Beacon in the Darkness

6. High Tide

Camila must have looked confused because Lauren leaned forward and said, "Austin is with someone."

"Oh," Camila said. "Well, that's cool that he met someone already. Hermoine looks—interesting."

Lauren laughed. "No doubt."

The first strums of a guitar sliced through the air. Michael groaned and placed his forehead in his palm. "Oh God, please do not tell me they're playing this."

Camila snickered as Lauren jumped up and clapped her hands together once. "Ooh, I love this song!"

"You won't once you hear Ashton sing it," Michael mumbled.

"Come on, let's get closer," Lauren said.

Camila held up a finger. "Just a minute. I'm waiting on a refill."

Lauren grabbed Michael's arm and yanked. "Well, it's just you and me, Michael. Let's go." She turned and dragged him toward the dance floor.

Michael looked back at Camila, mouthed the word, "Yes!" and gave her a fist pump before facing forward once more.

She couldn't help but laugh, as the bartender plunked her drink down and the first lines of Ashton's song sliced through the air.

When you were here before,

couldn't look you in the eye,
You're just like an angel,
your skin makes me cry.

"If I have to listen to much more of this, I'm going to cry."

Camila startled just as she took the first sip of her drink and the stinging liquid drew up into her nose. She coughed and her eyes filled with tears. Fanning her hand in front of her face, she glanced to her side. Shawn leaned against the bar beside her, amusement dancing in his eyes.

"God, Shawn! I'm going to put a bell on you or something so you can't keep sneaking up on me like that."

"Where's the fun in that? Besides, I like taking you by surprise. You get this wide-eyed scared-little-kitten look. It's cute."

"Well, is it also cute when Sprite projectiles out of my nose? Because that's just about what happened."

"You can do that? Now that's something I just have to see." He leaned back on the bar and grabbed her glass, handing it to her. "Here, take another drink and I'll scare you again."

"Shut up." She laughed and shoved his hand away, sloshing the soda all over his fingers. "Oops!" She reached behind her, snatched a few paper napkins, and took the glass from him, setting it on the bar and grabbing his hand to wipe the sticky soda off. "Sorry."

Glancing up, she met his eyes. He stared down at her, his face fixed into an expression she couldn't read. She stood there for a moment before she realized she still held his hand in hers. Dropping it suddenly, she cleared her throat and turned toward the stage.