Resolution

3. I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor

He led me down the hallway we had come through, the path of destruction we left behind evident now that I wasn’t in a hormone-induced haze.  Pictures that hung on the walls were crooked, and various item, including a phone and a key basket, had been knocked to the floor. 

“At least we didn’t destroy your room like this,” I said quietly, laughing to myself.  He glanced over his shoulder and gave me an amused look. 

“That wasn’t my room.”

My eyebrows furrowed instantly, confusion flooding through me.  “It wasn’t?”

“Nope.”

“Who’s was it?” I asked, almost afraid of the answer.

“My buddy Tanner’s,” he said nonchalantly.

“Do you even live here?” I asked, somehow already knowing the answer.

“Nope,” he replied, a slight smirk on his face.  “Just holding his keys.  Good thing, too, ‘cause it came in handy.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” I said distractedly, trying to decide if I should feel guilty or not for what we had just done on this mystery friend’s bed.  I decided I didn’t; it had been too good to cloud with negative emotions.

“What’s your last name?” he asked abruptly, leading me out the front door and locking it behind us.  We started walking down the sidewalk, back toward the party. 

“Tyler,” I said.  “Halle Tyler.”

He nodded but didn’t offer his own last name, staring ahead as we walked.  I rolled my eyes at his insistence on barely speaking.

“And yours is…?”

“Styles,” he answered, glancing down at me to see me watching his face.  His jaw flexed as he did so, throwing a dark shadow across his neck from the sharp line of it.  He raised an eyebrow at me but didn’t say anything as we continued to walk, turning off the sidewalk and heading back between the houses.  People were visible hanging out in the backyard of the party now, and the noise grew louder. 

A line of trees separated us from the party and we were almost past them when he suddenly grabbed my arm and pushed me lightly against one of the thick trunks, hiding us from the view of the people spread on the lawn.  His head ducked down to press his lips to mine, his chest pushing into mine as his hand gripped the back of my head. 

His lips parted mine as his tongue slid across my lower lip, his thumb hinging under my jaw to push my face up while he kissed me.  My hands instantly gripped his hips, pulling him tighter against me as his tongue pushed into my mouth again. 

As suddenly as he had kissed me he stopped, pulling his lips from mine and leaving me panting against the tree. 

“Wait thirty seconds then go back inside,” he instructed, green eyes burning into my own before releasing his grip on me and disappearing into the yard.  I leaned my head back against the trunk, mind reeling as I tried to catch my breath. 

Why he wanted me to wait thirty seconds before following him was a mystery to me, but I suspected I had been right in thinking he was fairly private; he didn’t want people to know what he had just been busy doing.  I counted to thirty in my head before peeling myself away from my perch, running my fingers through my hair as I walked back into the crowd, attempting to look as if I hadn’t just had my entire body rocked by a mysterious man I just met.

I didn’t see any of my friends outside as I wove through the people, narrowly avoiding the drinks that were inevitably spilled.  My phone vibrated in my hand again, indicating Maggie was calling me and I cursed under my breath.  I had approximately one minute until she found me and demanded an answer as to where I had been.