Maybe This Time(75)

“Wait, who are you kissing?”

She took me by the shoulders and turned me toward the far corner. A tall, cute black guy I’d never seen before stood watching the line dancing happening on the floor. His hair was cropped short and he wore a blue suit.

“I thought you weren’t planning it. I thought it was going to happen naturally,” I teased.

I started to worry. Where was Lance? He was going to blow this opportunity if he didn’t step up his game.

“It was, until I saw him.”

“Who is that?” I asked.

“Exactly!” Micah said. “I need to find out. Or rather, you need to go find out for me.”

“I do?”

“Yes, and hurry. I have two hours.”

“Okay.” I started to walk over to the new boy when Kyle stepped into my path.

“Sophie, hi.”

“Hi.” I tried to look around him to see if my destination was still there. He was.

“Do you want to dance?”

“What?” My gaze whipped back to Kyle.

“Do you want to dance?”

“Um … Sure.” I tried to tell myself I wasn’t dancing with Kyle because Andrew was talking to Shelby Dickenson, but in my shallow heart, I knew that was exactly why.

It was a slow song and Kyle took me into his arms and we swayed for half a minute in silence.

“Your band isn’t playing tonight,” I said.

“They wanted a country band. We don’t play country.”

“True.” We turned a slow circle. “How is Jodi?” I don’t know why I asked it; the question made it seem like I was jealous or angry about what I’d seen over the summer when really, I hadn’t thought about it again after that day.

“I learned dating a band member isn’t good for the band.”

“This is a lesson many bands have learned before you. Too bad you didn’t do your research.”

He smiled his lazy smile.

“Especially because Bryce liked her too,” I added. “That was definitely a blowup waiting to happen.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I didn’t know Bryce liked her … until later.”

“Do you know who that guy in the corner is?” I finally asked, because Micah had caught my eye and was tapping the nonexistent watch on her wrist.

“Which guy?” Kyle asked.

We did another turn and I pointed him out.

“Oh, that’s Damon’s cousin.” Damon was a kid in our grade and probably the best student in town.

“How old is he?” I didn’t think that mattered at all to Micah, but I was curious. He looked a little old for her. Maybe I was just trying to find flaws with him.

“I don’t know. I think he’s in college.”

“Okay, cool.” I dropped my hands and started to leave.

“The song is still going,” Kyle said.

“Oh, right.” I’d forgotten that I wasn’t talking to Kyle just to find out information about Damon’s cousin.

The rest of the song went by painfully slow and when it was over, I mumbled, “See you around, Kyle,” and left.

“Bye,” Kyle said from behind me, sounding a little regretful.

Damon’s cousin was walking away when I finally made it to his corner. “Wait,” I called out and he turned. “Hi.”

“Hi?” he said, uncertain.

I stuck out my hand, which immediately made me think of Andrew mocking me for my hand shaking. “I’m Sophie,” I said, my hand still extended.

“Russell,” he said, shaking my hand.

“Nice to meet you. Where are you from?”

“Birmingham.”

“Where there are actual schools, I’m sure,” I said.

He looked confused, understandably. “Uh … yes. I go to college there.”

“I’m sure it’s a great, high-quality one as well.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Sorry.” I put my hand on my hip. “Do you have a girlfriend?” I was really off my subtle game tonight. Okay, maybe I was sabotaging this on purpose. Lance deserved a fighting chance, and this guy with his dreamy brown eyes and velvety voice had the ability to make Lance a distant thought.

“Not at the moment, no.” He still seemed super wary of my presence. Probably because I was not acting normal.

“I’m sorry, I’m a friend of Damon’s,” I said, not sure if that would help at all. “He’s your cousin, right?”

“Yes. Our moms are sisters.”

“But didn’t Mrs. Brown grow up here?”

“No, they grew up in Auburn, actually, which is where my mom still lives.”

“Which is why you’re here alone. Because Birmingham is fairly close to here, so you came to visit your cousin. I’m sure you could visit him all the time if you wanted. Every weekend if you desired.”

Russell tilted his head to one side, looking more confused by the second. “I don’t visit my cousin every weekend.”

“But you could, hypothetically speaking.”

“Sure … hypothetically speaking. It’s about two hours away.”

“I know! So close!”