Page 57 of Bending The Rules

“Of course,” I answered quickly, bringing my gaze back to her face. The pained confusion in her eyes made my chest ache, but I fought the urge to pull her into my arms again. How could I comfort her when I was just as mixed up as she was?

She raised her straw to her mouth and took another sip before she shook her head. “I just wish it could be like it was before.”

“Like… back in college, maybe?”

“Yeah, maybe.”

I lifted a hand. “I mean, here we are. You remember this, don’t you?”

Toni stopped in her tracks and really looked around. I saw the slow realization cross her face as she took in our surroundings, then turned to me with a smile. “West side of campus.”

I nodded. “West side of campus. On a Friday night.”

“And we were able to find parking? These kids are wack.”

I laughed as I moved closer to her, grabbing her hand. “Nah, they turned this into alumni and faculty parking a few years back. And thanks to that handy sticker on the front window, we can park here. The students can’t.”

“Ahh,” she said, then took another sip. “So… why are we here? What’s next?”

“Well, just a short walk around the block…”

“The Warehouse?” she asked, and I nodded. “Let me guess… a certain black and gold wearing group is having a little get-together?”

I grinned. “Just a little one. I was feeling nostalgic, so I figured we could go show our faces, support the youngins… take a little walk down memory lane.”

For a few seconds, Toni just looked at me, with the beginnings of another smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Finally, it spread, and she wrinkled her nose. “I guess I’m down to be the old bitch in the club this one time.”

“Just this once?”

“Don’t press your luck, Jus.”

Ten minutes later, my frat brothers were waving us through the door, with our cups in hand. They were almost a decade younger than me, but local chapter meetings bridged the generation gap for us. They were happy to welcome us in.

The unmistakable smells of liquor, sweat, and smoke hit us as soon as we walked through the door, and I turned to Toni and grinned. “Somethings never change, do they?” I yelled to her over the music, and she grinned back as she shook her head.

We moved through the crush of bodies dancing to the deafeningly loud music pumping into the building, and found ourselves a spot tucked away in the corner.

“What the hell is this music?” Toni asked, wrapping an arm around my neck to pull me down to speak into my ear.

I laughed. “This is what the young people listen to now. You’ve gotta stop listening to your old 90s shit, and come into this decade.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Just dance, OBIC,” I teased, hooking the arm that wasn’t holding my cup around her waist. She offered no resistance to moving with me, and pretty soon she was dancing just as hard as anyone else there.

The heat of so many bodies in the space made us appreciate the cool freshness of the slushes, and we sucked those down and discarded the cups. Toni pulled her sweater over her head and tied it around her waist, revealing a thin tank top underneath, that barely obscured her barely-there bra. She wasn’t thinking about that though. She was just hot, and tipsy, and dancing, and…sexy as hell.

Toni’s easy, natural movements got the attention of more than one youngin’ – attention that she laughed off, but it made me unexpectedly…annoyed.I got sick of chasing them off of her, sick of watching them mouth curse words in appreciation, sick of them stopping to stare. Actually, I more than got sick of it. It was pissing me off.

She looked up at me in surprise when I pulled her into me, then leaned to speak into her ear. “Why are you in here getting these guys all hot and bothered, Tee?”

She shrugged, then tipped her head back to grin, still moving. “Just doing what I always did at these parties, Jus. Having a good time. Getting a contact high from the fumes. Let ‘em look, as long as they don’t touch.”

“I don’t want them lookingortouching,” I said, which garnered a laugh from her.

“Relax,” she mouthed, then turned away from me. She grabbed my hands, pulling them around her as she danced to Rihanna’sWork, grinding her hips into me. Innocent to her, but eliciting unruly, debaucherous feelings in me. I suffered through it, not wanting to ruin her fun, but I was relieved when that song started to fade out.

“It’s getting pretty late. We should probably head out,” I said, grabbing her hand as soon as the song was over. “If that’s cool with you.”

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