Page 9 of Words I Couldn't Say
Like the scene out of a clichéd, cheesy teenage romance, it happened on prom night. We both had dates with other people. No big deal. In fact, we were going on a double date and I couldn’t have been more excited. I went with Ian McDaniel, who was gay but not yet out to anyone but his closest friends. Tucker was with Candace Thompson, a cute softball player who I was pretty sure had been eyeing him for months.
Not that I could blame her. Tucker was tall and lean, with dark hair and piercing, blue eyes that had all the girls in school eyeing him.
Except for me.
Until now. As if someone had snapped their fingers, my vision was crystal clear and I was seeing Tucker for the first time. Not best friend Tucker. But incredibly handsome and incredibly kissable Tucker. And I wanted to find out if the latter was true, even though I was pretty sure it was.
My stomach tightened as I watched him dancing in a tux that molded to his lean muscles perfectly, his dimples showcasing when he smiled at me from across the room. The smile, one I’d seen countless times, had my mouth watering. I was so enthralled with my newfound attraction that Ian had to lean over and place his thumb under my chin to shut my open jaw.
“I didn’t think it was like that between you two,” he commented, looking down at me in surprise.
“It…it’s not,” I stammered, wondering why in the hell I’d suddenly recognized exactly how attractive Tucker was.
An unexpected jolt of pain shot through my heart. Where had that come from? It wasn’t like that with Tucker and me, but I apparently wanted it to be, and my brain was tired of keeping up with my denial routine.
Holy hell.
Before I could examine that sudden rush of not-so-platonic feelings, music blared across the gym. My face scrunched at the sound, and Ian rolled his eyes.
“Who the heck requested the Backstreet Boys?” I asked. Then I groaned when I saw that my dad and Tucker had moved over to the DJ booth, which indicated that they were unsurprisingly responsible for the blast from the way-back past.
Don’t get me wrong. I loved my dad to pieces, but when he’d told me that he was chaperoning my last high school dance, I could’ve killed him. Not because I was in danger of him witnessing me maul Ian on the dance floor or anything like that. No,Iwas at risk of the whole school seeing my dad maul my mom on the dance floor. Not that it would’ve been the first time. I was surprised they’d even been allowed back, given how they’d acted at homecoming last fall.
But that was beside the point. There I was, watching the two most important men in my life do some wacky, antiquated dance, when realization slammed into me.
I loved Tucker.
Now, I’d always loved Tucker. He’d been my best friend for my entire life, and I was closer to him than anyone else in the world. But this was different. I knew it. Because my heart was racing. My palms were a sweaty mess. My loins were aching.
Yeah, my loins.
If that didn’t tell me that something was changing, then I didn’t know what would. God, for the first time in my life, I finally got it. I finally understood why Sandy couldn’t get enough of Danny. I got why Allie couldn’t stop loving Noah even when Lon was an exceptional and handsome man.
The heart wants what the heart wants, and as if Cupid had appeared and struck me with his pesky love arrows, my heart instantly wanted Tucker Manning.
And the ache in my loins? Yeah, it wasn’t just my heart that wanted him, but all of my lady bits, too.
Ian’s hot breath landed on my ear. “Go get him, girl,” he encouraged.
“I’m not doing that to Candace,” I told him with a sullen sigh before turning and catching the mysterious way his eyes gleamed with amusement.
He pointed across the room, and my gaze followed. I gasped when I saw that, while Tucker was off dancing with my dad, Candace had found someone else to pass her time with. Meaning she was currently sucking face with a guy I didn’t know.
Thank you, Candace, you silly fool.
“I think she’ll be fine,” Ian said. “Now, go get your man.”
My eyes widened as I flicked them back from Candace to Ian and then to where Tucker was shaking it to BSB.
Go get your man.
Could I do this?
Your man.
A wicked grin formed on my lips. Of course I could do this. I was, after all, my father’s daughter. Public displays of affections ran deep in the Banks blood. It might have been sudden, but I knew what I wanted, and I wasn’t wasting any more time to get it.
So without further ado, I hitched up my dress, kicked off my heels, and marched across the gym floor until I was directly in front of the object of my newfound affection. His infectious grin warmed my heart as he watched me approach. The dimples in his cheeks deepened, and my heart swelled at the sight. Before he could say a word, my fingers gripped his tie, my free hand rose to the back of his head, I lifted onto my tiptoes, and I mashed my lips against his.
