Really awkward.
She smelled good, too. I caught myself leaning in to catch another whiff so I could figure out what the heck that scent was. I stopped cold when she looked up at me with big seafoam green eyes.
And oh...wow.
I totally didn’t mean to freeze, but I was thunderstruck, and I paused for way too long of a second.
Great, now she was going to think I was coming on to her or something. She’d have Cora talked out of dating me within the hour.
My hands jerked off her as if she’d scalded me. My ears burned with humiliation while I cleared my throat. “You okay?” When she nodded, I did too, motioning us back toward the crowded part of the frat house. “We, uh, we should probably take this way.”
I was trying too hard. I always flubbed things up whenever I wanted to impress someone. My stress levels rose, I paid too much attention to every little thing I did and said, and I became so self-conscious my stutter usually returned.
Refusing to say a word so I could at least keep that little embarrassment under control, I led Zoey into the next room where noise and the bustling activity of a college party assaulted us. She inched closer to me, which was nice, since it meant she wasn’t flat-out afraid of me, but I told myself she did it because the place was cramped; there was honestly nowhere else for her to go.
When some drunkard stumbled backward into her, she gasped and grabbed my wrist, smashing her side into mine. I curled a protective arm around her and used my free hand to nudge the drunk away. She didn’t pull away from me, so I kept her flush against me and led her to my girlfriend.
Cora was exactly where I’d last seen her, dancing to some hip-hop song with two guys who were laughing and talking with her above the music between all the Jell-O shots they were downing. Eyes closed, she lifted her hands above her head, swished her hair around her face and rotated her hips in a way that reminded me of the first night we’d met. The night I’d lost my virginity.
“There,” I said, pointing her out. I freed Zoey so she could go to Cora. But she didn’t leave my side.
Her mouth fell open as she gawked openly, moving her face forward as if she didn’t believe her own eyes. “Is...” Her mouth moved a few more times before she looked up at me. “Is she drunk?”