Teagan
“Yeah, but he left me here. By myself. I must have done something.”
Juliet shook her head. “No. Sorry. That was all him. So pull that pouty lip in and stop trying to blame his insecurity on yourself.”
“Hey.” Juliet bumped shoulders with her. “Want to bail and watch Saw in my room?”
“Good evening, ladies.” Perry offered them a courtly bow that was mostly aimed at Juliet.
Interesting. Teagan looked from one friend to the other. It really was uncanny that they’d chosen to make exactly the same fashion statement tonight. It must have been fate.
“Juliet?” Perry arched one of his perfectly shaped eyebrows, his voice coming out in a strangely formal staccato. Like someone—Teagan—was forcing him to say the words. “I have something to tell you. About your outfit.”
Juliet shot Teagan a look like, Oh boy, here we go.
“You wore it best,” Perry said. “I thought you should know.”
Juliet looked stunned.
Teagan shoots… and she scores! She congratulated herself on her matchmaking abilities.
Now that Perry had survived his earth-shatteringly awkward admission, he held out his hand to Juliet. “Would you, perchance, like to dance?”
Juliet shot a look at Teagan, clearly worried it was a trap.
“Yes, Perry,” Teagan answered for her in her sweetest voice. “Juliet would love to dance.”
“Wonderful.”
As Juliet took Perry’s hand, she whispered to Teagan, “I’ll kill you for this.”
“You’re welcome,” Teagan said with a smile as she watched them dance together.
At least someone’s night had taken an upswing.
She needed to get out of here. Now. There was only one place in the world that made her feel like herself. So as late as it was, that was where she would go.
The door to the boathouse opened and closed. Her all-too-brief alone time was over. Had Cam come looking for her?
“Hello?” she called into the dark clubhouse room. In the dim light, she saw Josh shouldering a tote bag.
“Hey,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
“Ummm…” She could ask him the same thing, but he’d asked first. “My night turned out to be a bust.”
“Oh. Sorry. Everything okay?”
No, obviously. “Turns out Cam’s not sure he can ‘do this’ right now.”
“That sucks. I’m sorry to hear that.”
So was she, but like Juliet had said, there wasn’t anything she could do about it. This was on Cam. “Why are you here?”
He flashed her a smile. “My night was also a bust.” He flexed his shoulders like he was debating whether or not to tell her why. “I broke up with Britney.”
“Oh, wow.” She hadn’t seen that coming. Not after seeing them waltz around the dance floor like Beauty and Beast. After the spell was broken and the Beast became the handsome prince, obviously. “Was that… You’re sure it was the right move?”
“It was.”
She could tell he’d done it for him. Not because of whatever it was that had been crackling between the two of them.
So that was good. As far as bad situations went.
“So.” She fell into their usual pattern, using humor to deflect the big feelings they were both clearly trying to figure out.
Here. In the boathouse. Without anyone else around.
“Does that mean she hates someone more than me now?”
Josh huffed a laugh. “I think you’re off the hook. Which makes me the most hated person on both of your lists.”
“Ha!” It wasn’t funny. She stopped laughing. “I don’t hate you, Josh.”
“I know.”
The energy in the room changed; his gaze softened.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
He didn’t answer.
It took her a moment to realize there was less space between them now than there had been a second ago. How had that happened? Had she moved closer to him or had it been the other way around? She had no idea.
It didn’t feel like they were up close and personal for another verbal shoot-out. Or to shake hands over a future in the friend zone…
When they’d first met, they’d been like magnets turned the wrong way around. Two strong forces that repelled each other when they got close. Pushed each other away.
But now? It was like the magnets had flipped. Her North aligning with his South to create something new. An attraction.
Josh had told her he wanted to be more than friends. When his lips touched hers, she knew he hadn’t been lying.
It was a perfect first kiss. Soft, inquisitive, short.
He pulled back, checking to see if he’d read her right. That kissing her was okay.
It was more than okay.
She gave him the next kiss. After that it was kind of a dreamy blur.
One hungry kiss after the other, as if they’d been lying in wait.
It was perfect. Disappearing into a dream meant she didn’t have to think about everything that had gone wrong.
Only about the here and now. Like when she was out on the water, her true self, in the right place at the right time.