Virtual Attraction [COMPLETE]

36| The Meeting II.

I was too afraid to look behind me, instead I typed another message.

Listen, before I turn around...I just want to make sure you're not disappointed with what you see—who you see. I'm not exactly a model and I...ugh, I'm just not who you think I am.

BlackLight_00: Blaze?

FireAndBlaze: Yeah.

BlackLight_00: Shut up.

My hands shook as I typed back. Okay, I had done enough stalling. Now it was time to turn around and face the magic.

I glanced behind me but couldn't make out any figure from among the trees. Then I felt something cold and wet on my cheek.

A raindrop.

Looking up at the sky, I noted the dark clouds that were forming a thick, grey blanket. It was going to rain soon.

I heard a rustling sound, but couldn't quite pin where it was coming from.

"Hello?" I called out, nervously, grabbing my phone, ready to call Victoria for backup.

There was no response.

Chills raced down my spine, as I began to feel like I was the protagonist in one of the dozens of serial killer movies I'd convinced Victoria to watch with me last month.

"Hey." A deep voice sounded from behind me and a tall, dark-haired boy appeared from behind the shrubbery. He looked to be around college-aged.

He was dressed casually, in a pair of jeans and a dark-colored t-shirt. His jaw was perfectly chiseled and his dark, sparkling eyes reminded of me of someone I used to know.

It wasn't until he got closer that I realized why his eyes had been so familiar.

I straightened, crossing my arms across my chest and rolling my eyes.

This couldn't be happening.

"R-Ryder." My stutter always got worse when I was nervous. "You need to get out of here. I'm m-meeting someone."

He looked at me like he couldn't quite decide whether I was being serious or playing a joke on him. "Dressed like that?"

"What's wrong with how I'm dressed?"

"Nothing," he said. "If you're working at red-light district."

My eyes widened.

"Oh my God," I said, raising up my arm to slap him. "You're such a jerk."

He laughed, then grabbed my arm before it could reach his cheek. "Whoa, I'm kidding. You look good."

His eyes skimmed appreciatively over my tight-fitting dress.

Despite myself, his compliment set off another wave of butterflies through my chest.

Ryder—the boy I'd been in love with for years—had just said I looked gorgeous. Well, he hadn't exactly used the word gorgeous, but the way he was looking at me told me that was what he was thinking.

I was surprised by the way I felt shy under his gaze, when I hadn't seen him since the party last year. This was the boy I'd kissed on that fateful night, a year and a half ago. The boy who had cost me my friends—who was single-handedly the reason I was no longer friends with the people who had been more important to me than anything else in the world.

It had been torture watching him with Brooke—loving her the way I'd always wished he'd loved me. How I'd felt guilty for so long, about the fact that I was that girl who was in love with her best friend's boyfriend.