Cinnamon Girl ~ Tanner Buchanan

25. Our Own Little Secret

Tanner gently put a hand over my mouth so he'd be the only one to speak.

"Someone's in here..."

Whoever it was that knocked must've left, as there was no response.

He removed his hand from my mouth as he spoke.

"What do we do now?" He asked. "Are we going to go out there and tell them?"

I thought for a moment before I spoke. "I don't know. Not yet. I'd rather be able to have our own thing just for a little while, ya know, just between us," I answered truthfully. I knew our friends would be happy for us but I wanted to be able to have it between just us and make sure it was something we both truly wanted. Telling our friends and then the possibility of it not working out would just make it all super awkward.

"It could be kinda fun sneaking around," he agreed and I nodded.

"We should probably go back in there before anyone realizes we're both gone," I noted taking a glance at the bathroom door and getting off the bathroom counter.

"One more?" Tanner asked pulling at my waist bringing my attention back to him and I grinned. We leaned in once more as he pulled my body into his and I brought a hand up to his cheek as our lips synchronized.

"We have to go," I giggled, pulling away after a minute.

"Okay, I'll go first and make sure the coast is clear before you head out," he said.

Once Tanner instructed it was safe, I headed down the hall as he'd went the other way to enter the living room from the other side.

"Syd, where have you been?" Peyton asked as I joined them in the living room. The music seemed to dial down a bit as did the amount of people. It was now just our usual group with a few others that seemed to be possibly staying the night on the couches out here.

"Sorry, my mom called me. She was just checking in and I didn't want her to think I was at an actual club or something with all the ruckus going on in here," I lied.

"Well you're missing all the fun," she said bringing me into their dance circle. Looking to the left side of the room I saw Hannah sitting on Xolo's lap. I sent them a big smile, feeling happy for them. I tried to bring all the attention towards me as I saw Tanner sneak over to the counter where he sat down. It was just a few minutes before they realized he was there.

"Tanner, how long have you been sitting there? Why don't you join the fun?" Peyton asked him.

Tanner slowly got up and joined the rest of us. I glanced at him and he grinned. I was excited to have our own little secret without the rest of them knowing yet which was going to be fun. I didn't have to worry about all of them asking questions about us after every time we went somewhere together. I realized how we were going to get to go on a first date, go on walks along the beach or go to the movies.

As we kept dancing, there was a sudden crash from the kitchen as Jacob dropped a few things from the fridge.

I ran over helping pick up a few of the items, "What are you trying to do?" I asked.

"I was just trying to make another margarita," he shrugged.

"How about you stick to water for a bit," I handed him a bottle before he went back to join the group. I looked over at Tanner who was sat back on the barstool.

"This is going to be like watching a bunch of children isn't it?" I asked.

"You bet it is. Now you know how I feel whenever we go out," Gianni answered sitting beside Tanner.

"So looks like we're just gonna have a chill day tomorrow since the rest of them are about to be hungover," Tanner said.

"Sounds about right," I agreed as we watched the mess that was going on in the living room. They finally settled down to watch a movie. The other couch was open so after I took off my boots I grabbed a blanket to layout on it as everyone spread across the room. They kept fighting over whether we should watch a scary or a comedy movie.

"But I don't feel like watching a scary movie, and I hate clowns," Annalisa fought back.

"Okay, but the older one's not even that scary," Gianni told her.

"I don't care, we are not watching a scary movie," she answered as they went on.

Tanner walked over with a blanket and sat at the end of the couch I was laying on near my feet. He laid the blanket over mine and sat back. I felt his hand slowly move to find my foot underneath the piled blankets and rested it on my ankle as he rubbed his thumb in a circle. For some reason it was comforting, and no one in the group could tell what was going on.

Everyone finally decided on an action movie which was Transformers, but half of them passed out in the first ten minutes. Halfway through the movie Annalisa suddenly got up and ran for the bathroom, I followed her quickly. She leaned over the toilet and started to puke. I held her hair back while facing the other direction. Once she finished, I flushed the toilet and helped her clean up a bit.

"I think I need to go to bed," I nodded and helped guide her upstairs. I grabbed some water before heading up. We made it up the stairs without any stumbles and I lead her to our bedroom and helped her lay down on the bed.

I got back downstairs and laid back down feeling Tanner's hand back on my ankle and we watched the rest of the movie. Anyone else that was still awake headed upstairs and went to bed. I got up and grabbed a bag to start collecting any trash they left behind. Tanner sat on the couch looking like he was about to pass out. After the trash was all picked up I went and put it by the door to take out in the morning.

"Come on, time for you to go to bed," I told Tanner running a hand through his soft hair as I stood from behind the couch.

"What about you?" He asked groaning as he rubbed his eyes before looking up at me.

"I'm going to bed too, come on I'll walk you up." Tanner nodded and I pulled him up with his hand before we went up the stairs.

"Goodnight," he whispered once we were outside our doors.

"Goodnight, I'll see you tomorrow," I smiled. Tanner leaned in and gave me a peck on the lips before pulling me into his arms for nice, long and comforting hug. We went our separate ways and I brushed my teeth and put on my pajamas and plopping down onto my bed, knowing I wasn't going to be sleeping much tonight. I would replaying all the events from the day over and over in my head as I smiled to myself.