The Halo Effect

11 | like a girl

I definitely should've thought my plan through a little more.

I realized that the moment the door closed, and I dropped Trip's hand. It wasn't my place to interrogate him, so I blurted out the next best thing.

"I just wanted to talk."

He scoffed, but his lips twitched into a half-smile. "And so you dragged me into a coat closet?"

"I didn't drag you. As much as it pains me to admit it, you're stronger than I am. You could've just...let go."

Trip's smile faded, his brown eyes looking even darker under the dim lights. "I wanted to talk that night at the dining hall. I wanted to talk, and maybe if we had, we wouldn't have had to do whatever the hell we did for the last two weeks."

Technically, we did talk that night, but I knew what he was getting at. He wanted to talk more. He had more to say, and I'd just walked away. I'd left him hanging out in the cold, our feelings freezing over.

"I didn't mean to be hard to read," I said, my words coasting on adrenaline. "I'm not trying to play games or have you chase me."

"Then what?"

"What?" I asked in an attempt to buy some time. If I couldn't be articulate, then I might as well abandon words altogether.

One eyebrow arched as Trip regarded me for a long moment. "Something happened between you and Grayson."

It wasn't a question.

"He said some things he shouldn't have," I said, deciding that now wasn't the right time to dive into all the lovely details. "But that's not why we're here."

"In a coat closet." His gaze was soft but simultaneously intense that I could almost feel him on me.

Our proximity encouraged me to hush my voice as I continued to hold his gaze. "I am, in fact, aware that we are in a coat closet."

"Is that all, then? You're not trying to play games or have me chase you?" Trip's words held a silent and inviting challenge in them.

"Not even close."

Capitalizing on every ounce of confidence I had, I rolled up onto my tiptoes and kissed him.

Our first kiss had been a delicate secret we shared in the dark, soft like the snowfall of that night, but this time was different. It felt more purposeful and urgent. Like we couldn't afford to take our time.

I kissed Trip but he kissed me back, curling an arm around my waist and slipping it beneath my suit jacket, with nothing but the thin silk of my shirt separating the feeling of his fingertips on the small of my back. Something undeniable yet intangible pulled us closer and closer, and suddenly nothing from earlier in the night mattered anymore. I wanted to memorize the feeling of his lips against mine. I looped my arms around his shoulders, lifting a hand to undo the work of his hair gel. The tousled curls look was tough to beat.

I was still reeling Trip in when he broke away.

"Your tie is nicer than mine," he said, tugging lightly at the loose silk above the knot, his knuckles grazing the hollow of my throat. His fingertips on his other hand pressed against the ridges of my spine, traveling up and mapping my back. "If we weren't in a coat closet at our school dance, I'd hope you'd consider taking it off."

I touched my lips to the pulse-point on his neck, just barely. It was a ghost of a kiss. "Only the tie?"

"It's whatever you want, Chandler."

My heartbeat fluttered at the way Trip's voice curled around each syllable of my name. I wanted to hear him say it again.

The abrupt sound of the doorknob twisting split us apart. We became pieces of a broken magnet, two poles repelling each other.