Chapter 6 #2
“To the dance floor!” Kami and Em yell at the same time. Everyone downs their drinks as if knowing the drill and scoots out of the booth.
I’m forced out, and Levi raises a brow.
Em grabs my hand while speaking over the music, “I have no idea how to dance the way they do either, Stevie. We can be uncoordinated together.” She pulls me toward the group, and Levi’s laugh follows me down to the middle of the floor, where “When I Grow Up” by the Pussycat Dolls plays.
Em spins me until I’m in between all the girls, utterly lost in what to do next. I look to Levi for help, only to find him and the other guys watching us on the sidelines. That is, except for Jake, who already has a girl he’s dancing with, and by dancing, I mean dry humping.
This group is quite outgoing, and that’s putting it mildly.
Suddenly, the music changes from 2000s pop to EDM. Kamila gives a loud grunt, clearly annoyed by the abrupt change in music. Not that I can blame her. EDM does suck.
“I’m texting Nick,” Kami yells at Em.
“Who’s Nick?” I ask.
“He’s the DJ tonight, but don’t tell Cam,” she says in a quieter voice. “They don’t get along very well.”
Nodding, I assure her that I’ll keep my mouth shut. Em leans over her shoulder, but Kami hesitates and looks at me.
“Do you have any requests?” She smiles. “It can be anything, but no EDM, techno of any kind, and it needs to be something we can dance to.”
She lists her demands, and I feel like a deer caught in the headlights.
Like fucking Bambi, I turn my head to Levi one more time, and our eyes meet. He gives me a confused look at my eye roll.
Getting back to the task at hand, I run through all the playlists I have memorized and think of the one from high school. One of the few that encompasses a wide range of pop genres.
After racking my brain for a minute, I finally come up with one of Jenny’s old favorites.
“What about ‘Whine Up’ by Kat DeLuna?” My answer comes out as more of a question than a request.
Kami looks at me, surprised, and gives me an approving nod.
“Hey, Luna!” she yells over the music. Luna’s wearing a pout, seemingly annoyed by the music as well, before veering her gaze toward her friend. “Mira la canción que escogió Stevie.” Look at what Stevie chose.
Her lips curve upward. “Hace mucho no la escucho. Aprovado!”
Kami finishes sending the text, and she and Luna turn their attention back on me.
“Luna says—”
“She approves, I heard.” I laugh at their surprised expressions.
“My dad’s from Spain. Well, he’s half Spanish, or maybe a quarter.
It isn’t very clear. His dad was half Filipino, but he grew up in Spain…
and I’m sorry, I’m babbling.” Clearing my voice, I get to the point.
“I’m not fluent, but I understood most of what you guys said. ”
All three girls are looking at me with what seems to be amusement. My palms turn sweaty at their silence before they laugh, and Kami speaks. Jeez, I need to chill.
“Don’t be embarrassed. Em blabs more than you do.”
“It’s true.” Em shrugs.
Kami rolls her eyes and grabs my hand, pulling me toward her.
“Let Luna and me teach you how to dance for a bit, if you’re okay with that.”
I hesitate, and then the song I requested starts playing.
I feel as though I have no choice but to agree.
As soon as Kami grabs my hips and attempts to sway them slowly, my eyes meet Levi’s over her shoulder.
He’s still standing next to Cam, both watching us while talking.
Cameron seems to be very interested in Kami’s behind; Levi, on the other hand, keeps his eyes on my face as he winks while raising his beer.
My gaze narrows at the playfulness in his eyes. My new friend isn’t flirting—far from it—he’s amused by this whole situation that he had warned me about. At that thought, I decide to be a little bolder. Kami keeps trying to teach me to loosen up. At one point, my hip dips slightly, and she smiles.
“Good! That’s good. Try doing it on the other side, and those are the basics you can start with.”
I try to mimic the movement, and Luna taps my shoulder, congratulating me.
My cheeks heat at the unnecessary attention, but I am thankful that two kind women are teaching me something I wish I had learned long ago.
After another song passes of us swaying and twirling, Kami ends up in Cam’s arms when a bachata song hits, Luna forces Em to dance with her.
Will and Zoey, who are friends of Cameron, disappear, and Jake is now making out with the girl he was dancing with before.
That leaves Levi and me in the awkward position of deciding whether to dance together or not.
He motions from me to the empty spot next to him.
When I reach him and lean up against the wall, he speaks up. “I’m not going to force you to dance.”
My shoulders relax, and my anxiety dissipates at his words, but my curiosity gets the best of me. “Do you know how to dance bachata?”
He raises a brow and smirks. “The only way to find out is to drag me onto that dance floor, Bambi.”
It’s my turn to raise a brow. Shrugging my shoulders, I answer, “I’ll pass…for now.”
He chuckles. “Fair enough.”
We stand in silence, but just like in the apartment, there’s nothing awkward about it. Well, other than the fact that all of his friends, other than Luna and Em, are making out like they’re about to have sex in the middle of the dance floor.
I was never a huge drinker, but whenever I did have a couple of drinks, I remember wanting to mount Andrew, no matter who we were with.
It was liquid courage for me when it came to our bedroom life, but he hated it when I drank.
He used to drink too, so I never understood the issue.
It also wasn’t like I used to get blackout drunk; it was always the feeling of being tipsy that brought out the hidden freaky part in me that I’ve suppressed for years.
Once I stopped drinking completely last spring, that side of me ceased to come out altogether, and I honestly miss it sometimes.
Social gatherings such as these are the ones where those couple of shots could come in handy.
“So, are you having fun?” Levi asks.
“Yeah, I really like—” My words get stuck in my throat because what I catch in front of me is somewhat harder to believe than what I saw a couple of weeks ago.
“Stevie?” Levi’s voice is a mere echo in the background.
“Are you okay?” I can hear that his voice is full of concern, and I know I should say something, yet I only manage to give him a quick nod, still not moving my gaze that’s geared toward the couple standing a few feet away from us.
As if feeling my stare, Andrew downs his drink, takes his hands off Tiffany, and looks right at me.
His eyes widen in shock, then lower in embarrassment.
Finally, he peers back up, nothing but longing in those dark brown orbs.
I swear to God that my heart ceases to beat for a moment, then another—not in the same longing that’s reflecting in his eyes, but in shock.
A hand lands on my forearm, causing me to jump.
Turning my head to Levi, I find him looking at Andrew as if finally understanding who we are to each other, at least somewhat, and he doesn’t look pleased.
Swiveling my gaze back to my ex-boyfriend, who’s now staring at Levi with pure jealousy, I see him take a confident step forward and then another.
This isn’t happening.
Levi asks in a voice loud enough for only me to hear over the music, “An ex?”
“The one and only ex,” I manage to blurt out.
And when Andrew is two strides away from us, Levi intertwines his hand with mine, catching me completely off guard, so off guard that I don’t have time to question or reconsider what he’s doing.
“I didn’t think you’d be here, Stevie.”
Those are his first words to me?
The last time I saw him, he was inside his best friend.
He sent me countless texts asking me to let him explain for a week until I blocked him.
Two seconds ago, he was dancing with said friend, and now he has the audacity to act as if he still has a right to know where I decide to go?
And since when does Andrew come to King’s Wolf?
It’s one of the few places he always refused to go to in town.
He looks down at Levi’s and my connected hands. “And who’s this?” he asks sweetly.
“Um, he’s my—”
“I’m her date,” Levi says confidently.