Page 23 of Roped in Chaos
She squints her eyes at me. “You won’t go psycho and stalk me, right?”
“You’re so fucking weird,” I say with a laugh. “Just do it.”
Without any more fight, she pulls her phone out and clicks the button to share her location. I get the notification a moment later. The song ends, and I hike a thumb to the bar so she knows where I’m going. I have to get there as soon as possible. The songs shift into two-step couple dances, and I look over my shoulder to see her watching. I grab our drinks and head over to her. We’re sipping on them from the sidelines, watching everyone enjoy themselves. I got us each two, so we can loosen up before my favorite line dance comes on.
We’ve both finished the two, and my song still hasn’t played. I can tell she’s antsy to dance, so I ask.
“Want to go dance?” I ask her. I hold out my hand, and she takes it. We step onto the dance floor, and I pull her close to me.
“Just follow my lead,” I say to her, and she does. She fits perfectly into my body and moves in sync with me. I couldn’t ask for a better dance partner right now. Once the song is over, we stand to the side to give us each a moment to catch our breath. I can tell she’s feeling good, and she’s just vibing with the music. After another couple songs, my song finally plays. I know she’ll love it, so I take her hand and pull her onto the dance floor. We’re in the middle of the space, and people are surrounding us all around. I look over at her, and she looks back up at me.
“Just follow me,” I yell at her. “I’ll talk you through what steps we’re doing at first. Then just repeat them. You got this. ”
“Okay, right, left, back, front. Repeat. Right right, left left, back back, front kick, and clap.”
She follows along like she’s done this a million times. She fumbled the first couple of steps and then has gotten every once since.
“Church clap!” she hollers. She’s swinging her hips, and her ass brushes against my front, and I groan from just the slight touch.
The next thing I know, we’re jumping and clapping again, and the next eight-count starts. For the next slow part, my ass is to her front, and I grind it on her to joke around. She surprises me by hooking an arm around my waist and spanking my ass. I right myself and turn around to gawk at her as we continue dancing. She’s laughing, and her eyes are crinkled at the sides, while her smile takes over her whole face. She looks so happy. I want nothing more than this right here. These feelings I’m getting are not going away, and I don’t know how much longer I can deny them.
We spend the next few hours dancing and sipping drinks. She’s maintained her “feel good” buzz. She’s not drunk, but definitely vibing. By the time we leave, her hair is pulled off her neck, and she is glistening with sweat.
“Thank you so much,” she says as we get back into my truck.
“Of course,” I say. When we pull off onto the road back home, I decide to get my questions answered.
Chapter19
The Death of Peace and Mind
Esme
We’re on the way home when he takes a random turn onto a dirt road.
“Uh, Ash?” I ask. I may be a little tipsy, but I don’t remember him saying anything.
“Breathe, Princess, we’re gonna go stargazing.”
Awe. I hate it when he’s nice. I’ve been trying to stay away from him, but my chest keeps feeling funny, though. I know I can’t have anything serious, but I don’t know how long I can deny these feelings. He’s so sweet when he wants to be.
We keep going down the road for a while longer. It gets darker the farther down we go, and it’s quite bumpy. I have to hold on to the “oh shit” handle to manage the movement.
He pulls off onto the side road and jumps out.
“Wha-what the fuck?”
“Come on, Princess,” I hear from outside the truck. I jump out of the truck and walk around the back to meet him. He had dropped the tailgate and laid a blanket out for us.
“Can I help you up?” I nod my head yes, and he grabs my hips before lifting me into the bed of the truck. I crawl across the blanket, careful to drag it too much with my knees, and then park myself right in the middle. I wait for him to jump up, and he sits next to me. I watch him and see him gazing upward. I’m just admiring him when he breaks the silence.
“You know,” he says. “It’s hard to look at the stars when you’re staring at my face.” He looks at me and smirks, and my face heats.
“Oh right, stars.” I look up, and I’m in awe. In LA, you can’t see stars unless you go out to the hills. I’ve read about how many there are, but I’ve never had to put it into perspective. He points out the Big Dipper to me, and then we find the Little Dipper. We’re even able to see Saturn, although it doesn’t look like much. It’s such another orangey white dot that doesn’t twinkle. If it doesn’t twinkle, it can’t be a star.
“You can put your head on my lap, if you want. It might be more comfortable.” He’s right, my neck does hurt from craning up and staring at all the stars. I take his suggestion and rest my head in his lap. He plays with my hair, and I savor every moment. I never realized how good it feels to have someone do this to you.
“So, can I ask you a question?”
