Third Wheel (Elton Hall Chronicles Book 3)

by Sarah Fischer

  “Oh, Mom, I’m staying with Annabelle tonight.”

  “I don’t think so. Annabelle needs some time with her boyfriend. You just come on home after the dance.”

  “Well, is it okay if she stays at my house?” Emma asked. “I feel like I missed out on some girl time last night.”

  My mom looked at her with a softened expression and agreed. I had brought my bag outside and left it by the door, so I rushed in my high neutral colored heels to grab it and dropped it off in Emma’s car.

  Everyone else had already climbed in the limo, so it was just me. Mom gave me a quick air kiss so as not to mess up my make-up and I opened the door. It took everything within me not to scream and alert her. Sitting in the limo was Shane.

  I smiled at him and slid onto the seat, quickly closing the door behind me.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked him, taking in his black suit and emerald tie. He was breathtakingly handsome and I was overwhelmed just looking at him. Then he leaned in and gave me a soft kiss on my neck, again so as not to mess with my make-up. He really was perfect.

  “I don’t get a thank you for renting this limo for you? I have a good mind to go tell your mother that she raised you without manners.” He made a go to open the door and I shouted for the driver to go.

  “I didn’t expect you to be here. Emma said she got the limo.”

  “Yeah, Shane told me he was doing this in advance. I was prepared,” Emma piped in. “You’re also not staying at my house, either.”

  “Okay, well, that part I figured out.” I turned to Shane and make-up be damned, I gave him a big kiss. As I pulled away, I wiped the lipstick off him and leaned into him, inhaling his new cologne. He smelled like springtime. I didn’t know how else to describe it. It was nice, but at the same time, there was something about the leather, car, grease, and fumes smell I’d grown accustomed to. I mean, I guess this was his other side.

  “You look amazing,” he whispered in my ear as everyone else talked.

  “So do you. I’m very impressed with the suit.”

  “Well, I contemplated my leather jacket and jeans, but I figured I didn’t want to make all the other guys jealous, so I had to put the suit on.”

  I rolled my eyes and looked over at Violet and Annabelle, who were chomping at the bit. For a second, I forgot there were other people in the limo.

  “Shane, this is Violet. She’s the one that’s been in England, and this is Annabelle.”

  “Hello, ladies.”

  “Thanks for the limo. It’s the first time I’ve ever been in one,” Violet told him. She started pushing buttons all over, raising the partition between us and the driver over and over again.

  “Right, and Christie, I love that dress,” Annabelle offered. “You look like Paris Barbie.”

  I smiled at her, until I felt Shane trying to hold in some laughter.

  “Paris Barbie?” he asked in my ear.

  “Annabelle thinks that I have an outfit for everything, kind of like Barbie.”

  “Does that make me Ken?”

  “Nah, Ken didn’t have a penis,” I purred under my breath and squeezed his leg.

  “Then I guess I’m a G.I. Joe.” We smiled at each other but then the music started blaring.

  Apparently, Violet found the radio button. Some pop song was now blasting around us so loudly we couldn’t hear each other complaining about it. At first it was a shock, but then everyone started dancing. Well, everyone else did. I sort of bobbed my head, hoping I was kind of in time with the music.

  We finally pulled up to the school and the driver got out to open the limo door for us. Shane tipped him and we headed into the dance.

  “You really didn’t have to do that,” I whispered to Shane as we walked into the gym.

  “Just accept that I like doing these things. All you’re doing is ruining my fun by questioning it.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t want to ruin your fun.”

  “Exactly, now let’s get this dance thing over with.”

  “Wait,” I called, grabbing his arm as he started walking to a table. “I want to get some pictures.”

  “So you want to remember our night together?” He raised his eyebrows at me and smiled.

  “I look good. I need to remember that.” I started to walk over to the backdrop but Shane grabbed my arm and spun me around into him. Surprisingly, I didn’t fall over.

  “Trust me, I definitely cannot forget how good you look in that dress.” He looked deep in my eyes and we stood there for a second longer. “All right, where do we take the pictures?”

  I dragged Shane over to the backdrop and we started posing, but every time I looked at Shane he made a face. I slapped him on the arm and glared at him. “If you don’t smile or look the slightest bit happy, I can promise you that I will find a different guy to go home with.”

  A flash of something in his eyes caught my attention but he quickly masked it with a painted on smile.

  “You’ve got ten seconds of genuine smiles before my face cracks…ready, go.” Shane looked at the camera and smiled. For a moment, it took my breath away and I forgot to smile back. God, he was sexy in a suit.

  Then I turned to the camera and smiled big, happy to finally get my cheesy prom picture.

  “Are you happy now?” Shane asked me as we headed to the table my friends had commandeered.

  “Yes, I am.” I kissed him on the lips and settled down.

  We had some of the snacks that Annabelle had spent hours deciding over, and then everyone insisted it was time to dance. Emma almost ran to the dance floor and started gyrating with enough enthusiasm and skill to make me, and any other girl looking, feel inferior. Violet ran after her, finding her friend Kyle, and then Annabelle and Jason moseyed on over to the dance floor, doing their own subdued version of dancing. Then, there were two.

  “Didn’t your list say you needed to dance? Why are you still sitting there?” He stood and extended his hand to me.

  “I’m really not a good dancer,” I muttered, taking his hand cautiously.

  “Who cares? Is there someone here you’re trying to impress? Another guy you’re looking to take home, maybe?”

  “No, I just, I don’t want to look ridiculous.”

  “Well, you probably are going to look ridiculous, but everyone here is so focused on how they look dancing, that they aren’t going to care how you look. And if they do care, it’s just that they’re jealous of how amazing you look.”

  “Just don’t let me fall,” I told him and we walked onto the dance floor near my friends.

  Shane pulled my hips close to him and settled his hands there, as I leaned my back against his chest, still a little afraid to move. He picked up on it and started to force my hips in a little circle. Gradually, the circle increased and I started to let loose a little. We danced liked that, awkwardly circling with each other before Shane walked away. He held up a finger, signaling one minute, and I stood there for a few seconds, not moving, not dancing, and definitely not okay.

  Emma came to my rescue. She grabbed my hands and started to lift them up to the beat of the music.

  “Spread your legs a little and move your hips,” she shouted over the music.

  I listened and closed my eyes, trying to find some kind of rhythm. But it was not really working. I opened my eyes again and I saw a fun smile on Emma’s face. If I was going to act crazy, it might as well be with her. Tossing my head back, I flipped my hair back and forth, trying hard to get into it. After a few more seconds, it started to come a bit more naturally and I actually began to enjoy myself.

  Shane walked back to me as the song ended, and I looked at him, confused. Then, I heard the beginning of a familiar song. He smiled big and whispered in my ear, “Come on, Prom Barbie, let’s dance.” The “Barbie Girl” song by Aqua blared through the speakers and Shane spun me around.

  “You requested this?”

  “Yeah, I had to drop a couple dollars. Apparently this isn’t a normal dance song. Now
get going, you have no other choice. It’s your song,” he told me and started to spin me more.

  I pushed all sense of doubt away and quickly fell into what I considered to be my best moves. I shook my hips, bobbed my head, flipped my hair, and spun whenever Shane reached for my hand. When the song ended and some rap song I’d never heard started, I didn’t revert to the self-conscious girl that I was before. Instead, I continued dancing, relishing being in Shane’s arms.

  But all good things must come to an end, and the ladies’ bathroom called the four of us. I left Shane, who quickly headed to our table, and followed my friends to the bathroom. We were laughing until, all of a sudden, Violet was on the floor.

  “What the hell?” I wondered if she’d been sneaking drinks or something. It would be quite rude if she didn’t even try to share.

  She reached down to her ankle and I saw what happened. Her heel had broken off. “Well,” she groaned. “I guess I can go barefoot the rest of the night. Half the girls in there have already taken their shoes off.”

  “Ew, don’t be so dramatic,” Annabelle chastised. “I have super glue upstairs in the EET office. Let’s just run up there and fix the shoe. You’ll be fine.”

  “Nice,” Violet responded, and we all started to go upstairs. “You all don’t have to come up,” she told Emma and me.

  “It’s all right,” I replied, a little too happy to be away from the dance.

  “Yeah, I need to cool off,” Emma added.

  “Considering you’ve gone through, like, five different dance partners, I don’t blame you,” I teased, lightly elbowing her.

  “Hey, it’s time for me to find a new man. I gotta keep my options open.”

  We talked for a little longer and Annabelle fixed Violet’s shoe. Then we all ran to the bathroom, realizing we shouldn’t have skipped that step to reattach the heel. By the time we were heading back to the dance, we’d been gone for a while. Shane was probably getting antsy, so I started rushing, well, moving fast, but not fast enough to sweat. Okay, maybe I glistened a little bit.

  I was about to walk into the gym when I heard my name called.

  “Christie?”

  I whipped around and saw a sex on a stick man staring at me. His blond hair was cropped short and his brown eyes shown bright. But it was his suit that took my breath away. His shoulders were broad and filled out the jacket, his long legs were muscular, and the hem was perfectly tailored. This guy came from money and probably lived in the same world that Mindy and I came from.

  “Uh, yeah?” I replied.

  “Jeff,” he offered. “You’re in Professor McMann’s statistics class, right?” he asked me, strutting to my side.

  “Yeah, you sit toward the back, right?” It dawned on me as I stopped looking at his taut chest and actually looked at his face.

  “Right.” He smiled at me. “Anyway, McMann told me about the internship and mentioned that you were up for it too. I just wanted to say good luck.” He extended his hand to me so I shook it, smiling up at him. “Can I escort you back to the dance?”

  “Sure, but I have a date in there.”

  “All the pretty girls are always taken. No worries, we can still walk together.” We headed back into the gym together, talking about the project and our plans for it. There probably should have been some competition, but it was actually nice to get into it with him. Besides, we had picked two completely different topics.

  He said goodbye and walked off. I started toward our table and saw Shane sitting there with some girl. She was Asian, beautiful, and skinnier than me. Naturally, I hated her. I stopped walking and watched as they stood, her short dress falling way too high on her thighs, and Shane definitely noticed as he watched her ass swish back and forth while she glided over to the dance floor. He grabbed her hips and ground against her like he had done with me. She leaned her head back and rested it on his shoulder, pushing her boobs out further than the push up bra she was clearly wearing. She looked way too comfortable in his arms.

  My jaw clenched and I fought the urge to rip her hair out. Then I shook my head, trying to get a grip. It wasn’t her fault that Shane’s hands were all over her. No, that asshat was holding her on his own. My rage shifted to him and my eyes felt like they were going to bulge out of my head.

  “What’s up? Why aren’t you dancing?” Emma asked me. I didn’t even hear her walk up to me.

  “Oh, not much, just trying to decide what’s the best way to kill Shane.” I pointed at him dancing and she followed my finger.

  “Ah, that’s the ex I was telling you about at the race.”

  “And, what? I was just the rebound chick until she was ready?” My voice was raising in octaves and I was getting more upset with each beat of the music they shimmied to.

  “I think we need to take a step back, here. They’re just dancing. Let’s just relax a second.” Emma grabbed my hand and pulled me to the table. “Wait for the song to end and see what happens. Maybe they wanted to have a dance for old times.”

  “You know that flask you have strapped to your thigh that you’ve been subtly adding to your drink all night, thinking no one would notice? I’d like some.” Like I thought earlier, it was rude not to share.

  Emma laughed and shook her head. “Yeah, alcohol is not gonna make this better. Just relax a second.” She said ‘relax,’ but I saw her leg shaking and her fingers drummed on the table.

  I sat there for another couple of seconds and then decided to screw it all. I walked over to where Jeff was sitting with his friends. Emma tried to grab my arm, but I kept moving with a purpose. “Wanna dance?” I asked him quickly, before I could lose my nerve.

  He smiled up at me and stood quickly. “Sounds good.” Jeff grabbed my hand and we went over to the dance floor.

  I tried to quickly find the rhythm again, but it wasn’t as easy as it had been earlier. Jeff seemed to be fighting with my hips, trying to force them to grind on him as opposed to dancing with the music. It was quite possibly the furthest thing from sexy I’d ever felt, but I kept trying, determined not to look over at Shane.

  The song shifted to a slower number and Jeff spun my hips around so I was facing him. He pulled me close to him and draped his hands a little low on my back. I shifted a bit, and they raised a tad, but then quickly returned to my very lower back. My bare lower back. As I placed my arms on his shoulder, I felt his hands ripped off me.

  Shane was standing there, fury in his eyes, and practically foaming at the mouth. I tried not to let his hyper masculine side arouse me, but it was no good. Then, I saw his ex standing behind him, and I remembered I was mad at him.

  “Get your hands off her ass!” Shane shouted at Jeff.

  “Dude, back off,” Jeff insisted, trying to pull me behind him.

  “That’s my girl you’re groping.”

  “If she was your girl, then why’d she ask me to dance?”

  “Because you were dancing with your ex-girlfriend!” I screamed, interrupting the guys.

  “Because you were gone for over half an hour with this guy,” Shane yelled, pointing at Jeff.

  “What? We have a class together. We were just talking about the internship.”

  “Talking, is that what they call it these days?”

  “All right,” Jeff interrupted us. “Clearly, you two have some shit to work out. I’m just gonna go and let you all deal with this. But bro to bro, we were just talking until she asked me to dance.” Jeff walked off and left Shane and I glaring at each other.

  He didn’t say anything and I felt heat rising up my cheeks and all over my body. Lots of people were staring. I didn’t need to make an ass of myself when I was dancing. I managed to do it just talking.

  Shame fell into the pit of my stomach and I stormed out of the gym, ignoring the different people shouting my name as I went by. I kept running, not really sure where I was going but positive my heels weren’t going to push me much further. Finally, my legs almost gave out and I collapsed onto a bench outside, heaving and
gasping for air.

  “Are you done running?”

  I turned around and looked at Shane, standing there, barely breathing hard, and it made me even more frustrated. I was dying and he was sexy as ever.

  I reached down, taking my heels off, and began walking away fast. My car was still at home and I had no way of getting there, since my purse was in the gym and my cell phone was in it. There was nothing to do but keep walking. Maybe he’d go back to that slut and I could turn around and head back in the dance without having to deal with him.

  “Seriously, you’re walking around in that beautiful dress and bare feet. Come on, just talk to me, Barbie.”

  I whipped around and charged him, sticking my finger in his chest. “No, you don’t get to call me that. My friend, Annabelle, calls me that. You are clearly not my friend.”

  “No, I thought I was something more.”

  “Based on what? The fact that we’ve slept together? Spent the last couple weeks attached at the hip? I thought that too, and you placed your grubby hands all over the girl who left you. What, does she want you back now? Was I just the girl that kept her spot in your bed warm?”

  “Yeah,” he screamed. “She does want me back, and instead of bangin’ her in the library like she suggested, I’m standing out here arguing with you.”

  “Well, by all means. Go back and get it on with the love of your life. Don’t feel like you have to bring me home just because you brought me here.” I was furious, hurt, and embarrassed. I knew the key didn’t mean anything deeper than convenience, but here I was, tearing up over some guy. Maybe I should have stayed with Rob. Then at least I knew what I had. “Why were you dancing with her in the first place?”

  “I told you, you disappeared and came back with the perfect Ken doll. I thought that…”

  “Thought what? I was in the library with him? Didn’t you notice that Emma, Annabelle, and Violet were gone too?”

  “Yeah, but they came back and you didn’t.”

  “So instead of asking me about it, you just walk off with your ex?”