Sweet Harmony

by A. M. Evanston

  "I thought I'd say hello to Jay," Daniel said. "Unlike you, I have good manners."

  "Then why did you grab my arm and not his?" she asked.

  Daniel looked flummoxed for a second, but then gained his confidence again.

  "Because you were the closest thing to me." Daniel glared at her. "You didn't think I wanted to catch your attention, did you? It's not like I was going to stop you just to say you look beautiful or something."

  Wait. What? She was confused and still pissed off.

  "Of course you wouldn't do that," she said. "Only a gentleman would call a lady beautiful. You aren't a gentleman. You're a slime ball."

  "I may not be much of a gentleman, but you aren't much of a lady either," he said.

  Allison was squirming in discomfort and tugging on Daniel's shirt to get his attention.

  "I suppose not." Annamarie rolled her eyes. "But I've never wanted to be a lady anyway."

  Allison gave Daniel's arm another tug.

  "Will. You. Stop. Pulling. On. Me." Daniel turned and shot Allison the darkest glare she'd ever seen.

  "Everybody's looking at us," Allison whispered.

  It took Annamarie a minute to realize that Allison was right. She'd been so immersed in the heated conversation that she hadn't noticed that almost every person in the room was looking at them. Probably they'd heard the verbal exchange too. Daniel shrugged it off.

  "I don't care." He waved Allison away. "Go find a guy to dance with or something."

  "But you're my date." Her beautiful blue eyes filled with tears.

  "As you keep insisting on reminding me," he snapped with obvious annoyance.

  The girl shook her head and stepped away, heading toward the snack table. A group of male admirers were waiting to receive her. Daniel didn't care. He was already advancing on Annamarie again.

  "Where were you guys tonight?" Daniel asked.

  "What are you, my keeper?" She crossed her arms in defiance.

  "It's not good manners to be alone with a lady unchaperoned. I just wanted to make sure you're being responsible." Daniel's gaze flickered toward Jaiden now. The tension in the air was growing.

  Just as she was thinking up a snooty reply—she was determined to make her comeback a good one—Jaiden surprised her by interceding.

  "That's enough, Dan," Jaiden said. "She's here with me. You're going to have to accept that."

  "What do you mean?" Daniel focused on him instead. "I've already accepted that."

  "You obviously haven't or else you wouldn't be grilling her right now like you have any say in what she does," Jaiden said. "I want you to know I have every intention of continuing to date Annamarie after the dance."

  She sucked in air. Did she get a say in this? Who was he to say he was going to date her without even asking her first?

  Even the band stopped playing now. When she and Daniel fought, their words weren't laced with this kind of malice. The seething look Daniel gave Jaiden was enough to make her hair stand on end. The two were supposed to be best friends. She didn't like what was going on.

  "Guys, stop it," she said.

  Daniel held up a shaking fist, completely ignoring her attempt at interception. It looked like the guy was going to punch Jaiden.

  "Okay, that's it!" Gavin roared, appearing from the right with a pretty blonde girl in a green dress. "Stop fighting. This is ridiculous. I've never seen the two of you argue like this."

  Maybe it was the sudden yell coming from a guy who seemed to be the quiet type, but even Daniel didn't manage to give a nasty retort.

  "Dan, I want you to take a breather," Gavin said. "Jay, you're going to talk privately with me. Now."

  "Fine," Jaiden said.

  Stubborn, Daniel didn't give a reply, but he allowed Jaiden to be led away. She didn't blame him. Gavin looked close to having a full head rotation.

  Once the two of them were out of sight, Daniel grabbed her arm again.

  "Do you really want to date Jaiden?" Daniel asked.

  "I don't know," she said. "Can you give me a reason not to?"

  The guy was staring at her in aggravation. It was the first time ever he seemed to be at a lack for words.

  "I need a drink," he muttered, heading in the direction of the punch bowl.

  Everyone was looking at her and whispering. She should have known that would happen. The rumors that would spring up because of this night would be legendary. Swallowing, she shook her head. Who cared what anybody thought about her? She needed air. This dance wasn't fun at all. She wished she'd never bought the stupid dress either.

  She left the performance hall. Voices carried from an empty classroom to her left. It was Jaiden and Gavin. She knew she should have kept walking, but eavesdropping was more tempting than a slice of triple chocolate cake.

  "—you need to let this go, Jay," Gavin said.

  "So you're on Dan's side in this?" Daniel snapped. "That figures."

  "You're both my friends." Gavin sounded frustrated. "But you and I both know Dan likes Annamarie. She's good for him. He's stopped antagonizing the other guys and has been listening to the teachers. I don't know what it is, but he seems to be trying more because she's around."

  "And that means I have to give her up?" Jaiden asked. "I like her too."

  "I know you do." Gavin sighed. "You just don't need her like Dan does. If he continues on the road he's on, he's going to end up a tyrant just like his dad. That man is the most miserable, wretched being that's ever walked the earth. Do you want Dan to end up like him?"

  "That's his own personal decision," Jaiden muttered.

  "Jay…" Gavin groaned in exasperation.

  "If you interfere with her and me, I'll never forgive you," Jaiden said.

  "I never planned on interfering," Gavin said. "I just—"

  Annamarie couldn't stand to hear anymore. She took off running down the hall with no real goal in mind. Her mind was spinning. Gavin's words echoed in her head, "But you and I both know Dan likes Annamarie." No, this was too much. Jaiden liked her and Daniel did too? She was happy, depressed, and confused all at the same time. Not thinking about where she was going, she burst through a door and rushed into a foreign room.

  With an aching heart, she skidded to a stop. She realized she was standing in front of the swimming pool. The blue water glistened in front of her.

  She was aware she had to get a grip on her own feelings now. It was time to stop running from herself and from her own emotions. The truth was she was being a coward. Just like she always tried to run away from water, she was running away from her own feelings for Daniel. She had to accept them. The problem was with Jaiden pursuing her, everything was a lot harder. She liked him on many levels. The guy was kind, funny, and chivalrous.

  Even though she was trembling, she forced herself to walk to the pool's edge and bent over the glistening water. She touched the cool surface and gazed at her own reflection, almost hoping to see the answer to her problems in her own eyes. In that moment, she realized she wasn't alone. A guy was standing over her right shoulder. With a gasp, she straightened up. She didn't know who the person was, but she didn't like somebody approaching her from behind.

  Before she could turn around, two strong hands shoved her straight into the deep end of the pool. She sunk like a rock. The person stared down at her for a moment before running away, but she couldn't see his face because it was skewed by the water. Suddenly, she was two-years-old again. She was alone—her mom had dropped her off when she'd gone to buy herself a margarita at the bar—and she had foolishly gone into the pool unsupervised. Drowning, drowning, drowning. She opened her mouth and water came crashing in.

  "Mommy!" she remembered screaming as she flailed.

  The woman hadn't come.

  She somehow battled her way to the surface, but when she tried to suck in air, all she managed to do was cough because of the water she'd inhaled. The taste of chlorine was bittersweet. Chemical. She was sputtering and thrashing, desperate to reach for the s
ide of the pool. When she opened her eyes, her mascara ran into them, causing them to sting.

  "Help me!" she half yelled, half coughed.

  She went down again, writhing under the surface. When she reached out, she was surprised to see a glorious, swimming angel just a few feet from his face; an angel with eyes as blue as the water and hair as golden as honey. He reached for her and pulled her into his arms. They rose to the surface, she protected by his arms. With expert strength, he pulled her over the side of the pool and to safety. She lay on her back, coughing up warm water that had infiltrated her lungs. Tears stung her eyes that she couldn't conceal. The angel climbed out of the pool too and kneeled next to her.

  Her angel was Daniel.

  "Daniel." She coughed. "I thought I was going to die."

  More tears fell. She couldn't believe she was crying in front of him again. He pulled her into his arms as she hacked, wept, and drooled. He rubbed her back to comfort her like she wished her mom had done all those years ago. It was strangers who had fished her out of the pool, not her parent.

  "I hate water," she whispered, another tear falling. "I really, really hate water."

  "I know you do." Daniel rubbed her back harder. "It's okay now. I've got you. You're safe."

  "I know," she whispered.

  For a moment neither of them spoke. Her teeth chattered as she grew cold.

  "I'd give you my jacket to warm you up, but that may only make it worse because it's wet too," he whispered, his voice hoarse. "I'll bring you back to my dorm. We can talk and get warmed up there."

  Daniel scooped her up like she weighed nothing. Under normal circumstances, she would have fought because she was being carried like a princess, but right now, she wouldn't have cared if he held her upside down and dragged her like a deadweight. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on tight as he walked.

  "I hate water…" she muttered under her breath. "I hate water…"

  "Shhh," Daniel said.

  Swallowing, she buried her face in his neck. He smelled of the chlorine she loathed so much, but she still wanted to hold onto him anyway.

  On the way out of the school, she saw no one. Probably everybody was still at the dance. Daniel carried her to the front door of his dorm and pushed it open with his back. He carried her up the stairs, his arms steady and unshaking. When he made it to the top floor where his room was, she'd finally started to calm down. When he reached his door, he stared into her face, his bright blue eyes probing.

  "I'm going to have to put you down now to unlock the door," Daniel said. "Can you stand?"

  "Y-yeah." She hated to hear the tremble in her own voice. "I think I'm okay."

  He released her slowly. She'd forgotten she was still wearing high heels and lost her footing. When she collapsed Daniel, she wrapped her arms around his neck to balance herself. The two of them were centimeters apart, lips almost touching lips. The intensity, the fire between them, burned so hot she was surprised it didn't chase out the chill from being wet.

  "Daniel," she said, surprised by the uncertainty that laced her own voice. She wasn't even sure why she'd said his name.

  The guy eased a hand around her waist and helped her balance again.

  "Here you go," he said. "You okay?"

  "Freaking high heels," she muttered. "I'm meant to wear sneakers."

  Daniel chuckled in relief. "That's my girl."

  His arm didn't leave her waist, even as he buried his other hand in his water sodden pocket and pulled out his apartment key. He jammed it into the lock and then opened the door. He helped her inside, his arm balancing her every step of the way.

  "Thank you," she said quietly.

  "Mmm-hmmm."

  "Why is that whenever I'm in trouble, you're always the one who comes?" she asked.

  Daniel paused for a moment. She almost didn't expect him to answer.

  Finally, he said, "Maybe it's because nobody else is always thinking about you like I am."

  She made eye contact with him.

  "Not even Jaiden?" she asked.

  "Not even Jaiden," he said.

  She realized that even though they fought all the time, she was almost always thinking of Daniel too. Don't say it! a voice shrieked inside of her head. It was so much better when she was oblivious to her emotions.

  "Me too," she whispered. "I'm almost always thinking about you too."

  Darn it. She said it. Stupid big mouth.

  Daniel's eyes widened, but he didn't speak. To his credit, she couldn't think of the world to say either. She considered that ironic since the two of them usually had more than enough to scream at each other.

  "I'm going to the bathroom to get cleaned up," she said, needing the distance to get her mind in order.

  "You do that." Daniel blew out a sigh of relief. Probably he was just as glad as she was to grasp onto a topic he could handle. "Take a shower. It'll get you warmed up."

  Take a shower in a guy's dorm? She raised an eyebrow. That sounded risky.

  "Are you sure that's a good idea?" she asked.

  "Have you seen yourself?" Daniel looked her up and down. "You're blue. I'm not going to sneak in like a pervert."

  "You just might," she muttered, though she knew he really wouldn't.

  "What was that?" He bristled.

  "Nothing," she said.

  "Yeah, yeah. Keep muttering and I might just kick you out," he said, even though she knew he'd never do that either.

  With a sigh, she headed into the bathroom and froze when she saw her reflection. Mascara ran down her cheeks and her hair was no longer in a bun. The damp material of her golden dress stuck to every crevice of her body. The silk had been appropriate when dry, but now that she was wet, it was way passed indecent. She tried hard not to think about that as she extracted herself from the dress and let it lay on the floor. She turned on the shower and was grateful the knob was uncomplicated. She wouldn't have put it past Daniel to have a special bath purchased in France.

  After she stuck her hand in the water, she decided the temperature was just right. She jumped in and stood underneath the spray. The hot water may have washed away the chlorine from the pool, but it couldn't wash away the unpleasant memories. She wasn't going to be able to sleep without having nightmares for a long time. Nothing was worse than crushing blue waters filling up her lungs. Worse yet, somebody had pushed her into the pool. If Daniel hadn't come to her rescue, she wouldn't have been able to pull herself out. She'd been too panicked by her bad memories. Biting her bottom lip, she reached out and soaped her hair with expensive smelling shampoo. The fragrance permeated the stall and made it smell sweet like Daniel.

  I wonder if the same person who pushed me was the one who threw the pot at my head? She realized it had to have been the same person. But who would be so angry with her that he'd want her dead? She shut her eyes as she scrubbed her face, trying to wash all of the mascara away.

  Had Owen done it? No, Owen liked her. She wasn't sure why she thought of him first. Perhaps it was because the guy hadn't asked her to the dance in time. Maybe Gavin? The guy had sounded pretty pissed at the trouble she'd caused, but she thought he liked her. She couldn't think of any other guys who would want to kill her. If only the attacker had been a girl. Her situation would make a heck of a lot more sense that way. At least then she'd know it was because of her feelings for Daniel and Jaiden.

  And regarding those two, what was she supposed to do about them? Her head throbbed as reached for the conditioner. She had too much to think about. She'd believed learning Italian when she was thirteen was difficult. This was one hundred times worse. Languages could be broken down and swallowed in bite sized pieces. Trying to figure out what was going on with her feelings for Daniel and Jaiden was like having somebody shove a huge hamburger into her mouth.

  She washed the conditioner from her hair and scrubbed her body with soap. Still deep in thought, she turned off the shower and pulled back the curtain. For one horrifying moment, she thought she was going
to have to pull on the dress again, but then she saw a pile of clothes and a fluffy grey towel lying on the counter by the door with a note on top of it. She picked up the note.

  This is for you to borrow. You get my clothes dirty and I'll kill you.

  Even with the death threat, his note managed to make her smile. Daniel must have stuck the clothes and towel on the counter when she was deep in thought. He's not as fierce as he likes to think he is. After drying herself off, she pulled on the thick sweater and then yanked on the sweatpants. Since she was so much smaller than Daniel, the pants sagged. Still she was grateful that she didn't have to climb back into the wet dress.

  Since she was borrowing Daniel's clothes, she decided she might as well commandeer his hairbrush too. She found the brush in the third drawer down and ran it through her locks a few times. Good enough. The guy had seen her spit up pool water and bawl like a baby. Probably he'd have that image stuck in his head forever. No amount of hair brushing could change that. She opened up the bathroom door and stepped into the hall.

  "Daniel?" she called, wondering where he'd escaped to.

  "In here," Daniel said from the living room.

  She went into the living room and saw that Daniel was leaning against the coffee table with a steaming drink in his hand. The room smelled fruity, so she doubted he was drinking coffee. The guy had changed from a soaked suit to a pair of sweatpants and a sweater. Even in his grungy clothes, he still looked like a god with his golden hair and blue eyes. It wasn't fair.

  "Have some of this." Daniel handed her a mug full of steaming liquid.

  "What is it?" she asked.

  "Tea," Daniel said.

  Shrugging her shoulders, she took a sip of the tea. It tasted smoky and then sweet.

  "That is genuine Da Hong Pao tea," Daniel said. "Do you want to know how much it costs?"

  "How much?" It tasted good, but she wasn't sure she'd pay more than a few bucks for it at a tea shop.

  "At least a couple thousand dollars."

  She'd been mid sip when he said the words and accidentally let out a spray of liquid from her lips that drenched his pant leg. A couple thousand dollars for a cup of tea? Was he mental?