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Suddenly, the wordboringflashes through my mind.
Predictable.
My eyes shift over to Dean. He sees me and waves.
Do you always do what you’re told?
When Kiara reaches her hand down to help me up, I accept.
She pulls me onto the stage, cheering along with Anaya and Priyasha.
I’m frozen. All these eyes are on me.
“Come on, Lor! Have some fun!” Anaya shouts. She grabs my hand and starts dancing, and I force myself to move along with her, even if it’s robotically.
I gasp as the song fades into a Maluma song. “I love this song!” I exclaim to no one in particular, and Anaya’s red lips part in a wide smile.
“Prove it, sister!” She releases my hand and bumps her hip into mine.
I want to dance, but not if everyone’s looking at me. But scanning the crowd, it’s clear no one’s really paying attention to me. Everyone’s busy having their own fun, and the people that are looking at us are dancing along with us. No one’s staring. No one’s making fun of me. No one’s making me uncomfortable.
Priyasha grabs my hand, turning me so that I’m facing her instead of the crowd. “Follow my lead!”
She moves her hips and I follow suit, too busy trying to copy her to worry about people watching.
“Yes Lori!” Kiara throws her dark hair over her shoulder and copies our moves, and so does Anaya. In no time we’ve somehow choreographed a simple dance and are all moving in sync. We’re singing aloud and dancing like everyone in a crowded club isn’t watching us, because really, they aren’t. And even if they are, I’m having so much fun that I’ve totally forgotten I’m up on stage, anyway.
“Room for two more?” Alessio yells up at us, and even though there’s definitely not, we encourage him and Dean to jump up onto the stage.
Now I’m between Dean and Anaya, and Alessio’s between Kiara and Priyasha, and the two boys copy our dance moves while sending us goofy grins.
“You look ridiculous,” I tell Dean over the music, which makes his smile grow wider and his moves more exaggerated.
The stage is so small that we’re practically standing on top of each other. Alessio’s unbuttoned his shirt to just before his belly button, and it looks like he has no intentions of stopping. With a laugh, I jump off the stage before this turns into a full-on strip show.
“Come back, Lor!” Priyasha calls out, but I point to the bar and yell, “I’m going to get a drink.”
The small crowd at the bar lets me make my way through them to order a cranberry juice.
“Hey, baby. Let me buy you a drink?” a voice directly behind me says in my ear. His sweaty hands are on either side of my waist, slipping under the hem of my shirt to slide up my bare skin. Suddenly I’m reminded of Pervy Gym Guy, about how I froze when I should’ve done something, should’ve stood up for myself when he purposely touched me, when he took a picture of me bent over.
Shifting quickly, I push the stranger away, but he holds on, his grip on my waist suffocating. I crane my neck to look up at him, grimacing as the sweat-and-beer odor combination envelops me. His smile is innocent but cocky, and a quick glance at his wrist indicates he’s from a different hotel than I am.
“No thanks,” I reply loudly so he can hear me.
Now he’s in front of me, but his hands are still on my waist, on my bare skin. My throat closes as he tugs me closer. “Then let’s dance.”
A feminine hand wraps around my bicep and yanks me out of his grip. It’s the girl from the resort.
“She’s with me.” She wraps her arm around my shoulders and looks up defiantly at the guy.
His smirk grows and a challenge ignites in his eyes. “I’ve got two arms, one for both of you. And my bed’s big enough for later.”
“Kick rocks,” she sneers, and before I know what’s happening, she grabs the drink the bartender is holding out to me, passes it to me, places bills on the bar, and then pulls me away.
“I love clubs, but I also hate ’em, you know?” she continues, tugging me along. “Like it would be awesome if I could dance without being touched for once.”
I’m so overwhelmed by her larger-than-life presence that all I can do is gawk at her. In a way she reminds me of Faye, which must be why I warm to her instantly.
