An hour turns into two. Two turn into three. And before I know it, it’s nearly midnight.
“You haven’t seen Josie, have you?” I ask Penn when I have a moment to actually catch my breath.
“She was doing birthday shots with Walker a few minutes ago,” he says, clearing a few empty glasses off the bar. “Pretty sure you’re going to have to make good on that hair-holding pact.” His shoulders shake in silent laughter.
“Wonderful,” I mutter, more to myself than to him, leaning down slightly to rub my leg, which has been throbbing for the better part of an hour.
“You okay?” Penn tracks my movement with his eyes, assessing.
“Yeah. Just hurts when I’m on it for long periods of time.”
“Why don’t you head home? You’ve worked your butt off tonight.”
“Can’t. I have to make sure Josie gets home safely. Not to mention, she’s my ride. Or rather, I’m hers now.”
“Well, at the very least, why don’t you go sit down for a few.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m good.” I straighten, refusing to let him see just how much it’s actually bothering me.
Reminds me of when I was still fighting to get dance back. I would practice until I could barely walk and still, I would push myself harder and further. Honestly, I’m lucky I didn’t mess my leg up so bad that I lost the function to walk.
“You don’t have to prove anything, LV. Go sit.” He tips his chin in the direction of the empty seat at the far end of the bar.
“Not trying to prove anything. I said I’m fine,” I clip, nothing if not pridefully stubborn.
“Suit yourself.” He turns as two women approach the bar, ordering mixed drinks that I know he doesn’t know how to make.
“I got them,” I tell him as soon as they’re done ordering. Spinning, I quickly mix up the drinks and set them back onto the bar.
“Thanks for that. Some of these drinks these kids order.” He shakes his head.
“No problem. Now, if you’ve got this handled for a minute, I’m going to go track down Josie and make sure she’s good.”
“Yeah, go.”
“Thanks.” I slip past him and quickly duck out from behind the bar in search of my best friend.
I do one full pass of the room and then a second with no luck. I check the bathroom next and then the main bar area, but she seems to have vanished into thin air.
Pulling my phone out of my back pocket, I see that she texted me less than ten minutes ago. Pulling up my messages, I let out a low curse when I realize the hoe bag left. She doesn’t say with whom, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out, considering Alec seems to be MIA as well. Not that I care if she left with him, only that we rode together and I don’t exactly have another way home.
“Everything okay?” Penn asks when I finally make it back.
Leg hurting even worse now, I slide into a vacant stool.
“You haven’t happened to see your brother in the last ten minutes or so?” I ask, gesturing around the room, which has thinned significantly from when I first arrived.
“Alec?”
“That’s the one.”
“I haven’t seen him for a while. Why?”
“Because I’m pretty sure he and Josie took off together.”
“They didn’t?” He fights a smile, like he finds this quite humorous.
“Well, she texted me that she was leaving and since he’s also nowhere to be found, one can only assume...”
