“It’s the girl in the dress,” Liam corrected. He was wearing the lion’s head again, and in the light I was struck by how real it looked, from the thick, caramel-colored mane to the fuzzy triangular nose and downturned black mouth. “The only way you could look better,” Liam added, giving my hand a squeeze, “was if that mask wasn’t hiding your beautiful face.”
It was a cheesy thing to say, but he sounded like he meant it, so I let myself beam. It’s not like anyone could see it.
“Whoa,” I heard Liam say beside me. It was more of a grunt, really, as though the word had escaped without him meaning for it to. It was hard to follow his gaze since I couldn’t see his eyes, but there was no mistaking what had prompted the reaction.
Hershey was standing a few yards in front of us, next to a smoking volcano, talking to a man in a brown bear’s head. A cloud of dry ice billowed around her, rustling the bottom of her red dress. Knowing Hershey, she’d probably picked the spot just for the effect. She’d wrapped her bare arms in black leather shoelaces and shaded her shoulders with streaks of kohl eyeliner, blurring the line between mask and skin. Whoa was right.
“Oh, look, there’s Hershey,” I said casually, as if Liam and I hadn’t both been staring at her for the last ten seconds. I watched as she put her hand on the bear’s forearm and he shook it off. Who was under that mask? There was something familiar about his posture, but I couldn’t place him. Was that her mystery boy? If so, there was clearly trouble in hookup land. I could tell from his body language that he did not want to be having whatever conversation they were having. I took a step toward her, but Liam caught my arm. “Let’s dance,” he said, moving into my sightline. I was struck again by how real his mask looked, right down to the fan of whiskers.
“Uh, okay,” I replied, not at all sure I could do that in this dress—or these heels. I gripped Liam’s hand to steady myself as he led me to the center of the dance floor.
“I can see you back there,” Liam said as he wrapped his arms around my waist. “Analyzing me with those impenetrable blue eyes.”
“Analyzing you, huh?” In reality, I was too consumed by the awkwardness of trying to slow dance with a giant mask on my head to be analyzing anything, but he didn’t need to know that.
“You were doing it when we met,” Liam replied. “I was trying to be all cute and charming, and your eyes weren’t giving anything away. The whole time I’m thinking, So does this girl like me or not? I’ve been asking myself the same question ever since.”
He paused as if he was waiting for my answer. I faltered. What was I supposed to say? I did like him, in the regular sense of the word. But the way he meant it? Until Hershey interrogated me about it yesterday, I hadn’t even considered the idea.
“What’s not to like?” I said lightly. “I—”
“We have a lot in common, you know,” Liam said, cutting me off. “We were both stuck in a cage of mediocrity,” he said. “Yours was in Seattle, mine was in Boston. And now we’re here. On our way to somewhere much, much better.”
I bristled. Yes, there were times when I felt like an outsider back home. And there were moments when I wanted nothing more than to escape. But it hadn’t been a cage, and the life my dad and Kari were living wasn’t mediocre. Who appointed Liam the judge of lives, anyway?
He could sense my reaction. “That didn’t come out right,” he said quickly. “All I meant is that we’d make a great team.” He gave my hips a light squeeze. “That is, if you can stand me.” Through the painted mesh of the lion’s mouth, I saw him chewing self-consciously on his bottom lip, and I realized that his confidence was an affectation, like the penny loafers and the popped collar. Part of the persona he’d worked so hard to adopt. Behind the mask was a kid from a crappy neighborhood wearing someone else’s clothes. I softened.
“Hmm . . .” I teased. “Does it require me to attend sporting events? Because that just might be too much.”
“I think we could come to an arrangement,” he said with a laugh.
“Here’s an idea,” I said lightly. ”I’ll come watch you hurl yourself around in the water if you’ll spill all those society secrets you’re keeping.”
“That I can’t do,” he replied in a low voice. ”Not until you get in.”
“Ooh, ‘until’ not ‘unless.’ Does that mean I’ve been upgraded from an ‘if’ to a ‘when’?”
Liam leaned in so our masks were touching, the opening for his mouth pressed against the mesh at my ear. “You’re a Hepta,” he said. His hands were heavy on my hips. “It’s always been yours to lose.”
“No pressure,” I joked. But my mouth was turned away from him and he didn’t hear me.
“C’mon,” he said then, letting go of my hips and reaching for my hand.
“Where are we going?” I asked as he led me through the crowd. The rotunda was now packed with way more alumni than current students. The alums were easy to spot because they were wearing much smaller, newer masks that covered only their eyes, party gifts they were given on the way in. I spotted the guy in the bear mask talking to a group of recent grads, but I didn’t see Hershey anywhere.
“Hey! Stone! Get your ass over here!” Liam’s water polo teammates were beckoning for him. He waved them away and kept moving toward the stairs that led up to the rotunda balconies. But instead of going up, he went around to the underside of the staircase. There was an old phone booth under there, the kind with an accordion door. Liam slid it open and turned around to face me, lifting my mask from my shoulders in one fluid motion before tugging off his own.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“This,” he said, and pulled me inside the narrow space. I stumbled in my heels, but Liam caught me and gently pressed his lips against mine. The accordion door sprung shut behind us, nudging me farther into him.
I ignored the ache in my chest as he kissed me. I would not think about North right now. I would not picture him in his tomato-stained T-shirt, sitting on his worn-out couch surrounded by obsolete technology and dog-eared paperbacks, Mohawked and tattooed and completely adorable. Liam was nice, and he was smart, and he wasn’t embarrassed to be associated with me. These were not insignificant traits.
I put my palms on his chest and kissed him back. But when I felt his tongue brush my lips, I pulled away. “We should get back to the party,” I said, fumbling for the door behind me.
He started to protest, but I already had the door open. “I’ll meet you back out there,” I said, not meeting his gaze. “I’m just gonna run to the bathroom.” I felt him reach for my hand, but I was already halfway out the door.
“Rory.”
Please don’t ask me why. I don’t want to lie to you, and I can’t tell you the truth. I can’t tell you that the whole time we were kissing, I was wishing you were someone else.
“Hm?”
“Your mask,” he said, and handed it to me. He was still standing in the booth and had to hold the door open to keep it from springing shut between us.
“Thanks,” I said brightly. “See you in a second.” I had no idea where the ladies’ room was, but I strode with purpose back into the main room as if I did. When I didn’t immediately see it, I hurried toward the stairs on the other side of the rotunda, to the balcony above. What was I doing? Hiding?
There was a man on the steps, all muscle and dressed in black like a security guard. I hesitated when I saw him, expecting him to tell me I couldn’t be up there. But he just looked me over and stepped aside to let me pass. When I reached the landing, I went to the railing, wrapping my palms around it. The gold plating was cool on my skin. I spotted Liam below me and instinctively stepped back into the shadows.