He counted to ten, then counted again just to be sure. Then he slipped out into the abandoned hallway. The music was back-louder now-and he headed toward the still-open door. He was curious to see who was in there, although when he thought back on it later, he was certain that some part of him already knew.
It was her, of course. Kelsey.
She wore tights and the bottom half of a leotard that looked like it had been cut in two with hedge shears. On top, she wore a sports bra with a collarless T-shirt over it, cut off at the midriff. He could see the taut muscles of her back and abs as she soared across the room. Because that's what it was-soaring. Not dancing. Hell, not anything he'd seen before. She was magic, her movement and power elevating what used to be a simple pop song into something absolutely transcendent.
This was it, he thought. This was her. This was Kelsey, and he was seeing her for the very first time.
He'd only seen hints of the core of her before. That spark. That vitality.
But he'd seen it now, and he knew it lived inside her.
She wasn't shy; she was extraordinary. Alive. Vibrant.
Real.
More than that, she was going to be his.
Somehow, he was going to win this girl.
9
Somehow he was going to win the girl.
As plans went, Wyatt had to admit it was a little vague. Not so much a plan, but a hope. An intention.
Somehow, though, he was going to see it through. At least he knew more about her now than he had before. And he pursued her like he'd never pursued a girl before. Flowers in her locker. Compliments whenever he saw her. Lattes in the morning, which he left for her even if she said no. And, best of all, tickets to the final round of a ballroom dance competition being held right there in Santa Barbara.
"I don't know if you're into dancing," he lied, thrusting two tickets into her hand as they stood outside the tennis center. "But someone gave these to me, and I thought you might want to go. With me, I mean." He gave himself a mental kick. He sounded like a douche. Not a confident seventeen-year-old.
But from the way she was smiling, it didn't look like she thought he was lame. On the contrary, her entire face glowed.
"I love dancing," she admitted. "It's-well, it's what I want to do. The only thing I want to do."
"Then this works out great," he said, the feeling that he was an idiot morphing into something much more pleasant.
"Except-well, it's just-" She held the tickets back out to him, and it felt like a punch in the gut. "It's just that I can't accept this."
"You don't have to." The words tumbled out of his mouth. "I mean, I already accepted. They were a gift to me." Not exactly a lie since his grandmother gave him the tickets. "I just need someone to tag along so I don't have an empty seat beside me. Looks pathetic, you know."
She bit her lower lip. "Really?"
"You'd be helping me out a lot."
"Thursday?"
"It's in the afternoon. You don't have to work, do you?" He knew she didn't; he'd already checked her schedule.
She shook her head. "That's my day off."
"Great. Your parents will let you come, right?"
"I don't-" She cut herself off, then lifted her chin. For the first time, she looked him straight in the eye, and he felt the reverberations all the way through him. "I mean, I don't think that would be a problem. Thank you," she added, then drew a deep breath. "I'd love to go with you."
Those tickets turned everything upside down, switching his world from just okay to absolutely perfect. He and Kelsey started walking together regularly, taking the long way from the snack bar to the tennis center. They snuck in more time, too. Breaks at the edge of the golf course. Hours stolen during weekends.
He learned that she danced whenever she could sneak in the time, and that she adored her little brother. "I try to stay mad at him," she admitted. "But then he'll make up a story in these crazy voices he does, and whatever irritated me just sort of fades away. Griffin's great."
"I want to meet him." They'd paused on the main walking path at the turn-off to the tennis center. "Why don't I just come with you?" Every day, this is where he left her. But every day, he didn't want their stolen time together to end.
"Someday. But I-"
"Ashamed of me?" he quipped.
She bit her lower lip, looking younger than her fifteen years. "It's just that Griff's only twelve, and if he says something . . . I mean, I'm not allowed to date-"
"We just went to the competition together."
"Yeah, well, that wasn't really a date. I was doing you a favor filling that seat, right? And, um, my parents were out of town. They took my brother to LA for an appointment, and I knew they wouldn't be back until late."