Ex-Factor (Diamond Girls) (12 page)

“Thank God it’s dark in there,” she said with a nervous laugh as she shoved her mirror back into her bag. She eyed me with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and sighed.

I had no clue what the outcome would be, whether she’d give in and have sex with Eli, but I was sure Erin would think about our conversation and consider what I’d told her. I could only hope she’d wise up to Eli’s bullshit and kick him to the curb. A girl could dream, right?

“You ready?” I gripped a long, silver handle and tugged one of the doors ajar. A blast of warm air and loud music oozed through the small crack in the door, rippling over my shredded senses. I’d survived an emotional talk with my friend—a talk that had included both my mother and Nate. If I could get through that and not freak out or fall over, I could totally handle the dance. Maybe I was getting stronger, healthier. Time would tell.

Erin bit her lip and forced an even bigger smile. “Yep. Let’s go find Claire and Tayla.”

***

We made it all of two feet into the gym before Claire and Tayla rushed us, the former pulling Erin into a bone-crushing hug.

“I’m so sorry, E,” Claire shouted over a pounding remix of Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass
.
” “I didn’t mean to blast you like that. I just worry about you. And for all my talk about the hot Aussie lovin’, I kinda wish I’d waited. Forgive me?”

Glossy, unshed tears shone in Erin’s eyes as she nodded, and a relieved grin broke across her face. “Thanks, C. Love you,” she said, giving her friend another squeeze. “Now, c’mon,” she shouted and pointed to the growing mob of students gyrating beneath the twinkle lights. “Nicki’s playing. Time to get our freak on!”

I opened my mouth to protest. “Shut it,” Erin said with a grin. She grasped me by the shoulders, spun me around and shoved me—rather forcefully, I might add—into the throng of sweaty bodies, Claire and Tayla hot on her heels.

Arguing seemed fruitless, and after the stressful start to the second half of our night, I wasn’t about to do anything to create further trouble. Forcing a smile, I closed my eyes, tuned everything out except for the music, and lost myself in mindless movement.

The heaviness I carried with me constantly crept to the surface and scratched at the back of my mind, reminding me that it was wrong to feel happy, to enjoy what I was doing. But when I opened my eyes and saw my friends, arms above their heads, getting their groove on alongside me, I squashed those feelings down, locked them away for later. Living in the moment and letting go, even for a little bit, felt good.

The song faded seamlessly into one of my favorite David Guetta tracks that featured Chris Brown. While I wasn’t a particular fan of his, I had to admit, I loved the song. The rapid, staccato beat and heavy synth blasted away the last remnants of melancholy clawing at my mind, and I shook my ass like it was my job, a loud and very unfamiliar giggle escaping my lips as Claire, Erin, and Tayla formed a makeshift circle around me and shimmied.

Feeling momentarily free, I closed my eyes again and drew my hands up through my hair as I shook my hips, enjoying the way the deep bass blaring from the enormous speakers echoed through my body. It was in that moment that I first sensed his eyes on me.

Bodie stood at the far end of the gym in the middle of a group of varsity lineman. They were engaged in a rowdy conversation that elicited more than one hoot and holler and a good amount of shoving. Oblivious to the testosterone-fueled bonding taking place around him, Bodie stood frozen in place, eyes dark and serious as he burned a hole through me with his smoldering gaze.

My breath hitched.

He smiled then, the corner of his mouth lifting into a grin so glorious I couldn’t help but smile myself. All the uncertainties I had about him, and all the insecurities I currently struggled with temporarily disappeared. For a minute, I was just a regular girl, he was just a regular boy, and we were both enjoying the moment. And damn, if he wasn’t the prettiest, most handsome creature I’d ever seen.

Delicious heat burned across the side of my face, the tingling sensation that accompanied it rippling down my arms and chest and into my gut.

Claire slid in front of me and ground her tiny backside against the front of my thighs as the music changed to Britney Spears’s “Up N Down.” Erin shouted a loud “girl groove!” and grabbed my hips from behind, sandwiching me between her and Claire. Tayla, uninterested in our three-way dance, rolled her eyes and giggled before turning to dance with another friend I didn’t know.

Mesmerized by the song and lost in Bodie’s stare, I gave myself over to the music once more and gyrated my hips in time with my girls. We were a sight for sure, writhing against each other to the pulsating beat, bodies slick with sweat from dancing.

Encouraged by the small circle of people who’d drawn near, Erin and Claire really let loose and danced like there was no tomorrow. For reasons I didn’t want to admit, I couldn’t seem to tear my eyes from Bodie’s. The world faded away for a split second, and there was only him and me. And God, did that split second feel incredible. The connection between us was palpable. Even with him standing at the opposite side of the gym.

And then Eli showed and jacked the whole thing up.

Flanked by a beefy blond guy I’d never seen before on one side, and the varsity team’s wide receiver whose name I’d yet to remember on the other, he watched the three of us as though we were shooting a porno and not dancing in the school gym.

I broke away and pointed toward the girls’ bathroom, fanning myself.

Of course, I didn’t have to pee, but it was an excuse everyone would buy and served to get me the hell away from Eli.

I glanced over to where Bodie had been standing, disappointment whirling in my gut when I found he was nowhere to be seen.

Lips pursed, I narrowed my eyes and returned my focus to my friends. Eli had wasted no time. He’d slithered in like the pathetic snake he was and held Erin by the hips, guiding her movements to the rhythmic beat as she’d done to me.

Freshly showered, he looked like he belonged on a billboard. Decked out in matching clothes much like the rest of the school, he and Team No Neck wore matching white T-shirts with the words “Brute Squad” written in black, masculine lettering over a muscled up cartoon character. They looked brutish all right. Brutish, handsome, and thoroughly confident in themselves. Oversexed lady-killers on the prowl.

My gaze wandered left, unfortunately settling on Callie and Tommy as they ground their bodies against one another in some sort of frantic, hideous movement they mistook for dancing. Tommy had his hands planted firmly on either side of Callie’s posterior, his mouth pressed firmly to her neck. The scene was vomit inducing, and I quickly looked away, certain I’d have to bleach my eyeballs in order to purge the image from my memory.

“Don’t feel like dancing anymore, huh?”

My breath caught, my body stiffened, and my senses kicked into overdrive as I turned my head toward the sound of Bodie’s voice.

Suddenly incapable of basic speech, I somehow managed to shake my head as I stared up into his dark, penetrating eyes.

Eli had nothing on Bodie. Dressed in a black T-shirt and low slung jeans that looked as though they were made for him alone, he was a teenage fantasy, or rather, my teenage fantasy come to life. He ran a large hand over his short hair and looked at his feet.

And then it happened.

He glanced up and stared at me from beneath a set of thick, dark lashes, and asked a question that made all the uncomfortable crap I’d endured throughout the evening worthwhile.

“You, uh, maybe wanna take a walk or something? Talk?”

A part of me I was sure had died along with both my mother’s memories and my father clawed its way to the surface and shouted a resounding “hell yes!” inside my mind. My heart fluttered in my chest and the butterflies that took up residence whenever Bodie was near took on plague status. Good Lord, I was smitten. Thoroughly, undeniably smitten.

“Um, sure,” I said, unable to tone down the wide, toothy grin crossing my face. The cosmos, it seemed, was finally giving me a break.

Chapter Ten

Status update:
That breathless moment when you’re swept away and it’s all you can do to stay on your feet…

The faint scent of fried food floated across the gentle breeze as I stepped out of the sauna-like gym into the fresh, crisp evening air. The sun had long since set, leaving only the soft yellow glow from the surrounding lamps and a dull haze from the blaring lights on the football field to illuminate the empty student union.

Unsure of both myself and the situation, I chewed on the inside of my lip and quietly picked at my fingernail as I followed Bodie across the quad and between the darkened buildings toward the football field.

My cell phone vibrated in my pocket, and I quickly pulled it out to see a text from Erin flashing across the screen.

Erin: Where r u? M worried.

The last thing I wanted to do was worry her, so I wasted no time in messaging her back.

Me: M fine. Outside with Bodie. Tell Liv 2 find me b4 dance is over.

I moved to put my phone away when another text came through—again, from Erin.

Erin: Bodie Scott??? What? How? When? Details! I expect details!

I giggled quietly and sent her one final message.

Me: Yeah, yeah. Ok. Deets later. Ttyl!

Bodie’s shoulders seemed to ease as we stepped onto the orangey track surrounding the field, and he finally broke the awkward silence that filled the space between us. He glanced at me, his eyes unsure. “This cool?”

A nervous giggle blew past my lips before I could stop it. I ducked my head in embarrassment and nodded. “Yeah. This is great.” Like I would have said otherwise. We could have been scraping gum off the bottom of the bleachers and I would have told him I was having a good time.

And then, because I was a complete idiot and didn’t know how to leave well enough alone, I opened my mouth and risked everything. “This,” I swept a hand between us, “it doesn’t make sense.” I narrowed my eyes and shook my head. “I thought you hated me.”

His face crumpled. The expression left as quickly as it came, the confident, somewhat cocky expression I’d grown used to taking up residence once again. The corner of his mouth lifted and he shook his head. “Not at all, Doll Face.” He inclined his head toward the opposite end of the track. “Let’s walk.”

A few people lingered in the stands, mostly maintenance people picking up scattered garbage and various other items left behind by the raucous crowd. A younger couple, a pair of freshmen, I thought, sat at the top of the far end, doing their level best to suck the faces off one another. Their amorous display was not only disturbing, it also looked a little painful. A good kiss should be felt all the way to your toes, but it shouldn’t leave a bruise.

“So, I, uh,” Bodie cleared his throat then coughed. “I heard about what you did in History this morning.”

My attention darted from the lovebirds in the stands, settling quickly on Bodie’s dark, stormy eyes. I shook my head. “I don’t know what you mean. I didn’t do anything.”

We stopped walking then. Bodie shook his head and made a “psssh” sound. “Don’t play like that. You did me a solid favor. Got me to the floor so I wouldn’t hurt myself. And you laid into the bastards that thought it was cool to stare at me like I’m some kind of freak.” He paused for a moment, his expression incredulous, awestruck almost, and his gaze full of warmth. “No one’s ever done that for me before.” He ducked his chin and swiped at his mouth before looking up at me once again with a soft smile. “So, thanks.”

To say I was stunned by Bodie’s words would have been a gross understatement. The moon could have hurtled toward the earth and flattened me and everyone else in one powerful swoop, and I wouldn’t have been more shocked. My eyes narrowed in disbelief. Bodie was thanking me? For doing what any decent person would do? For doing what any decent person
should
do? His admission that no one had ever helped him before felt like a knife to the gut.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” He shook his head and looked out at the field for a minute before glancing back at me. He jabbed a finger through the air, signaling he wanted to walk some more, and we took up our circuit around the track once again. “I’ve had two seizures at school, today’s included, one at the movie theatre, and one at the grocery store. Not once did anyone lift a finger to help me. Well, other than the school nurse and the paramedics. People freak out, freeze up and just stare.”

The word “stare” fell off his tongue like bitter poison, making my heart clench and my jaw ache. People’s ignorance never ceased to amaze me, and I found it utterly heartbreaking that no one, his friends included, would step out of their comfort zone to help him when he was down. People could be real jerks. I’d learned that truth over the past year, and included myself among the loser ranks most of the time.

“Does it hurt?” I asked, staring at the pink ridge that ran along the side of his head and down onto his cheek. The battle scar I wore at the base of my own skull tingled as I watched him shift uncomfortably from foot to foot.

He ran a self-conscious hand over his skull and sucked in a slow, deep breath. “The scar, or the seizures?”

“Both,” I said in a whisper.

My feet took on a life of their own, and before I knew what was happening, I stood directly in front of him with my hand raised, fingers reaching for his face. Would he pull away? Flinch? Snap at me for invading his space, for daring to touch him? I wasn’t sure on any count, but that didn’t stop me. I was too far gone. Mesmerized. Bodie Scott had some type of invisible tractor beam that had reeled me in, and I was powerless against its pull.