Page 49 of Second Chance Vacation

“I’m glad you came.” My voice felt quieter, breathier than it had been previously.

His shoulders seemed to relax at my response. We sat in silence for what felt like minutes, but I was sure it was a matter of seconds, an awkward weight in the air.

Clearing my throat, I looked toward the door, yanking the handle with force.

“Anyway. Uh—have a good rest of your night.”

“Night, Viv.”

I didn’t look back as he spoke.

* * *

As we sway to the music, I can’t help but let my mind linger on the memory of my junior prom night. Jackson had picked me up after my date left with another girl, but I still, even to this day, want to know why he didn’t go. I am unsure of why I ask, but I need to know.

“Why’d you skip prom?”

He pauses for a moment, his movement no longer swaying to the music. As if he realizes he’s stopped, he continues moving to the rhythm. If I didn’t know him as well as I do, it would probably go unnoticed.

“You went with Andrew Cline.”

Confusion washes over me.

“What does that have to do with you going?”

“I only wanted to go with you,” he whispers against my ear, pulling me closer, not breaking his movement to the music. I pause for a moment.

“Why didn’t you ask?”

“By the time I got up the courage to, you had already agreed to go with him. I guess I just didn’t want to sit through yet another school dance watching you with another guy.”

We never addressed our feelings before the summer we gave in to them. Jackson was the first boy to give me butterflies at the age of eight, but he never really talked about when it shifted for him.

“Yet another school dance?”

Jackson chuckles, pulling me closer, his lips only mere centimeters from my own. “You were the only girl I ever looked at since we were kids—Yes, I dated other girls, but it wasn’t even close.”

My breath catches in my throat as I gaze up at him, his eyes focused intently on my expression as if he’s reading me.

“What are we doing, Jackson?”

We continue to sway to the music without an answer between us for what feels like hours, but in reality, it is only seconds.

“Dancing.”

“You know what I mean.”

Biting his inner cheek, Jackson looks at me for a split second before dipping me, causing me to yelp in surprise. He pulls me back to him, my breath ragged from the sudden movement.

“This can’t be anything,” I whisper against his lips, my body language at complete odds with my words. He squeezes my waist with one arm, lifting his other from my hand to tip my face to meet his eyes. An expression of anguish meets me.

“I have a question for you, Viv…and answer honestly.”

“Alright…” I try with everything not to freak out. My face grows flush with embarrassment in preparation of what he might say. His eyes burn into my own, pinning me in place.

“Do you want me?” he whispers against my neck, causing goose bumps to pebble across my skin.Oh. Whether I want it to, his proximity does something to me.

“Yes,” I say breathlessly.

---