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I don’t know how I knew that someone was staring at me. Call it natural instinct or maybe paranoia combined with the feeling that something wasn’t right, but I just knew.
The goose bumps had risen on my arms, and the hair on the back of my neck prickled up as I glanced around, trying to figure out who was staring at me. There were people sitting at a small bonfire behind us, but no one seemed to be looking in my direction. Carrie was still talking to the same group of girls and seemed to be deep in conversation . . . probably about boys. There were a few guys sitting on the rail of the porch, but none of them were looking our way.
And that’s when I noticed the person who was standing on the Juliet balcony on the second floor of the house, looking in my direction. Dark shadows covered the person’s body and face and, almost as quickly as I noticed them, they disappeared back into the house. I wasn’t positive, but I was pretty sure that it had been a guy . . . or possibly a really tomboyish girl.
For a second, I thought about whether or not I should try to find out who it was. There was that chance that they could be dangerous, but it would drive me nuts thinking about who it could have been. Besides, there were people inside Bryson’s house, so I seriously doubted that whoever it was would be able to harm me or anyone else without being seen.
Deciding that if I wanted to find out who it was, I had to act quickly. Before the person could get away, I told Tyler, “I’ll be right back. I need to use the bathroom.”
He glanced over at me and nodded, his grey eyes sparkling in the moonlight. I climbed up the porch steps and managed to get past the guys on the porch—without any of them saying a word to me—and slipped inside the back sliding glass door, which was already slid open because people had been in and out of the house all night. A group of girls eyed me strangely as I walked towards the staircase.
Deciding that I didn’t need to explain where I was going, I gave them a small smile and climbed the stairs. I hoped that whoever had been on the balcony hadn’t already come downstairs in between the time I’d taken to walk from the beach to the house, but I doubted they had. I got the feeling that I would recognize whoever had been watching me. At least, I hoped. It would be really creepy if a total stranger had been staring at me.
When I reached the second floor, I glanced around the empty hallway. There was a bedroom to the left, but I heard the sound of the bed hitting against the wall and immediately realized that a couple was having sex in there. I was certain that whoever had been watching me wasn’t in that room.
As I stuck my head into the bathroom, I noticed a flash of red hair out of the corner of my eye, descending the staircase.
I whirled around, fully expecting to see Scarlett staring back at me. But there was no one there.
Knowing that I had to be imagining things, I composed myself. I was about to poke my head into the next room when I noticed a shadow hovering next to the door, which had been left open on a crack. The door slowly opened, and my heart froze inside my chest.
A pair of intense blue eyes stared back at me.
They belonged to the guy who had rudely whistled at me earlier that morning when I had tried to climb into the lifeguard chair that was rightfully mine . . . or so I thought. Thinking about it again caused a feeling of anger to wash over me, and I tried not to let it show on my face.
“Hey, Chair Thirteen,” the guy said, flashing me a wide smile.
Glancing inside the room, which appeared to be some sort of living room or family room, I noticed that there was a door open to the balcony. “Were you watching me from the balcony?” I asked. I glanced back at the guy, who stared at me intently. “You were watching me. Weren’t you?”
The guy shrugged. “Possibly.”
“Possibly? You creeped me out,” I protested.
“It’s a free country,” the guy said, shrugging. “I can stare at who I want.” He paused, sitting down on one of the leather couches and looked up at me. “Besides, you should take it as flattery.”
I scoffed. “Flattery? What’s so flattering about being watched?”
“You caught my interest,” the guy replied, looking away from me. “That doesn’t happen too often.”
“So, because you’re not normally attracted to girls, I should be flattered that you’re practically stalking me?” I asked, raising my eyebrows at him. “That makes perfect sense.”
The guy laughed and his eyes flitted over at me, putting me at unease. “I didn’t say I wasn’t attracted to girls . . . just that no one ever catches my interest. There’s a difference. I’m also not stalking you. You have a big ego for someone who claimed to be creeped out.”
I gritted my teeth. “I don’t have a big ego . . . and I am creeped out, for your information!”
When the guy just grinned at me, I added, “Ugh! You’re so annoying!” Trying to maintain my cool, despite the fact that this guy had pissed me off twice in the same day, I said, “I would prefer it if you didn’t stare at me from now on for no reason.”
“Whatever you say,” the guy said, shrugging. Then he muttered, “It’s a free country.”
Scoffing, I fled downstairs. I wasn’t about to give this guy the satisfaction. If he stared at me again, I was just going to have to ignore him. My dad had always said that if you ignored someone, they would stop bullying you. Maybe that worked for obnoxious guys, too.
When I was back outside, I strolled over to Tyler, who was still sitting on the beach, staring at the ocean. As I sat down, Carrie hurried over to me with a cup of beer in hand. “Here, have more,” she said.
*
A few hours later, I was completely wasted. I was embarrassed that I had drank so much in front of Tyler, who had been staring at me the whole night. His face had a soft expression and his eyes still looked warm, but I felt as though I was making a fool out of myself. I wished I could be like him and not feel the need to party just because everyone else was doing it; it was something I would have to work on in the future.
I hadn’t noticed the guy—whatever his name was—staring at me again. It made me glad because I didn’t want to get angry over it while I was with Tyler. It wasn’t really fair to him.
After the party was over, which was sometime around two o’clock, Tyler offered to walk me home.
Carrie raised an eyebrow at me. “You guys don’t just want a ride?”
“No, that’s okay, I’m good to walk,” I said, struggling to stand on my feet and bursting into laughter. I turned and winked at Carrie. “We’re still getting to know each other, you know.”
“Oh, summer love,” Carrie murmured, glancing at Tyler and then at me with a smile. “Walk safe. Don’t fall.”
“Very funny,” I said, before turning to Tyler, who offered me his arm. His other hand held onto Bruno’s leash.
“You’re such a gentleman,” I commented, hoping that I wasn’t slurring as much as I thought I was, as we walked out of the front yard and began the journey to my Gram’s house. I probably should have called Gram to let her know I was coming home late, but it was too late now. She probably had just assumed that I’d spent the night at Carrie’s and went to bed early.
“Did you have a good time?” Tyler asked, glancing over at me.
“Yeah, it was fun,” I replied. “Did you have a good time?”
“Sure,” Tyler replied. “It was cool meeting Carrie. You learn a lot about a person from their friends.” He paused. “And their drinking habits.”
“I never do this,” I insisted. “It’s like . . . the first time I’ve ever really gotten drunk. Well, this drunk.” When Tyler didn’t say anything in response, I let out a loud sigh and stopped walking. “Does this change the way you see me?”
“Nope,” Tyler replied, shaking his head and turning to look at me. “I only wish I was able to drink with you. I feel like a stick in the mud.”
I felt a pang of sympathy for him. “Sorry. I was being inconsiderate, I guess.”
“It’s okay, it’s not your fault,” Tyler replied quietly.
We walked mostly in silence for a few moments. The only sounds that I could hear were my flip flops slapping against the hard pavement, Bruno’s tail wagging as he padded along in front of us, and the loud roaring of the waves. I wrapped my arms around myself. Even through the thick June heat of Georgia, the ocean breeze made everything feel much colder.
When we got to my Gram’s house, I said, “Thanks for walking me home.”
“You’re more than welcome,” Tyler whispered, staring into my eyes.
My heart fluttered, and I could feel the butterflies begin to swirl inside my stomach. Stepping on my tiptoes, I inched closer to him and tilted my chin.
Tyler must have sensed that I was about to kiss him because he immediately pulled away from me and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Felicia. I can’t kiss you right now. I want our first kiss to be when you’re sober. I don’t want it to seem like I’m taking advantage of you.”
I started to protest, but he threw his arms up in the air to halt what I was about to say. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay? We can spend the day together,” Tyler said, smiling down at me. He was a good five inches taller than me, which made him the perfect height in my book.
“Fine,” I said with a sigh. Even through my drunken stupor, I knew that I shouldn’t be mad at Tyler for being a good guy. It was just so frustrating that our first kiss had slipped away from us twice in one night. I really hoped that it wasn’t a bad sign.
Tyler smiled at me. His smile extended to his grey eyes, which twinkled in the moonlight. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” I replied with a sigh.
Tyler looked like he was about to walk away, but before he did, he leaned in and gave me a light kiss on the forehead. His touch was gentle, and his skin was warm against mine.
Once I was inside the house, lying in my bed, I stared up at the ceiling. I envisioned what my first real kiss with Tyler was going to be like as I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.