He didn’t see me at first. His hand was gently placed on Tatum’s lower back. She had a short, deep blue, silk dress on that swayed on her lower back, showing off her bare shoulder blades – always finding a way to one-up me, I thought.
Reed was joking with one of the football coaches that was helping host the dance. He shook coach’s hand and turned to enter the gym with Tatum leading the way. Reed dragged behind a bit, looking down and rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, almost as if he was willing himself to endure this dance. Sarah and Calley had stopped Tatum to admire her dress and Reed kept walking, saying something to her over his shoulder as he held her purse and looked for our table that Sarah had pointed out. He turned and started walking towards it when he froze and locked his eyes on me.
My throat closed. I turned my head in a little to face Sean, but kept my eyes locked on Reed, pretty sure he couldn’t tell I was staring at him. He walked slowly to the table, his focus shifting back and forth from his destination to me. Deep down, I knew this was what I had hoped was the result of Sarah’s great work. And I was pretty sure this was her goal, too.
Sean and I circled around, and whenever Sean’s hands rubbed my back or played with my hair, Reed winced a little. His facial expression was caught somewhere between curiosity and sadness. Even as Tatum and the other girls joined him at the table, he continued to steal glances at me.
The song finished and I told Sean I was thirsty, so we walked back to our table. Determined to find those butterflies that I felt months ago, I searched my brain for a way to make Reed react. When Sean left our group for drinks, I let my guard go and reached for Reed’s shoulder, using him to balance myself so I could adjust the strap on my shoe. I felt the heat from his stare as I finished and tossed the ringlets of hair Sarah strategically let fall on my shoulders out of my eyes and gave Reed a “hello” smile.
“Hey…” he said, softly, looking down and swallowing.
“Hey, was wondering when you guys would get here,” I said, forcing my most confident self to push forward with an air of disinterest.
“Oh, uh… yeah. Tatum’s… well, she’s slow. She takes forever to get ready,” he said, looking back at her on the dance floor then back to me, now with shock and surprise in his eyes. Sitting down, he looked at the floor again and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. Then he stood up, unable to settle. He was nervous, and it was the most pleasant surprise of my life.
“So, uh… whataya say?” he said, tilting his head to the dance floor.
I looked back to Sean, who was deep in conversation with some of the guys from the team. Strong self, you can do this, Nolan. “Sure!” I said, taking his hand and leading him out to the dance floor.
Reed stood there stiffly at first while I danced in front of him, holding my arms over my head while my hips swayed and my hair flirted with my chin and shoulders. He started to relax and I even saw a smirk start to form in the side of his mouth as he watched me, looking at me like he did in my dreams.
When the song faded into a slow song, I started to turn back to our table, but Reed stopped me, grabbing the tips of my fingers and willing me towards him. His smile was stronger. He was turning on the Johnson charm.
“Sean won’t mind. I bet Tatum will force him to dance, you know, just to show me a lesson,” Reed rolled his eyes.
I laughed, though my gut clenched a little at the thought of Tatum teaching me a lesson.
It was a country song, one that my dad listened to all the time. I knew the words and focused on them to keep my legs from buckling under me as Reed pulled my hand in to his chest and put his warm hand flat against my lower back. This… was intimate.
As we rocked to the music, I felt him looking down at my face, his superior height something I was ever so grateful for now. I forced my eyes to look to the side at other couples and caught a quick glimpse of Sean and Tatum dancing across the room. He was right.
Unable to stand it, I looked up to try to sneak one look at him, but was caught immediately, his smile fast and captivating.
“Noles, you look amazing tonight. Really,” he said, squeezing my hand a little as he held it even tighter to his chest.
“Thanks,” I blushed, looking back up at him through my lashes, a move I learned from Sarah. “You clean up pretty good yourself, champ.” And… there I am.
Reed chuckled a little, then stopped our movement for a moment, lifting my chin with his hand to look him in the eyes. “Stop it; you don’t know how to take a compliment. I mean it and I want you to hear me. You. Are. Beautiful.”