April 27th

Chapter 2b

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Two B

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He'd gone for the dancer.

Unless April's sight had gone completely haywire, the six foot something figure a few metres away from her was definitely Javier and his arms were around none other than the dancer from before, not even Emily.

He held their clasped hands above her head as she spun around, both of them laughing as they playfully danced together. She tiptoed to whisper something in his ear, slipping both her hands into the pockets of his hoodie. Javier laughed and whispered something back, letting her hands stay where they were.

"Earth to O'Neil," Shawn's voice broke the small trance April had been trapped in. "Are you okay?"

Blinking the sinister look out of her eyes, she looked at Shawn's face in the moonlight and nodded, embarrassed at being caught staring—again. "Yeah, I'm fine. Everyone keeps asking me that."

He dropped his hands and brushed hair out of her face. "Maybe because you seem distracted?"

"I am not."

"Do you want to dance, then?"

A bout of cheers arose from behind him, and April quickly turned to see Javier with his arms around the girls waist as she grinded her ass to his crotch. Bile swirled in April's stomach.

"April?" Shawn called. "Another time?"

She returned a nonplus smile. "Yeah. Of course."

She clenched her fists and turned in search of Paige. She needed to rant to someone who wouldn't advice her to 'do the right thing'. It was too early to feel anything about this. She shouldn't even feel anything concerning him.

It had been two years. Get over it.

Giving up on her search for Paige, she switched routes, heading in the direction of the beach house. Her haste to get away had nothing to do with Javier, in fact, now that she thought about it, her slip-ons were full of sand and she needed to empty them.

"Leaving so soon?"

She spun around as the voice registered. Javier was walking through the fluffy sand in her direction, beer can in hand. She waited until he was close enough to speak without hollering. "I'm going inside," she told him.

"Why?"

She shrugged and began walking again, keeping enough distance between them. "I'm tired."

He gave a low chuckle, but didn't respond to her claim. A minute of dead silence passed between them. "You know, we're adults, it doesn't have to be this awkward when we're around each other."

The fact that he had thought it necessary to remind her of their ages felt like a slap. "It's not awkward. I don't know what you're talking about."

He smiled and took a giant step to the side, closing the gap between them. "Then this shouldn't bother you."

She swallowed at the close contact but said nothing to oppose it. Dancing gave her euphoria like a drug. Javier had the antidote, as well as the booster, embedded in his presence. Two years ago, it had been the booster in action. Now it was the antidote. All the happiness she had felt during and after dancing had drained out of her. She took in a breath, head down to the soft sand as she continued to move in the same direction as the one who broke her. One step at a time, as though she was counting them.

"April," he started. "How have you been?"

She raised her head to be sure he'd just asked that, and it wasn't her imagination trying to mess with her. It had been a while since anyone had asked her that question for any reason but formality. The last time she'd had conversation with Javier, she had stayed in bed the whole day. She had barely held on to sanity till the day of his graduation and after that had come her senior year, aka the beginning of the battle over what she would do with her own life—a fight she still hadn't won.