Page 109 of A Dead Girl's Guide to Living
Ellis shifted on her feet, tugging at the sleeve of her sweater and biting her delicate pink lip in a way that made me jealous.
“I—I don’t know how to dance, Dove,” she mumbled, cheeks red again.
I let my own confident grin spread across my face, praying it was convincing. “You just sway with me, Ellis.” I noted a few people had already begun dancing, pairing off with whoever they’d come onto the floor with, and I gestured around us. “See?”
Her green eyes shifted nervously around us, wide and uncertain, and I gave her no further time to waste on thought, or for me toumandahover how to break the distance.
I took one of her hands and rested it on my shoulder, fitting her other hand clumsily into my own. A small gasp of air left her lips when I set my other hand at her waist, drawing her closer until we were chest to chest. For a beat, neither of us moved, and it felt like neither of us dared to breathe.
I felt too aware of her, ofeverything. The warmth of her skin where her palm curled against mine, the faint smell of her shampoo wafting up my nose, the way she felt both strong and delicate under my touch.
She let out a shaky, almost inaudible breath, her fingers twitching ever so slightly on my shoulder.
I swallowed and moved us slightly, drawing her into the sway as we seemed to dissolve into the crowd of other swaying dancers, the confusion over the abrupt change in music quickly forgotten. Over the top of Ellis’s head, I saw Liv slow dancing with herself on the DJ booth and had to resist the urge to snort a laugh.
“I don’t think I’m very good at this,” Ellis mumbled, her voice so faint I nearly missed it. “I can’t do this.”
“You already are,” I murmured, squeezing her hand softly. “See? A night out isn’t so bad, right?”
Her lips tugged into a small smile, and she looked at me cautiously. “It’s not theworstthing in the world,” she relented.
“Coming from you, that’s a five-star compliment,” I said, smirking.
She let out a hitched-sounding laugh, and just for one tiny second, her fingers tightened on mine. I allowed my delusions to run wild, to let myself believe she was holding on just long enough to know what it felt like, how it felt to let go and maybe let someone in.
There was a pulse of something unseen between us, and whether or not she felt it was unknown to me, but it was like a pull I could feel but not touch. It made me hyperaware of every inch between us, every light catch of her breath, and the thousands of flickering emotions in her eyes.
This wasn’t just attraction or tension.
It felt more tangible than that. More right.
Ellis Langley had gone and gotten herself under my skin, and I found myself having zero desire to see her removed.
“I’m goingup to the roof,” Liv announced just as Ellis placed the final pillow in her wall down the center of the bed, her face determined as she observed it. “You both snore, and I can’t sit there listening to it all night.”
I raised a brow at her and watched as she shot me a wink before floating straight up through the ceiling like something out of a movie. I wrinkled my nose, then turned back to the bed,finding Ellis already climbing in on her side and flicking off her lamp.
I bit my lip, trying to hold back my smirk, as I climbed into my own side and adjusted myself under the sheets, doing my best not to disturb the pillows as I leaned over and flicked off my own lamp.
The room was cast into darkness, save for the faint orange glow of light that crept in through the thin motel curtains. I let my eyes trace the lines on the ceiling, listening to the muffled sounds of cars passing outside, the slamming of other motel room doors, and Ellis’s soft breaths beside me.
So close, but so far away.
The room suddenly felt too big and too small all at once.
“You know,” I whispered into the dark, a smirk spreading across my face, unable to help myself. I had to point out the elephant in the room. “We didn’t have a pillow wall last time.”
There was a pause on Ellis’s side of the wall before she spoke, quiet and wry.
“Well, you kick in your sleep,” she said. “The wall should take the brunt of it.”
I snorted softly and put my arms back under my head. “Such a lie, Ellis.”
A small, weak, and reluctant laugh left her, and it had something warm twisting in my chest.
“Tonight was… something,” Ellis murmured, a low yawn leaving her. “I’m not sure if I struggle with people because I didn’t have much time around them… or if I just don’t enjoy the same things people my age are supposed to.”
I blinked into the dark.
