Liquid courage. I'd heard the term before, but experiencing it was a first. Somehow in my champagne haze, my eyes burned brighter, my smile felt lighter, and my heels moved quickly as I spun around the dance floor with Uncle Theo. He'd always been the best looking and best dancing member of my father's band in my opinion.
"How's college?" Theo's Australian accent purred above the loud pop song playing overhead.
"It's good!" I lied, smiling widely, thanking the champagne for my improved acting skills. Skills that far surpassed my shower scene.... My eyes instinctively searched for him in the sea of tuxedos and evening gowns.
It'd been hours since we'd arrived, and I had avoided him at all costs. I'd spent my time talking to my parents' friends and beneficiaries, and dancing with some of the most eligible bachelors in Southern California, not that I noticed. Each of their hands on my hips had felt like ice, failing to permeate my emotional brick wall, until one particular suitor got a little too handsy, and Uncle Theo stepped in.
"Do you mind if I dance with the beautiful lady?" A familiar voice called over my shoulder and my dancing rhythm faltered, my liquid courage spilling out of me and underneath my feet on the parquet tile dance floor. I tried to shake my head at Theo with wide eyes, but he bowed deeply and hugged me once before taking his exit.
A pair of the strongest, sexiest hands gripped the thin fabric of my dress, burning my skin straight through the expensive satin. I stood not moving, not breathing, as Eli shifted my hips backwards against him.
"What're you doing?" I choked, feeling myself begin to melt in his capable hands, even though the hurt in my heart still protested. He ditched you, he forgot about you. He doesn't want you.
"Dancing." Eli breathed against my ear, sending goosebumps billowing down my neck.
"Well can't you go and dance somewhere else?" I huffed, biting into my lower lip as his hips brushed harder against my backside and his palm fisted into my dress at my hip.
"Why?"
"Because I don't like dancing with you."
"That's not what your body is saying..."
"Oh yeah? And what exactly is my body saying?" I deadpanned.
He flipped me quickly in his arms so our chests were flush, our heartbeats racing one frantic rhythm, thrumming above the music.
"Your body is saying that you want me." He licked his lips wickedly, and I stared at them for a moment too long. "And it's okay." He spun me once, pulling me closer to his chest when our bodies met again. "My body is saying the same...fucking...thing." It may have been my own perverted imagination, but the way he said fucking sounded louder than any other word in the sentence. Like his own dirty mouth was trying to say his body wanted to do more than dance. A whole lot more.
The song changed to a slow one and Eli bent so his cheek pressed flush to mine. He hummed the beautiful melody in my ear as he turned me and guided me into a waltz-like dance. The way he held me felt so intimate I wanted to scream. He was all I'd fantasized about for so long, but the hurt still seeped deep into my heart - like toxic black sludge, trying to overtake all the pink healthy parts. Eli left me feeling used, and like his one night...whatever...and it was only a matter of time until he would leave again...
I fluttered my eyelashes against a wall of tears as he continued his relentless humming and spinning and waltzing, not feeling my crushing sadness until the song ended and he pulled away, bowing like some southern fucking gentleman.
"What's wrong?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowing together into one solid concerned line.
"It's just...fuck...I'm sorry, I can't do this." I choked, pulling up the hem of my dress at my hips and grabbed my clutch off our event table as I hurried by. The hotel was a block over, connected to the convention center by a sky bridge on the second floor and I hurried toward it.
"Fuck." I cursed as my heels slipped along the polished floors, but thanks to all my balance work surfing, I remained upright.
I could feel him behind me, hurrying after me, but I didn't turn back. I stepped into the vacant elevator car and pushed the button, turning back to face the closing doors, and a very determined looking Eli about ten steps away. Too late to catch me.
I breathed a sigh of relief until the doors opened again on the third floor and I continued my great escape, hurrying across the sky bridge before I heard the door to the stairwell slam open behind me.
"Avery!" Eli called, using my full name for the first time ever, but I still didn't turn back. My heels moved quicker toward another elevator in our adjoined hotel. I pushed my finger against the call button, cursing under my breath as the wheels whirred and groaned for a handful of seconds.
"Come on!" I panted, and the door slid open slowly as if obeying my command. I stabbed the button for the twelfth floor, followed by the door close symbol, falling back against the wall as the heavy metal slats slowly began to close.
"Fucking wait!" Eli's deep voice boomed, shoving his arm through the doors just before they could close, thwarting my grand escape by mere seconds. So close. I sighed, drawing my lower lip into my mouth, and swung my hair so it shielded my face from his as he climbed into the car.
"What. The. Fuck was that all about?" Eli huffed as the car began to rise. I shook my head, still fighting back tears of rejection, worrying on my lower lip behind my wall of extensions.
"Talk to me kid, please?" He tried again, his voice more gentle this time, but I bristled at the nickname. Kid. The only version of myself he would ever see. The girl with the acne, and the braces, and the curled weenie bangs from fifth grade. Not the sexed up version in his shower, or the vulnerable adult version who he came with on my bed.
I punched the twelfth floor button a few more times, begging for this torture to be over. His long tanned fingers covered mine, pulling me to face him beyond my blonde veil.
"Why're you so pissed off at me? I thought the dance was nice..." One side of his mouth hooked up a little, and I wanted to slap it right off him. How could he be so completely oblivious.
"It wasn't the freaking dance!" I snarled, even surprising myself with the malice in my voice. "It's the fact that you kissed me, and got off, and then didn't feel like I was worth more than a ten word text message afterwards. I know we aren't friends anymore, but damn, I don't want to be this either." I waved my hand emphatically between us as the doors opened.
"Aves, babe, it's not what you think..." Eli insisted, but I was still much too hurt to hear anything else. A single rogue tear fell, washing my cheek.
"I don't care. Honestly. I just wish you hadn't come home this summer..." I sighed, turning on my heel, and walked the rest of the way to my hotel room. This time Eli didn't follow me.
YOU ARE READING
The Sweetest Summer
Romance**COMPLETE** Elijah West was everything, and I was just...Avery Adams. The tomboy, the girl next door, the friend zone occupant. The girl who somehow grew up while he was gone filming his television show. But this summer he's back, and the sparks a...
