by Elle Thorpe
“Stay,” he said again. Emotions warred within me. If I stayed to hang out with Jamison, at some point, Rick would notice. Would he care? Would he flip out or somehow punish me for it later by making my life difficult? We’d been together for years, but I no longer felt like I knew him. As much as I hated it, our lives were forever interconnected, and right now, our relationship was very civil. Despite the way he’d left us, I’d been cool and calm and level-headed. Nathan needed that from me. I’d already failed at giving him parents who loved each other; the very least I could do was to stay on friendly terms with his father.
But the alcohol, watching Rick with Bree, and flirting with Jamison—one or more of those made me want to agree. We hadn’t even danced yet, and I’d be lying if I said a huge part of me wasn’t wondering what moving in his arms would feel like. Running my hands up his biceps, snaking them around his neck as he pulled me close and whispered in my ear… My toes curled just thinking about being that close to him.
My gaze travelled the room for Nathan and found him sitting on Rick’s lap. Nathan’s blond hair was sweaty and his eyelids were drooping from exhaustion. Rick smoothed his hair back, then leant in and kissed Bree over the top of his head. Something within me hardened. Why was Rick allowed to move on while I sat at home alone?
I’d turned into a wallflower, I realised with a start. Rick was opinionated about everything, and we’d once spent hours debating over the things we both believed in. But as we’d grown up, those debates had turned into arguments I didn’t enjoy, and so I’d avoided them. I’d barely noticed myself fading further and further into his shadow, until suddenly he wasn’t there anymore. I didn’t like the person I’d become. Sitting here, at Rick’s wedding, talking to a hot guy that had to be at least five years younger than I was… It felt good. I felt noticed and like a little of the old me had emerged from the shadows.
“Are you sure?” I met my mother’s eyes and she gave me a triumphant smile and a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Positive. Just come get him from my place in the morning.”
Jamison gave a triumphant whoop. Mum’s gaze slid over to him. “And I trust you’ll get my daughter home safe, young man.”
“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, standing up and tucking my arm beneath my mother’s before I tugged her across the room toward Nathan. “She’s going now. I’ll be back in a minute,” I called back to Jamison.
“I’ll be waiting.”
Why did those words make my stomach flip in anticipation?
Xxx
Jamison
Somewhere around my third beer I’d started finding Elodie incredibly attractive. Not that I needed beer to see how pretty she was, but she wasn’t my normal type. Elodie was the complete and utter opposite of Bree. She was soft where Bree was hard. She had curves where Bree was so skinny her bones stuck out. She was quiet and gentle, where Bree was loud and obnoxious. And she was real, where Bree was fake. Bree was everything that normally caught my eye, but Elodie sparked my interest in a way my ex never had. I’d started up the conversation to be friendly, but somewhere along the line I’d gone past being friendly into being genuinely interested. I needed to know her better.
She sunk back into her seat, just as the lights dimmed and the MC called the newly married couple onto the floor for their first dance.
She dropped her voice to a whisper as the opening strains of Bree and Rick’s wedding song started up. “They’re gone.”
I raised my eyebrows at her suggestively, unable to hide my grin. Nathan was a bloody cute kid, but knowing I had Elodie all to myself now made me a happy man. She laughed before turning to face the dance floor. I loved that she found me funny. Bree never had.
We both watched as Rick and Bree waltzed awkwardly around the centre of the room. Rick stepped on Bree’s dress and she lurched forward, shooting him a dirty look before she remembered her fake smile. I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped me. “It’s like a train wreck I can’t look away from.” I shook my head. “Good luck to the poor bugger.”
“Oh, don’t feel sorry for him. He’s as high maintenance as she is. This is likely all one big show to him. He would have designed all this to impress his business partners and associates. That’s the only reason he ever threw a party when we were together anyway.”
As the song ended, Rick spun Bree around and dipped her, the split on her dress revealing almost too much as she pointed her foot in the air. I rolled my eyes and Elodie snorted before coughing to cover it, glancing around as if she were worried somebody would think she was laughing at them. I pushed the glass of wine toward her that I’d bought while she was with her mum.
“You were drinking red, right?”
She nodded as she pulled the glass toward her. “I’m not a fan of champagne; it gives me a headache. But the red is good.” She took a swallow, her tongue running over her lips, before she placed the glass back on the table.
“Well, drink up. I figure we’ll need to be more than slightly buzzed to make it through this spectacle…” I trailed off as Bree and Rick moved to the cake-cutting table. They cut a piece together then Rick picked it up and fed it carefully into Bree’s mouth. “I bet she warned him not to ruin her makeup by shoving it into her face.”
“Probably. I would have liked to have seen that though—ugh, I know it’s their wedding, but do they have to keep doing that?”
“There’s so much tongue in that kiss I’m questioning if either of them might have been a giraffe in a past life.”
Elodie snorted and took a large gulp of her wine. “We need way more alcohol to deal with this. I haven’t had a night away from Nathan in forever, so I’ll risk the hangover.”
“Cheers then,” I toasted, clinking my glass together with hers.
Her eyes met mine. “Cheers to you for making this night fun.”
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, kid.” I drained the last of my drink and held my hand out to her. The DJ had started up dance music, with LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” blaring through the speakers. “It’s dancing time, and I do a mean Running Man.”
She slapped her hand in mine, grinning as she stood. She was above average height in her heels, but she still seemed tiny from my 6'3" vantage point. She tipped her head back. “Your Running Man ain’t got nothin’ on my Sprinkler with a twist!”
“With a twist? Well, if I wasn’t interested before, I am now.” I led her through the crowd, until we were right in the middle of the floor, and broke out my best Running Man moves, pumping my arms and sliding my feet back and forth. Elodie stuck one arm in the air, her other arm bent so she could rest her hand behind her head, and her hips jerked to the beat as she spun back and forth. She only lasted a moment before she doubled over laughing.
“What? That all you got?” I panted out. Who knew a few minutes of Running Man would be so exhausting?
“Your Running Man looks more like the funky chicken!” She burst into a fresh round of laughter and my heart flipped. There was nothing girl next door about her when she laughed like that. Her eyes, bright with amusement, lit up her whole face.
“Oh yeah? What about your Sprinkler!” I imitated her moves, thrilled that she had to wipe her eyes from laughing so hard.
She grabbed my arm and pulled me closer, gasping around her laughs and clutching her stomach. “Stop, before I pee myself. We’re already making a scene.”
I glanced around, my gaze eventually settling on Bree. She was back at the bridal table shooting me death looks. Whatever. The people next to us had moved back to avoid our flailing limbs, but the only other people watching us were smiling. Everyone else was too busy dancing and having a good time to pay attention to us. The song changed to “Love Shack” by the B-52’s and Elodie gasped. “Yes! I love this song!”
Bree sliced the air beneath her chin with flattened fingers, telling me to cut it out. God she was a bitch. She’d invited me here and she’d done nothing but glare at me all night. We were just having fun, yet every time I look
ed over, Bree was glaring.
“Do you know all the words?” I yelled in Elodie’s ear.
She grinned and nodded as her hips swivelled and she danced closer.
“Come on, then.” I grabbed her arm and pulled her to the stage next to the little DJ booth where two microphones stood on stands.
Her eyes grew wide. “Wait. What are you doing?”
I shrugged. “Having fun?” I gave the DJ a questioning thumbs up and he laughed, gesturing for me to go ahead. I passed Elodie a mic and she shook her head.
“Jesus Christ.”
I winked at her before flicking the microphone on and belting out the next line of the song.
Xxx
Elodie
Jamison was not only delicious to look at, but he could sing too. Shame about his dancing skills. Still, I grinned at him as he belted out the chorus of “Love Shack.” He strutted around the tiny stage like he owned it, people on the dance floor crowding him and singing along. He even held the mic out for Rick’s aunty to sing a line like a full-fledged rock star. He was owning this impromptu karaoke while I stood, slightly terrified, at the back of the stage.
My eyes met Rick’s across the room. He was sitting next to Bree at the bridal table. She had a face like thunder and looked ready to kill Jamison, while Rick’s eyes bored into mine. I knew that look. I’d seen it time and time again over the years. It was a cold, creeping expression that said “Shut up, Elodie. You’re embarrassing yourself.” I dropped my gaze to the floor. But then Jamison’s shoes appeared in my line of vision and his fingers tipped my chin up as he said into the microphone, “Don’t be shy now, Elodie. Your fans are waiting to hear you sing.”
His enthusiasm was contagious, energy radiating from him like sunshine. And the crowd were feeling it. They cheered, a sea of happy, smiling faces below me. My eyes met Rick’s again, as Jamison moved his mic away from his mouth and said in my ear, “Fuck them. Sing with me.”
And when I looked back into his hazel eyes, he flicked his head toward the centre of the stage. A smile spread across my face as I let his sunshine fill me and I lifted the microphone to my mouth and belted out the last chorus like I was Madonna performing at Madison Square Garden.
Tomorrow, I’d blame the wine for this. I’d blame it even more for what happened next.
The song finished, and I glanced at Jamison. His grin stretched ear to ear. “That. Was. Epic.” His gaze dropped to my lips.
My already racing heart picked up another notch. I stepped toward him feeling confident and free after standing up to Rick, even in such a small, indirect way. “Yeah, it was.”
He closed the gap between us, or maybe I did, but his hand grabbed the back of my head as his lips crashed down onto mine. My brain shut down as lust mixed with excitement swirled through me. My hands slid up his chest, and I kissed him back. His tongue moved against my lips and I opened for him, wanting more of the way he felt, and enjoying the sudden heat rising everywhere our bodies touched. Our tongues moved together, and I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been kissed like this. Had Rick ever kissed me with this much passion? Jamison kissed as if he was thinking about throwing me down on the bridal table and taking me right here in front of three hundred people. And a large part of me would have been totally down for that.
“What the hell are you two doing?!” Bree’s voice shrieked in my ear.
I jerked away from Jamison’s mouth and realised the entire room was now watching us, not just Bree, who stood with her arms folded beneath her fake boobs, her chest heaving with her anger. I glanced around, my eyes widening as they met Jamison’s. Holy shit. We’d made a really big scene.
A laugh twitched at his lips, and instantly, my rising panic disappeared. My own laugh bubbled in my throat.
“Want to get out of here?” he whispered in my ear.
“Hell yes.”
He slid his fingers between mine.
“Well, uh. Thanks for having us, Bree.”
“Get out!” she screeched, pointing one long, red talon at the door. Jamison and I both stifled laughs as we stumbled off the stage and ran for the door.
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Acknowledgments
Oh wow. I have a confession. I’ve dreamed about writing the acknowledgements on a book since I was fourteen. Because writing the acknowledgements means you finished. You sat, and slaved and poured your heart and soul into a book, day after day, possibly for years. (I started Only the Positive in October 2016, so it’s pretty close to two years for me!) But I finished. And that is the sweetest feeling in the world.
Firstly, thank you to you, the reader. Thank you for taking a chance on a new author. There’s so much more to come from me, and I hope you’ll stick around to see it.
To my beautiful critique partners, Jolie Vines and Zoe Ashwood - We may have never met in person, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you both to pieces! Thank you for your advice, your creativity, and for the way you both inspire me to be better. Thank you for the daily chats, and for picking me up off the floor when it all felt too hard. This book would never have made it out into the world without you, I know that for certain. Team Rabbit forever!
To my beta readers - Michela Hannigan, Kirsty Dyball, Tamara McCall, Shannan Fecht, Tracey Savill, Telina James, R.I Griffin and Jen Martin. Thank you for your time, your enthusiasm and your advice.
Thank you to my editor, Emily Lawrence at Lawrence Editing and my cover designer Kassi Snyder at KassiJean Formatting and Design. Thank you to the bloggers, reviewers and bookstagrammers that have helped me promote Only the Positive.
And last, but never least, to my beautiful family. To my husband Jira who will always be my biggest fan, despite never reading a word I’ve ever written. Your unending support and blind faith in me made this possible. Thank you for picking up my slack around the house and never once complaining when you haven’t seen me in days because I’m lost in my writing cave. I love you.
To my tiny humans, Thomas, Felicity and Heidi. Always chase your dreams. This book is proof that if you work hard, they come true.
About the Author
Elle Thorpe lives on the sunny east coast of Australia. When she’s not writing stories full of kissing, she’s a wife and mummy to three tiny humans. She’s also official ball thrower to one slobbery dog named Rollo. Yes, she named a female dog after a dirty hot character on Vikings. Don’t judge her. Elle is a complete and utter fangirl at heart, obsessing over The Walking Dead and Outlander to an unhealthy degree. But she wouldn’t change a thing.
You can find her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@ellethorpebooks or hit the links below!) or at her website www.ellethorpe.com
Also by Elle Thorpe
*Only the Positive (Only You, #1)
*Only the Perfect- Novella (Only You, #2)
Jamison’s story is coming November 2018!
*Only the Negatives (Only You, #3)
Gemma’s (all grown up) story is coming in 2019!
…and more to come!