The floor felt like glue, imprisoning my feet. I watched Danny float to the deck in slow motion. I was still stuck there, a few feet into the kitchen, when a powerful arm swiped at my waist and pulled me into a laundry room. The smell of detergent burned my nose and threatened my daze. He lifted me to sit on the washer and then brushed up and down my bare arms. The touch left a trail of little fires that connected and burned me back to reality as my eyes focused on Conner's green eyes.

"You okay?" His voice lacked the soothing tone of Danny's.

My heart raced at his urgency. "Yeah," I croaked, but a dry throat stole my words.

Conner pulled a bottle of water from his back pocket; the tiny creaks of the plastic cap tearing apart were oddly comforting.

"These are terrible for the environment." It was an ill-timed critique.

"People are terrible for the environment." Conner's palms had settled on my knees.

The touch was innocent but sent lightning through me. I suddenly wanted Conner so severely that I could feel it in my bones. Without thinking, my hand slipped up to cup his cheek, which he let settled into my palm.

"Em," he whispered, as though he was trying not to spook me.

Somewhere a voice screamed at me to stop, that I should flush with embarrassment at my forwardness, but my face couldn't burn hot because his touch on my legs was the true inferno.

Big moments move slow. Conner lifted a hand to cup mine and let our fingers tangle as they fell from his cheek as one. The green of his eyes reminded me of the basil my Nana had grown in her kitchen window. He leaned in closer, but I could sense the tension warring in him.

"What are you doing?" He pleaded.

"I don't know." It was the most honest I had been in days.

"You and Danny; he pushed you back there. There's a hold he has on you."

I could see the confusion in Conner's eyes still.

"We're just friends." That's what Danny wanted and what I had to keep reminding myself.

Conner let out a dismissive laugh before backing up. "Go find him." His voice dripped with anger.

He was out of reach again; at least three steps separated us. The space filled my mind and pushed everything else out.

"Are you mad at me?" My question was childish, and his suddenly cold eyes didn't help.

"Why would I be mad at you? We're all just friends." His words were biting and rattled my mind.

A large part of me wanted to avoid him and the feelings he caused, but I couldn't even if I wanted to; Danny connected him to me.

Danny was on the porch with Sarah when I shuffled out in the trance from Conner. "Have you been power ripping butts?" I asked, trying to sound relaxed.

"You say it like it's a bad thing," Danny shrugged.

"It is." Danny recoiled from my tone as guilt washed over me.

Danny wasn't the target of my chiding. He didn't annoy me, nor did his smoking. Jacob bothered and annoyed me and Conner.

"What do you think Kyle is up to tonight?" I tried to move on from the weak beginning.

Danny just shrugged in response, still recoiling from my verbal snap.

I wrapped my arms around him and pressed the side of my temple to his chest as I willed every ounce of me to be closer to him. "I'm sorry," I murmured. His muscles pulled as he blew his last drag over my head and wrapped his free arm around my waist. He kissed my forehead as I relaxed in his arms. "Can we go home?"

"I'm here for you, baby girl. You make the map."

We didn't break apart as we spoke. Wrapped in Danny's arms, I resolved to resist Conner. I had enough with Danny, even if we were just friends. I had just gotten out of a relationship and was in no rush to get into another. Reluctantly, I separated from the hug as my bed enticed me.

"Sarah," I used the caution of a snake charmer.

"No," Sarah said, without even letting me finish.

"I'm sure Conner will give you a ride home," Danny offered.

Sarah lived minutes away, and dozens of people could drop her off without even going out of their way. I also knew that Sarah getting a few minutes alone with Conner might be the lure to get her to agree.

"Will you go ask him?" I asked Danny, as I wasn't keen to ask Conner for anything.

Danny agreed with a kiss on my forehead. I leaned against the railing and stared at the splitting boards of the deck.

"Emma," Sarah's tone was severe. We met each other's gaze. Sarah looked worse than when she had spent an entire night trying to make her own fake ID. "I think you need to slow down," she cautioned.

"Slow what down?" There was nothing to slow down in my mind. Jacob was over; I shut Conner out, and Danny was just a friend.

"You and Danny," there was a hint of annoyance dripping from Sarah's words.

"Sarah, we're just friends." The hair on the back of my arms raised, and emotion flared through me.

"Em, I'm claustrophobic watching you two. And just then with Jacob..." Sarah tried to stifle her words, but she couldn't. "It was like he was pushing you into your anger."

"You're drunk. We're just friends. It's just new and nice to find someone who gets another part of me."

"Gets another part or makes another part?"

"You don't know what you're talking about." I didn't wait for a response; if I had, I'd have let my bubbling anger boil over. I just followed Danny.

The best part of Danny being 6'4" was that he was easy to spot. I could see creases line his forehead across the room. Conner snapped his eyes to where I was, but just as quickly snatched his face away with a wince of the unwanted connection. My legs stopped moving at the sly punch. They were clearly arguing, but Danny shrugged Conner off when he saw me.

Danny came to me with a rougher than intended grab on my shoulder. He was seething with annoyance, maybe even anger. Conner seemed to have that effect on people tonight. Without a word, we bobbed through the party at a frantic pace. Getting out seemed urgent for both of us, as though a bomb was about to go off. Danny drummed his fingers on his knees as I drove us the short way to my house. It both distracted and irritated me. The drumming wasn't calm; it was an outlet for pent-up negative energy screaming to come out, but the drumming was not releasing the pressure.

"You want me to stay over?" His words came out as fast as the bullets of a machine gun.

"Yeah. Do you want to stay over?" My heart pounded painfully hard, fearing he would say no.

"Yeah, sure," he was dismissive in all regards, and his head shook with an odd jerk to it.

The walk to the back of the house lacked the usual mingling of fingers and arms.

"I'm going to smoke- you mind?"

"No," spoke too quickly, revealing my relief for a few moments alone to reset. "I'll be inside."

But once I was inside, I didn't know what to do with myself. I absently paced and erratically moved things around the living room with no purpose: unfolding and folding the blanket on the couch, stacking then fanning books on the coffee table. Anything to distract me from the confusion in my mind. I flipped on music but didn't hear a single note; I pulled out DVDs but didn't notice the titles. My thought consumed me so that I jumped beneath Danny's touch.

"Hey," I could tell it wasn't the first salutation he had said. "I can go; I'm sure Conner is still close."

"Yeah, if you want." I shrugged off the truth. I didn't want Danny to leave. My face dropped away from him to hide the pooling in my eyes. I needed him here tonight. One of us was not okay, and I couldn't tell if it was Danny or me. He moved his touch from me, and the release filled me with panic.

"Wait," I shot up too fast and gave myself a head rush.

Danny grabbed my waist to steady me, but then let his grip drop too quickly for my liking.

"I don't want you to go," I stammered.

Danny just stared back at me, his expression blank.

"I want you to stay with me," I added in a softer tone as my face dropped again from his gaze.

"Why?" His tone sent a chill down my spine and made me doubt myself again.

"One of us is off, and I'm not sure if it's you or me. I'm not even sure which one I'm more scared of being off." I continued to avoid his empty stare.

He remained close, close enough to reach out to me. Every ounce of me wanted his touch, needed the warmth. But he just swiveled and took another step away.

"It's me, Em," terror ripped my heart in half, spilling toxic bile through my entire body. The distance between us was intolerable.

"Stay," my hushed pleading made him pause. I stared at his back, willing him to turn around before adding, "please."

His arms slumped, and I let out the breath I had been holding. I quickly closed the gap to him and reached for his back; he couldn't move now as though we were playing freeze tag. I circled him.

"Can I hug you?" It was an honest question. I didn't know if he wanted space, if I was the issue.

I fought an unseen tension to pull my eyes to his. Once our eyes met, we locked in place. His were the stormy grey color again, making me long for the clear blue of a summer sky, but it wasn't fair of me to long for it. Guilt over my selfishness filled me. He slumped a bit more, his hunch shoulders pulling him closer to me. Our eyes didn't move as he lifted a single finger to my forehead and traced from my temple to the tip of my chin. My palm suddenly burned with the memory of cupping Conner's cheek. Danny lightly pinched my chin between his thumb and pointer finger. I closed my eyes, letting the smell of burning cigarette filters tickle my nose. I could picture his gracefully long fingers without looking at them. It made me accidentally vulnerable. Danny moved closer again, resting his forehead on mine. His breath drifted down my face as I sucked it in, the sustenance I needed. His arm snaked around my waist, holding me there, holding me up like the bones of a house. I wanted more than just his arms holding me, but I had just committed to friends.

In silence, we stood, eyes closed. I focused on Danny's breathing, how it mingled with my own. Behind my eyelids, I saw Danny in the coffee shop, distracted. He didn't notice me. Then he was on the rock in the park. A small bead of sweat rolled down the back of his neck. He stood in the middle of a crowd; his eyes sparkled blue with his crooked smile accented by the scar. His heavy arms caused my back to ache, but I loved it. His chest rose and fell beneath my head; my breathing timed to his heartbeat. Then I was back, his forehead against mine. Our breath matched, and our heartbeats calmed. Exhaustion filled my body. I reached my arms around his neck and leaned further into him for support. When I opened my eyes, he opened his as though we were a mirror of each other. I moved my head to his chest as he fluidly picked me up and cradled me in his arms as he moved to the bed. We fell asleep, tangled in each other.