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I thought about saying hello, but didn’t want to steal his attention away from the flock he had surrounding him. I even wondered if he would notice me or act like he knew me, and I didn’t want to take the chance of looking like the foolish person talking to myself when no one responded to my greeting, so I decided against it as I exited the shuttle and steered myself in the direction of my apartment.
A few minutes later, as I was walking down the sidewalk lit by the dim streetlights, I suddenly had a feeling that I was being watched or followed.
Great, there was the paranoia I thought I hadn’t inherited.
I picked up my speed a little as a pulled my bag in tight to my side, gripping the straps extra tight. I checked for shadows behind me cast by the street lights, but didn’t see anything suspicious, and tuned my ears to hyper awareness level. I could hear footsteps behind me picking up speed, and just before my fight or flight reactions kicked in, I heard a familiar voice calling my name.
“Zia? Wait up!”
An internal sigh of relief filled me as I stopped and turned, realizing that it was Dylan.
Was I seriously just freaking out? It seemed silly now, and I was a little embarrassed, hoping he didn’t notice the spike of adrenaline that was slowly dissipating now.
“Hey, Dylan. I didn’t see you coming.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. I saw you get off the shuttle and thought I’d say hi.”
So he did see
me. I was surprised.
“Oh, I didn’t think you noticed me. You seemed a bit preoccupied, and I didn’t want to interrupt,” I explained.
“It’s cool. So, are we good for tomorrow night? What’s the plan?” He seemed excited about it.
“I thought we could try El Sabor. Do you know any Latin dances?”
Dylan laughed nervously and admitted he hadn’t ever tried, but he was up for the challenge.
“What time do you want to meet me there?” I asked.
“I’ve got practice tomorrow evening, so I’ll need to go home and shower, eat…” he speculated. “Does ten o’clock sound okay?”
“Sounds good. I’ll see you there. Wear comfortable shoes! And watch YouTube videos of salsa dancing if you want to prepare in advance.” I laughed on the last sentence.
* * *
It was Friday night, and I was waiting to get ready until Clara left for her date with Cason. It was all she could talk about for the past week now. I hoped for her sake that he wouldn’t disappoint.
Clara sat in the chair in front of the vanity in her bedroom, applying her lip gloss as I finished curling the last strands of her hair. It was a nice distraction from the night ahead of me, and I wasn’t really sure why I felt a twinge of nervousness.
It wasn’t like I was going on a date.
Clara was so wrapped up in her excitement that she didn’t even suspect I had plans of my own tonight.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us? I hate that you’ll be here alone on a Friday night.”
“No, no. Please don’t feel bad for going without me. You’re going on a date! You need some alone time. I will find something to do, I promise.” I reassured her.
“Okay. How do I look? Does this dress fit me okay?” Clara turned to check herself out in the full length mirror standing in the corner. She knew how to dress to entice a man, that was for sure; just the right balance of sexy and classy, showing off her curves but still leaving some things to the imagination. With her five foot eight stature wearing wedge heels, she was all legs tonight. Her blue eyes really popped with the blue dress and the smoky eyeshadow she had gone with tonight.
“You look stunning. Cason doesn’t stand a chance of resisting you.” I gave her an honest smile.
I helped her find her favorite perfume and spritzed it into the air for her to walk through as she continued to chatter about Cason and how hot he was.
They were going for dinner and drinks before hitting up Thunder Lounge, a night club that catered to the college crowd, as did most of the night-life establishments in this college town. He was picking her up at seven o’clock, and at six fifty-five p.m., he was knocking on our door.
I let him in and he greeted me with a charming smile. He definitely had the bad-boy thing going for him. He was tall, mysterious, and hot, a few years older than us.
