Breaking Down the Unbreakable

I danced with Seth for at least 4 more songs, and I knew that every girl was either glaring at me, trying to glare at me or talking about me, but at that moment, it didn't matter.
And, I know what you're thinking. I mean this guy is the typical tall dark and handsome, but I wasn't dancing with him because of that. I really just wanted to dance, and of all the guys I'd danced with, he was the best!
Ok, so him being totally gorgeous was a definite plus, but I was still skeptical about him. think about it! He was a total jerk to me, and he's been completely confusing.
I just want to find out which side of him is real!
When another song started I pulled away from him yelling to him over the music that I was going to get something to drink. I found the kitchen after pushing through the huge crowd of people and grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge. Evan had told me it never started out as and alcohol party, but someone always ended up bringing something in and soon everyone was wasted.
Which is why I'm glad the room I'd be staying in that night was securely locked. And why I decided I'd stick to water.
I downed about half the bottle before I realized Seth had followed me to the kitchen.
"You drink that fast all the time?" I stopped chugging the water and took a few breaths
"That the best insult you can come up with?" Ok, I know he was probably just trying to be nice, but I didn't want him to be.
"It wasn't an insult. It was a question." Fine. I'll let him be nice.
"No."
"Yeah, it was." He looked confused.
"No, I mean I don't usually drink that fast."
"Oh." He was at a loss for words. Well that's a first!
"Stunned into silence?" I asked before taking another sip of water.
"I guess you could say that." He smiled and for the first time I got a good look at him. He was wearing black skinny jeans with a black button-down shirt rolled up to the elbows and let me just say he looked good.
"You know, I think you may have made the girls at school want you a million times more since you started showing your teeth around school in that smile of yours." I threw the, now empty, bottle into the recycling bin and grabbed another from the fridge.
"Which may have been why I didn't show if in the first place." He grabbed the bottle out of my hand and twisted the cap off taking a gulp before handing it back to me.
"You know there are about a million more in the fridge."
"That's probably true, but yours tastes better." He leaned back against the counter and folded his arms over his chest.
"It's water. Those bottles have the same water as this one."
"No, I don't think so."
"Oh, so you think now? That's a new approach for you." I laughed and placed the water next to him, and grabbed a new one for myself.
"Yeah. I'm thinking and smiling. Maybe the 2 will balance each other out and nothing will change with the female population of our school."
"Oh, because girls don't like it when a guy thinks?" I didn't know if that was true, I mean I like to actually have a normal human conversation with a person, but hey! I'm not a typical teenage girl either.
"Something like that." He grabbed the water bottle off the counter and started heading to the back door. "You want to walk with me?"
"Isn't it cold outside?"
"This is California. And it's almost summer. Cold doesn't really exist here." He winked at me and stepped out into the garden behind Evan's house. I followed him feeling like the fresh air would be nice after an hour of dancing in the middle of a bunch of sweaty people.
We walked next to each other in a comfortable silence down a rock path lighted by what looked like white Christmas lights. There were a bunch of different flowers and things lining the path and the smells mixed together creating a beautiful perfume in the air. I glanced up to the sky to find the blackness sparkled with stars and didn't realize I had stopped walking until Seth spoke.
"You only get to see them when you're away from the city. That's probably why all these people like the small town." I looked back down at the tall boy in front of me and smiled, but something about his face told me he didn't feel like smiling.
"But you don't?" I tilted my head a little to the side.
"More like I can think of a million places I'd rather be." His face was still turned up to the stars.
"Like where?" That's where he looked down at me.
"New York. Los Angeles. Italy. Paris." He shook his head like he was trying to shake himself free of the ridiculous ideas and continued walking down the small path.
"If I told you they aren't as amazing as they look in pictures would you believe me?" I hadn't moved.
"Probably not. But that also doesn't change the fact that I'm stuck here." He turned his head over his shoulder to look at me but didn't stop walking.
"Only until graduation." I hurried to catch up to him and fell into step.
"Not exactly." We had come to a fountain depicting a small child in the center smiling as she watch 3 dolphins play around her.
"You're not going to college or anything?"
"I don't have the money."
"Really?" I sat down next to him on the edge of the fountain. "You have a room full of electronics and games, a huge house and you don't have money for college?"
"It's complicated. I wouldn't expect you to understand."
"Really? And why is that? What makes you think I don't understand things about life?"
"Because you don't have a life like mine. You've been around the world with your family. You've trained your whole life to be strong and independent. You're amazing." He stood up from the stone fountain and stepped away from me.
"You don't know what it's like to have expectations that you can't meet. I'm a small-town boy with no future, and you're a world-traveler with something to look forward to."
"You don't know any of that." I stood and placed a hand on his shoulder trying to turn him around. Of course, he's stubborn, so I walked around in front of him instead. Of course, he turned his head to look away from me.
"You don't know if I'm going anywhere after school. You don't know what it's been like having nothing but family in a completely foreign place, but not wanting to be anywhere near them. My life is anything but fun family vacations and knowing where I'm going."
I placed a hand on his cheek and brought his face to look at mine.
"If you would just tell me, then maybe I could help you." He placed a hand over mine and leaned into it before taking my hand away from his face.
"That's the thing. I can't tell you." He kept my hand in his. "I can't tell anyone."
"That's not true. You can do anything you want to do, and whatever you think is going to happen just because you have a secret is more than likely just a nightmare you're afraid to face."
"I'm not afraid of what would happen. I'm afraid of who will find out."
"No one would find out." I took a step toward him, still holding his gaze. I let go of his hand to wrap my arms around his waist and leaned my head on his chest and stayed there until I felt his arms wrap around me too. Then I looked back up into his eyes. "What is so terrible that you don't want anyone to know?"
I didn't realize I was whispering, but it didn't matter because I knew he'd heard me.
"My life." He smiled a sad smile down at me, and I couldn't help but think of how Avery had looked when he was 3 and his favorite pajamas got too small for him.
"You know, I'm a very persistent person, and I'm not going to let this go."
"I think I figured that out, but that doesn't mean I'm going to tell you just because you're adorable."
He smiled at me again, with a little more brightness this time.
And then I replayed his sentence and my grin widened.
"You think I'm adorable?"