Page 32 of Unwritten Rules

Garrett looked around for what I was looking at. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, uh, Kelly had some bitch throw her drink on her and I’m watching her stumble away like an idiot.” I couldn’t stop fidgeting with my hands.

He leaned down to kiss me. I let him. It was nice to empty my brain for a moment amidst the drama unfolding in my life. “Kelly going to be okay?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “She’s probably toweling herself down in the bathroom.”

“Dance while we wait?”

He twirled and danced with me for a bit until I saw Kelly come back downstairs and beeline it to the bar. She was rapidly typing away on her phone.

I didn’t think much of it. She was usually scrolling social media when she was bored and probably wanted to have a few minutes to decompress and dry off. That, and get another drink. Her facial expression was still weird to me, though.

I tried to refocus on Garrett and the moment we were in. Dancing with him felt normal and natural. It was the normal way college kids dated–they went to parties, danced, and hung out. At leastI thoughtthey did. What wasn’t the normal way is how Brent put me on the back of his bike after being weird to me on the porch. Plus, it seemed like we were both seeing other people.

Maybe he did want to kill me but backed out at the last second.Or he just realized you weren’t an easy lay. Stop being so paranoid.

I wanted to have a normal sophomore year and do normal sophomore things. That meant Ineededto have a normal boyfriend and go on dates with him–which is what I was doing.I think.

Garrett leaned down so I could hear him over the music, his breath so close to my neck it tickled and sent a shiver down my spine. “You look beautiful tonight.”

I swallowed the nervous lump forming in my throat. We were dancing so closely. He put his hand in mine and the other drifted slowly to the small of my back, pulling me closer. The room felt smaller and his face was inches from mine.Too close.

He wanted more than I wanted, and it was clear. Before this semester, if someone told me I would have been this close totwomen, I would have laughed in their face. I never focused on boys, my mom grew sicker by the day in my younger years. They were thelastthing on my mind, really.

The only thing I had any experience with was a kiss that happened on a dare in sixth grade. If you could call that experience.

We danced for a while but my eyes drifted back to Kelly at the bar. I couldn’t help but think she acted weird today. Not her usual weird. It felt distracted. She was still standing there at the bar, but only she wasn’t texting anymore. Her body language looked strange while she was focused on a taller male figure speaking to her.

Who is she talking to?The person wasn’t Shane. The way they spoke looked off to me with how she was standing. Kelly leaned in closer, looking to keep their conversation private. Whatever it was, it gave me an odd feeling in my stomach.

Garrett’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Think you want to head outside for a bit and get some fresh air?”

I blinked, refocusing on the man in front of me. He looked relaxed with an easy smile while his hair was styled back for the party. “Yeah, sure,” I breathed, trying not to think too heavily about Kelly.

The stranger was still standing close to her when I took one last look.She looks fine enough, right?

We left the dance floor, escaping onto the patio in the cool night air. He looked more handsome under the lighting on the porch, but he pulled us into a quieter spot near the garden. The party’s conversations and music faded into the background.

Garrett was tall with a nice footballer build. His curly blonde hair was definitely charming and matched his honey brown eyes. Some days, I wondered why this stunning man with a nice smile hung around me.Stop overthinking it.

He leaned on the wall and took one of my hands in his. “I like you a lot, Fallon. Hanging out over the summer was one of my highlights from the break.”

Oh no.

I turned my head away and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. We had chemistry, but was I prepared for what he wanted to say? “Me too. My roommate was the one who convinced me to get out more. Since, you know, I kept to myself for a while after my mom...”

“I know.” He reached up cupping my chin, turning my face back to his. “I’m glad she did. I might not have met you otherwise.”

His hand was warm on my chin. I wanted to lean into it more, but something made me want to hold back. “Me too,” I smiled.

He moved closer. “So what do I have to do to make things official with you?”

Never in my life did I think there would be someone asking me to be their girlfriend. I wanted to have a boyfriend, but, again,something was holding me back.

Gut feelings were something my mom told me to listen to. Our intuitions knew things that we didn’t. When my mom told me she had a gut feeling about a situation, she would sit and think through it. I wondered if that’s what made her such a prudent and successful woman–by using her intuition to guide her through things.

Would I be the same, or would my lack of experience be my downfall?

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