He sat down in the chair angled beside mine, and then that was all I could smell. Him. A heady mixture of warm cinnamon and citrus.
“I knew you wouldn’t be with your friends.”
“How did you know that?” I asked, subtly glancing around for the nearest exit. I’d been perfectly fine sitting out here by myself. Now, all I wanted to do was move away. He made me feel unsettled. Yet, fascinated.
“Because I know you.”
That offhanded reply reeled in my attention.
He was staring right at me, his eyes even more brilliant against the backdrop of a starry sky and soft glowing lights. I’d die to paint him like this. Swallowing, I twisted the cap off my water, suddenly needing another drink. “You do?”
“Uh huh.” He leaned in and I had a flash of deJa’vu, but unlike last night where my hand was the only form of defense, the arm of the chair served as a barrier between us.
“Right now, you look like you want to run.”
“I don’t want to run.” I lied. Apparently, I hadn’t been as subtle as I thought and because he called me on it, I now felt compelled to stay.
He didn’t look like he believed me. Nevertheless, he nodded and leaned back a small bit, peering down at my face. “You have extremely beautiful eyes.”
I blinked in surprise, not expecting that to come out of his mouth.
I’d been born with heterochromia, causing one eye to be light brown and the other to be green. I’d heard people say they were pretty every now and then, most just stared as if they were some major discovery.
“And interesting fashion sense,” he continued, leaning all the way back in his chair.
I glimpsed at my black midi halter. The words cry baby were scrawled across my chest in the same color pink that my pleaded skater skirt was. Unable to tell if he was being sarcastic or serious, I muttered, “Thanks.”
“So, what’d you do last night?”
“What do you mean?”
“Last night…after I saw you at the store.”
Oh. “Oh, nothing,” I replied, taking that long-awaited sip of water.
He removed something from behind his ear and lit it, a second later the intense smell of Kush filled the entire space around us.
“You’re going to spark that in front of all these people. Just. Like. That?”
He took a long drag, making the cherry glow bright orange. Exhaling a puff of smoke followed by a loud, “Fuck these people.”
Everyone near the bannister turned our direction, and I nearly choked on my next swig, trying not to laugh.
“That’s not very hospitable.”
“They’re here for my liquor, drugs, and to fit a status quo that doesn’t mean shit where I’m from.”
“And where would that be?” My brain said don’t ask. Obviously, my mouth had better ideas.
“Curious about me, are we? Just when I had started thinking I read you wrong last night. You do like me.”
“Nice way to deflect,” I quipped.
He laughed for the first time and my insides went crazy.
His laugh sounded like chaos. It immediately became one of my favorite things.
“Here.” He held out his blunt.
“I’m good.”
“Come on, princess.”
I felt my face screw up. “Don’t call me that.”
He laughed again, quieter this time. “Your friend did it. The nice one.”
He had to be talking about Emery. Annika would never be referred to in those words. His hand lifted higher in a second offering. I sighed and took the blunt, bringing it up to my lips.
“You’re a bad influence.”
“Exactly why you and I are going to have so much fun together.”
“I wasn’t aware we’d be doing anything with one another.”
He rested his elbows on his knees “I can think of a few things, but we can start with this. For now.”
A wiser woman would have digested that statement without giving a response or questioning what it meant. If anyone else had been in the chair beside me I’d have done just that, but the ominous tone of his words piqued my curiosity.
“Care to share what those few things are?”
A smug smirk gave tilt to his perfect lips. Whatever he was going to say next was cut off by the ringing of his phone. He pulled it from his pocket and stared down at the screen. “I gotta take this.”
“And this.” I tried to pass him his blunt back.
He stood up and shook his head, ignoring my outstretched hand. “Keep it.”
I didn’t want it. I watched him walk away, slipping back inside the house.
Wanting to be gone before he came back for various reasons, I eyed the group still standing a few feet away. Picking one of the three, I went up to the guy with too much gel in his hair and tapped his shoulder.
“Sup?” he questioned, turning to look at me.
“Its your lucky day.” I handed him the blunt, and then walked off to find my friends.
CHAPTER SIX