Page 17 of In the Dust

He dips his chin down, resting it on the top of my head. “You smell like strawberries.”

With us so close together, and out of eyesight for a moment, I look up at him. We’re close, too close. “How’d you end up with her?” My voice is small, my speech slurred. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be wrapped in everything he is.

“We’re not dating,” he offers.

An anxious laugh escapes me. “Could have fooled me. You know how mean she was to me. You remember that, right?”

He shrugs. “People change.”

“Not her,” I sneer.

“What about him? You really like that guy?” he wonders.

“Yeah.” There’s no conviction in my tone, and I don’t know why.

He takes one hand off me to gesture to the bar. “There’s no fire in him. I could tell when he barely reacted to me being so close to you.” We both want to pull away from each other, we both need to, but we don’t. “You're supposed to be mine, Dixie.”

“Why her?” I ask, leaning into him.

“Why him?” he counters.

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