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break.
    As I navigated through the house to the patio outside, I was greeted with a few “hey’s” and hugs from my old classmates. After getting harassed a bit over switching schools, I received several congratulations for “dumping the jerk,” as they had put it. It felt good to be with the familiar faces that I shared twelve years of my life with. The weather had been unseasonably warm lately, but the night temperature continued to drop down into the high thirties. As I stepped out onto the patio, I felt the sweat on my body chill like ice crystals on my skin. It felt great.
    Kendra, Reed, and Jaxon were still MIA, and I felt a brief surge of panic shoot through my heart, fearing they had left me there alone. I reasoned with myself, though, knowing Kendra would never abandon me at a place like this.
    All the kegs and coolers were stationed on the patio. I guess they figured it was wiser to leave them out in the cold night air. I rummaged through the standing cooler, looking similar to a dumpster diver, trying to find something non-alcoholic, preferably water, but there only seemed to be bottles of beer and wine coolers. I’d only had beer once, and I’d decided it was something I couldn’t acquire a taste for. I was too thirsty to guzzle any wine, and, if I did, the night would end quickly with my low alcohol tolerance level.
    My arm started to ache down to the bone from digging in the cold ice, forcing me to stop a moment and let the blood flow warm up my hand.
    “Geez! Is it that hard to find water around here?” I mumbled to myself, getting more and more flustered by the minute.
    “You can have mine,” I heard a voice say as a bottle of water appeared in front of my face, the bottle attached to a thickly veined hand and muscled forearm.
    My eyes slowly trailed up to see what else was attached to that muscular arm. The first thing to catch my eye was the well-defined abdomen with ridges that made the black fitted shirt seem almost transparent. I then noticed something faintly protruding through his shirt where his nipples were located. Were his nipples pierced? Whoa! The strong angular jaw with a five o’clock shadow came into view next. Lazily, my eyes reached the deepest set of dimples, brought out by a playful, sexy smile. He had kissable lips revealing the utmost beautiful set of straight, white teeth. My focus then locked onto the most iridescent ice-blue eyes, a color that could only be obtained by wearing colored contacts. No freakin’ way! Not only was this the guy I was gawking at on the dance floor, he was also the same guy I had drooled over Thanksgiving night at the theater.
    My heart rapidly picked up the pace. I could feel my pulse throbbing in my head; the onslaught of dizziness. Please, Lord… do not let me pass out.
    “I promise, I don’t have… cooties,” he chuckled lightly.
    My eyes were glued to his, and, if I spoke out loud, I’m sure it would come out sounding something like “Nom, nom, nom.” Yes, he was that delicious.
    “Courtney… your name is Courtney right?” He eyed me suspiciously.
    I zoned out, in such a trance staring at his godliness, I hadn’t taken notice of his deep, raspy voice with a slight accent that told me he wasn’t from around here.
    Say something, Court, so he didn’t think you were a freak.
    “Er, uh… yes, yes it is,” I eyed him curiously. “How do you know my name?”
    “Reed and Kendra pointed you out to me earlier.”
    I could feel confidence oozing out of his pores. I still couldn’t pull my eyes away from his, they were simply breathtaking. In the middle of our staring contest, I searched his eyes for a thin line around the iris. Nope, not a trace of contacts. They must be real.
    “I’ve been looking for them,” I mumbled. Not really. “Do you know where they went?” I hoped he couldn’t hear the nervous tension wiggling in my voice box.
    “Last I saw, they were on the dance floor.”
    Striking up conversations with a complete