Riptide

76

Within seconds of Walker entering the house, Brady was in the same room as me, watching Walker from afar as the blonde boy scoped out the crowd.

Sophie came over at the same time as the girl I'm guessing to be Xochitl did, both of them hugging Mona before introducing themselves and joining us in dancing.

I felt my phone buzz in the pocket of my coat, pulling it out to see Brady had sent me a picture of the 6 of us dancing.

I smiled at him gratefully as we all moved into the empty room, Xochitl and Dior dragging us up to Connor's "stage" so we weren't as crowded with people.

NO ONE'S POV

As the girls danced, the Noon twins, along with the rest of their friends-including, joined them, the 16 of them dancing carelessly to the music.

(The 16 are Delphi, Momona, Leah, Dior, McKenna, Abby, Payton, Brady, Daniel, Aryan, Charlie, Javon, Keith, Connor, Xochitl, and Sophie)

At the same time, a certain blonde haired boy entered the room, wearing no costume but a hoodie and jeans, his blue vans on his feet as he caught sight of the girl he'd been searching for.

Walker got lost in his admiration for his best friend, and he couldn't help the surge of warmth in his chest. Seeing Delphi, carefree and laughing, felt like coming home, like he found a piece of himself that he hadn't realized he was missing.

(plsdontfindmel0l bc I reworded a paragraph from Cliché because it was so beautifully written and I felt it described how Walker is written to feel in this part of the chapter. P.S if you like Henry Hart GO READ CLICHÉ)

Delphi hardly spared him a glance, which was hard enough for her.

Brady shifted over to her and turned her back to him as the song changed, beginning to dance with her and keep her from looking at the blonde.

"Thank you." Delphi whispered into his ear, making the brunette nod and smile sweetly at her.

"He's still looking at you." Brady informs Delphi, making her want to meet Walker's eyes, but she knew if she saw his blue eyes there'd be no way she could stay mad.

"One of you scare him off." Delphi jokingly told her friends, making them laugh and look at her.

"I don't know about scaring him but I can put him off." Brady offered, Delphi nodding.

"You trust me Reynolds?" The brunette asked, the girl nodding before he started leaning his head into hers.

He stopped before their lips could connect, making sure Delphi was truly okay with it before closing the gap and kissing her.

This would be the kiss he counted as their first. Surrounded by their friends, music blasting, lights flashing through the room. Everything else fell away from Brady's mind and all he could think about was Delphi. The softness of her lips on his, the subtle taste of her watermelon lipgloss, the fabric of her outfit beneath his fingertips, her hands around his neck. At this moment, nothing else mattered to him but the girl he'd been crushing on since they met, and her not pulling away was giving him hope that maybe, just maybe, she felt the same way for him.

He could've stayed there forever if it weren't for the feeling of eyes burning into him, and so he pulled away.

Delphi wiped the lipgloss that had transferred off of Brady's lips with her sleeve as he looked at her intensely.

As soon as she was done, he look over, Walker shooting daggers at him with his glare as Brady smirked smugly at him, Delphi seemingly not noticing either of those things as she moved to Momona and Dior.