Page 42 of You Had Me At Thirteen

He trails the back of his hand down my neck to the tips of my fingers, stopping me dead and sending goosebumps erupting over my entire body. I have to stifle the whimper that threatens to escape my lips.

He leans down close to my ear. ‘Are you trying to make me hard?’

When I spin to face him, he’s biting one side of his bottom lip as the other side kicks up in a smirk.

‘I’m surprised your dick still works with all the use it gets.’

‘Jealous?’ He raises an eyebrow, the stupid smirk still on his stupid face.

‘You’re a pig,’ I say, before spinning on my heels, flipping my hair in the process as I walk away from him. I hope it pokes his fucking eyes out.

He calls out, ‘Your loss, beautiful.’

I give him the finger and keep walking, making sure I look sexy as hell doing it. My heels click against the gloss white tiles as I storm across them on my way back into the dining room slash dance floor again. As I barge through bodies, I cop a few more dirty looks, but I ignore them. When I find Clive, I don’t tell him about my run-in with Wren. He’ll just tell me I need to get laid, and I don’t want to argue the fact that Wren is an arse and I do not, in any way, shape or form, want him.

Clive and Trevor chat to themselves, their hands locked together, their faces animated and loved up. I’m glad Clive has Trevor right now. Although, he’s not at all what I thought he’d be like. With his height and leanness, and his sandy blond hair and gorgeous angular face, he should be a catwalk model in Paris, or wherever it is famous catwalk models live. He’s clearly smart, but quiet and reserved. I see the appeal. Too bad he’s into men, or I might have snatched him up myself.

Audrey saunters over minutes later, swaying with the music as she makes a come-here motion with her fingers.

I point to myself and look around, pretending to act all shy. ‘Me? Oh my god, me?’ I say in the most excited voice I can muster.

‘I’m looking at you, aren’t I gorgeous?’ She winks as she pulls me up by my hands. ‘You’re so pretty.’

We push our way into the crowd of sweat-covered bodies once again. A few songs later, I’m feeling great, a natural high filling my body as the music drowns out my thoughts of the future.

That is, until Audrey nods her head to the left. ‘Someone can’t take their eyes off you,’ she says into my ear in her sing-song voice.

I frown and follow her gaze, finding Wren leaning up against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, his golden eyes trailing my body and every movement.

‘He’s a dick,’ I say, before turning back to Audrey.

‘A dick you want to put in your mouth?’ She wiggles her eyebrows and giggles like a little girl.

I slap her arm. ‘That’s a big no for me. Do we not recall what happened this week? Besides, he’s already got one lined up. There was some blond on his lap ten minutes ago.’

Audrey looks him over again, then blows him a kiss. ‘The guy is a god, Til. You can’t expect women not to throw themselves at him. Look at him. Besides, I thought it was super romantic what he did, defending your honour.’

I glance again in his direction, running my eyes over his body the same way he did mine. He doesn’t have to put in any effort when he looks like that because women will trip over themselves just to get to him. There was a party a few months back where two girls fought over which one was going home with him. There was hair pulling and face scratching as they tumbled around on the alcohol-coated floors, a crowd of onlookers cheering them on. Wren had leaned against the wall, his arms crossed – just as he is now – a blank look on his face as he watched the fight unfold in front of him. I remember thinking they were pathetic, that they should have at least some self-respect, because Wren didn’t respect them. It was written all over his face.

‘I’m not sure Wren knows what honour even means. Besides, I’d be just another piece of arse to him.’

‘I don’t know about that.’ Audrey cocks her thumb his way. ‘Ever seen him stare at another girl the way he’s staring at you?’

I lift a shoulder. ‘He just wants what he can’t have.’ Even saying it out loud, I know I’m not being honest, but if I keep telling myself he can’t have me, then maybe the universe will listen and back me up.

‘If you say so.’ Audrey sighs and wraps her arms around my shoulders, pressing her cheek against mine.

Koby steps up beside Wren, taking his gaze away from me. I’m thankful for the reprieve, considering my body has decided it wants to know what it would be like to have Wren for experience's sake.

I poke my tongue out at my inner slut, then sway my body against Audrey’s until Clive and Trevor join us. As I drown out the thoughts running rampant inside my brain, I focus on my best friends. After the last week of fun-filled drama, we deserve this brief night out. We’ve spent the better parts of our lives with our heads in textbooks, and our bums in seats. To be fair, I can’t wait for the final school year to be over. And I don’t want to think about the upcoming race, or university, either. I just want to enjoy this night with the people I love the most.

After another twenty minutes of dancing, my mouth is dry, so I head into the kitchen again to grab some more water. As I'm downing my second glass, a sweaty body presses up against my back, sending my fight or flight response into overdrive. This time it’s not Wren, because the smell of stale beer and cigarettes infiltrates my nostrils. With a steady breath, I spin around, coming face-to-face with some guy I’ve never seen before.

He smiles down at me, eyes half-closed as they roam over my chest. ‘Hey gorgeous,’ he says. ‘Want to dance?’

Not again. I really am a magnet for douchebags. This one seems a little more harmless than Derek, but I can’t shake the feeling that his intentions are not well-meaning.

‘No thanks, I'm good.’ I push past him, but he’s fast on my heels.

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