Page 41 of Scoring the Player
Dahlia’s smile is immediate. “Good. Try some things like jumping, raising your hands over your head, lunging.”
“Lunging?”
“I’m going through a mental list of all the things Eddie does on stage.”
I lift my hands over my head. Then jump. “He lunges?”
“You know, like this,” she says as she holds onto a pretend microphone and lunges forward on one leg, like she’s crooning for an audience.
“Oh no, I think it’s more like this.” I do my own take, adding in a fist pump.
She hasn’t stopped dancing and now we’re standing close.
“You’re not bad.”
“It’s my secret talent. Eight years of dance class.”
“I can picture you in a sexy little leotard.”
She rolls her eyes and then does some sort of spin that sends her hair flying around her shoulders.
I close the space between us, and she startles, while nearly colliding with my chest. She hesitates for only a beat before dancing with me the way she did Robby. He’s a way better dancer than I am, but it’s just the closeness I’m craving.
Her face tilts up and our eyes lock. She holds my stare. Our bodies are millimeters apart. I place a hand at her hip and because I’m greedy, glide my thumb along the band of her shorts and let it slip just under so that I’m touching bare skin. “I have a secret talent too.”
“I don’t think it’s a secret.” Her voice is breathy.
It takes everything in me to pull away from her. I give her a playful wink as I force my feet back. “Not that.”
“What is it?”
“I’ll show you sometime,” I say, then raise my hands at my sides. “Did you get what you needed?”
15
DAHLIA
“Thankyou so much for doing that,” I say to Felix as we step out of the design lab.
“It’ll be worth it when I see you cutting it up on the dance floor at Sigma.” He glances over and smiles at me. “Why’d you stop dancing?”
“It got too hectic. I was doing golf as well, plus taking AP classes.” I shrug. “Are you going to show me your secret talent now?”
He flashes me a wide grin. “In time.”
“Fine.” I huff dramatically. He holds the outside door open for me and I step out into the night. “Do you mind if we stop by my house first? I want to drop off all my stuff.”
“For sure. What are your roommates up to tonight?”
“Daisy and Violet are hanging with their boyfriends and Jane had a bunch of homework.”
We’re both quiet as we walk across campus and toward the street that runs in front of my house.
When we get to a dark spot, where the streetlights are too far apart to light the sidewalk, Felix finally breaks the silence. “You walk this alone at night?”
“No, not usually,” I admit.
“But you planned to tonight?” He raises both brows.
