inside this human shield Eddie and his friends formed around us. It was amazing how time stood still inside the walls of that club. Deafening music roared in my ears and the vibrations traveled through my body. We danced for hours until we noticed Eddie and his buddies finally loosen their tight shield around us; they even started dancing with some other girls.
You’ve never met my brother, but you should know that he’s extremely handsome: tall, dark, clean cut; you know, that all-American rich preppy boy that girls swoon over. The kind of guy you see in Ralph Lauren ads. I was always secretly afraid Emily and Eddie would hook up, but that never happened. Em was the biggest prude and my brother wasn’t into high school girls. He once told me that Emily was pretty but since he remembers her in diapers, he would never think of her as anything other than an extra annoying sister. He wouldn’t even look at her gorgeous older sister Jenna. I remember his famous words of wisdom: You shouldn’t shit where you eat. The Marcus girls are family. I wouldn’t touch them if they begged me. Well, that was the good news; I wouldn’t have to worry about my brother touching my best friend. The bad news was I just saw Eddie talking to the hottest guy I had ever seen. They were now both looking my way. Eddie pointed at Em and me dancing, clearly talking about us. I then saw the tall, dark, sexy stranger walk my way with a big grin.
“Hi,” he yelled over the music.
“Hello,” I yelled back, adding a wave as I continued swaying to the beat.
“I was sent to babysit you and your friend while your brother goes to ‘talk’ to that girl outside.” He pointed back toward Eddie who was all over his girl Michelle. They had met a few years back on a family vacation to Europe. Yeah, “talk.” I’m sure that’s exactly what they were going to do outside, I remember thinking to myself.
“We’re good girls. We don’t need babysitting,” I yelled back as I pulled Emily in for a hug. She’d been dancing with her eyes closed for the past few minutes as if in a trance.
“Sara, you cow, you scared me.” Emily giggled as she tightened her hold around my waist. Mystery stranger sent to babysit us spoke again but I couldn’t hear him with the new loud beat blasting from the speaker positioned right next to us. I let go of Em to allow her to dance on her own and motioned to my ears that I couldn’t hear him.
Sexy stranger with sleek black hair and a Dracula peak on his forehead who hadn’t looked away from me smiled and lowered his head to say in my ear, “I promised Eddie I wouldn’t let anybody dance with the two of you. He doesn’t want some guy thinking he can put his hands on his little sister.” As he said this, he put his hand on my back to keep me still while he spoke.
I turned to face him and beckoned him closer so that I could whisper in his ear. “You don’t want some guy like you putting his hands on me.” I recall being brave and chanced a glance up at his eyes that were overly dilated and glistening with amusement, making it hard for me to see their true color, or in his case, colors.
He smiled before lowering his head to my ear again, this time, cupping the side of my face before saying, “If you were a year older, I’d put my hands on you all night… I’ll let you grow up a little before I start touching you.” And then he left my side without a second glace as the crowd swallowed him. I spent the rest of that night trying to tell my stupid heart that hadn’t stopped beating out of my ribcage to calm the fuck down and pay no attention to the stupid stranger who already touched me with just a few words.
The night ended with Eddie and his mystery friend—whose stupid name I had yet to learn—abandoning their friends at the club to walk Em and me home. Eddie conveniently forgot to inform me that his buddy from school, Jeff, was sleeping over since our parents were away and Jeffery didn’t live in the city. My brother left me in front of our house with Jeffery to go walk Emily home. Em lived