Waves - Book #2 [completed]

21 ~ Nepenthe

She huffs. "No! Nah-uh. No 'it's nothing'. You're going to talk, Seppo. Did something happen between Riley and you?"

My body goes rigid and I'm sure my expression slides right off my face, exposing myself. Both, Rathi and Danny, make an 'ah-ha' sound before Danny urges me to sit down.

Rathi starts, "We thought you made up."

I laugh bitterly, burying my face in my hands.

"We saw you two dancing," Danny adds.

Fuck, I guess we didn't think about the possibility of being seen. I groan into my hands, rubbing my fingers at my hairline.

"Yeah, everyone saw you pressing up against each other. And I thought you finally became some kind of weird frenemies who also dance-grind to tease each other. But when Riley came by this morning, she was acting all weird too and left as fast as humanly possible," Rathi explains.

That has me looking up. "She was there?"

She nods, her eyes narrowing and becoming more inquisitive by the second. But it's Danny who stands up, looms over me and lifts his brows so slightly I almost miss it. "What happened? Tell us or I'll kick you out."

I doubt he physically could and cock a brow, blinking at him with disbelief. He just blinks back, unmoved, impassive even, and I cave. "We did more than dance. We kissed."

In that moment you could hear the pin drop, and it takes a couple seconds before either one of them regains their wit.

"What? When?" Rathi jumps up. "Who kissed who?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes!" both deadpan simultaneously.

God, is it weird to talk about this shit. I feel like my parents are having the talk with me. I rake a hand over my head, combing through several knots in my hair and wince. "Alright." I sigh. "She kissed me." They both hiss in air. "But I don't know if it meant anything."

The two exchange a look. Then Danny looks at me with intention. "Did it mean something to you?"

I let a moment pass to come up with an escape, but I can't think about anything, feeling like I'm being pulled into a vortex. Finally, I nod. "Yes! God yes." More looks are exchanged between the two. "I mean, shit, she's breathtaking, but I was so surprised and reacted the worst possible way."

Danny rolls his shoulders back and marches off. He grabs his car keys and is out of the door in under a minute.

~~~

The next morning, Danny wakes me up, dangling his car keys over my nose.

"Fuck!" I rub my face with one hand, trying to shove him away with the other.

"Good morning to you too." He's fucking snickering. "Get up, take my car, go buy some coffee and head to the address in the Navi."

"Why?"

"Because I'm trying to help you, you ungrateful wimp." He slams his keys on the nightstand and proceeds to pull my blanket away. "Get up!"

"Oh my God, you're the worst," I wail, which only results in him laughing harder.

"You sound like a teenage girl, you know that? Get the fuck up!" He ruffles my hair like I'm a kid and leaves my room.

Groaning, yawning, and doing all kinds of stuff people do when they're kicked out of their sleep, I sit up and check the time. Fucking hell! It's seven. Seven!

Not having the mental capacity to question my friend, I take a quick, cold shower to wake up more. Getting dressed, my eyes land on the box Riley gave me for Christmas and it makes me grin. When she came over to give it to me, I felt the shift in our dynamics for the first time. It's so much clearer to me now.