Make My Way

Chapter Fifty-Four

Aria's POV

I had my whole body pressed up against the back of Xavier's. I could actually feel some of the muscle in his back and arms. Blake was pretty fit and kinda athletic but he was extremely skinny. Adrian was tall, somewhere around 6' 2", but he wasn't super built. He definitely wasn't fat or anything, but his muscle wasn't as defined. Merrick was short and slightly bigger, not exactly the ideal man. The funny part was Vivian is really tall for a girl, like 5' 10" and she was about his higher if not taller. Easton was tall but he was also a little chubby. When you think hot, you definitely don't think Easton. You think Adrian's height, Blake's body(ish), and Merrick's hair (his hair is fabulous). But then there was Xavier. I wasn't really sure what to think of him. I had always thought of him as my brother and now, here we were, going to prom together and basically laying on top of each other. I had to admit, Xavier was very attractive, although he wasn't super tall he was at least 5'10 1/2 but I was only 5' 3 1/2" so I didn't care. Besides that, he was built. The weird thing was that he was pretty un-athletic, other than track, but he lifted and that obviously paid off. I just didn't know if I really liked him like that. I didn't get that tingly feeling where you feel scared and excited to be around someone when you have a crush on them when I was with him, but I did want to be around him. Spend time with him. I just didn't know.

I leaned my head closer to his ear. "You know, this might be weird, but this is actually pretty comfortable now," I confessed.

He let out a quiet laugh and said, "You know, I was thinking the same thing but I thought you might think that's weird."

I smiled, "Well it was awkward at first but now it's just natural."

They had started playing the game again around us and told Xavier to ask someone. "Everly, truth or dare?" he asked.

"Truth."

"Have you ever French kissed a guy and who?" he asked with a smirk.

She took a deep breath. "Yes. His name was Justin. Moving on." She obviously didn't want to talk about it.

Merrick looked at me and Xavier and raised an eyebrow. "You're guys' five minutes was up twenty minutes ago..." he told us.

"Oh, well no one told us how long and it's actually kinda comfortable now," I said and Merrick held his hands up in mock surrender as Xavier nodded slightly. We kept playing for a while longer until we heard foot steps coming downstairs. Xavier sat up and slid off the chair and onto the floor. By the time Merrick's step-mom made it down the stairs with a pile of laundry in her arms, Xavier was already bouncing on the excercize ball in the middle of the room.

When she left we continued the game. "Stella, truth or dare?" Everly asked.

"Truth."

"If you had to choose a guy to go to each of the bases with, and you can't use the same person more than once, who would be on each base?" Everly asked.

I saw her start thinking. When she finally seemed to have made up her mind, she said, "First would be Luca because I still think he's cute and he's my friend but I just found out he got back together with his girlfriend. I'd say Neil for second since he's and idiot and has been stupid lately. Third would be with Antonio because he's hot and actually really nice and I'd totally date him. All the way with Adrian," she finished and Laine and Merrick raised their eyebrows. They obviously didn't know she had kinda caught a thing for him. "Aura, truth or dare?"

"I'm going to go with dare," our innocent little girl decided.

Stella didn't go easy on her either. "I dare you to straddle Merrick for two minutes." Now it was going somewhere. Aurora reluctantly stood up and sat on Merrick, who looked just as uncomfortable as her. That was almost the most intimate contact she'd had with a guy. Almost. She hadn't even made it to second, not that she'd have much boob to squeeze, she was barely an A cup, but she did have abs. I myself was a strong B cup, Stella on the otherhand, was pushing the line between a C and a D.

"Easton, truth or dare?" Aura asked.

"Dare."

She thought for a minute before her eyes lit up evilly. "I dare you to put your hands in Stella's boobs for two minutes." He shifted uncomfortably and, when Stella finally gave in, awkwardly touched her boobs.

Looking away, he said, "Laine, truth or dare?"

"Truth, and then I need to leave."

"If you had to grind with one guy other than your boyfriend, who would it be?" he asked.

"I'd honestly have to say Benjamin." What the heck? Benjamin broke her heart and was probably gay...?! "He might not be very nice but he has a great body." Wow she's awkward.

She had to leave along with Aurora, leaving me, Merrick, Xavier, Easton, Everly, and Stella. When they left, Easton had a 'brilliant' idea. "I challenge all of you to create the sexiest show possible while we're all still fully dresses. Xavier and I will go with our prom dates which leaves Merrick and Stella." I'm not sure how he actually convinced us to do it, but he did. When we all came back together, Xavier and I were pretty sure we were going to win. All of us had music so this would be interesting. Why we were doing this? That's a very, very good question.

Stella and Merrick went first. Theirs consisted mostly of both of them twerking and dropping with their backs to us to the song "Work" and let me tell you, Merrick twerking is actually not as bad as you might think. Don't worry, I recorded the whole thing. Then Easton and Everly went. They were extremely awkward but it was kinda cute because you could tell they liked each other.

Finally, it was Xavier and my turn. Ours was significantly more choreographed than the others. The salsa music started and he wrapped his arm around my back, pulling me close so that our bodies touched across the front. I put my arm around his neck and we stepped just like we had practiced. He spun and dipped me. As I stood up, that was where it got interesting. He put his hands on my waist and hoisted me up slightly. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he held me as I bent my back backwards and saw Easton recording us. I straightened again and put my legs down. I then turned around, with my back to Xavier.  I reached behind me and dropped down to the ground, dragging my hands down his body on the way. Someone whistled and I stood back up. We finished our dance and everyone agreed that we won. There may or may not be a video of the two of us dancing somewhere out there on YouTube.

Stella's phone rang. She answered it and announced that she had to leave and pick up her parents from the airport since they just got back into town. Everly also had to go, leaving me with the three boys. We sat in the basement and talked for a while about all kinds of things. From relationships to crushes, school to anything else imaginable. We talked for almost an hour before I realized I should be getting home. Since Aurora and I had carpooled there that morning, I needed a ride. Xavier agreed to take me pretty quickly.

We talked in the car on the way and he didn't even play any of his ridiculous Irish music. I gathered all my bags and grabbed my trophy and ring. I leaned in and hugged him one last time, but it was different than before. We let go but stayed barely inches apart. I glanced at his lips and he moved closer. I turned my head and shifted to get out of the car. "Thanks for the ride," I said politely.

"Anytime," he responded and smiled.

What did I just do? Why didn't I just kiss him? Thoughts buzzed around my head like crazy. I knew I wouldn't be getting much sleep that night.