"What are we doing?" Ryleigh breathed against Anika's lips.
"Uh... kissing." Anika pulled away with a slight blush on her face.
"I know that smart ass." he rolled his eyes before he looked at her with a more serious expression. "The first day we hate each other."
"Well, who's fault is that?" Anika offered a small smirk to let him know she had forgiven him.
"Mine. I know." Ryleigh dipped his head down to rest his forehead against her's before he continued. "Then Gelsey advises that we talk... which we did, kind of." he sighed. "And then you threw me for a loop and pushed me away."
"And I tried to apologize and you pushed me away." Anika added.
"Then the next thing I know, you're off with that kid." a tinge of anger slipped into Ryleigh's tone.
"I really am sorry, Ryleigh. I didn't actually want you to leave me alone. I was just scared of the things you were making me feel. I didn't, I don't want to lose another person in my life. Then you said to leave you alone and I didn't know if you truly meant it. I thought I lost my chance to talk to you."
"So you tried to make me jealous?" he surprised Anika by giving her an amused smile.
"I guess." Anika's blush returned. "It was sort of a test to see if you meant what you said."
"I didn't." his smile dropped from his face as he became more sincere.
"I know." Anika shocked the both of them for the second time that night as she wrapped her arms around his slender waist and gave him a warm hug. The evening air was a little sticky with humidity as their skin tingled in the places they touched.
She looked up at him with her face pressed into his chest. "You wouldn't have kicked that kid after he was down if you really didn't want anything to do with me."
"How is it that we've only known each other for a few weeks and somehow managed to evolve from hating each other to this." Ryleigh twirled one of Anika's curls around his finger.
"What is this, exactly?" Anika asked almost shyly.
"Friendship, I think. For now." he glanced at Anika's hopeful face unsurely.
"Oh right, you've never had any friends before. So this is how it works; we try not to kill each other and play nice." Anika smirked at him.
"Really?" he asked, faking shock but rolling his eyes.
"Then again, I'm not sure. Friend is a fairly new term to me too. I only have a few of those." Anika scrunched her nose up and stepped away from him, letting her arms relax to her sides.
"You seem really close to your cabin mates, that blond kid and the pink haired chick." Ryleigh raised a brow at her.
Anika shrugged, suddenly feeling guilty about keeping her past from them. After all, she did know some of theirs.
"They know my name and that's about it. At least you know about my mom." Anika whispered, looking to the side.
"I thought you didn't want to think about our pasts tonight?" Ryleigh reached for one of her dangling hands and played with her fingers as he slowly began to walk back to the path.
"You want to head back to the party?" Anika mentally thanked him for keeping her mind off of her issues.
"Unless you want to go back to my cabin..." Ryleigh lowered his voice to sound alluring.
"Hell no. I worked too damn hard on setting up some of the decorations to miss out on them just to spend the night with some boy." Anika blew out her breath through her nose in a soft snort.
"Boy? You mean man, I think." Ryleigh raised his head in confidence as he puffed out his chest.
"Prove it. I challenge you to a staring contest." Anika playfully glared at him beside her.
He smirked. "Challenge accepted."
"Hey... um, everything okay?" Keira found Anika and Ryleigh by the beverage table. Both wore blank faces besides the narrow stares they threw at each other after exchanging insults.
"Perfectly fine." Ryleigh's trained stare didn't leave Anika's.
"Why do you ask?" Anika questioned without breaking eye contact with Ryleigh.
"Well, you two have been glaring at each other for more than five minutes so..." Mel pretended to look at her non-existing watch.
"Oh, hey guys." Ivy walked over to the group followed by Skinner.
"Hey. Do you know what's going on here?" Keira asked with slightly worried eyes flickering between Anika and Ryleigh. Ivy studied the pair for a minute before her baby blue eyes brightened under the black light, which had become the main source of light besides the tiki torches and glow sticks since the sun had set minutes ago.
"Staring contest!" the pink haired girl shouted and Mel and Keira made 'o' shapes with their lips before turning back to the staring couple.
"So does this mean things are okay?" Skinner rested his chin on Ivy's head as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.
"It's all good." Anika supplied as an answer.
Keira made a half human grunt as she narrowed her eyes at Ryleigh.
"You're not going to hit me again, are you?" Ryleigh asked Keira, still not looking at her.
"Depends if you ask another stupid question." Keira shrugged and bent over so her face was level with Ryleigh's because he was sitting. Her face scrunched up in a thoughtful, slightly sour mask before she narrowed her emerald green eyes again and pursed her lips together.
"Hey! That's not fair!" Ryleigh complained after Keira blew in his face, forcing his eyes to blink.
"I still win." Anika boasted with a wide smile.
"That's cheating." he grumbled.
"Whatever. Just cause you guys are boyfriend and girlfriend like these two hunkers over here, doesn't mean I like him any better." Keira gestured to Ivy and Skinner before turning to Anika and pointing a finger in Ryleigh's not amused face. She continued, ignoring Ivy, Skinner's and Anika's denials of being in a relationship to which Mel rolled her eyes at.
"Even on his better days, Skinner annoys me still." the golden blond girl jerked a thumb in Skinner's direction.
"So, what did this stare down accomplish?" Ivy glanced between Anika and Ryleigh with a brow raised in amusement.
"To prove that Rye's just a boy." Ryleigh slapped Anika's hand away as she went to pinch his cheek, which caused her to chuckle at his pout.
"Rematch." he demanded but Anika shook her head.
"Maybe some other time little man." Anika jumped up from her seat and stretched her arms over her head. "I want to dance!"
"Yay! P!nk!" Ivy rushed out of Skinner's light grasp to nearly knock Anika over as she grabbed her hand. "Come on!" she shouted over P!nk's song 'So What?' blaring out of the speakers.
"You both, too. Dance. Floor. Pronto." Ivy grabbed Mel's wrist and when she realized she had no way of pulling Keira along, she lightly booted her foot into the blond girl in front of her to push her onto the dance floor.
"I think I need a drink." Ryleigh rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly when he and Skinner were left behind.
"Me too." Skinner quickly broke eye contact and instead looked over the variety of drinks on the beverage table. Lemonade it is... he thought to himself as he saw Ryleigh reach for a water bottle out of the corner of his eye.
"So, you and Anika good now?" Skinner didn't bother to look over at Ryleigh as he chugged his drink down.
"Yep." Ryleigh replied while scanning the crowded dance floor for Anika and her friends. In the center of the glowing floor, the kids started to form a circle around a group dancing as they watched. Ivy's voice was the loudest to shout the lyrics followed by Anika and then Keira's laugh.
Anika could care less about the sting in her throat as she sung along with Ivy. The pink haired girl was jumping up and down and dancing to the extreme besides Keira. By the time the chorus pounded out from the rattling speakers, their group had been the center of attention on the dance floor. Ivy twirled once and pretended to strum a guitar down her leg as she began to prance around the circle. At some point, Anika had found herself behind Ivy with her hands on the other girl's hips. The weight of another pair of hands in her hips made Anika look over shoulder at Mel who joined the quickly growing dancing line with Keira behind her. Guys tried to join, but the girls pushed them back and grabbed the nearest girl within reaching distance until the line was following the perimeter of the dance and contained all the girls on the dance floor. The guys backed into the center as the border of girls surrounded them. By the second time the chorus came, Anika broke out of the circle and pointed at finger at Ivy who had turned around to look at her. Ivy half covered her mouth with one hand and let out a loud whooping noise as Anika free danced and people around them watched. The other girls in the line fell back into dancing but they still kept the guys out as they formed mini circles of five or six and took turns dancing in the middle while the ones on the out skirts cheered the middle girl on.
Ivy grabbed Anika's wrist and gave her a tug in the direction she spotted an open table at the edge of the dance floor. Reading the pink haired girl's intention in her baby blue eyes, Anika thought her cheeks were going to fall off from how long she'd been smiling.
Ivy first sat on the table before she pulled herself to stand on top of it. She held her hand out with a laugh that was drowned out by the music and hauled Anika up after they gripped each other's wrists.
Keira and Mel danced their way to the edge of the dance floor and whistled at Ivy and Anika who bumped hips on the table. Ivy paused in a pose as she sung the part where the beat changed a little and Anika gestured her hands to Ivy as if she was show casing a priceless item.
"You weren't there... You never were... You want it all but that's not fair." Ivy and Anika reversed roles so now Anika was the one frozen in a pose and Ivy showcased her.
"I gave you life... I gave my all... You weren't there... You let me fall!" Anika threw up her hands as she screamed out the chorus with Ivy.
"So, so what? I'm still a rock star! I got my rock moves! And I don't need you! And guess what? I'm having more fun! And now that we're done! I'm gonna show you, tonight! I'm alright! I'm just fine! And you're a tool so... So what? I am a rock star! I got my rock moves! And I don't want you tonight!"
Anika felt a tap on her ankle and she looked down to see a smiling Ryleigh. He took a step back from the table and coaxed her with his arms for her to jump. Anika looked back up to Ivy, only to see she was already jumping off the table into Skinner's arms.
When Anika linked her gaze with Ryleigh's again, he nodded his head encouragingly. She closed her eyes briefly and took a breath.
Something made the connection in her heart as she finally acknowledged the trust that had her inching to the edge of the table.
Because she did trust him. With her well being and her past.
So she jumped.