sometime.”

I snorted. “Harrison would love that! No, seriously, he would. He has a crazy crush on you.”

“Really?”

“Yep.”

“Wow. I’m flattered.”

“You should be,” I said, glancing at myself in the mirror over the dresser. “He’s a sexy beast. You’d be a lucky man.”

“I’m sure I would be.” He laughed.

I turned back to Nathan, smiling. “College starts in just over two weeks. I know I’ll see you there, but I don’t have much summer left to spend with Bailey and Harrison. So I’m going to take advantage of it. Fuck Dad. Fuck the people in this town. They’re not going to ruin this for me, goddamn it.”

“Beautiful speech,” he said, raising his hands and clapping them together. “Bravo.”

“Oh, stop that.” I reached forward and grabbed his wrists, pulling his hands apart. “You are such a moron.”

He was smiling, laughing. His skin was warm beneath my palms. Suddenly, those feelings overcame me again. The urges I’d been experiencing since the aloe incident. The emotions I’d realized the night we watched movies in his bedroom. I’d been working hard to fight them off, but…

His lips pulled into a smirk, sending a tingly feeling down my spine.

“Oh, screw it,” I whispered.

I leaned down, pushing his arms out of the way, and kissed him. His lips were soft against mine. Tender. Without even realizing it, I moved onto the bed, straddling his lap. His hands broke free of my grip and moved to press against my back, pulling me into him, even as the kiss remained gentle and slow.

For a minute, it was perfect.

“Whitley,” he murmured against my mouth, breathless. “We can’t do this.”

“Shh…” I pressed in closer, my arms twisting around his neck. “It’s okay. It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks.”

I kissed him again, so hard this time that he fell backward against the pillows, with me landing on top of him. He wanted me, too. I could tell by the way he kissed me back, his lips parting, his tongue finally sliding next to mine. It sent a surge of excitement rippling through my limbs. My heart started racing, and as my fingers moved down his chest, I could feel that his was, too.

It felt so good to give in to temptation. To have his careful hands gliding over me. Not pawing or grabbing. Not greedy. They slid down my back, up my sides, curled in my hair. Slow, lingering touches.