Page 11 of Love In The Air

“I said leave it.” He glared at his friend. Yes, his ex had dumped him on possibly the worst day of the year, but to Ryan’s credit, he hadn’t remembered the significance of the day. Because as controlling as Ryan claimed Chance to be, that’s how forgetful his ex was. They both had their issues.

Darnell dipped his head, mouthing a small sorry.

Louder, to Iz and Tori, Chance explained, “Darnell and I were college roommates. He’s been generous enough to let me stay with him during rehearsals until the show tour starts.

“That’s nice of you, Darnell, but how are you at wing manning?” Tori motioned to Iz with a shake of her head. “Because this one sucks at it.”

“Hey!” Iz protested.

Chance smothered a laugh. He knew people could change, but if Iz was anything like she was in high school, flirting wasn’t her game. She liked to pretend he stole all her dates because of his looks and charm—he’d admit those probably helped—but she didn’t do herself any favors in the pick-up department. He remembered the time she tried to flirt with the captain of the basketball team and ended up dumping her entire lunch in the poor guy’s lap.

“I’m an excellent wingman,” Darnell said with a smile. “Just tell me who we’re looking for and how I can hype you up.”

“Nice!” Tori linked her arm through Darnell’s and the two disappeared into the throng of people on the dance floor.

“Did our friends just abandon us?” Iz asked.

“Looks that way.”

“Traitors.” She frowned, glaring at the dance floor. “So much for my wingwoman. We were supposed to help each other.”

“You looking to hook up, Iz?”

She turned to him, eyes wide. “Not with you.”

He shoved down the tiny sting her automatic denial gave him and smiled. “I wasn’t suggesting me. I was offering to be your wingman.”

“Oh.”

Her face flushed a bright red. Even in the dim lights of the bar, he could see it spread across her cheeks, darkening the tiny freckles scattered across her nose. Huh, how had he never noticed those before? They were cute. Not a word he normally ascribed to Iz, but he couldn’t deny those tiny brown dots gave her a soft look. An observation she wouldn’t appreciate him sharing, so he kept it to himself, tucking it away to take out and examine later.

“Never mind, this was a stupid idea anyway.” She took a healthy pull from her drink and set the bottle on the bar top. “I don’t know why I thought coming to the bar for a hookup was a good idea. I was just trying to distract myself from…”

She trailed off, head turning away from him as she scanned the crowd, but he got the feeling she wasn’t looking for anything. More like avoiding him.

“I really shouldn’t be out anyway, but Tori is always telling me I need to loosen up.”

Darnell’s earlier words rang in his ear. Seemed like he and Iz had similar taste in friends.

“What’s wrong with being driven?” she continued, pushing on in her one-sided rant. “I mean, really, what is so wrong with having a goal and working toward it?”

He had no idea. “I’m with you. This place isn’t bad, but it’s loud and crowded and there’s a smell in the air that reminds me of gym class and the dumpster behind a burger joint. Honestly, I’d rather be in the studio working on my elbow rolls.”

“Exactly!” She turned to him, excitement on her face. “You get it.”

He sucked in a breath at the unfiltered joy coming from her smile. He’d never seen Iz smile like that. Not at him, that was for sure. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. He’d always known Iz was attractive in an objective sort of way but seeing such happiness on her face transformed her. It wasn’t a look he got to see on her often, or ever really. Something deep inside him ached to see it again.

He shook his head, pushing off the strange feelings her genuine smile stirred in him. Leaning closer, he spoke in a loud mock whisper. “Careful, Iz. I think we just agreed with each other on something.”

She snorted. “Hell must have frozen over.”

“See?” he said, waving his hand back and forth between them. “We can be friendly.”

She rolled her eyes and nodded. “Yeah, I guess so, as long as we’re both talking about our overachieving drive to be all work and no fun.”

Since they technically weren’t competing for anything at the moment, maybe they could use their overachieving drives to their benefit. At least he didn’t have to worry about his partner chafing when he requested extra practice. Hell, Iz would probably take his suggestion and double it.

“Stop standing over there like a couple of bar stools and get out here!” Tori called from the edge of the dance floor.

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