Don’t Be in Love

24

Don’t Stand Too Close to Her — Dorian

Why was she standing against the wall like that?

“Why are you stand—”

Her eyes lit with the same rage she had when I pulled her from the balcony on Halloween. It was both terrifying and surprisingly invigorating.

Maybe even more terrifying now as she latched onto my wrist and yanked, pulling me into the tight space and slapping her other hand over my mouth.

“We have to stop meeting like this.” I pulled her hand off my mouth, thinking of when we were stuck behind the couch in the bookshop.

“Be quiet,” she whispered, reaching past me to shut the door.

I got a strong whiff of the sweet coconut-scented lip gloss she wore. It gave me a headache that would reappear once my head hit my pillow tonight.

We were uncomfortably close. My hands itched to pull her closer. I could even count the number of gems in her pendant at this proximity.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because I’m investigating.”

“Investigating? Investigating what?”

“If people know about us.”

“So you’re snooping.”

“I am not snooping,” she argued

“Says the one hidden in a closet with her ear pressed against the wall like a retired detective.”

“I don’t even know what that means.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “And it’s a reading nook. We’re in a reading nook.”

“You’re not helping yourself here.”

“Says the one stalking me.”

“ Stalking you? You sit in the same spot every day . I walked about three feet to find you.”

She looked me up and down. It made the muscles in my hand flinch. My brain was having trouble dissecting that the look was not to actually look at me but to analyze me.

“Stop looking at me like that,” I told her.

“Like what?”

“Like I followed you in here when you’re the one up to something. If anything, it’d seem like you were luring me here. If you wanted to be locked in a room with me so badly you could’ve just—”

“Sorry, that was my aunt. She texted me the picture.” Some girl’s voice came out of nowhere and Adelaide’s hand was back over my mouth.

Listen , her eyes said. She removed her hand and pressed her ear against the wall. I followed.

“What did you hear?” another girl said.

The original voice responded. “My aunt was there, and she swore she saw Dorian dancing with someone else and—”

“Not Victoria?”

My heart thudded. Adelaide looked at me with wide eyes.

“Definitely not Victoria,” the girl confirmed.

It’s fine , I responded, trying to relax the curve of stress between her brows. Students gossiped all the time.

No, it’s not , she glared.

“So what? It was a masquerade ball! All there is to do is dance!”

“Exactly. She was the only person he danced with—for the entire night. No Victoria in sight.”

“What if it was his cousin or something?”

“Well, there’s something else if you had let me finish . She said it looked like they were arguing.”

“I argue with my cousins all the time.”

“She said that his hand was very low on her back—the girl’s back not my aunt’s.”

“Obviously,” someone deadpanned.

“And let me preface this by saying that her dress was completely backless.”

Adelaide avoided my gaze now. I should regret the hand placement, but I didn’t. Holding her like that was enough of a fix for the withdrawals I had been having since kissing her.

“ Woah! Why wasn’t that the first thing you mentioned?”

“How low?”

“I don’t know, Kate! Want me to call my aunt and ask her to point on a diagram.”

“Yes.”

“So he’s not with Victoria anymore?”

“Dorian Blackwood is back on the market,” someone hollered.

I exhaled.

“It’s never too soon to start campaigning to be his date for The January …”

Jesus Christ, they were already talking about The January. The last thing I needed was a gaggle of girls bombarding me for the next two months over needing a date. James would love to hear this.

A door creaked and footsteps spread the carpet. No more noise came from the neighboring nook.

Adelaide squeezed by, every part of her body brushing mine to get out of the tight space.

“You need to figure out who saw us so we can shut this down,” she commanded.

“Adelaide—”

“ No . Don’t follow. We need to walk out separately.”

“Don’t be like that.”

“Be like what? Difficult? I’m not having my entire future blow up in my face over gossip that revolves around a man who can’t keep his hands off of every woman he sees.”

My shoulders fell. “Fine. Isolate yourself. Come up with one of your plans. I don’t care.”

I turned and left.

If she was going to believe what everyone else thought, then fine.