“When you’re sitting in California, and I’m missing you, I’ll regret that I didn’t get to dance with you once.”
Chloe looked over into his dark eyes that carried a hidden sparkle and felt a tug at her heart. Amo had managed to crawl his way into a place in her heart in such a short amount of time of being friends. He never failed to make her laugh; he always tried to make her as comfortable as possible; and the best part about him was he never forced her to tell him anything. He accepted her for who she was and didn’t want her to meet her demons, always making sure she was as happy as she could be with him.
Amo moved just an inch closer. “Please … for me?”
She didn’t know how to say no to him in that moment, didn’t know how she could possibly turn down something that looked so meaningful to him. I’ll regret it, too.
Before she could change her mind, she nodded. The look that crossed his face would be what she always remembered every time she thought of him.
Standing up, Amo led the way. Thankfully, it was almost closing time, so everyone was mostly gone, and the dancefloor had plenty of space for her.
“Yay!” Elle yelled when she nervously joined them on the dancefloor.
Saying she was nervous was an understatement as she awkwardly tried to dance with them. When she looked ready to walk off, Amo’s pleading eyes were the only things that kept her in place.
Come on, this is one of the last times you get to have fun with them. She pepped talked herself into trying again and made herself try to let go for one night. Finally, when they all started dancing silly like you would see at a wedding, she relaxed enough to get into it.
It was honestly the most fun she had ever had, enjoying every second of them collectively singing horribly and dancing ridiculously.
“This is the last song of the night!” the DJ came over the microphone after a song ended.
“Boo!” They all called out, not wanting it to end.
As they danced to the last song, Nero pulled Elle in closer while Vincent pulled Lake in closer for a final dance. Chloe was tired and about to walk off to go retrieve her water, but Amo stopped her.
“It’s the last one, and I want my own dance to remember when you’re at Stanford.” He came in closer to her.
I really wish he would quit saying that. She couldn’t say no to him whenever he did that.
The adrenaline from dancing was still pumping through her, so she stayed to finish the final dance. Trying her best to dance one on one with him was hard, though, considering they weren’t touching each other.
Amo got in closer to her, putting very little space between them, turning the dance serious. Chloe’s heart pumped so hard she thought it was going to come out of her chest. Somehow, though, she managed to sway her hips to the beat.
Staring up at him, she saw something different come alive in him. It looked like Amo was going to come in closer … But then the music stopped.
“I knew you could do it. Wasn’t that so much fun, Chloe!” Elle interrupted whatever was happening between them, and it wasn’t hard to miss the unhappy reaction from Amo.
Heart still pumping, she looked over to Elle, hopefully managing some sort of a smile. “Yeah, that was fun.”
Leaving the lounge, Chloe said her good-byes to Elle, Nero, Lake, and Vincent as they wished her a final happy birthday.
“I’ll walk you to your car,” Amo told her when she went to say good-bye to him.
“Okay.” Her voice sounded breathy from all the dancing.
Walking to her car together, she could feel the tension build again between them until she reached her car.
“Thank you for dancing with me.” He looked down at her, grinning. “You’re not so bad.”
Chloe couldn’t help laughing. “Oh, thanks. You weren’t as terrible as I thought you would be, either.”
He laughed back. “Well, I had fun, and when you leave me to go to Stanford—”
“I am not leaving you. Don’t say it like that!”
Amo stepped in closer to her. “So you’re not leaving, then?”
“Well …” She thought about her words carefully. “Yes, but it’s not like I want to.”
“Then don’t.”
“You know I have to, Amo …” He makes it sound so easy. “What I meant was that I don’t want to leave Elle …” Her voice trailed off to find the courage for her next words. “Or you.”
His tall frame leaned down to meet her short one. “Are you going to miss me?”
With his face so close to hers, she felt her heart begin to pound again. It took her a minute to find the words, and when she did, they came out breathy again. “Of course.”
All she could hear was the pounding of her heart getting louder and louder in her ears.
Unable to pull her eyes away, she realized what she had seen in them on the dancefloor: hunger.