Free Playing With Fire by Ashley Piscitelli

make together. I hope he is not gonna slip in some condition for us being together. “What do you mean?”
    “You have all the power in this situation. I want to be with you, I want to have you by my side, and I want to wake up to you in my bed. As long as you are willing to break it off with Chris, though. I can’t be your secret.”
    I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. I hated that I had tried to keep Carter a secret. He was so much more than that. I knew it hurt him that I did that, and I’m surprised he went along with it at all. I never really understood why he waited for me, either. It's not like he was in short supply of available girls. I saw the way all of them around campus looked at him.
    He didn’t want them, though, he wanted me. “I don’t want you to be my secret, Carter. Would you be willing to give me a couple days when we get back, though?” I didn’t know how he was going to take this. “Chris can be…temperamental. I just want a couple days to tell him and make him understand it’s over.”
    “Maddy, I need you to tell me the truth about what is going on with you and him.”
    He really wanted to have this talk now? I wasn’t ready to tell him everything. I have been letting him in little by little, but it was going to take time. “Carter, can we have this talk later. I really don’t want to ruin the night.”
    He frowned, but seemed to understand. “Okay, just as long as you will tell me. You know, that necklace is beautiful. Someone with really good taste must have picked it out.”
    I couldn’t help but giggle at that. “Someone really important gave it to me.” He leaned in to give me another kiss just as the waitress was bringing our food.
    Dinner was amazing and when Carter said we weren’t done yet, I didn’t know what to expect. As we were driving, he turned to me and asked, “Have your ever been dancing? Like at a club?”
    I wouldn’t even begin to know how to dance. Sure, I had seen plenty of other girls do it, but that didn’t mean I had the slightest idea how. “No.”
    “Good. I believe that is another first, Miss Stevens.” He had stopped the car and we were in front of a place called Midnight. Oh my God. It was a club! Carter had brought me to a club! He wanted to dance with me. I’m going to make an idiot out of myself.
    We walked into the club and, instantly, I felt out of place. He leaned close to my ear. “Do you want a drink?”
    “No, I think I’ve had enough firsts tonight.”
    “You’ve never had a drink?” I shook my head. “Well, that will be a first I will definitely enjoy giving you.”
    Just then , a slower song came on which, I am guessing, doesn’t happen a lot. Most people started to leave the dance floor so only the couples were left. He grabbed my hand and led me onto the dance floor. I recognized the song as Pink’s “Just a Reason”. He wrapped my arms around his neck and started swaying me back and forth. I could handle this. As I was listening to the song, I realized how much the chorus related to me. She was talking about being broken, but being able to pick up the pieces and start again. That is exactly what I wanted to do with Carter.
    He leaned down to kiss me and we stopped moving. We stood there , in the middle of the dance floor, just kissing each other until the song ended.
    The DJ came on and announced that was the last slow song of the night and the dance party was starting. It immediately changed into a fast song. I had no idea what to do so I started watching the people around me. They were all grinding with each other. Would Carter want to do that with me?
    I looked up at him and he brought his mouth down to my ear. “I completely understand if you are not up for that. We could always go sit down somewhere.”
    “No. I’m done letting what happened to me in the past affect my present. I don’t want my past to affect us. I don’t really know what to do, though, so you will have to be patient with