So it goes [Breakable Heaven #1]

38. I can't talk to you when you're like this

The school's summer party is being held at a swimming pool club, or whatever it is called. It's a nice location, open-air, with lights that illuminate the pools when the sun goes down. The theme, this year, is the Eighties, and of course, I did my best to dress up for the part - I love love love theme parties! I ended up looking like a mix between Joan Jett and Axl Rose, and I am very happy with it. Rory, instead, looks absolutely stunning in her Madonna outfit; I can't stop looking at her.

It seems like I'm not the only one, as there's one particular student - a male student - that is pretty much hogging her attention, sitting down next to her and talking non-stop - in Spanish, I might add, which kind of defeats the purpose of the whole event. She looks bored as hell, and I've been wanting to go and save her from that ordeal for a while now, but every time I try to walk up to her, I keep getting stopped by someone: Jean who wants to do a round of shots with me, Giselle who wants to catch up because we've barely seen each other outside of school lately, or random students who want to do what they're there to do - speak English. By the time I finally find myself in front of Rory, I'm exhausted and she looks like she wants me to put a bullet through her skull and put an end to her misery.

"Can I join you two?" I ask, and shoot Rory a glance to make her understand that I'm trying to relieve her from babysitting that particular student, that she can go if she wants to.

"Of course. Take a chair," she just says.

I look around and there are no chairs available, so I just shrug and keep standing, inserting myself in the most boring conversation ever, that probably becomes even worse because we switched to English - for all this guy knows, I can't speak a single word of Spanish - and the student is really really struggling with it.

Ten minutes in and I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable standing there. Rory must have picked it up, because she moves to the edge of her chair and gestures me to sit down with her. I don't overthink it and just do as she says, putting an arm to the backrest just to keep my balance - two people on a small chair, it's not exactly easy or comfortable, but when Rory just leans back and rests her back on my arm, I can't help but feel like this is becoming a little too intimate for the situation we're in. I turn around to look at her, to tell her, or at least try to tell her with my eyes, that maybe she's pushing it a little too far, that we're being a little too obvious, but she's just staring in front of her, lost in her thoughts while she pretends to listen to the student. She's being so casual about it that I relax, too. After all, there's nothing wrong with two friends snuggling because they're sharing a tiny chair, right?

I get so caught up in the moment that, without realizing, I start casually playing with her hair, as if we were in one of our bedrooms alone, or back to the beach, with her head in my lap while we were talking about our lives and our past. It feels so right that I want to keep doing this forever, even though it's just not possible, I have to stop, or at some point, people are going to notice that we're being a little too close and intimate to be just friends, and they're going to start asking questions that we can't and won't answer.

When Violeta approaches us, I swiftly move my hand away from Rory's hair, and I try to put as much distance between us as possible without falling off that damn chair.

"Ladies, it's time for the trivia activity," she announces, so we reluctantly stand up and gather the students to divide them into teams and explain the game. Each teacher will sort of mentor one of the teams, while Violeta reads the questions. I obviously get assigned to 'team pink', because I'm the only one at school who really appreciates that color. Jean is team blue - her favorite color, and soon to be the color of her hair - and Rory is team red.

"Whoever loses won't have an orgasm for the whole week," Rory whispers in my ear as we get ready to start, and that sparks my already strong competitive streak. There's no way I'm not getting off for the whole week: it's only Wednesday, for god's sake!