You Found Me

Once everyone was done eating their cake, Ariana and Mike went out into the clear area for their first dance. Can’t Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley started playing throughout the room, and everyone let out a collective sweet sigh.

They moved together beautifully, in perfect sync with one another, even though Mike wasn’t the best of dancers. The grins on both of their faces made my heart flutter with joy.

Finally, people started pouring onto the floor to join in, couples swaying to the beat.

“Want to go?” Harry asked low in my ear.

I glanced up at him, raising my eyebrows in confusion.

He climbed off the table, straightened out his jacket, and extended his hand. “Come on,” he enticed, a smirk playing on his lips.

I opened my mouth to protest, but the look on his face made it impossible. “Okay,” I agreed.

He took my hand in his and pulled me to my feet gently.

When we got to the dance floor, he pulled me against him slowly, resting his hands on my hips, the warmth of his touch seeping through the fabric of my dress. In typical middle-school-slow-dance fashion, I hooked my arms around his neck. He smiled down at me as we stepped together, not bothering to fill the silence in the least.

Soon, the slow song stopped, and everyone clapped for the happy couple. As a faster song started again, some people cleared the dance floor, while others stayed behind, gyrating awkwardly. No one in either of our families had much rhythm, other than Ariana. And kind of me.

“So,” Harry started as we both tried to move with the beat, clearly trying to distract from his disastrous dance moves, “what year are you in school?”

“Just graduated from my senior year. I start college in the fall.”

“Oh, really? I start uni in the fall, too. Where are you going?”

“NYU,” I replied. “To study film. You?”

“Ah, that’s weird.” I raised another eyebrow at him, so he quickly followed up with, “No, just because I’m going to Columbia University, which is also in New York City.”

I gaped at him for a second. “You’re going to Columbia?” Well, that just made me sound like a ridiculous under-achiever.

“Yeah,” he answered cautiously, “for law. Why?”

I blinked. “Because that means that you’re ridiculously intelligent.”

“Thank you,” he responded cheekily with a large grin.

“It’s not a compliment. It’s a fact.”

“I’m going to take it as a compliment all the same.”

I sighed and stopped dancing for a second. Suddenly, I felt completely overwhelmed. How was I supposed to be able to communicate with someone heading to Columbia?

“Hey, you okay?” he questioned.

“I think you probably want to someone different,” I told him matter-of-factly.

“No, I don’t think I do,” he responded as a new song started. “Just because I’m going to an Ivy League school doesn’t mean that I’m not normal or that I think I’m better than everyone else. Now come on. Let’s dance.”

He took my hand and twirled me around, grinning at me again, exposing the world’s most perfect dimple.

“Hey, Leigh,” I heard a familiar voice say from behind me. “How are you?”

I turned around to find Jared standing there. His smile wasn’t insincere in the least, but I could see the evil glint in his eye. Unless that was just my imagination. “I’m fine, thanks,” I responded coolly. “How about you?”

“I’m great.” He grinned at me and pulled his new girlfriend close to him. “This is Cody. Cody, you know Leigh, right?”

She nodded and extended a hand, which I took so I didn’t seem rude. “Nice to meet you,” she responded kindly in a Scottish accent.

“Have you seen Ariana?” Jared asked me. “I have to get Cody back to the hotel so she can call her host family, but I wanted to congratulate Ariana before we go.”

“Sure.” I turned and pointed across the room, where Ariana was chatting with my dad. “She’s right there.”

“Oh, thanks. I’ll see you around.” He waved, which I reciprocated, before walking away. Although I was relieved that he hadn’t try to pull anything to embarrass me or anything, I was also kind of confused. Was it possible that he’d just shown up at Ariana’s wedding to support her, that he didn’t have any malicious intent at all?

I guessed so. Maybe I’d just figured he’d fall into the evil ex-boyfriend stereotype.

“He’s your ex, isn’t he?” Harry chuckled.

“Oh, yeah. And a very recent one, too. Like, he broke up with me about two weeks ago.”

“Yikes,” Harry cringed. “Then you handled that really well.”

“Thanks.” I turned and smiled at Harry widely. “But let’s not talk about him anymore.”

* * *

As the wedding came to a near-close, everyone was drunk off their asses. One of the guys took the microphone off the DJ’s stand and sang the first verse and the chorus of Physical by Olivia Newton John. Slowly and surely, people either left or got escorted out by security or Mike. Thankfully, no one got into any fights or anything, which Ariana had been afraid of, since some of Mike’s family were angry drunks.

At eleven, the only people left were Ariana, Mike, Dad, Harry, the DJ, and Niall. Niall was sleeping on one of the tables, his arms crossed under his face to use as a pillow. Dad, Ariana, and Mike were downstairs, working something out with the staff. Harry and I were sitting at the table closest to the dance floor, chatting.

“Hey,” the DJ interrupted us, staring a song. “You guys want to have one last song before I head out?”

“Sure,” Harry answered for us as he got to his feet, dragging me along with him. Really, I liked Harry a lot. He was really funny and perfect. Not to mention how sweet he was. “I’ve got the perfect song.”

Right after Harry whispered something to the DJ, Scream by Usher started blaring through the speakers.

“Are you serious?” I questioned pointedly, not completely able to hold back my smile.

“Completely. Come on.”

At first, we just danced regularly, but after a minute, he pulled me close to him and turned me around, grinding against me gently.

My heart was beating really quickly, and my stomach constricted, all of me knowing that what we were doing wasn’t proper, wasn’t right. But there was something exhilarating about it, the fact that I was doing something so far out of my comfort zone. And it wasn’t like we were going to do anything.

So I hooked my arm around the back of his neck as he kissed just under my jaw. I let out a sigh, and we continued to move with one another.

And then, just as I started to feel a little more in control, he started whispering the lyrics in my ear. “If you wanna scream, yeah, let me know, and I’ll take you there.” He took a short pause to graze his teeth against my earlobe, sending a shiver up my spine. “If you want it done right, hope you’re ready to go all night.”

I giggled, a sound that wasn’t very familiar to me. “You wish,” I breathed.

Just as the song ended, Harry turned me around and pressed me against him, his hands on the small of my back. “I really like you, Leigh,” he told me simply. “And I want to be able to talk to you after tonight. Think I could get your number?”

“Leigh?” Dad’s voice called across the room.

Harry and I retracted our hands and took about ten steps away from each other, as if that would help the fact that my dad saw us in an almost-kissing position. Thank God he hadn’t walked in a minute earlier.

“Yeah?” I called back, blushing furiously.

“We’re leaving now.”

“Okay.” And with that, I walked across the room, away from Harry and away from his suggestion.