She reminded herself: Reece had texted her to come to the party, Reece had waved her over in the backyard. Maybe he’d even blown the game on purpose. At some point between last night and today, Reece had decided that this was what he wanted. That she was what he wanted.
Her self-control wavered, her fingers flexing by her side.
What about her? What did she, Charlotte Thorne, actually want?
She wanted to take his hand. She wanted to stop thinking about Sunday and how it would feel to stand alone on the train platform, duffle bag at her feet. She wanted to stop judging herself for mistakes she made on this campus years and years ago.
She wanted to just stop. Stop worrying about the future. Stop numbing her feelings. Stop denying herself happiness.
She wanted to have some goddamn fun.
“Come here,” Reece said, soft but firm. She could see no trace of uncertainty on his face now, no shadow of the past in his eyes. There hadn’t been all day, now that she thought about it.
Reece wasn’t the boy she’d run away from anymore. He was a man who held his hand outstretched to her, sturdy and open. “Please dance with me, Charlie.”
His please was a delicate key. She felt the tumblers turn and fall as she stepped forward and took his hand. His palm was warm and smooth against hers.
Reece guided her into a gentle one-two. They eased from side to side amid the roar of clashing party playlists. Their dance was not graceful but they moved together easily, muscle memory helping them read each other’s movement. He lifted their hands and led her into a spin.
Joy caught her unaware, her eyes closing as she twirled and returned to his solid ground. If people were watching, she didn’t notice. She didn’t care.
Reece hummed a tune under his breath, the melody drowned out by the blaring music. She would have given anything to hear it.
Charlotte stepped on an empty can and stumbled. Reece steadied her, laughing as he caught her hip in his hand. His grin softened into that dangerous, tender awe once again. It scared her a little and she stepped closer to him, hiding her warm face under his chin. For a moment he stilled, his breath hiking, but then his arms wrapped around her waist. They resumed rocking from foot to foot, the slow dance an excuse to stay this close.
Her loose fists rested against his chest and she clenched her eyes shut, waves of unfamiliar emotion cascading over her. There was want, yes, need, yes, relief, yes. Shock that he would ever want her, ever let her this close to him again. Desire to make herself at home in his warmth. Crimson and teal and that beautiful jade green.
Desperate to compartmentalize, she struggled not to fall into the saturated emotional depths for a boy—a man—she might not see again for another five years.
Charlotte wanted to ask what they were doing. Were they like the kids screaming and colliding around them, desperate for distraction at the end of the world? Or was this something more personal than that, something true?
Like he’d read her mind, Reece whispered her name into the softness of her hair. “Charlie?”
“Hmm?” She bit her lip, nuzzling her face into his chest. His body radiated heat. She wanted to crawl into every nook and cranny of him and absorb each degree.
Reece didn’t answer right away, he just kept rocking them, one of his hands pressed flat against her back. She could feel the pressure of each finger through her blouse and longed for his touch against her skin.
Finally, he let out a puzzled laugh. “What are we doing?”
The question sounded simple. Her answer would be simple too, if this were a different time. Charlotte was realizing she’d made a mistake letting Reece go, all those years ago. For some unknown reason, she’d been given a second chance to appreciate him and soak him up, to set things right between them. She couldn’t let that second chance pass her by.
But she knew she couldn’t take Reece’s heart home with her on Sunday. “I don’t know yet,” she said carefully. “I’m trying to just…be here.”
Reece ended their dance and looked down at her, still cradled in his arms.
“Is that okay with you?” she asked, unsettled by his silence. Her hands loosened from their fists and flattened across his chest.
For a second she thought he might protest. She almost wanted him to.
They’d been granted a temporary stay, removed and far away from their real adult lives, and that was wonderful. But it was little more than a memory in the making, the kind to press between the pages of a scrapbook and keep safe. That could be enough for her.
Reece’s beautiful mouth pulled into a frown. Whether he was disappointed in her or with the circumstances in which they’d found themselves, she had no idea.
Heat rushed to her face. He brushed his thumb across her cheek to capture an errant curl.
“Yeah,” he whispered. “We’re having fun.” He then tightened his arms around her waist.
She knew in the moment before he kissed her that this would be difficult. She also knew that she didn’t care. Charlotte had spent so much time punishing herself for not always knowing the right thing to do or the right way to express how she felt. She allowed herself this one victory, because for once she had gotten it perfectly, exactly right.
Saturday
Chapter 7
TEXT MESSAGE FROM NINA DORANTES TO CHARLOTTE THORNE, 12:02 AM: did jackie leave with you?
TEXT MESSAGE FROM NINA DORANTES TO CHARLOTTE THORNE, 12:04 AM: nvm found her!
Their second first kiss was soft and slow, just the tender pull of Reece’s lips against hers. His hand slid into Charlotte’s hair to bring her closer. She yielded entirely. Her body felt like it was made of spun sugar, weightless and fragile and sweet. The din of the backyard faded away until she heard nothing but his slight inhale of breath.
Reece groaned as he pulled back for a fragment of a second to rest his forehead against hers. And then another kiss, a deeper embrace that tasted like spearmint—he must have chewed gum before she arrived. She smiled against his mouth.
“What is it?” he murmured.
“Nothing,” she said. “Just this.”
She knew nothing but this. Nothing but Reece’s soft breath spilling against her cheek. Nothing but his arms around her, her hands pressed firmly against his chest. She could feel his heart pounding against his ribs. She shuddered and he held her even closer somehow, an unconscious effort to warm her.
“Are you cold?” he asked.
