Chapter Five #2
“I’m sure she would.” I stared at her, and I knew my tone was dripping with sarcasm. She narrowed her eyes at me, but Harrison was busy signing an autograph for a group of runners from the cross country team. He didn’t see any of our interaction.
The weeks went by. I was seeing less and less of Harrison.
He was so busy with classes and football spring practices.
I had cheerleading practice and classes.
He often had to cancel dinner plans we’d had because he was either out with the guys from the football team or practice ran long.
I didn’t like it, and I felt like there was a distance between us that had never been there before.
But I didn’t know what to do about it.
Harrison and I attended my spring sorority formal together. It was the last big event before school wound down for summer. We had fun, but I noticed just how flattered he was by all the female attention he received from my sorority sisters.
“Harrison seems… kind of different,” Melinda said. She’d brought Drake as her date, and he was getting them some punch which gave us a minute to talk.
I watched as he flirted and laughed in the middle of a group of girls, one of whom was Aubrey. She put her hand possessively on his arm as if she had some sort of claim on him.
“Yeah. I never knew he liked the limelight so much,” I admitted.
“He didn’t seem to in high school,” she said.
Aubrey and Harrison made their way over to us. “Hey, Sunshine. You don’t mind if I dance with Aubrey, do you?”
Melinda gasped, and if I wasn’t so pissed I would think it was funny. But I was pissed. I mean, hell yeah, I minded. But the way he asked me in front of a bunch of people made it seem like I’d be a total bitch if I said he couldn’t dance with her.
Why did he want to dance with her right in front of me? I just shook my head, but I couldn’t bring myself to smile. Aubrey was smiling big enough for both of us.
“Tell me again how many passing yards you have this year,” I heard her say as they were walking off.
I grabbed a glass of wine and observed them on the dance floor. They were very comfortable in each other’s arms. I didn’t like it. It wasn’t that I thought he was cheating on me or anything, but I didn’t like how close they’d gotten. Especially with Aubrey’s reputation.
And my God, what was she wearing?
Her boobs might have been small, but they were still barely restrained by her sparkly, strapless dress.
It was low cut, super short, and backless.
I wasn’t entirely sure how it was staying up, to be honest. And she wore four-inch heels with the dress, too.
She looked gorgeous… kind of trashy, but gorgeous.
I didn’t want to feel insecure. I knew I looked pretty, too.
It’s just I’d followed the dress code the sorority had made clear in the invitation, and I’d worn a fairy-tale style ballgown.
It was full and pink and dotted with crystals.
It had cost me a lot of money, and I’d worked hard to be able to afford it.
And now I felt like Harrison was definitely more into Aubrey’s dress than mine. It was really hurting my feelings that he was dancing with her right in front of me as if that was just okay.
Well, screw that, I thought and looked around. I saw Aubrey’s date plus a couple of guys whose dates were too drunk to dance standing around. I smiled at one, and within a minute he was at my side and asking if I wanted to dance.
“Sure,” I laughed. I took his hand and we made it to the floor in time for the Electric Slide and then the Wobble.
Harrison didn’t like to do line dances, and I saw him exit the dance floor.
He gave me a pointed look, but I ignored him and decided to just have fun.
If he could dance with another woman, I could dance with other guys.
The rest of the night was a blast. I quit worrying about Harrison and Aubrey and just had fun. It was freeing and felt so good that I realized just how upset I’d become by the thought of the two of them hanging out together, even for class.
When we boarded the bus to head back to campus from the event venue, Harrison was quiet. I leaned back against the headrest and contemplated taking a nap.
“Why did you dance with those guys?” he asked, suddenly.
Startled, my eyes flew open. I stared at him. “I wanted to have fun.”
“You weren’t having fun with me?” His jaw clenched and hurt filled his eyes.
“I was,” I said. “But then you decided to dance a few slow dances with Aubrey. You left me alone, so I went in search of people to have fun with.”
He contemplated that. “You couldn’t have waited for Aubrey and me to finish dancing?”
“Why? If you felt like it was okay for you to dance with another woman, why should I wait on you instead of dancing with another guy? Besides, you danced at least three dances in a row with her. Did you expect me to just stand against the wall all night and watch the two of you have a good time together? You were my date, Harrison, not hers. I don’t know if you realize this, but you danced more with her than with me.
” I lowered my voice. “And it was embarrassing for you to leave me to dance with someone else.”
He winced and nodded. “You’re right. You’re totally right.
I should never have left you like that. I probably shouldn’t have danced with her at all.
It’s just we started talking about something, and I kind of lost track of how long I’d been with her.
” He reached out and grabbed my hand. “Forgive me?”
“Always,” I smiled at him, but as the word left my lips, I wondered if it was true. Would I always forgive him if he kept doing the same thing?
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to.