Two Can Keep a Secret(65)
“Sorry. Daisy wanted to ask me something. Did you find them?”
“No. I got intercepted by Viv.” His shoulders twitch in an irritated shudder. “She’s already lost Kyle and she’s not happy about it. And she’s mad at Theo because he brought a flask and Katrin’s half-drunk.”
My eyes wander across the gym until they spot a bright-red dress. “Speaking of,” I say, nodding toward the dance floor. Katrin and Theo are slow-dancing in the middle of the room, her arms wrapped around his neck like she’s trying to keep from drowning. “There she is.”
Malcolm follows my gaze. “Yep. Doesn’t look much like a killer, does she?”
Something in me deflates. “You think I’m ridiculous, don’t you?”
“What? No,” Malcolm says quickly. “I just meant— Whatever might happen isn’t happening right this second, so … maybe we could dance?” He slides a finger beneath his tie and tugs to loosen it further. “Since we’re here and all.”
My stomach starts doing that fluttering thing again. “Well. We do need to blend,” I say, and accept the hand he holds out to me.
My arms circle his neck and his hands graze my waist. It’s the classic awkward slow-dance position, but after a couple of offbeat sways he pulls me closer and then, suddenly, we fit. I relax against him, my head on his chest. For a few minutes I just enjoy how solid he feels, and the steady beat of his heart beneath my cheek.
Malcolm leans toward my ear. “Can I ask you something?” I lift my head, hoping he’s going to ask if he can kiss me again, and almost say yes preemptively before he adds, “Are you afraid of clowns?”
Huh. That was a letdown.
I lean back and stare into his eyes, which look steely gray instead of green beneath the dim lights. “Um. What?”
“Are you afraid of clowns?” he asks patiently, like it’s a perfectly normal conversation starter.
So I go with it. “No. I’ve never understood the whole clown phobia, to be honest.” I shake my head, and a stray curl heads straight for my lips and sticks to the gloss. Reminding me, once again, why I don’t wear makeup. Before I can figure out a graceful way to extricate it, Malcolm does it for me, tucking the curl behind my ear and letting his hand settle briefly on my neck before it returns to my waist.
A jolt of energy shoots down my spine. Oh. All right. Maybe lip gloss has its uses.
“Me either,” he says. “I feel like clowns get kind of a bad rap, you know? They just want to entertain.”
“Are you, like, their spokesperson?” I ask, and he grins.
“No. But there’s this clown museum in Solsbury— Well, calling it a museum is kind of a stretch. It’s this old woman’s house that’s crammed full of antique clown stuff. She gives anybody who shows up a giant box of popcorn and she has, like, six dogs that just hang out there in the middle of all the clown memorabilia. And sometimes she plays movies against one of the walls, but they don’t always have clowns in them. Or usually, even. Last time I went the movie was Legally Blonde.”
I laugh. “Sounds delightful.”
“It’s weird,” Malcolm admits. “But I like it. It’s funny and sort of interesting, as long as you’re not afraid of clowns.” His hands tighten on my waist, just a little. “I thought maybe you’d like to go sometime.”
I have a lot of questions, starting with Only me, or me and my brother plus Mia? and Will it be a date, or is it just a strange thing you like that nobody else will do? and Should we get you one hundred percent cleared of any felonies first? But I bite them back and respond with, “I’d like that.”
Because I would.
“Okay. Good,” Malcolm says with a crooked smile. Suddenly, whatever rhythm we’ve managed to find vanishes; he steps on my foot, I clock him with my elbow, my hair sticks to my face for reasons I can’t even comprehend. It’s all going to hell very quickly, until he freezes and asks, “Do you see Katrin?”
I look toward the center of the gym where we’d seen her last, but she’s gone. “Theo’s still there,” I say, tilting my chin in his direction. He’s doing a terrible job of trying to look casual while pouring the contents of a flask into his Solo cup. “But I don’t see her.”
The music switches to a fast track and Malcolm motions for me to follow him. We wind our way off the dance floor, weaving in and out of the crowd, and circle the auditorium. I catch a couple of people staring at Malcolm, and before I can think too much about it I grab hold of his hand. We see Mia and Ezra within a bigger group, dancing frenetically. Daisy is off to the side with a couple of chaperones, standing slightly apart from them with a preoccupied expression. It makes me wonder what homecoming was like for her five years ago, watching the boy she loved and her best friend get crowned king and queen. Whether she was jealous—or unconcerned, thinking her turn would come soon enough.
And I wonder what it was like for Sadie more than twenty years ago, there without her sister, dancing with a boy she must have liked at least a little bit. A perfect night turned into a cruel memory.
“She’s not here,” Malcolm says, but just then, I see a flash of bright red where I wasn’t expecting it to be.
The far corner of the gym has an exit next to the bleachers that’s been covered with balloons and streamers in an attempt to make it look inaccessible. Katrin emerges from beneath the stands and, without checking to see whether a chaperone’s in sight, pushes the door open and slips outside.