I Don't Like Badboys...Seriously | ✓

Chapter Thirty One - My Heart Needs a GPS

"Not legal," I grinned.

"Goody goody," he teased.

I rolled my eyes. The live ensemble started playing and couples began filling the dance floor. People stepped back and forth, dresses swirling about while the women twirled.

"Let's dance," he said, taking my hand and leading me to the dance floor.

"I can't dance and you know it," I hissed, dodging the couples around us while I stood there as a roadblock.

"Come on, it's easy."

I held his right hand and he placed my left on his shoulder while he rested his left on my waist. The warmth flooded from his fingertips to my skin and I tried my best to look calm.

"And forward, and back, forward, back," he said aloud. I moved my feet to the sound of his instructions, staring at the ground the entire time to avoid screwing up. He laughed at the intense concentration I needed to perform such simple steps, but I also found myself laughing.

I looked up at him, trying to catch a glimpse of that grin. Unexpectedly, he looked right into my eyes and I quickly looked away, at the same time stepping on his foot.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed, quickly letting go his hand and shoulder.

"It's okay; you only stabbed me with your heel. Totally fine," he grinned.

"Let's just stop dancing. It's probably the safest thing to do," I said, weaving through the people that were still successfully dancing without impaling their partners.

I grabbed a glass of punch and quickly drank it all to quench my thirst. I noticed a set of double glass doors leading out from the main ballroom.

"Let's go out," he said.

I looked at him and he pointed to the double doors. We walked over to the door and I stared outside into the garden. The doors led to a balcony, and I had to make sure there were no couples making out. Luckily, there were no couples making out; there was not a person in sight.

"Are we even allowed to go out there?" I asked.

Archer pushed down on the silver door handles and the door opened. "I guess so. It's not locked," he shrugged, grinning as he entered the open night air.

"Feeling a little rebellious tonight are we?" I joked, leaning against the white railing.

"You bet," he winked.

"Exams are coming up. You ready?" I asked.

It was a little sad that all my ice breakers were about school, but what was sadder was that it was depressingly relevant. Exams were coming up in a matter of weeks, exams that would determine the course of our lives.

I'd always thought that Archer would inherit the family business and live off of it with ease, but now, I wasn't so sure. "I am not ready," he laughed. "But I'm sure you are."

"I wish," I mumbled. "What do you want to do in uni?"

"Law maybe? Who knows?"

He turned around and faced out into the garden, resting his palms on the railing as he took in breaths of the fresh air. "You know what I hate?" He asked.

"No."

Besides his dad right now, I really wasn't sure.

"Regret," he said. He turned to look at me. "And if I don't do what my heart is telling me to right now, I'm going to feel regret, for a very long time."

His dark brown eyes glossed in the moonlight, and my mind flashed back to the emerald green of Hunter's when we were out on the balcony before.

"You're the only girl I'm actually friends with," he began.

"Seriously?" I raised an eyebrow, forcing a laugh. "I seriously doubt that."

"Well, I'm being serious when I say this." I turned to face him and he smiled. "I think I love you."

He took a few steps forward, each thud of his foot against the ground resonating with my heart beat. Before today, at least a hundred times in the past, I'd imagined something like this happening, brushing it off as impossibility. But unless my ears were really deceiving me, this was reality. I could feel my heart melting, the closer he got, until he was a mere thirty centimetres away from me.

He held a hand up to my cheek and moved closer. My eyes widened as I watched him, his face, moving closer and closer. My heart thudded against my chest and my chest felt faint. Twenty centimetres away, ten, five, three, two.

Just as his lips were about to brush mine, I clamped my eyes shut and buried my chin into my neck, smashing my forehead into his face.

"I'm so sorry!" I shrieked, stepping backwards quickly. I sure had a knack for injuring cute guys didn't I?

He laughed, rubbing his chin. "All good. I think you only dislocated my jaw."

My fingertips were buzzing to the beat of my heart, my head in the clouds as we made our way back inside. I don't think I managed to hold a proper conversation for the rest of the night.

On our way out, I caught sight of Hunter who was still handling the light stand from earlier. We exchanged nothing, said nothing. He was helping the others pack up the camera gear. Archer took my arm and escorted me back out of the ballroom, following the others.

I think I love you.

I nearly kissed Archer, and I could tell,

in my heart, things would never be the same again.

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