“Don’t whine,” I reprimand. “He’s dancing with me.”
Auburn Hair grabs Kent’s arm and pulls him away from me. It’s unsettling how willing he is. Kent’s a large guy. He won’t move unless he wants to.
“Sorry, babe,” he drawls unapologetically to me.
She giggles obnoxiously. “Come on. I’ll show you how a real woman dances. Where’d you even find her? She looks like my little sister.”
Kent mumbles something that makes her laugh again as she leads him away.
Even though I know it’s fake I feel his dismissal as if it were real. My stomach sinks and fills with painful mortification. I am suddenly inadequate. What did I expect? That he’d end up choosing me over Auburn Hair? One dance would somehow make him forget the lie that brought our bodies so close?
I stumble back and fix my face. I’m his wing-woman, I remind myself. I don’t even like him. I don’t want him. It’s a game. Job done. I shake my inane reaction off and give them both a disgusted look. Kent is already wrapped around her body. She’s got her ass so close to his penis I can’t tell who’s wearing which blue jeans. The image sticks with me on my way to the kitchen.
“Want a shot?” Jake asks.
“Shot a want?” Zeke follows.
“Sure…” I need one after that.
Jake pours me a shot of something clear and hands it to me. By the pungent smell I conclude it’s vodka. I toss it back and hop around in the kitchen as the fire burns me from the inside out.
“Want another?”
“Another want?”
I giggle at Zeke. “Sure. Why not?”
He winks at me. “Dance to want?”
“Sure.”
I’m a sure kind of girl tonight.
I grab Zeke’s hand and let Usher guide my hips. Surprisingly, Zeke keeps up. He’s touchy, but I’m drunk, and his hands feel kind of good after being forgotten by Kent the human pig. I never let men touch me. As we pass by him and Auburn Hair, who are so close together I get a headache, he looks up at me and Zeke. Kent narrows his eyes at us but I ignore him. Can’t wing-women have fun too? Where does it say we have to retreat to our cave once our jobs are completed?
I turn around so I can’t see him and wrap my arms around Zeke. The song changes and it’s a lot more fun. I throw my hands in the air and dance. Zeke follows, uncaring of how stupid we look. I laugh at him and try to top his horrible dance moves. He doubles over when I start doing the robot. His attempt fails and I find myself falling over my feet in a burst of giggles, running right into Kent and Auburn Hair.
“Zeke’s got a girlfriend,” he snarls.
“We’re just dancing,” I growl back.
I take Zeke’s hands and we flail around like idiots.
“Shot a take?” he shouts over the music.
“Sure, backwards man.”
After some time dancing and a few more shots I excuse myself to use the bathroom. As I’m coming out I spot James inching out of his room. When he spots me he looks so relieved I smile at him.
“What’s wrong?”
He makes a drinking motion with his hand and mouths the word “beer.”
“You want a beer? Be right back.”
I feel like Peter Cottontail. I scurry into the kitchen, grab a beer, and then scurry right back to his room, closing his door behind me. He’s sitting on his bed and smiles when I come in.
“Here you go.”
He looks like he’s trying not to laugh.
“What?” I demand, smiling too.
He rubs his finger around his cheeks and then points at his mirror.
I peek in his mirror. Oh. I look like a drunk broad. My cheeks are flushed, my hair is a mess, and my eyes are all heavy.
“Kent got me drunk.”
James frowns. He leans over his bed, grabs his keys off his end table, and uses one to open his beer top. I feel bad. I’m out there having fun and he’s in here by himself. Although what kind of fun I’m having I’m not sure. Fun isn’t something I’m used to having. A brief flash of playing hide and seek with Becca when we were kids enters my mind, but it’s destroyed by the subsequent reminder of my father coming home drunk. He slammed the front door closed and screamed at my mother until she cried herself to sleep.
“Can I sit down?” I feel dizzy suddenly. I plop down on his bed and take my heels off. “I like your room.”