Chapter 116
Ellie POV
Dominic doesn’t say a word.
He just takes my hand and turns, already moving, guiding me through the crowd like this is inevitable and not wildly out of no where.
“Dominic?!” I half whisper, half yell, as the dance floor opens beneath our feet. “Dominic! Let go! What are you doing?”
“We’re dancing,” he says simply.
My feet falling into step out of sheer panic, his parents watching, my heart hammering.
“I don’t want to see you,” I hiss. “Talk to you! Thought you were done with me too?!”
His mouth twitches. “That’s not a no.”
“I didn’t get the chance!”
“Okay,” he says dryly. “Then tell me off.”
I glare up at him. “Well I can’t now.” We take out place on the floor, readying. “Everyone is watching.”
He hums thoughtfully. “Yeah? When have you ever cared what they think.”
We fall into rhythm then, the music swelling around us, his hand steady at my back, my fingers still curled in his. It’s infuriating how natural it feels. How easily my body remembers this language even when my head is screaming at me to stop.
“You look…” He trails off, then finishes quietly. “Different.”
I arch a brow. “That’s it? Really? That’s all you can manage.”
“Trying not to get slapped again,” he adds, glancing down at me, “Last time I called you beautiful you ran.”
My chest tightens.
“And I’ll do it again,” I say.
“Mid-dance?” He scoffs. “Thought you were saving face or something.”
My brow furrows. “After this song ends, do me a favor, and don’t speak to me.”
“I’m dancing with you,” he correct smoothly, twirling me around. “Not just talking.”
“It’s the same-” He dips me as the crowd ohhh’s- “thing!”
“It is when I’m trying to apologize.”
That gets me, nearly missing a step a step, my heel clipping his toe.
“Ow?” He raises a brow as I shake my head.
“D-dragging me onto the floor isn’t an apology! What are you talking about?”
His hand tightens on my waist. “I was hard on you for punishment. And I didn’t hear you out. I’m sorry.”
My eyes narrows, whispering low. “So you drag me to the dance floor were I can’t run to sy that?”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have come,” he snaps back under his breath. “If you didn’t want my attention”
My eyes flash. “I’m not here for you?! Get that?!”
+30 Bonus
His jaw tightens. “No, your just here to see Lucas, right?”
My patience snaps.
For a split second, neither of us speaks. The music swells, the rhythm pulling at us whether we want it to or not. Our movements sharpen, steps tightening, the space between us closing by inches.
Then, a I’m looking around…amemory crashes in.
My gaze snags on the massive punch bowl perched on its stand near the edge of the floor.
The same one.
My stomach drops. Right.
I see it all at once-the wobble, the sudden spill. Cold punch soaking through my dress. Laughter caught between shock and delight. Vivian’s wide-eyed innocence. Dominic’s parents watching as I stood there drenched and humiliated, reduced to a spectacle.
My breath stutters.
“Ellie?” Dominic murmurs, feeling the shift before he understands it.
And now…it’s tipping again. Right next to us, and right onto some young freshman girls.
I shove him.
Hard.
He stumbles a step, shock flashing across his face.
“Get out of my way,” I hiss, my voice cutting through the music as I sprint toward the table. “Everyone move! Look out!”
The bowl is already tipping.
I lunge, jamming a glass beneath the edge just as the stand shifts. Punch sloshes violently, spilling over the rim, splashing a few guests who yelp and jump back.
But the massive bathtub size bowl doesn’t fall.
I brace it with both hands, heart hammering, breath burning in my chest.
For half a second, the room is silent.
Then someone laughs.
Another gasp turns into applause.
“Oh my god-”
“She stopped it! That couldn’t killed someone!”
Cheers ripple outward, growing louder as realization spreads. I straighten slowly, pulse still racing, punch dripping from the edge of the table instead of from me.
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