Page 26 of The Very First Night

“There’s my girls!” Darren grins as he greets us, managing to completely ignore the four guys in our group.

In the human equivalent of peeing on Jenna’s leg, Marcus kisses her forehead. Jenna melts into him, but I can’t help but chuckle at him being so obviously territorial.

Darren doesn’t so much as acknowledge Marcus as he scans our group, counting and marking something on his clipboard. With a wave of his arm, he ushers us into the bar.

The dark room is lit almost exclusively by the lights behind the bar on the far wall and the ever-changing lights on the dance floor. There is a clear separation between the door and the dance floor, intentionally placed in order to allow people to mingle without getting in the way.

“Have you been here before?” Elijah asks, yelling over the music with his lips inches from my ear.

Jenna and I look at each other and exchange a knowing smirk.

“Yeah,” I reply, “we used to come here all the time. Last semester not as much, but freshman year this is where it was at.”

Elijah nods, acknowledging my words but not expressing his thoughts.

“You?” I ask.

“No, I’ve never really been a big dancer.”

If he doesn’t like dancing, then why did we come here?

“But I’ll dance with you,” he adds.

I grab his hand to pull him out onto the dance floor, but he resists.

“Later,” he says with a laugh. “After I have a few drinks in me.”

“Of course.” I smile up at him, welcoming his lips as he leans down and kisses me.

Jenna grabs my hand and whirls me away, leaving Elijah and Marcus standing there in confusion. Brendan and Tanner join us on the dance floor, falling into the rhythm of the dance and picking up the moves with ease.

Stomp, stomp, whirl, clap, whirl, whirl, whirl, stomp.

Despite not having come here in close to a year, the dances haven’t changed at all. I whirl and I whirl until I accidentally ram into Tanner.

He laughs. “Okay, killer. You’re gonna knock someone over.”

I simply roll my eyes before falling into step between him and Jenna, our synchronicity a pleasant surprise.

Brendan isn’t quite as in sync. God love the lovable goof, but the boy doesn’t have a shred of rhythm inside him. And yet he powers through, trying to keep up and fumbling through the dance, all with a grin plastered on his lips.

In a move that is most definitely not part of the choreography, Tanner grabs my hand and twirls me away from him. Before we know it, three songs have passed and we’re panting from all of our laughter.

“Drink?” Jenna asks, sweat glistening on her brow.

The four of us walk over to the bar, where Elijah and Marcus are perched. I wrap my arms around Elijah’s waist with ease, the quick rapport we’re finding between us a pleasant surprise. He welcomes the hug, but I can’t help but notice he doesn’t kiss me at all. He sits ramrod straight with my arms around his waist and a glass of whiskey pressed to his lips.

“Hey,” I whisper, pulling his attention to me.

As soon as our eyes meet, I can feel him relax into my touch.

“Hey.” He grins, finally wrapping his arms around me and pressing his lips to my forehead.

The cold of his glass bites into the exposed skin on my back as my shirt rides up, but I don’t move, content in his arms. The smell of whiskey coats his breath, but he leans down and kisses me and any concern I had vanishes without a trace.

Upbeat line-dance music shifts through the speakers as a familiar country ballad rings through the room. I look at Jenna and Marcus as she asks him to dance and he complies without restraint. When my gaze returns to Elijah, his eyes are already on me.

I want to ask him, but I get the sense he’ll turn me down. He said it himself; he doesn’t dance.

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