Page 84 of Something Rad
I know this was the point of our entire arrangement, but I never expectedthis. I wonder if this is what Robbie feels like all the time. What he deals with all the time. No wonder he has a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas.
“Hey,” Robbie whispers, making me look back up to him. “Talk to me, Goose. Where’d you go?”
I shake my head, hoping my face isn’t as red as it feels. “Nowhere, unfortunately.”
Robbie chuckles. His laughter fades out, several moments of silence stretching between us. The temperature of the room and pressure around us seems to increase by the moment, regardless of how much I try to ignore it. I blow out a deep breath, forcing myself to push it all away and focus on Robbie. I look up and find him already watching me. I tilt my head at him, sensing a thought behind his eyes. He gives it up instantly.
“You’ve got everyone looking, Cooper,” he says. “What’re you gonna do with it?”
“Me?” I question. “I’m pretty sureIjust gave myself whiplash.”
Robbie smirks, shaking his head. His gaze shifts to the side and the smirk wavers slightly.
“What happened to both of us pulling our weight?” I finish.
Robbie is still looking to our side, so I follow the line of his eyes. My shoulders fall slightly, seeing Denise and Jesse dancing just a few feet away from us. Denise is smiling at Jesse, but I catch her stealing glances our way every few seconds. I don’t know why, but it sends a wave of irritation through me.
“You’re right,” Robbie’s voice sounds from in front of me, bringing me back to him.
“About what?” I say, still distracted by Denise and everyone else staring at us.
Robbie pulls me closer suddenly, tilting his head down to whisper in my ear. “Do you trust me?”
I pull back just enough to meet his eyes. “Not really.”
Robbie blows a breath out of his nose. “Willyou trust me?” he asks, his eyes softening. “Right now?”
My brows pull together, uneasiness pinching my throat. “No breaking the rules?”
“No rules broken,” Robbie confirms.
I nod, slowly, and then on the verge of frantically, afraid I’ll back out from whatever Robbie’s about to do if I give myself a moment to think about it.
He doesn’t give me a moment.
The second I agree, he pulls one of my hands down from around his neck, spinning me out from him dramatically. Time seems to slow down as this happens, and I swear I manage to make brief eye contact with every person in the gym over the course of the 360 degree turn.
Suddenly, however, it’s over, and Robbie’s bringing me back to him. My hands land on his shoulders, his going back to my hips. I’m frozen in place for what feels like forever, but what I know is only a moment, staring straight ahead at his chest, my hair hanging in thick curtains around my face. My arms feel shaky and my lips quiver with the buzz of energy happening around us and nerves over what’s happening between us all at once.
Robbie’s thumb and forefinger brush against the underside of my chin, tilting my head up just enough so that I meet his gaze. “Trust me,” he mouths, inaudible.
I give him the slightest nod, one he would never have been able to notice if he wasn’t holding my chin in his hand right now. His gaze flicks from my eyes downward several times, and I register the sound of my pulse pounding in my ears. He leans closer, so painfully slow, and my heart is pounding so hard against my chest that it hurts.
He’s millimeters away, and I can feel the back of my eyes burning, confusion, nausea, and something else I can’t identify swimming low in my belly. It becomes evident he’s not about to stop. “Robbie,” I breathe.
The chorus ofForever Youngbreaks out, and, at the last possible moment before his mouth connects with mine, Robbie’s thumb slides up from my chin, pressing directly into the middle of my lips, creating a barrier between us. There’s a hair's width of space between us, but his lips aren’t touching me.
Just like the rules state.
My eyes are half open as I process what’s happening. Robbie pulls me tighter to him, bringing his other hand up and threading his fingers through the hair on the right side of my head, pulling it inwards and cupping my cheek, successfully blocking our non-connected lips from anyone’s view.
For two long seconds, I’m rigid, unmoving,panicked. Then, Robbie’s warmth seems to make its way across our thin barrier, and his touch seems to soften. My eyes fall completely shut, and I feel myself melt against him. My fingers curl around the lapel of his leather jacket, pulling him further down to me. At the same moment, Robbie’s fingers tug at my hair just enough to sting.
It’s the oddest sensation. We’re flush with one another everywhere that doesn’t matter and not even touching in the place that matters most, yet I’ve never felt something so intense in my life. It’severything.
And then it’s nothing.
Both of us suddenly pull back, without any sort of communication prompting us to do so, at exactly the same time.
