by Tay Marley
He showed me everything, the entire school. The studios where producing was done. The enormous theater that was used for productions. Music classes filled with every instrument imaginable. This school had it all, and the tour took around an hour. We chatted as we walked, getting to know a little more about each other. The most important thing was that I wanted to get to know him more.
“I’m guessing you’d like to see more of the dance classes?” Cooper smiled when we circled back to where we’d started.
I nodded, almost unable to contain the thrill of seeing the potential classes that I could attend. As we walked, it was hard not to see myself as a student. It was hard not to imagine that I would walk these halls. I knew that I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but I couldn’t help it.
Cooper chuckled at my enthusiasm to his offer and we started down the corridor, which wasn’t as busy as it had been earlier due to the fact that classes had started ten minutes ago. “You’re in luck because my troop’s starting some new choreography, and that’s what the USB is for—it’s got the music on it.”
We walked into a beautiful studio. It was alive with about fifteen hip-hop dancers who were moving in perfect sync to a track blasting from an impressive stereo in the corner of the room. I watched in awe as we walked toward the equipment, admiring the dancers’ flawless movements. The dance was sharp and precise, not to mention quick, and I felt a bit out of my league. I definitely had a lot to learn.
“Wow, this makes me extremely nervous about my audition,” I mumbled. “If I ever get one.”
“Do you want to jump in?” he asked as he plugged the USB into the stereo and selected a song.
“Jump in?”
“I’m about to teach these guys some new steps that I’ve been working on, so everyone’s on the same playing field. Give it a go?”
There wasn’t a lot of difference between what he was asking me to do and what I did almost every day with the cheer squad—follow along and learn the choreography. But my nerves suddenly swelled and were so strong that I contemplated heading straight for the door.
“Come on.” He took my hand and led me toward the group, obviously sensing my hesitation. “Everyone, this is Dallas. She’s going to tag along for the class.”
I gave a small wave and made a mental note to chew him out later for the public introduction. I received a collective warm greeting, and Cooper wasted no time asking everyone to pay attention before he started the dance. I quickly kicked off my flip-flops because there was no way that I could dance in a pair of those. I noted that most people were in designer sneakers. Hopefully no one stood on my toes.
Almost instantly the entire group followed Cooper’s moves and matched him step for step. He was incredible. The way that he moved was flawless and articulate. I almost forgot that I was meant to be paying attention to the routine and not watching him.
I focused on the repetition of his moves. This was obviously just the first few steps, and I kept my eyes on his feet as I copied the complex choreography. Before long, I picked it up, following along with everyone else but hardly being aware of the other dancers. As I often did while dancing, I became transported to a place where nothing but euphoria existed, and it was further elevated by the fact that I was in a real dance studio with a real class. It was so surreal and thrilling that I could do nothing but love each step, each movement, each swirl, turn, and leap. This was the dream.
Sometime later, I was sweaty and breathless, but I felt invigorated. I’d managed to keep up for however long we’d been dancing. Honestly, time was a foreign concept at this point.
“I don’t know what you’re worried about,” Cooper said. “You’re great. You’ll ace the audition.”
“If I get an audition.” I fanned my face and slipped my flip-flops back on before the two of us moved away from the rest of the dancers. “But thanks. That was fun.”
“If you need any help with a routine, when,”—he smirked—“your audition comes up, just let me know.”
“Really?”
“Of course.” He smiled and those little dimples made another appearance. “I’ll be happy to help.”
“I might just take you up on that offer.”
It was about three in the afternoon when I finally started back to the hotel. I knew that Drayton and I were supposed to be going to Hollywood that afternoon, but his mysterious plans left me wondering what time we’d go. I was also itching to know what he could have been doing all day. But I was not going to ask for the simple fact that I wanted to seem less interested in all things Drayton. His hot and cold games were messing with me. At times I wanted to grab him and kiss him and tell him that I had a mild infatuation with his stupid face. Other times, I wanted to crush the feelings that I was having because I couldn’t tell what he really wanted and the whole thing terrified me.
When I got back to the hotel, he was lounging in the reception area with all of our bags, his sunglasses on, and his mouth slightly parted as he stared up at the ceiling. I cautiously approached him because I had a strong inkling that he was asleep.
“Dray.” I whipped his glasses off and giggled as he startled awake. His head whipped back and forth in confusion. Why was he so adorable? “What are you doing?”
“We had to check out and you weren’t answering your phone.” He vigorously rubbed his hands up and down his face and sat up straighter. I slipped my phone out of my pocket and winced when I noticed the seven missed calls and thirteen text messages.
“Sorry, it was on do not disturb.”
He got to his feet, grabbed our bags, and threw them over his shoulder. “How was the tour?” He seemed genuine.
“Amazing,” I chimed, taking my duffel from him as we started for the hotel doors. “I was able to join an actual class and learn the choreography. Cooper is such a good dancer.”
I watched Drayton’s mouth turn down as we stepped onto the sidewalk, and I took some sick satisfaction in watching his annoyance.
“Yeah, he’s so fluid with his steps. That boy can move. He taught me so much and he offered to help if I needed tips for an audition. It was so much fun. I have to get accepted to that school. I need it. Cooper is so confident in my dancing that he’s sure that I’ll make it.”
“Sounds good, Cheer,” he mumbled as our Uber pulled up at the sidewalk. I waited for him to tell me about his morning. I even asked about it once during the drive, but he was vague and nonresponsive, and I wasn’t going to hound him for details that he didn’t want to give me.
But it was forgotten when we arrived in Hollywood. While it was not quite as glamorous as television and movies would make it seem, it was still exciting to see buildings in person that I’d only seen on the big screen. It was sort of surreal.
We spent the afternoon sightseeing and, of course, going to the Walk of Fame that I’d wanted to visit for as long as I could remember. So far, I’d had Drayton take a photo of me beside about thirty-six different celebrities’ stars.
“One more! Just one more!” I begged.
“Noooooo.”
“Dray, everyone does this with the stars. It’s normal. Come on, take my picture.”
I crouched beside the Ryan Reynolds star and gave Drayton a thumbs-up. But then I realized that Ryan Reynolds would be ashamed of such a mediocre pose, so I extended one leg behind me and knelt with the other one in the front while I held my hands up in fists.
Drayton laughed while I switched between power poses. He let me clown around for a minute or two, snapping continuous shots, before he lowered the phone.
He extended his hand and lifted me to my feet with such a strong pull that I came right off the ground for a moment. We continued walking and I read the names below us. Drayton must have noticed how I skipped with excitement whenever I saw a new name that belonged to a fave because he began to protest.
“Na-uh. Stop looking at them. Head up. You�
�ll ask for more pictures.”
Without so much as a warning, he lifted me by the waist and threw me over his shoulder. I squealed as he started to sprint. It was a blessing that he was good at football because he had to weave through crowds of people, only just avoiding colliding with the masses of tourists who lingered on the path.
“What is wrong with you?” I groaned when my stomach was finally relieved of the strong shoulder that it had been slammed into as he rushed through the streets.
“I’m starving, Cheer.” He threw his arm over my shoulders and guided us through the bustling crowds. “I was never going to get to eat with the way you were going.”
“I’m actually pretty hungry now that I think about it. Any suggestions for food?”
“Room service?”
“I was kind of hoping we could eat out.”
“I’ll eat out if you really want me to, Cheer.”
I whipped my head toward his devious grin and groaned. I’d walked into that one, as I seemed to do more often than not. He was such a perv. He laughed and drew me in closer. “How about we get room service tonight and I’ll take you out for breakfast in the morning? Somewhere that does the works.”
“Actually, a gourmet breakfast does sound so good. People don’t go out for breakfast enough. Dinner is great. But breakfast. Mmm.”
We settled on our plans and went back to the room. It was a quiet night. We watched a movie. We ate too much room service. We did not play truth or dare again. And as filter-less as Drayton was, I appreciated that he didn’t bring up how drunk and tragic I was at the frat party again. During the movie Robin Hood, Drayton fell asleep. Honestly, I wouldn’t have noticed except that when his arm went around my waist and he pulled me into his body, I looked over my shoulder with confusion and found his expression soft and his lids closed. It made my heart flutter in an irregular, pounding pattern, but I didn’t move. I shuffled backward a little closer and fell asleep in his hold.
“Wake up, Cheer!”
My eyes felt as if they’d been glued shut. I could feel the sunlight streaming through the window. The room felt hot and humid, and all I could smell was Drayton’s signature scent as a soft breeze fluttered against my cheeks.
When I did manage to peep through a narrow, tired glare, I recoiled farther back into the pillow because Drayton had positioned himself on top of me. His bare chest hovered above my own. The sheets draped across his back and over either side of us.
“What the hell?” I mumbled, placing my flat palms on his firm chest and attempting to shove him. I ignored the spark that surged through me when my skin touched his. “What are you doing, you weirdo.”
“We have to go home.” His tone was laced with boredom but his eyes traveled my face with a brighter interest. “My mom is threatening to get rid of my motorcycle. Our trip’s been cut a day short. Sorry.”
I pouted but I understood. It was amazing that we could have come at all. And I was not going to hold out hope that I would win against his motorcycle.
“I’ll bring you back.” He grinned, still hovering a heartbeat away. “Christmas break. Promise.”
His sincerity startled me. He wasn’t obligated to bring me back—he hadn’t been obligated to bring me in the first place—but there he was, promising my pouting self that he’d continue our adventure during the Christmas break. Why was he like this?
“Or,”—he tilted his head with a thoughtful expression—“New York for New Year’s?”
“Oh, will we still be friends?” I teased. “That’s almost three months from now.”
His grin fell and the hurt on his face made me double back. I hadn’t intended for my comment to upset him. But it was apparent that was what I’d done. “Harsh.”
“It was a joke.” I twisted my fingers together. I was tempted to touch his face for assurance, but that felt dangerous. “But you have friends and family to spend New Year’s with, and so do I.”
“Yeah.” He nodded with a smile that made it hard to decipher if he was still upset at what I’d said or not. “Suppose that’s true.”
He hoisted himself off the bed, and the urge to touch and kiss him every time he was within arm’s length hadn’t let up, so I breathed a sigh of relief when he headed toward the bathroom.
“Our flight is in three hours,” he called from the bathroom, sounding much more like himself. The shower started running and I sat up, combing my hands through my bird’s-nest hair. “Save us some time and come shower with me.”
“Keep dreaming, Lahey.”
I know I will.
The flight was uneventful. Drayton didn’t seem nervous that he’d been ordered to come home. He was relaxed and collected. We picked up our luggage from the belt and wandered through the airport toward our exit. It was a quiet Tuesday morning. Continuing through the airport, we passed stores and fast food stands. Approaching the final set of doors that opened into the pickup and drop-off terminal, Drayton stopped dead in his tracks and stared ahead of him.
“So, my mom’s here.” He slowly nodded toward the exit, and I followed his gaze. It didn’t take long to spot the small, slender woman with dirty-blonde locks and a furious scowl etched on what was otherwise a beautiful face. She didn’t look older than thirty. Dressed casually in a pair of jeans and an oversized blouse, she still managed to make the outfit look like a million dollars.
“You can run if you want.” Drayton shrugged.
I considered running, especially as the woman beelined toward us, but I remained where I was because if I took off now, there was no redeeming myself from something as cowardly as that.
“Drayton Jacob Lahey,” she snapped, stopping in front of us. The first thing that I noticed, after I admired how youthful she was, was her southern accent. I recalled Drayton telling me that his mom had been born and raised in Texas. “You are so damn unbelievable. What were you thinking? Taking off to California when you told us that you would be in Dallas!?”
She took a deep breath and directed her deep-green glare toward me. She wasn’t my mother, but even I was worried that I was about to get grounded for life or have all of my privileges taken away. She’d mastered the art of the motherly stare down, that was for sure.
“Who’s this?” She bit, still assessing me with an intimidating stare.
“This is Dallas,” Drayton told her, smiling with innocence and charm as his gaze moved between the two of us. “Technically, I wasn’t totally lying. I was with Dallas. I wasn’t in Dallas. Well”—he winked with a devious grin—“not yet anyway.”
“Drayton! For the love of God!” she cried. I must admit that while his words were obscene, I assumed she would have been used to it. Her reaction made me giggle more than anything else. “You have no tact at all, do you?”
“This is my mom, Ellie.” Drayton ignored his mother, still grinning. He was contagious. I couldn’t help but want to smile at the way he wound up his mom, despite the fact that I thought she was about to pop a vein. Biting down on the inside of my cheek, I turned away from him so that I didn’t break my resolve.
“Nice to meet you, Dallas.” She directed her attention back to her son before I had the chance to return her sentiments. “Let’s go. I’ll be waiting in the car. It’s out front.”
“She’s not always like that,” he said as she walked away. “I happen to just bring out the worst in her.”
“Oh, I can’t imagine how.”
“Are you going to be all right getting home? Need a ride?”
That car trip was not one that I wanted to be part of. “Don’t worry, I’ll call Nathan and ask him to come and get me.”
“Safe.”
I became curious as to why he was still standing there, staring at me as though there was something making the wheels in his head spin. I shifted my weight and gave him a curious smile. “What is it?”
“Here.” He reluctantly slippe
d a bit of paper into my hand.
“What’s this?”
“Cooper’s number.” He shrugged when I glanced up at him. “If you think there’s something there, I suppose having his number will help you figure it out.”
What he was doing wasn’t deserving of the reaction that I felt. But I couldn’t help but feel it. His flirting, the kissing, the jealousy, it all indicated feelings. But he was hot and cold. He was on and off, and while I wanted to keep clear of feeling more than I already did for him, his mixed messages were killing me. He was sucking me in just to push me away again, and it was more than I’d bargained for when I’d decided that we could be friends.
“I can’t do this anymore.” My voice broke when I tried to keep it even. “This thing with you and me. Friends or whatever we are. It’s seriously messing with me. The lines keep getting blurred, and it’s just too much. You’re too confusing, Drayton.”
I ignored the protests coming from my heart as my eyes met his. It seemed that for once he was actually conveying how he felt instead of just masking it with a smug grin or a cute smirk.
“Dallas, I—”
“I need some distance from you. Okay? I’m super grateful for this trip and what you did for me, and I’ll figure out some way to pay it back, but I’d appreciate it if you could just listen to me when I ask you to leave me alone.”
I didn’t wait for a response because knowing him, he’d say something that trumped all of my arguments and I’d become putty in his hands like I’d never been before. Pushing past him, I headed for the exit, determined not to change my mind. The smallest part of me hoped that he’d follow me.
But he didn’t.
Chapter 14
It had been over a month since Drayton and I took our spontaneous trip to California. It had been one month since I experienced the most fun I’d ever had in my entire life. It had been one month since I finally admitted to myself that my feelings for Drayton had grown beyond control, and it had been one month since I told him not to speak to me anymore.