Roll the Dice

eighteen. sky masterson

"What?" Dom called back to me.

I sighed again and jogged a little to keep up with Dom, whose head kept disappearing in the crowd. Why was I so short? "Do I really have to repeat that?" I shouted over everyone's heads.

I winced and wiggled my eyebrows at anyone who turned their heads to look at me.

After a couple seconds, I could practically imagine Dom heaving a sigh and rolling his eyes before I caught sight of him stopping and turning back for me. "No," he grumbled to me as he placed his sunglasses back on the top of his head.

I felt the heat rush back to my cheeks, as if my moment of calmness had meant nothing, as soon as I met his smoldering eyes, which were even more so dark compared to the light sky above him. And as our feet mindlessly moved with the crowd, I couldn't help but notice how we were so close and how the tip of his nose almost grazed mine and how my throat seemed to close up on me.

And this was Dom Amaro.

Breathlessly, a couple seconds late, I mumbled back to him, "But why are we here, Dom?"

Dom bit his lip and tilted his head back to where it usually was. He took a breath. I took a breath. Then he responded, "You'll see."

I hated when people acted cryptic, especially people like him.

Out of nowhere, Dom ducked. My limbs froze, and my eyes darted around the crowd. Did anyone throw anything? Was there a sniper in the midst of the bustle? Or did Dom have some weird neurological disease involving seizures of which I wasn't aware? Then, Dom came back up, smiling back at me sheepishly with his sunglasses in his hands.

"I dropped them," he mumbled in the smallest voice I'd ever heard him use.

My lips twitched, and I couldn't help but skip forward a little to link my arm through his. "You weirdo."

I felt his body freeze beside me for a little, but a split second later, he resumed moving again, looking down at me with those eyes. "I dropped them," he repeated, sounding a lot like a little child who had been chastised by his parents for dropping his huge ice cream cone.

And the conversation stopped there for a while. I had no objections, really. I never did like people who dragged on the conversation for the sake of making noise, and Dom wasn't one of them. Besides, the warmth of his body stupefied me-what was I supposed to say anyway? I resisted the urge to lean my head against his shoulder. I was getting too comfortable for this sort of situation.

We were not on a date.

We were strictly friends.

(At least I knew that much from Dom, who'd made an effort recently to mess with me a lot more than usual.)

And oh, I wasn't supposed to have feelings for my friend.

Well, I was bound to fuck up something at some point.

Abruptly, Dom stopped once again, and I was about to look at him and say something like, "What the hell did you drop now?" But then, I caught a glint of someone's golden hair, and I turned my head to follow Dom's gaze.

He let go of my arm (ouch) and headed straight for a particular light green tent. I couldn't see his face, but I could imagine that little twisted smile that he gave to all his friends. And with just that, my heartbeat raced, and I stumbled after him to meet a little group of teenage jocks, all expectantly looking at us.

Goodness gracious. I was supposed to pretend that I could function in society with Dom and them?

Luckily for me, there was a familiar face out of all of them. Evan shot me a little smile and waved me over. "Lottie!" he called out. He hopped off the table on which he was sitting and headed to me with a flier in his hand. "Would you like a minty fresh berry milkshake?"