Page 33 of Electricity

I wanted to stay and hear what he’d been close to saying—but duty called. “Yeah, I do.”

He took my cup and went into the kitchen. I watched him work the keg expertly, returning with it full, getting clapped on the back on his way there and back by friends. “Take it easy, okay? I don’t want any repeats.”

I gave him the world’s most conflicted smile. “Me either.”

I walked back upstairs with a full cup much more slowly.

I didn’t want to lose a drop—and I needed to gather my strength.

Why oh why was Liam into me? Was I the butt of some universal joke?

I’d been hoping for a Cinderella moment my whole life—why did it have to be now, when I couldn’t help but question everything?

And, what was I walking into with Danny?

I paused on a landing and let some other kids walk by.

I needed to wipe his phone so he couldn’t hurt Lacey again—but touching it probably meant touching him.

I looked into the beer I held for answers.

If it really was liquid courage, I would’ve definitely taken a sip.

Machine gun sounds burst out again above and I raced up the next five stairs, almost spilling, until I reached the den. Then I did my best to saunter across the room, standing just out of blocking-the-TV-range and leaned over provocatively to hand Danny’s cup back to him.

“Here you go.”

His eyes flickered over me. “Guess I have to be a man of my word,” he said and patted his lap.

Against all my better judgement, I fell in.

He laughed, adjusting me against him, and I was disturbed by the way that leaning up against him was easy, his chest was wide and warm, and his left arm looped carelessly around me. Everyone cheered as Mason took his car over a sweet leap and then wrecked it into a helicopter hovering above.

“Take that, bitch!” Mason shouted, and I shuddered.

“This game is awesome, isn’t it?” Danny asked. I could hear the words and feel the rumble in his chest as he spoke them.

“Yeah!” I made myself say. He smelled like aftershave or cologne, I didn’t know which, but I knew the longer I waited the more I’d smell like him when it was over.

I threw myself into the other world before I could lose my nerve.

His phone glowed. I could sense it through him, all the data it sent and captured, blossoming and retracting, a perpetual motion machine of green light. I tried to reach for it, sending my right hand back, inadvertently stroking his hip.

“Yeah, no,” I felt myself jostled and woke up.

Sarah was looking at me with concern, and it was her shoe I’d felt nudge me as she’d spoken—and Danny’s hand was on my thigh, I could feel the heat and weight of it through my mini—which seemed to be getting shorter by the minute.

I squirmed, and then realized that probably wasn’t helping things.

Goddammit .

I’d been close. I think. And now he was touching me and I—I jumped off of his lap. I couldn’t do it. I thought I could, but I couldn’t—and Sarah nodded, uncoiling herself from Ryan and standing up. She bent over to pull the backs of her sandals back on.

“Are you going?” I asked in a high pitched voice as I saw Ryan stand.

“Yeah. My folks want me back by midnight.”

“It’s only ten.”

“Uh, yeah—we’re gonna do some other things on the way,” she said, flushing as she stood.

“Grocery shopping,” Ryan said with a smirk, and some of the other guys laughed.

She leaned in to hug me good-bye. “You okay here?” she asked seriously. “You haven’t had too much to drink?”

“I’m fine,” I lied.

“Don’t do anything stupid, okay?” she said, so low I almost couldn’t hear.

“I won’t.”

“Good.” She beamed at me and gave me a prom queen wave on her way down the stair.

I was abandoned. And the whole reason I was here was currently sitting alone on the couch. Did I dare sit back down? With all the nerves I had in my stomach, I suddenly realized why everyone drank.

“You work at that burger joint, right? The one that caught on fire?” Danny asked.

“Yeah.” Because I could make things catch on fire! Yeah, if I got into trouble, I could just burn Liam’s whole house down! Ugh.

Danny looked me up and down. “This is why sophomores shouldn’t come to senior parties. You all think you can hold your beer, but you can’t.”

This was my opening. If I wanted to take it.

“Can too,” I said, dropping into the spot Ryan had vacated. Danny gave me a slow smile, like he was a coyote spotting a loose yippy house-dog.

“Sure you can,” he agreed, handing me the beer I’d gotten him. “Prove it.”

I took it and brought it to my lips, mimed a sip, and then handed it back.

“Oh come on, sophomore. You can do better than that.”

I licked the beer taste off my lips in what I hoped was an enticing way. “I know I can,” I said and gave him a shy smile over teeth grit tight.

I opened myself up to the other world again and was surrounded.

It was now or never, do or die. His phone glowed green and—I slumped against him in an intoxicated fashion.

“Sorry,” I apologized, but didn’t move at all and my hand wriggled behind him and I felt him stiffen in surprise, him not in control and wondering what I was doing.

My fingers grazed the edge of his phone and—everything raced in.

It was clearly his phone—everything about it was his—all the pictures had him in them—baseballs, motorcycles, cars, groups of teammates eating, drinking, laughing— where was Lacey? Why wasn’t she—wasn’t he MysteriousAzzho1e?

“Hey!” said a familiar voice from behind me.

I pulled up with a gasp. Danny’s lips were almost on mine and his hand was on my chest and—I scooted violently backwards on the couch and looked up to see Liam giving me a Look of Concern—and then Danny growled, “Just because you’re a Lewis doesn’t give you a right to cockblock.”

I jumped up. His phone had been empty. Unless he’d deleted the pictures from it, he didn’t have them. Or, it hadn’t been him at all. Either way, I needed to get the hell away from here.

And Liam had seen everything.

I ran for the stairs, diving through the crowd of onlookers as Liam chased me. He caught up and grabbed my arm when I hit the entryway before his front door.

“Hey!”

“I’m sorry, I never should’ve come.” I tried to fold in on myself, like I could pull in time and space and disappear.

“No—it’s okay,” he said, his face kind and his voice a little slurred. I knew that slur. My stomach sank. “It’s not your fault. Danny always gets what he wants.”

“Yeah?” Had Danny wanted Lacey? He’d clearly wanted me. The memory of something stirring between his legs, oh God—I flushed with revulsion and my headache donkey-kicked me.

“I just have to go now. Please.”

His eyes focused on me with difficult and he drew me towards him. “You’re sure you’re OK to drive?”

“Yeah.” I took a step back and heard-felt the doorbell rang half-a-moment before whomever was outside stepped through.

“Who wants to party?” Darius shouted, hands up in triumph, only to lower slowly after seeing me standing beside Liam. Everyone who’d been watching Liam and I roared, excited to see Redson’s Most Valuable Pot Dealer. For them, the night was going from good to better.

For me—I ran out the open door.