A Beautiful Forever - By Anderson, Lilliana Page 0,25

I’m not much of a dancer.”

“Not from what I saw,” he responds holding out his hand for me to take. I look at it and step away from him, refusing his offer.

“No thank you,” I say firmly, walking directly back to my still vacant bar stool.

I notice the guy shake his head before he moves on to some other pretty girl who’s smiling and practically swooning the moment he holds his hand out to her. Watching them move for a little while, I start to wish I hadn’t agreed to this as I get restless and wonder when it’s time to go back to the flat.

Playing with my phone in my hand, I finger the touch screen, trying to decide whether I want to text Elliot or not. I feel lonely without him all of a sudden.

Hey, what are you up to? I tap out and send before I have a chance to change my mind.

He responds quickly, like he had his phone in his hand and was waiting on me. Watching cricket with the guys. U?

Me: Watching Naomi dance.

Elliot: Y aren’t u dancing?

Me: I don’t like strangers touching me.

Elliot: U want me to come get u?

My thumbs hover unmoving, as I contemplate whether or not I should bail. I jolt my head up and cradle my phone in my lap guiltily as Naomi comes over holding a bottle of beer and smiling. “How’s Elliot?” she asks, nodding at my phone.

“What? Why would I know?” I reply, feeling strange that she immediately jumped to that conclusion.

She tilts her head and looks at me like she can’t believe I think she’s that stupid. “It’s obvious you two are into each other Paige. It hums in the air whenever you’re around each other.”

I frown a little, “I thought you were interested in Elliot.”

She laughs, “I am, of course I am! If he said ‘hey Nomes, you, me in the bedroom – leave your clothes at the door’ I’d say, ‘hell yeah’ and run in there. However, that’s not going to happen - he’s not interested in me; he's interested in you.”

Laughing, I say, “I don’t really think he talks like that.”

She shrugs, smiling and taking a sip from her beer. “So what’s holding you back? Why aren’t you making wild monkey love with him every chance you get?”

“Because, I don’t know – maybe I think he’s too good for me, maybe I don’t want to get my heart broken, maybe I don’t want to ruin our friendship. There’s literally dozens of reasons why it’s a bad idea.”

“Maybe, but if you like each other, why can’t you have an amazing couple of months together – even if that’s all it is, it’s better than doing nothing, watching him leave and then regretting it for the rest of your life.”

“He doesn’t really want me Naomi. It’s the unattainable thing that’s making me attractive right now. He'll find someone else to turn his head eventually, and this will all be a moot point.”

“Paige, have a look around this club,” I do as she says and scan the club taking everything in, “Do you see one guy even remotely as good-looking as Elliot?”

“Well… no.”

“Then why would you knock that back?”

“Because… I feel like I have to,” I say looking down at my phone. Naomi looks down and takes it out of my hands reading the message across the screen. “Hey! What are you doing?!" I grab for my phone as she steps away, keeping it out of my reach as she types out a message.

“There, it’s done – you’re welcome,” she says smiling and heading back over to her dance partner. My phone beeps in my hand and I look at the message on the screen.

I’ll b there in 10

Feeling nervous all of a sudden, I get up and head to the ladies' room to check my reflection, frowning when I see the painted lady looking back at me. Turning on the tap, I grab some paper hand towel out of the dispenser and wipe the lipstick off my face. I look ridiculous. This isn’t me.

Looking at myself again, I take a deep breath. “Don’t do this, nothing changes,” I coach myself. I can’t believe I was just entertaining the thought of having something more with Elliot. Bloody Naomi, I had this all under control. Didn’t I?

Elliot

I borrow Shane’s car and drive to the club to pick up Paige. She's waiting outside with Naomi, who’s leaning up against some guy. When they see me pull up,