Collateral Damage

"Charlotte!" An overly-excited voice cried as the door my back was facing was yanked open, almost sending me toppling onto the pavement below. Had it not been for a pair of strong arms, I would have surely had gravel permanently embedded in my cheek bones. A deep chuckle left Thomas's lips and I gave him a weak smile. Kelly was soon leaning over me, doe-eyes wide. "I am so sorry!" Her voice left her lips once more and I resisted the urge to flinch. Thomas straightened me up and I gave him a grateful smile.

"It's okay, Kel," I smiled, "and thank you Thomas."

"Think of it as an apology?" His tone was more of a questioning one and I knew he was referring to the incident at the ridge. I then realized that he hadn't been around me since then. Had Dalton said something?

"I forgive you, Tommy," I scrunched my nose at him and Dalton was soon walking around the truck as he ran a hand through his gelled hair.

"Thank God!" His voice boomed, eyes playful. "Now we can get on with the night without walking on eggshells, right?" He clapped Thomas on the shoulder and they shared a laugh. Yep, they had definitely had a conversation about everything. "Char, baby, your mom said five right?" I nodded, not really taking in his words as we walked towards the larger group of people. Kelly was talking animatedly beside me, but I heard little of it.

Taking a breath, I decided to enjoy myself. Besides, it was my last homecoming. I had to enjoy myself and stop being so brooding over everything, even though I didn't know what I was brooding over.

At five fifteen, Mom and Dad rolled up and she was immediately in front of us, snapping away with her professional-grade Nikon. She posed all twelve of the people in our group, usually pulling Dalton and I in the middle. I didn't mind it, but in the back of my mind I was worrying that the other girls were getting mad.

This is why I needed Gracie. She kept me collected when my self-confidence began to dwindle away. Soon, with Dalton's hand on my hip, I began to worry whether or not he found it firm enough. If he squeezed hard enough, how far would his fingers sink?

At six-thirty we were pulling into the steakhouse and at half passed nine, we were making our way into the gym for the dance. Fashionably late, by a whole hour and a half. I had been able to smell the alcohol lifting from Dalton's breath as he talked animatedly with the couple in the back while I had the unfortunate opportunity to drive his truck. I was thankful to be out of the stuffy cab though.

Freshmen were either clutching to the wall for dear life or dancing on the outside of the dance floor, slow and awkward. Dalton shot Thomas a nod and the dark haired boy, with Kelly at his side, walked over to the punch bowl. I was sure he had asked her to hold a bottle vodka in the giant purse of hers, but decided to turn a blind eye to it when he leaned suspiciously over the bowl.

Leading me to one of the tables, placed for our leisure of sitting down, Dalton pulled out my chair for me. From his deep front pocket, he pulled out his own flask which was marred with scratches. His older brother had bought it for him freshman year and he rarely went out without it. Believe it or not, I had watched him cry the July before our junior year after he thought he had lost it. Said it gave him luck at all his games and swore that he would never stay on varsity if he didn't find it. We had stayed out until early morning just to find the flask and I had ended up trapped in my room for the last two and a half weeks of summer.

My eyes danced away from the flask after I denied his offer, which was simply him tipping the mouth of the flask towards me from beneath the table top. A light pink dress caught my eye and soon Gracie's arms were flung around my neck. It was almost enough to make me cry in relief. "Let's go dance," she sing-songed and pulled me out of the chair.

I grabbed Dalton's hand with the hand that wasn't gripping Gracie's for dear life before she fought through the crowd to get to the front of the dance floor. It was then that I noticed the set up of the stage. A computer was set to the side and I assumed that's what the music was coming from at the moment, but my attention was drawn to the white tape on the front of the base drum. "Gracie...?"

"Shh, Lu's about to go back on. I saw you walk in and had to cut our dance short so I could come dance with you," her smile was light, eyeing the stage with admiration as my twin and his friends clambered to their respective instruments.

I felt Dalton's fingers squeeze my hips and I wondered, for a moment, how hard he would have to squeeze to leave bruises. If I were thinner would it hurt as bad? I felt his head dip and heard the contents of his flask slosh as he took another gulp. He moved closer, breath dancing down my back as Gracie and I swayed lazily to the music coming from the laptop.

Mikey played a playful riff on the neck of his guitar, getting the crowds attention. "Thanks for letting us take a break," Luke spoke into the microphone, his eyes meeting mine. He suddenly seemed confident, not like the boy who hung his head in the hall when he walked past his own sister and her friends. I bit my lip as they started up their song, the beats I heard constantly from our basement sounding familiar. I had only seen their very first show that they had played to a small bar crowd. Despite having promised Luke I would come and sit through the whole thing, I had only stayed around until Dalton had called me to tell me he wanted to go to a party.

Guilt danced in my gut, my smile falling into a scowl. After a couple songs, Dalton still pressed against me, Gracie excused herself for a drink. "Alright, this is the last one we're doing so I can get back to my date." Calum cleared his throat and Luke laughed playfully. "I mean... our dates. Mine's more important though." I watched as his eyes searched the sea of people for Gracie and when he found her he visibly lit up again before he turned back to the microphone. This was almost too hard to watch. The second Gracie and Luke made it official, I had a feeling it'd just be me after that.

The tempo started slow, familiar, as Dalton turned me around for a slow dance. His arms wrapped possessively around my midsection, hands not-so-romantically on my backside as his thumps rubbed circles over top of the dimples on my lower back. His lips found my neck and I craned my to the side, knowing what he was trying to do. It was okay, I needed it too. His teeth nipped at the soft spot a few inches below my ear and I couldn't help a gasp from leaving me lips.

"She fell to the bottom of her life
This wasn't meant for two
She struggles to find herself in time
But she can barely move."

Suddenly, my mouth felt dry and my eyes opened wide, soon numb to the lips that were drunkenly sucking the skin of my neck. My grip on Dalton's shirt tightened, him seeming to take it as a sign that I liked what he was doing. His hand traveled across my stomach, cupping the bottom of my chest cautiously. There were too many people around us for anyone to really notice though.

I knew this song. I had known this song since before high school. I knew the lyrics by heart but had pushed them to the bottom of mine, with no intentions of bringing them back up. I sucked in a deep breath, Dalton giggling against my skin.

"And it's love that you want
But not love that you make,"

I finally lifted my eyes, meeting those hazel orbs as Dalton's lips tasted my skin. He stared back, from his seat behind the drum set as a small and knowing smile played across his lips. I searched his eyes from what felt like miles away. For what, I didn't know, but through the song I couldn't tear my eyes away.

Did you imagine it was me?

Although he was meters away, I heard his voice in my ear clear as day. I could barely squeak out a, "I'll be right back," before I was tearing away from Dalton and sprinting from the gym as tears began their race down my cheeks.