Page 26 of Friend Me

“But you’re both of those.”

He rolled his eyes up to the spotlights over the stage. “Dance with me?”

“Sure.”

Just before we stepped onto the dance floor, I spotted gangly, eleven-year-old Noah sitting alone at a table. His grandmothers had joined the dancing: Alicia’s mother with Jackson, and her stepmother with Alicia. There were plenty of other kids at the wedding—a bunch of young Jones cousins—but they clustered around the cake table, leaving Noah by himself. The evening must have been strange for Noah, marking the official transition for him and Alicia into the Jones family, and my heart ached for the kid who’d undergone so much change in the past year. And who’d lost his mother, same as me. I stopped next to Noah, pulling Tyler to a halt.

“Hey, Noah,” I said. “Tyler and I are going to dance. Want to come with?”

His ears turned pink, and he shook his head, making the long dark-blond strands fly over his face. “No, thanks.” Noah, Alicia had told me, had had a tiny crush on me since I’d been his babysitter a few months ago.

Tyler squatted down in front of him. He spoke softly, but I heard him say, “Look, my friend, when a pretty girl asks you to dance, you say yes. She might not ask you again.”

Noah gulped and nodded, his eyes wide. I stretched out my hand to him, and he took it and followed us onto the dance floor, where the band played a poppy ’60s tune. Tyler launched into a ridiculous frat-boy shimmy, and Noah and I giggled and bopped along.

While we danced, my eyes landed on Alicia and Jackson, who’d partnered up again, slowly swaying out of time with the fast song. They reminded me of my parents’ wedding photo. Their wedding hadn’t been opulent at all, but the expressions on their faces were so similar to my friends’. Pure love shone out of Alicia’s blue eyes as she looked at her husband. I full-body sighed.

A few songs later, I was sweaty and my hair was starting to escape its sprayed-stiff updo when the band transitioned to “Something” by the Beatles. Alicia approached and asked Noah, “Hey, buddy. Dance with me?”

“Sure.” Alicia grinned her thanks at me over his head as they twirled away.

Tyler moved closer and grasped my right hand. He hesitated for a moment and then slid his arm along my back, pulling me in until only a few inches separated us. “Okay?” he asked.

“Fine.” But it was more than fine. Tyler was just as warm as I was, and his white collared shirt, unbuttoned at the neck, stuck to his skin. The scent of his cologne—cedar and citrus—bloomed at close range. I looked up into his eyes, a kaleidoscope of emerald, amber, and sapphire. A hint of stubble softened his strong jaw. When the lights from the bandstand struck his face, his good looks hit me like a dodgeball in my gut. I’d never reallylookedat him before. Certainly not from this close.

“Mmm-hmm.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

“I was just agreeing with you.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Oh.” If I’d been drinking, I’d have blamed the wine. Then I noticed we’d closed the few inches between our bodies, and the yellow silk covering my breasts pressed right against the thin cotton of his shirt.

Tyler looked over my shoulder. “Get ready for phase two.”

“What?”

“Operation Prince Charming. Phase one was dancing.” He led us into a quarter-turn and took a deep breath. “Ready?”

“For wha—”

He kissed me.

And the world stopped.

I mean, the world kept going around us, and the singer crooned, “Don’t want to leave her now,” and the other couples kept swaying, and the colored lights zoomed. But for me, everything faded except the soft touch of Tyler’s lips on mine and his arms holding me up on that dance floor. It could have been five seconds or five minutes or five hours because time ended while my eyes closed and our lips met.

At last, he eased away, and I opened my eyes. My right hand was tangled in the hair at the back of his head, and he stared down into my face. His chest heaved like he’d run up a flight of stairs. Or maybe it was my chest heaving.

Then his eyes flicked to my right, where Cooper watched us over Jamila’s shoulder.

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