Page 111 of Girls Will Be Girls
“Oh, I did.” He grins, nodding. “Not even a little puke, it was a full-on she had to leave the party to change puke.”
“That is mortifying.”
“Yes.” He nods.
“How old were you?”
“First week of college.” He says. “I’ve been known as Chuck to all of my college friends since that day.”
“Chuck?” I laugh.
“Apparently, they say ‘chuck up’ when they mean throw up in Australia, so… thanks to my Aussie roommate, Chuck.” He shrugs.
“It suits you.” I laugh again.
He squints his eyes sarcastically. “Thanks.”
I let out another laugh, unable to get the image of some poor freshman girl covered in bright orange puke, the same as my feet at the airport.
His grin stretches. “Feel better now?”
“Definitely.” I nod, stifling another laugh.
“Come on then, my little dancer.” He playfully smacks my ass. “Get to it.” He starts walking back to his lodge.
“Will do, Chuck,” I call after him.
He turns around with a playful smirk, shaking his head, while walking backwards. “Not cool, baby girl.”
I grin back at him, letting out a little laugh.
Lou goes inside for a moment, so I set my phone back up, and when he comes back out, he’s wearing dark tortoiseshell glasses and holding his laptop under his arm. I try to be covert about the way I’m watching him from over my shoulder as he stretches out on the deck chair. I didn’t know he wore glasses, and I’m not sure I needed to know that while I’m in the midst of a struggle to keep my hands off of him.
He hasn’t looked up at me yet as he begins to type, his brow crinkling adorably when he leans back to read something. He must finally notice me staring when his gaze lifts in a double-take and a smirk spreads across his face.
“I won’t watch, I promise.” He says.
He continues looking at me for a second, his eyes moving down me appreciatively, before he grins and goes back to his laptop. His gaze never moves to me again, even when I finally hit start on the video, or when my footsteps get louder the more confident I get, or when I groan at the same spot as always. Not even when I start singing the song to myself quietly to help me remember the moves.
When I finally make it all the way through the dance without messing up, I grin to myself, clasping my hands to my chest and bobbing on the spot. I instinctively turn around to Lou, thinkinghe’s definitely watching me, but it takes me walking closer to him for his eyes to jump up to me again.
Because he promised he wouldn’t watch.
He studies the grin on my face, a similar one reaching his lips. “Did you do it?”
I nod, still stupidly pleased with myself.
“Can I see?” He asks.
I shake my head. “Absolutely not.”
He smiles like he knows something I don’t. “One day then.”
“I’m gonna do it one more time,” I say, itching to do it over and over because I can. “Don’t watch.”
He lifts his hands in surrender. “Wouldn’t dare.”
I turn to look at him over my shoulder as I walk away and I catch him looking at my ass. It makes me sway my hips a little more, feeling even more confident in myself.
