Page 25 of Last Call Lindy Hop
“Thank you.”
“Thanks for taking Lance home.” She turned to me. “I’ll text with updates, but I want to get going. So if you could pass anything on to Eli…”
I nodded, then watched as she wrapped her arms around Amber and guided the other woman from the hall.
“I hope she’ll be ok,” Eli said softly from beside me.
I nodded. “Kenzie is with her. She’ll make sure she gets where she needs to go.”
“Did Amber just leave?” Jackson asked.
Eli nodded. “Kenzie took her.”
Jackson breathed a sigh of relief. “Mitch was about to go home and get my laptop, but…”
“Yeah,” Eli sighed. “I’m sorry for the panic, and on my first night as a full DJ too.”
Jackson shook his head. “No, it’s nothing anybody could have predicted. But will you be ok to finish? I know you two are close.”
Eli blew out a long breath and nodded again, then looked at me. “Kenzie said she’d send updates to you?”
“Yeah.”
He turned back to Jackson. “Yeah, as long as I know she’s getting where she needs to go I’ll be ok.”
Jackson nodded. “Ok. Mitch is going to get my laptop anyway, just in case. But I’m glad to know you’ll be able to stay for now.”
“Me too.”
Jackson made his way to greet a few new faces, and a moment later Mitch walked out the door.
I watched him leave, then turned to Eli.
I swallowed. Suddenly it all felt different. Before I would have always been able to ask Kenzie to take me home if I became overwhelmed.
Now? I was stuck in a social situation for at least the next few hours.
Chapter 14 - Eli
Amber and Kenzie had barely made it out the door before Lance developed a slightly panicked expression.
Part of me wanted to pull him directly onto the dance floor, where I knew I could get him to relax. However I still needed to take another couple of songs to make sure everything was set so that I could leave the DJ area for a bit.
At the same time I worried about Amber. She’d once told me how close she was to her grandfather while growing up, and I knew she’d want to be able to say goodbye if he didn’t make it.
I gnawed my bottom lip, torn between conflicting priorities.
“I’m… I’m gonna go sit down,” Lance mumbled.
I nodded. “Ok. I’ll be over in a few minutes.”
He forced a smile, then walked off.
I wanted to hug him; reassure him that it would all be ok. But I didn’t know that either. It was clear that he was anxious, but I still didn’t know why. Ok to me might not be ok for him.
My fingers twitched with the need to reach out and pull Lance back. Instead I turned and checked that my playlist was still how I wanted it.
It was at least twenty minutes before I was satisfied that my DJ setup would be ok without me.
