“Are you kidding me?” He scoffed. “You’re always walking around like a self-righteous prick who thinks he’s better than the rest of us. Like you’re better than me.”
“Oh, wait, I just remembered why I can’t stand you.” Asa held up his hand, as if thinking hard about something. “Ah, yes, you’re the one with an endless supply of sexist comments. Right. Well, have a great night, Ronnie, because if you’re done trying to scare me off—and failing miserably, might I add—I’m gonna go ahead and join the life of the party in there.”
Without so much as another glance back or waiting for the idiot to respond, Asa strode into the house, the fast-paced beat of the music filling his ears almost instantly and making every nerve in his body thump with the catchy rhythm.
He had just squeezed his way through a small throng of seniors when Hayden approached him from the other end, waving his phone in the air as he walked closer.
“Lyra texted,” he said. “They’re here.”
It hit Asa right then that tonight would be the first ever night he’d be spending with Carmen outside school and the realisation alone set off mini explosions in the pit of his stomach.
He didn’t even bother suppressing the grin that spread across his face as he followed Hayden back to where he’d entered the house from.
As soon as those doors opened, loud arguing fell on Asa’s ears—apparently the girls were having a really passionate debate about something—but he tuned it all out as his eyes zeroed in on Carmen and hers found him at the exact moment.
Her face lit up instantly, and she began walking towards him, as Hayden left his side and joined whatever debate was going on amongst Willa, Joyce, and Lyra.
“Hey, you.” She grinned once she was close enough.
“Hey,” he murmured, sweeping his eyes over the plain black turtleneck she wore and the dark jeans she paired it with.
“What?” she asked suspiciously, tilting her head back a little.
He shook his head, unable to hide the small smile tugging at his lips. “I’ve never seen you completely in black.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, it, uh… it actually looks really good on you.” He shrugged, ignoring the burning sensation in his cheeks.
But he was right, though. With her endless dark hair flowing freely down her back and the turtleneck hugging her petite frame, the colour really complemented her ivory skin tone and made those silvery-grey eyes of hers pop out. She looked almost exotic, but in a very ethereal kind of way.
Only Carmen could have that touch of grace to her posture which made her seem like someone from out of this world. Not necessarily the drop-dead gorgeous type, but someone who claimed your attention anyway by the way she effortlessly carried herself.
Asa figured that, in a way, being a small-framed, reserved and all-around quiet person who could still pull off being bold and be in her element was its own kind of sexy. She set her own trend, this Carmen West. And Asa loved that about her. Heck, forget love. He was goddamn proud of the way she defined herself, something he had struggled to do for a long time.
“Thanks.” She laughed, the rotating disco lights casting shadows across her face that seemed to pull Asa in even more.
He reached out and hooked his forefingers through two of the belt loops on her jeans, yanking her forward until she stumbled and fell against him.
“What was that for?” she grumbled, rubbing the tip of her nose that had bumped into the hard planes of his chest.
“I just wanted to,” he said, unhooking one of his fingers from her jeans and wrapping his hands around her waist instead. He noticed how her clothing clung to her like second skin.
“Did you have to yank me though?” She grinned, that teasing glint in her eyes appearing for the second time today, which told Asa she was definitely enjoying herself right now. “What happened to being gentle?”
His hold tightened around her waist, pulling her impossibly closer to his body until he was sure every single muscle of his had memorised the feel of her body against him. “Gentle—” he leant forward, dropping his voice to a low rumble “—is overrated.”
Asa knew the faint dusting of pink in her cheeks weren’t because of the red disco lights this time.
“Besides—” he paused, deliberately dragging his eyes over every inch of her face “—I like seeing you up close like this.” He unhooked his other finger from the belt loop and lifted that hand to her face, skimming the skin just underneath her eyes. “This…eyeliner…it suits you.”
“Asa.” Carmen’s grin seemed to widen. “I have a feeling I could wrap myself in seaweed and you’d still tell me it suits me.”
“You’re that confident?” His lips lifted into a half-smirk, eyes alight with mischief.
“No.” She shook her head slowly, eyes crinkling at the edges. “You’re just that whipped.”
And despite his growing fondness for this new side of her, surprise flashed across his face. “Damn, you weren’t kidding when you said the dancing atmosphere put you in a more relaxed mood.” He pressed her closer to him. “I like this more open, laid-back version of you. The attitude’s kind of sexy, to be honest.”
Carmen raised a brow in response. “We definitely need to go dancing more often, if it means you’re going to be more unrestrained with your speech.”
“Carmen West.” He looked at her with a devilish smile. “You asking me to talk dirty to you?”
He ended up getting shoved hard in the shoulder, sending him
