[2022 Wattys Winner] When love cynic Madison Watson starts university, she vows to follow three simple rules.
One: Work out at least twice a week.
Two: Get an internship.
Three: Stay away from men.
But after a chance encounter with th...
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Dancing on the lawn amongst tombstones and pumpkins, Madison looked like she was carved from the night.
Black latex hugged her body like it had been painted on, an aurora of red, blue, and purple light rippling across her catsuit as she spun out of Noah's arms and into Dex's. Knee-high boots stretched her legs so they were never-ending, and looped through her belt was a whip—the legitimacy of which I'd been debating since first spotting her across the quad. I wasn't close enough to see her eyes, to know whether they sparkled like stars or swirled like pools of melted midnight. One thing was beyond question: against the eternal blanket of darkness, her smile signaled the dawn.
"What's wrong, Mr. J?" Kara asked, poking me in the ribs with her baseball bat. "Cat got your tongue?"
I leaned back against the snack table, nodding to Madison's costume, then down to hers. "That was your doing, wasn't it, Quinn?"
Madison's roommate twisted one of her platinum pigtails around her finger. She'd dip-dyed it red and the other royal blue, matching her crimson and cobalt bomber jacket. It was strange—to see her sporting a color other than pink. "I don't know what you're talking about. My friend needed a costume at the last minute," she cooed sweetly, "and I had a spare."
"You had a catsuit on-hand?"
"Mhm."
I was ... not surprised.
"Besides ..." Kara added, turning to pour us each a cup of orange punch before her eyes followed the path mine had seared across the quad. The buildings had been turned into taunts doused in eerie red light, and fake cobwebs were draped over bushes and trees, interwoven with paper lanterns and glow-in-the-dark spiders. "Madison as Catwoman is what the world needs. I'm doing the world a favor."
She was not doing the vow I'd made to Madison to be just friends any favors.
She must have read it on my face, because when her green eyes met mine, a little smirk pulled at her bright lips. "Don't worry, I get it."
I swallowed a dry laugh, taking the drink she handed me before peering back out into the quad. The courtyard had been transformed into a cemetery-styled-dancefloor, complete with fake headstones and a record-scratching ghost. Madison was still there, still dancing with Dex and Noah. Dancing. What was more, she was smiling.
She did that from time to time—let her guard down. And as much as I loved her spunk, loved the way her eyes darkened before she made some snarky comment that had my heart hammering, it was catching her in the moments when she thought no one was watching her that I loved the most. When something inside of me melted. It was moments like these, when she didn't cover her smile. Because her smile ... It was just that intense.
"No," I told Kara, taking a swig of the sweet liquid. "You don't."
