For fuck’s sake. Maybe this is the universe screaming at me that I don’t need to talk to Stone. Either way, we get in the middle of the floor, and she wraps her arms around my neck as I wrap my arms around her waist. I don’t know the song that’s playing, but it’s definitely slow.

At some point during the song, we shift, so I’m once again facing Stone. He’s still watching me, an unreadable, dark expression painted on his face. Not angry or jealous… Maybe curious. I’m caught in the magnetic trance all over again, unable to pull my gaze away from the one person I shouldn’t be staring at.

Looking at him reminds me of everything.

It reminds me of that night in Portland. Our first kiss against the wall.

It reminds me of the storm at the University when something shifted irrevocably between us during that power outage.

It reminds me of the very first time he took me to the field. And then the second time he took me there… the way he held me, kissed me, touched me. The night we finally gave in to our desires under the bright moonlight.

But it also reminds me of graduation. Of realizing he left. Realizing that I wasn’t enough to stay or enough to even say goodbye to. I wasn’t enough for any sort of explanation.

The backs of my eyes sting, and the lump in my throat is making it hard to swallow. Am I ever going to be able to think about him and not feel such a strong array of emotions? It’s been five goddamn years since he left, yet it feels like yesterday. The song we’re dancing to ends, another immediately starting.

The song sends chills down my spine as my muscles tighten. The upbeat song vibrates through the speakers, several people clapping and cheering. It’s not a sad one, by any means, but it rocks me to my core anyway.

My eyes yet again fly to Stone, who’s still watching me. He knows exactly what’s going through my mind, I just know it. That same song from all those years ago that we listened to in the car on our way home from Portland. The song I gave him shit for. My hands fall from Stella as I take a step back.

I need to get out of here now.

“I’m sorry, Stella. I gotta go.” Taking two more steps backward, my gaze stays locked on Stone before I spin on my heel.