Page 6 of Rise of the Melody
I pulled back just enough to ask, “When will you go back to visit Scotland again?” He was a student but his parents were still in Edinburgh.
“I reckon Christmas.” Every vowel sounded like a sexy mouthful, and he rolled his “r”s so beautifully. I dug my fingers into his hair and pulled him in for another kiss.
We eventually made our way to the dance floor where I shamelessly danced close against him. Back on the couches, he exclaimed, “To the motherland!” as he raised a creamy shooter.
His drunkest friend stumbled forward. “Luis, bruh, are you still doing that fake-ass accent?”
Luis’s widened eyes darted to mine, his shot frozen mid-air. I went stiff as his friend’s words hit me.
“Uh,” said Luis.
“Uh,” I repeated. Holy crap.
Everyone went still, our group in major contrast to the movement all around us. Everyone’s head turned to me. This is where I should’ve gotten mad. I waited for anger and indignance to rise but found only reluctant fascination.
“You’re not Scottish?”
He rubbed his face and muttered in a boring American voice, “I’m sorry. I just got flustered when you talked to me.”
I let out a laugh straight from my belly. “That is literally the best accent I’ve ever heard, and I know my way around a Scot’s accent!” Everyone began to laugh, relief apparent.
“Really?” he asked sheepishly. “I’m an acting student and I’m taking accent classes.” Of course he was.
“He’s really good,” another one of his ‘mates’ said. “You should hear his South African!”
“That’s a tough one,” Luis claimed, finally taking his shooter. He leaned in as if to kiss me again, and I placed a hand on his chest, shaking my head. All of our friends died laughing then, his friends slapping him on the back. He grabbed the drunk one who’d ratted him out and pulled him down into a headlock.
A new song came on that I’d been obsessed with and I screamed, “I love this song!” Tessy and I jumped up and down as we sang the words at the top of our lungs. But a few seconds into our singing, she became still and stood before me with her head tilted. Her eyes unfocused and her mouth went slack. I sang on for a few more notes before asking, “Are you okay?”
To my shock, our entire group was gathered around us, staring blankly. At me. My stomach turned. I stepped back, an eerie chill going through me at their glazed eyes, like Mr. Goneley’s had been. I glanced down to make sure I didn’t have a boob hanging out or something.
“What?” I yelled, barking out a nervous laugh.
Tessy blinked and gave her head a shake. “Wow. You…you’re super hot tonight.”
I laughed and gave her a playfulwhapon her arm with the back of my hand. “Okay. Whatever.”
But she kept looking at me in that intense way, same as the others. They all began to squirm a little, shifting around like they were coming back to their senses. Luis grabbed the back of his neck and chuckled. Then the others laughed. It was all hecka weird and I felt like I’d done something wrong but couldn’t figure out what.
I was about to say it was time for me to leave when a scream from somewhere in the club curdled my blood. Other shouts and yells began to ring out and we all turned toward the entrance expecting the worst. Everybody in the club seemed to go on alert and the energy level maximized, people ready to run for their lives in a panic. But alas, the crowd parted and in walked a giant freaking animal.
CooShee.
I leapt to my feet as people scrambled away, some screaming and others asking what the hell he was.
“Shit,” I mumbled to my group. “I have to go. That’s…my dog.” Not really, of course, but it was too much to explain.
He had the stupid leash in his mouth and gave a tail wag when he saw me. How did he find me? Chur was in Manhattan and I’d left him at home in Brooklyn! My heart pounded as I attached his leash and gave him a tug toward the doors. People stared, some with their phones out. I kept my head down.
“No pets allowed!” A man in a suit with a New Zealand accent ran alongside me.
“I know, sorry,” I said, hurrying out. “We’re leaving.”
Once outside, I jogged us down to the corner and stopped, staring down at him. The dog sat and cocked his head at me.
“No, no, no,” I said. “Don’t try to be cute. How did you find me? I took the subway here! Is your nosethatgood?” I shook my head, baffled. “You can’t just walk into public places like that?—”
CooShee abruptly turned, staring hard toward the dark corner of the building with a narrow alleyway. I went still. He didn’t growl, but a strip of hair down his back stood up, his hackles. Was he about to attack someone? I’d seen him kill enough for one day, thanks very much. I gripped his leash tighter and tried to calm him as I reached into my pocket and grasped my pepper spray.
