Chapter 46 Remy
REMY
I was more nervous walking into the high school gymnasium than I’d ever been at one of my own high school dances.
At first I thought it was because it had been so long since I’d been to one, but then I looked at Maeve and the butterflies kicked up in my stomach and I knew it was because I’d never loved someone as much as I loved her.
Not just in high school but ever.
It was enough to make me sweat. I’d never dropped the L-bomb on a girl, and it was probably a bad idea to start on a girl who was only living with us because Bram had forced her to live there in exchange for our help with Ethan Todd.
I guessed Maeve liked us well enough — Poe and me anyway — but she wouldn’t have been anywhere near us if it hadn’t been for the Hunt.
But looking at her as we entered the dimly lit gymnasium, I knew for sure I was a goner. Wearing a simple red dress she said she’d worn to a Christmas party the year before, she looked like a Christmas angel, but I knew she hid a devilish streak and that only made me want her more.
She’d left her hair down and it shone under the lights, her eyes bright as she took in the decorations, fake snow, and trees strung with white lights from the drama department, all in keeping with the dance’s Walking in a Winter Wonderland theme.
“See you around,” Owen shouted over the music, spun by a DJ at one end of the gym.
He took his date’s hand and they disappeared into the crowd.
“Maddy’s nice,” Maeve said about Owen’s date, a pretty blonde who seemed easygoing and friendly.
I nodded. Owen was head over heels. “Punch?”
“Definitely.”
I took her hand and led her across the gym to a table lined with several punch bowls and trays full of baked goods, all donated by the PTA according to the sign.
“This gym is so big,” Maeve said, looking around while I ladled our punch into paper cups.
I followed her gaze. “Is it?”
The refreshment table was at the other end of the gym from the music, which made talking a little easier.
“Compared to the gym at Forest Day,” she said.
“Did you have uniforms and everything?” I asked, handing her one of the cups.
“Yep.” I stared at her mouth as she took a drink. “Pleated skirts, white shirt, knee socks, the whole bit.”
“Damn.” I grinned. “You don’t happen to still have that stuff lying around do you?”
She rolled her eyes with a smile. “You’re ridiculous.”
I took her hand and pulled her close. “You look really pretty tonight.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d said it but I couldn’t help myself.
She smiled up at me. “You look great too. Definitely the most handsome date who’s ever taken me to a school dance.”
She was just being nice, but the compliment still gave me a flush of pleasure. “Are you trying to get in my pants?”
She laughed and I thought I could spend forever listening to that laugh. “Maybe.”
We hung out by the punch bowl until the principal, Ms. Richards, noticed us and came over to say hello. She looked nice, her curly black hair tucked under a printed scarf that matched her flowy dress.
She looked me up and down and sounded more than a little surprised when she admitted I’d turned out okay while Maeve tried not to snort into her punch.
I introduced Ms. Richards to Maeve, then did the same when Mr. Bolte, my tenth-grade biology teacher came over to say hello with his wife. After that I was more than happy to pull Maeve onto the dance floor, away from backhanded compliments and Maeve’s gleeful snickering.
Most of the music was unfamiliar to both of us — talk about feeling old — but we danced anyway, laughing and being silly, catching glimpses of Owen and Maddy as they tried to avoid us.
Maeve moved on the dance floor like she moved everywhere else, easy and fluid and sexy as hell, and maybe it was the high school setting but I was more than a little tempted to lure her out to the Hummer where we could be alone.
One song ended and another began, this one an oldie I recognized: To Make You Feel My Love by Garth Brooks. I assumed it had been requested by Mr. Bolte, because he’d just been up at the DJ booth, and I said a silent prayer of thanks.
Anything that allowed me to hold Maeve close was a goddamn gift, and I pulled her into my arms before she could leave the dance floor.
She laughed. “I’m all sweaty and so are you.”
I took one of her hands and slid my free arm around her waist. “I don’t mind if you don’t.”
She looked around nervously. “We could take a break…”
I looked down at her. “Just breathe, Maeve.”
I touched my lips to her forehead and she closed her eyes. Then I let go of her hand and pulled her closer, because I could never get close enough to my Maeve.
She wrapped her arms around me and rested her head on my shoulder and I felt like the world disappeared around us. I smelled the strawberry body wash on her skin and the fresh scent of her shampoo and I felt like maybe I’d come home for the first time in my adult life.
All the things we hadn’t been able to say moved between us, a tidal wave that made me want to stop the clock and stay there in the gymnasium, letting it wash over me forever.
I brushed her ear with my lips.
I love you. I really, really love you.
The words were right there, on the tip of my tongue, seeping out of my heart like a dam about to crack.
But right then she didn’t seem like my killer, she seemed like Poe’s little bird, more fragile than she’d ever let on. One wrong word and she might fly away forever, so I just closed my eyes and held her tight, lying to myself that it could be enough.