Free Beautiful Tragedy (A Standalone Romance Novel) by Alycia Taylor Page B

ways away from any shelter,
and sitting on Suzie wasn’t going to help, so I did what any guy would do…I
took her hand in mine and said, “May I have this dance?” I thought she would
tell me I was crazy, or run for the corn shack. Instead, she smiled through the
rain that was now beating against her pretty face and said, “Why certainly.”
There was, of course, no music so I had to improvise. Now, I’m a musician. I
should have a thousand or more songs in my head at any given time and be able
to sing them all on demand. I usually do. But tonight, the only song I could
recall the words and the tune to was by Aerosmith. I have no reason to lay
here, scouts honor and all of that; it was the only song I could recall.
    I used the hand I still had ahold of, and I pulled her
close. I was trying to block some of the rain, but I also just really wanted to
feel her close to me. It gave me kind of a light-headed feeling. I tilted my
head down and put my lips close to her ear and sang, “I don’t want to close my
eyes. I don’t want to fall asleep because I’ll miss you babe and I don’t want
to miss a thing.”
    I wasn’t sure what she thought about my song choice,
but at this point I was into it and she hadn’t kneed me in the gonads so it was
all good. I had one of her hands in mine and the other one on the lower part of
her back as we moved our bodies together to the tune. My pulse was racing and
every time I opened my eyes and looked at her I shuddered. I don’t think it was
from the cold. I had never done this before, singing to a girl without any
music at all while we danced, in a dirt parking lot next to a pumpkin patch.
Okay if I had billed it that way to begin with, she probably would have said
no. The spontaneity of it had made it that much more exciting, and I had never
wanted to kiss her more than I did now.
    I looked down at her face when I got to the part that
says, “Even when I dream of you, the sweetest dream will never do and I miss
you babe and I don’t want to miss a thing…” I wanted to tell her that was true.
I had never even dreamt of a woman like her. As I looked at her, I saw and felt
her take a deep breath and I could feel a little tremble in her hand that I
wasn’t sure if it was for me or because she was cold and soaking wet. I liked
thinking it was for me. My hands were shaking, and I knew it was because of
her.
    She had a smudge of mascara under her eyes, and her
hair was now plastered to her head and I swear to God at that moment she was
the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I couldn’t talk myself out of it
anymore. If she objected, I would just shoulder the consequences. I was finally
going to do it. I was going to kiss her.
    As I finished the chorus of the song once more, I
pulled my head up again slightly from where it was at next to her ear along the
side of her cheek. This time, instead of rising up to look at her, I let it
linger there. Our mouths were so close that all it would take was one gentle
motion by either of us for our lips to meet. I took another deep breath and…
    Just then, there was a flash of headlights and a honk
of a car horn. I squinted through the rain and saw that it was Megan and Jake.
I told myself that I was getting new friends the first thing in the morning.
The friends that I have right now seriously suck. At this very moment I should
be feeling Molly’s warm, sweet lips on mine. I despise them.
    Molly looked at me and grinned. I think she knew I was
going to kiss her. I think she wanted me too, maybe as much as I wanted to. Or maybe
it was my imagination. Now I would never know.
    I took her hand and we walked over to where Jake had
his big head sticking out of the car window.
    “What are you guys doing?” he said with a big, stupid
grin.
    I’ll remember this next time he wants me to leave so
he can have a “romantic” evening with Megan. I’m going to sit on the couch in
my SpongeBob boxers and play video games all night. I’m going to