A heavy silence came between us as we locked gazes. Shifting slightly, I felt my hand
brush against his, and an electric current shot through my body. I pulled my hand
away quickly and stared at him. "You're different from what you portray, you know." He smiled—a smile that was both handsome and dangerous, drawing me in. Here I
was, thinking it would take a long time to heal from my breakup with Ethan, but I
was wrong. I was already jumping into unknown territory. Jenna's words echoed in
my ears—could he actually be into me? I quickly mocked myself for thinking that, telling myself it was impossible. "How different?" he asked, moving closer.
I hesitated. "You act tough, but I don't know how to say it. Sometimes you don't feel
tough. You look—"
"Don't," he interrupted, eyes narrowing. "Don't finish that sentence."
I stood there, unsure what to say next, worried my words might make him angry. Suddenly, a drunk guy stumbled out of nowhere and fell on me, grinning. "Hello, handsome." Disgust filled me. I felt his touch crawl across my skin, goosebumps rising. Before I
could react, Andrew had the guy by the collar and slammed him against the wall. "Ever touch him again and I'll break the hands you used. Do you understand?" His
voice had an edge I'd never heard before. "Chill, man," the guy muttered, trying to step away. Andrew's eyes were cold. "Walk away now, and nobody gets hurt." The guy stumbled back inside, leaving me and Andrew alone, staring at each other. "That was intense," I managed. "He shouldn't have touched you," Andrew said, voice low.
"Why do you care what happens to me?" I wanted to act tough and brush him off, but the words tumbled out before I could stop them. "I hate it—hate seeing
someone put their hands on you."
I was an emotional mess from what he said. Glancing at him, I saw him trying to
leave. "Let's just get back inside," he said. Before I knew it, I reached out and grabbed his hand. "Thank you," I whispered, but I
still didn't let go. Something inside me made me hold onto him. There was a small
voice in my head saying, Don't leave me. Suddenly, it slipped out: "Don't leave me," I
said, my voice cracking. His eyes widened. He looked at me for a long moment, and I saw something shift in
him. Then he cupped my cheeks, overwhelmed and unable to control himself. In that
moment, I didn't care if anyone saw us. All I wanted was to be in his arms. He pulled
me in and kissed me—hungry, desperate, like he'd been waiting forever. I thought it
would quench the fire raging inside me, but it only added gasoline to it. I wanted to
melt into him, to never let go. Suddenly, the balcony door slammed open. Julian's voice cut through, urgent: "Come
quick, it's Ryan! He got into a fight, and it's bad!" Reluctantly, Andrew pulled away. "I'll see you later," he said, then ran off to help
Ryan.
I stood there, breathless, my lips tingling. I'd just shared a kiss with Andrew, and it
was overwhelming. I didn't want it to stop. I'd never felt emotions like this before—
not even with Ethan, my ex. But something about what Andrew said bothered me. When we held hands, he said he was happy I stopped pretending to know him. But I
didn't think we'd met before, or had I forgotten? I tried to dig through my memories
but came up empty. Jenna's voice, followed by Lena's, snapped me out of my thoughts. They found me in
the chaos, pulling me away from the party.
"Those assholes just had to get drunk and ruin the night for everyone else," Jenna
grumbled. I silently agreed. I noticed Lena was unusually quiet. "Are you okay?" I asked her. "Yeah, everything's fine," she replied. "Are you sure? You seem quiet."
"Don't worry about me. I'm fine, I promise." We went our separate ways. Back at my dorm, I freshened up and changed into my
pajamas. Lying on my bed, I couldn't sleep. I kept worrying about Andrew—how the
fight had gone, if he was all right. As I lay there, my mind replayed the night's events. Butterflies filled my stomach, and I couldn't resist smiling. Idiot, I muttered. "We're
supposed to be going through a breakup and healing, not falling in love, you buffoon,"
I reprimanded myself, but the smile wouldn't leave my face.
It wasn't until midnight that the guys finally came back. Ryan entered first, his face
black and blue. Panic seized my heart as worry for Andrew flooded my mind. Thankfully, he came in after them and looked fine, except for bruised knuckles and a
few scratches. Overall, they were okay. I breathed a sigh of relief. "How are you guys feeling?" I asked. They all responded, except Ryan, who went
straight into the bathroom. "Don't worry about him, he'll be fine," Julian said. Andrew didn't say anything, just stared at me. Strangely, I didn't find it -putting—
if anything, it was comforting. I moved closer. "How are you?" I asked quietly. "Fine," he said, giving me a slight smile that made me blush. I went back to my bed
and lay down, finally drifting off to sleep.