Page 10 of Crossing the Line

There was a group of four people waiting for the elevator already, and we all crammed into the small space. When the elevator doors opened on our floor, Kelsie stepped out first and headed down the hall without waiting for me to get clear of the mass of people. She’d already reached her room by the time I was out of the elevator, stepping inside without even glancing back at me.

My teeth ached as I ground them together, not even sure why I was so annoyed.

As I stomped down the hallway, my mind turned over everything that had happened today and what exactly made me feel like this. I knew it wasn’t just that she seemed to be running away from me just now. It was the way the whole evening had gone. In my mind, I tried to rationalize everything that had gotten under my skin. On the surface, it all seemed petty.

First, she didn’t save me a seat at dinner.

I firmly told myself to get over it. Maybe there weren’t two seats available by the time she arrived. It wasn’t as if she had to make a spot for me at her side. It was just something that we usually did because we liked sitting beside each other, sharing inside jokes and food.

But she shared her food with a stranger instead.

I also didn’t like the way that Ryan’s cousin openly flirted with her all night. Even though I knew that it was probably harmless, and Kelsie wasn’t the type to fall for a man with a silver tongue like that. Although I knew there was no reason for it to bother me if she did. She was free to date whoever she wanted.

But why did the idea of that make my blood rush in my ears and a cold sweat break out on my forehead?

I shook my head and headed toward my own room, planning to change into pajamas before going to Kelsie’s. Sweet snacks and comfortable clothes were the way we usually did movie nights, and I was feeling desperate for that tradition right now. Anything that felt normal between us.

Just before reaching my room, I passed an alcove with an icemaker and a vending machine. Stopping in my tracks, I backtracked and approached the vending machine, smiling when I saw Kelsie’s favorite sweet snack, Reese’s Pieces. Fishing out a dollar from my pocket, I bought a bag and continued to my room, feeling confident in the fact that I now had a peace offering for her. This movie night would be just the thing to return to normal.

But twenty minutes later, I was surprised when my knock on Kelsie’s door resulted in Jess opening it and greeting me with a smile.

“Hey, Damien,” she said, stepping back to let me into the room.

I looked around and saw that Jess wasn’t the only one intruding on our movie night. Her husband, Cody, was here too, along with the other bridesmaid, Angela, and her twin sister who just arrived on the island this evening.

“Oh good, you’re here,” Kelsie said, looking much more relaxed than she was when we were talking one-on-one in the lobby. “You’re the last one to arrive.”

“I, uh, I didn’t mean to keep everyone waiting.”

She must have picked up on the confusion and displeasure in my voice because she stepped closer and placed a hand on my arm. The contact sent a jolt through me.

“Everything okay? You still want to have a movie night, right?”

I did, but I wanted it to be just the two of us. I wanted to sit next to her on the couch and tease her when she hid from the scary parts in the movie and tell myself that we were still Damien and Kels, still the same people we’d always been.

“Sure,” I said. “Here, I got you a snack.”

I held out the Reese’s Pieces, and her face softened. I got my first genuine smile all day.

“Thanks,” she said, taking the snack from me. “Come on, I already ordered the movie. Have you met Angela’s sister, Heather?”

I followed Kelsie into the sitting area, where there was a couch, a loveseat and an armchair in front of a TV mounted on the wall. I was introduced to Heather, the identical twin of Angela. They shared the exact same green eyes and heart-shaped face. The only difference I could see was that Angela’s brown hair was long and wavy while Heather’s was straight and cut to shoulder length. She also had streaks of bright pink among the brown locks.

As I shook her hand and made small talk, everyone started to settle into seats. To my displeasure, Kelsie was on the end of the couch with Jess beside her. Cody sat on Jess’ other side, while Angela and Heather took the loveseat. That meant that I was left with the chair, sitting as far from Kelsie as possible.

The movie started and I glanced over to see Kelsie sharing her snack with Jess. Just like so many other things that had happened tonight, this bothered me for reasons that I couldn’t explain to myself.

Forcing myself not to stare at her, I focused on the TV as the movie started. It was a ghost story with plenty of jump scares and gore, just the kind of horror that Kelsie and I loved to watch. We were fifteen minutes in when the first scary scene came up.

A woman was running through a haunted house while being stalked by an evil spirit. It was intense, and one of the women on the loveseat even shrieked when the character on the TV was tripped on the stairs and dragged by an invisible attacker. I glanced over at Kelsie and smirked when I saw that her face was buried in her hands.

Normally, I would have been seated beside her, and she would have turned toward me at the scariest moments, as if seeking my protection from the fake horrors. Instead, she raised her legs up onto the couch, knees bent in front of her body like a shield.

None of this felt right.

I fucked up by sleeping with her even worse than I feared. Nothing was the way it was supposed to be.

I was miserable throughout the whole movie, my attention shifting between Kelsie and the screen over and over again.