D A M A G E D • HS

55

Please say something Lo, anything, just say something

My arms make no move to drop my tight hold on her. I keep my hands locked together, settled on the curve of her back. Our bodies are flushed together in this position. I can feel every breath she takes and every twitch of her body.

Her heart is pounding fast right against mine, perfectly in sync.

"What are you doing here?" She finally speaks. My knees nearly wobble from hearing her honey soaked voice for the first time up close in nearly a month.

"A party." I responded. A small smile stretches across my face involuntarily. I feel some much warmth being reignited in my chest. "What about you?"

The thing throwing me for a loop the most about this whole situation is the fact that Arlo is here at Lush. She has been missing out of everyone's lives for the past month basically, and then all of a sudden she is here.

What are the odds that I would run into her here out of all my places. I'm convinced there is an elastic string that follows us around everywhere, keeping us tied together, never able to stray too far without snapping back together.

She doesn't answer my question which in turn causes a small knot to form in my stomach. I simply want to hear her voice, and being denied, that hurts.

"You look beautiful, Lo." I say in awe. I don't think she is dressed in a Halloween costume at all, but I don't care. She still looks perfect.

Arlo drops her eye contact with me, and looks down at the ground. I see her lips pursed together like she is trying to hold back a small grin. At least I hope that is what she is trying to do.

She glances back up and looks up at me from underneath her eyelashes. "Thanks." She mumbles under her breath.

I bite the inside of my cheek, stopping an overly big smile from making an appearance on my face. I thought about how Arlo and I, if and when we ran into each other again, would act.

Most of my thought leaned more towards the idea that it would be awkward, and tense. Those thoughts are wrong. There's no feeling of awkwardness and no thick tension in the air. It feels normal, our normal. Sure how we are acting right now isn't how we usually are, especially in each other's presence, but it still feels normal and familiar nonetheless. 

"Come on." I untangle my hands from around her back, and grab onto her wrist. I turn and pull her straight towards a little nook that I found earlier that no one else seemed to notice.

I need to be alone with her. Standing in a large crowd of people is not the setting I want to talk to Arlo in.

"Harry, what are you doing?" She asks from behind me, slightly out of breath from my fast pace.

I guide us through the sea of people, my eyes zero in on the target. "I want to go somewhere quieter." I say rushed.

"Harry." Arlo says my name as if she is irritated with me. A small sting nips my chest. She isn't calling me H, or pretty boy, she's calling me Harry as if she doesn't know me like she truly does. "Harry stop." She protests, but I don't stop.

I drag us to the small hidden corner. I stop walking and turn to face Arlo. I plant both my hands on the tops of her shoulder. In a swift motion, I turn her around, and pin her lightly against the wall.

I don't crowd her space too much. With both my hands planted by the top of her head, I stand to where there is a good distance between us.

Her chest is heaving up and down. The pink LED lights illuminate half of her face. The other half is hidden in the shadows. She stares up at me, and I stare down at her. I desperately want to kiss her right now.