Page 11 of No Place Left to Hide

“Stop spiraling.”

“How do you know I’m spiraling?”

“I can see it on your face. You need to chill out.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m completely fine. Just enjoying the party.”

She raises a perfect eyebrow at me. “Okay, then go talk to him. Tell him about our homecoming plans and see if he wants to join us. The limo is going to be a blast. Plus, he already knows Felix and Beau from the team, so it’ll be like a fun group hang.”

I spot him again, moving deeper into the party. He wades around clusters of people and disappears through the open double doors of my dad’s library. Of course he found the books.

“I don’t know,” I say. “He’s probably still drowning in bad breakup vibes. I don’t want to put him on the spot and make him feel backed into a double date he wants no part of.”

Jena grabs my knees and pulls my attention back to her. “Dylan’s not the kind of person to get backed into anything. Look at how long it took him to show up to a party here. Besides, it won’t just be the four of us in the limo. Beau is probably going to ask half the dance team until someone says yes—or invite a freshman if all else fails. It won’t look like a setup.Askhim. What’s the worst that can happen?”

He could laugh in my face.

Or get super awkward about it and refuse to meet my eye for the rest of the year.

Or Claire could find out about it and set my car on fire.

“You know Claire’s going to cause problems if we get together.”

“What is she going to do from a full county away? It’s not like shekept in touch with anyone when she moved. She blocked us all and fucked off. How would she even find out? And if she did, who cares what Claire Heck thinks? She and Dylan only got together because she wanted to one-upyou.”

Snippets of that conversation with Claire flicker through my mind. Her telling me that she and Dylan were dating—a few weeks after I confessed my long-standing crush on him. She’d pretended to know nothing about it, acted like that conversation never happened, then accused me of trying to steal her new boyfriend.

Two months later, her dad lost his job, her family sold their house, and Claire was yanked from Waldorf and sent to public school. She lost everything, but she held on to Dylan by the skin of her teeth. For a few more months at least.

Just to spite me, I’m sure.

Jena squeezes my knee. “Don’t let her ruin this for you again. He’s single. He came toyourparty, and he’s been smiling at you when you’re not looking. Nobody’s standing in your way this time but you. Goodwins aren’t cowards.”

I sit up a little more. Damn straight, we’re not.

“Yeah,” Felix says, appearing at her shoulder. “What Jena said.”

I laugh because I know he didn’t hear one word of our conversation. They spin off to resume dancing and I pick at my manicure.

Jena made quite a few points. Homecoming is the perfect excuse. If he’s not into it, he can bow out without making it awkward for either of us. A simpleSorry, I’m not going to homecomingorI already made plans to go with some other friendsand we both escape unscathed.

Or he could say yes…

I slip off the counter and make my way through the crowd. Who cares that he dated Claire? We may have been friends back in theday, but we’re not anymore. I haven’t seen or talked to her in four months. Besides, my feelings for Dylan predate anything she had going on with him and she knows it. I’m tired of her standing in the way of what I want.

I poke my head into the library, and there he is.

Dylan Miller.

He’s standing to the side of my father’s desk, studying the rows and rows of built-in bookshelves. There are fewer people in here, and we’re further from the speakers in the other room. The relative quiet feels more intimate. I slip around a group cackle-laughing about something and call his name.

His grin is blinding. He’s wearing a light blue T-shirt and jeans, but he could be the teen heartthrob on the cover of a magazine. He looks like a genetic blend of Henrys, both Golding and Cavil—part chiseled features, part tall, dark, and approachable—and my heart is suddenly beating a thousand times a minute.

I try to pretend it’s not and smile at him. “Hey! You made it!”

He slides the book he was looking at back on the shelf. “Yeah. Jena and Felix piled on about how fun it was out here, so I thought I’d break my long-standing homebody vibe and check it out.”

“And? How do you feel about your decision?”

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