“Okay, be honest,” Exhale said, stepping out of the bathroom adjoining to Raine’s bedroom. “How does it look?”

Raine poked her head out of the closet to view the outfit Exhale had decided to wear to Taylor’s birthday party that night. Her eyes visibly widened as she took it all in. “Hale, honestly, I don’t know why you cover yourself up in jeans and T-shirts all the time. That looks amazing on you.”

The jade green, silky camisole top clung to Exhale’s frame perfectly, as did the short denim skirt that showed off her toned legs. On Raine’s insistence, Exhale had allowed her friend to curl her hair into large, loose curls, a stark change from her normal stick straight hair, and she had even allowed her to put on more makeup than she usually did. Exhale wound her arms around her stomach, covering the sliver of skin visible between the two articles of clothing and shrugged. “I don’t know…I don’t look like I’m trying too hard?”

“No, you look beautiful. A nice pair of heels will go perfect-”

“NO!” Exhale said vehemently, holding up her hands. “No heels. I don’t think my ankle has fully recovered from last time.”

Raine laughed. “Okay, how about a cute pair of flip flops then?”

“Sounds perfect.” Exhale took the shoes Raine held out to her and slipped her feet into them. “This top is kind of itchy,” she said unsurely, scratching at the lace lining the top of the camisole.

“You’ll get used to it…especially when Taylor’s jaw drops when he sees you. You won’t be too worried about the shirt then, I promise.”

“Yeah, right,” Exhale said, plopping down on the bed to wait for Raine to finish getting ready. “There’s supposed to be a ton of people there…I might end up going through the entire night without even talking to him.”

Raine curled her lip. “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that. If I know boys as well as I think I do, that kid likes you. I’ve seen how he looks at you recently, and…well, I can just tell. I give it a few weeks before he asks you out. He’ll definitely be looking for you tonight.”

A hopeful flutter passed through Exhale’s stomach as Raine spoke. Raine was the type of person who never said anything unless she believed it wholeheartedly, so Exhale knew she wasn’t just saying it to get her hopes up. Suddenly, her nerves about the party had vanished and they were replaced with excitement and anticipation. She couldn’t wait to get there, to let him see her, and to see his reaction. She wanted him to look at her the way Cade looked at Raine every time he saw her. She wanted him to want her the way she wanted him.

“You ready?” Raine’s voice broke into her thoughts.

“Yeah, sure.” Exhale stood up and gathered her purse and Taylor’s gift into her arms and started to follow Raine out of her bedroom door when Raine suddenly stopped and rushed back into the room. “What are you doing?”

“Getting my camera. I have to be ready in case something happens tonight between you two. I’m having one of my feelings.” Raine grabbed the camera from her desk drawer and grinned.

“You’re so retarded, Raine. Nothing’s going to happen,” Exhale said with a roll of her eyes.

“Even still, I want my mom to get a picture of us before we leave. We’ll be the finest bitches there tonight!”

______________________

Taylor was trying to listen to whatever Randall was talking to him about, but between the music, the noise of all his guests, and his eyes darting around looking for Exhale, he hadn’t heard a word he’d said. His eyes passed over her once before realizing it was her making his way toward him, and his mouth immediately broke into a smile. Exhale spotted him and waved, a nearly identical smile on her own face. Randall turned to see what had grabbed Taylor’s attention and was shocked to see Exhale Brooks, the girl who he’d gone to school with almost his entire life, looking completely different than he’d ever seen her look before. “Wow…” Randall said slowly, turning back to Taylor with his eyes large.

“Hey, Taylor,” Exhale said, once she was beside him, practically yelling to be heard over the music. Taylor’s grin widened as he leaned down, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. “Happy birthday!” she said loudly into his ear.

“Thanks. You look great, Haley.”

Even though he had barely spoken the words, they registered in her brain immediately as if the room was absolutely silent. Exhale forced another smile even though she was blushing profusely, and she felt like she had lost all control of her muscles and that her shaking knees might give out beneath her. “Thanks…” Suddenly, a Britney Spears song came blasting through the room, and her nose wrinkled in distaste. “Who’s doing this music?”

Taylor laughed, casually leaving his arm around her waist. “We hired a deejay. He’s pretty much playing whatever anyone asks him to. I’m sure he’ll play something you’ll like tonight.”

“I’m not sure about that. I’m gonna go see what he’s got and see if we can’t get some good music going here.”

Unable to look away, Taylor watched her weave her way through the crowd toward the deejay’s table until he couldn’t see her any longer. Only then did he remember he had been talking to Randall when she had showed up. When he turned back to his friend, Randall’s lips were pulled into a knowing smile. “You’ve got it for Exhale bad!” he shouted.

“Nah, she’s just my friend,” Taylor said, attempting to brush Randall’s accusations off with a shrug of his shoulders.

Randall rolled his eyes. “Friends don’t salivate at the presence of each other.”

They continued to argue jokingly about it until she reappeared at his side, silently cursing herself for leaving when Taylor’d had his arm around her. It hadn’t been until she had been walking back that she’d realized he probably wouldn’t do that again and that she shouldn’t have let her intense hatred of Britney Spears take over at that moment. “Hey, Randall!” she said, noticing him for the first time. “Did you just get here?”

“No, I was here a minute ago when you got here,” he said with a laugh.

“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry. I didn’t even see you!” she said, feeling incredibly stupid.

He laughed again and shook his head. “It’s cool. I can see why.”

“Is he gonna play your song?” Taylor asked, nudging her before she could ask Randall what he had meant by his last comment.

“I think so,” she said with a smile. “I asked for two. The first one should be starting right…now.”

As soon as the last syllable had escaped her lips, a heavy intro of drums and guitar kicked in. Taylor and Randall both turned their ears toward the speakers, their expressions confused as they tried to identify the song. Exhale began singing along as the words started. “Lately things won’t go my way…lately everything is gray…”

“What the hell is this?” Taylor asked, finally giving up on trying to guess the song.

“Korn,” Exhale answered proudly.

Taylor groaned playfully. “I hate Korn. You never told me I was friends with a Korn fan.”

Exhale laughed and smacked him playfully. “I resent that!” The song got heavier when it got to the chorus and Exhale continued to sing, jumping up and down slightly with the music. “So I came too far…to end up this way…”

Putting his arm around her shoulders, Taylor smiled and squeezed her against him. “It’s okay, I’ll still love you anyway.”

Randall shook his head and laughed before emphasizing, “Bad,” to Taylor.

Again, Exhale was interrupted before she could ask what he meant, but this time it was by Raine and Cade appearing behind her. “I wonder who asked for this song,” Raine said sarcastically. “Surely not the girl who’s got Korn and/or Silverchair in her CD player at all times?”

“It wasn’t me!” Exhale laughed, holding up her hands innocently.

“Yeah, sure.” Raine disentangled herself from Cade’s arms long enough to hug Taylor and wish him a happy birthday.

“What was the other song you got?” Taylor asked after thanking Raine.

“You’ll see,” Exhale replied mysteriously. “This one should be over in a second.”

As soon as No Way had ended, her next request began, a soft strumming of guitars filling their ears. It was a song she had come to love through her afternoon of listening to her father’s music with him, Wild Horses by the Rolling Stones.

Childhood living is easy to do
Things that you wanted
I bought them for you

Raine and Cade immediately started dancing, as did almost every other couple at the party. Taylor smiled at Exhale and held his hand out to her. “I love this song,” he said. “Wanna dance with me?”

Exhale smiled broadly and nodded, silently thanking her dad. She stepped into his arms nervously, having never slow danced before in her life. He kept her one hand in his and slid his other arm around her waist, drawing her closer to him.

Graceless lady you know who I am
You know I can’t let you
Slide through my hand
Wild horses couldn’t drag me away
I watch you suffer
A dull aching pain
And now you decided to show me the same
Wild horses couldn’t drag me away
Wild, wild, wild horses couldn’t drag me away

Exhale’s heart thumped against her ribcage as if it was threatening to escape from her chest. She cautiously slid her hand that had been on his shoulder to the back of his neck, letting her fingers get caught up in his silky hair. His cheek was so close to her face that she could feel each breath he took against her ear. She struggled to control her body, which wanted desperately to tremble all over. As they swayed gently to the music, she prayed the song would go on forever.

And I know I dreamed you
A sin and a lie
Well, I have my freedom
But I don’t have much time
And faith has been broken
Tears must be cried
Let’s do some living
And after we die
Wild horses couldn’t drag me away
Wild, wild, wild horses
We will ride them someday.

INDEX | CHAPTER SIXTEEN