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“How do you know him?” Paige asked. Parker leaned close.
“When I first started coming to Galveston, my uncle owned a home downtown here. Joey lived nearby. We’re the same age, his parents and my uncle kinda pushed us to hang out. I used to tease him a lot, and then he finally told me to shove my attitude up my ass, and we’ve been buddies ever since. I usually hang out with him most summers, but I didn’t make it here last year,” Parker explained. Paige nodded, bouncing around to the beat.
“He seems nice. Clearly has excellent taste in women,” she joked. Parker threw his head back and laughed.
“You think so? Well, I’m glad his taste in men is even better, can’t have him stealing you away,” he told her and she laughed, as well.
A scantily clad waitress delivered their bottle with a flourish, opening it and mixing them some drinks right at the table. After that, Paige couldn’t sit still any longer. There was some guest host for the night, a local celebrity of sorts, who performed between DJ sets. Paige had no clue who he was, but she cheered and screamed and danced around as he rapped. There was a flat space between where the booth curved against the wall, and Parker helped her climb up onto it and then it was all over. She danced like it was the last thing she was ever going to do, like she didn’t even notice her heels hurting, or her hair coming completely undone.
A couple hours later, after trying to get him to climb up onto the booth with her, Parker just dragged her down and onto the floor. It was crowded, and people were dancing with full drinks and lit cigarettes, but Paige didn’t care and danced the night away. She was surprised and happy to discover that Parker was actually a pretty good dancer. She was even happier when he shrugged off a couple of girls who tried to dance up on him. Paige wasn’t dancing close enough to him to make other girls think they were together, but it made her feel good that he choose not to dance with anyone else.
Around one-thirty in the morning, Joey managed to find them in the crowd and danced up next to them. They'd shut down the line for the night and his shift was over. Loosened up from the dancing and the liquor – Parker had ordered a second bottle after sharing some of the first one with some nice football players – Paige had squealed and hugged Joey like he was her long lost best friend. He'd hugged her right back and then glued himself to her hip.
A little after two in the morning, both of them were on the back of the booth. The club was pretty much empty, the music turned down and the house lights turned up. Paige had taken off her shoes and was trying to teach Joey how to Candy Walk. He was horrible at it. Parker was laughing his head off, smoking a cigarette at the edge of the booth.
“It’s hopeless, honey, I give up,” Joey breathed, hopping off the back of the booth and sitting down.
“Quitter!” she laughed before climbing down next to him.
“Where did you actually find her, Park? She has energy for days!” Joey exclaimed. Both Parker and Paige laughed.
“Under a rock,” Paige said.
“Strip club,” Parker said at the same time. Paige slapped him upside the head.
“I would believe either of those. Where you kiddies off to now?” Joey asked, standing up. Paige struggled to get her shoes back on and grabbed her purse, sliding out of the booth.
“Home probably. Wanna come chill?” Parker asked, but he looked at Paige with his eyebrows raised. She clapped her hands.
“Yeah, you have to come ‘chill’ with us! I still have half a bag of ‘chill’ that we stole from some kids in Mississippi!” she cackled, dancing ahead of them towards the exit. Joey and Parker stayed where they were, staring at her as she bopped her way out the door.
“Seriously,” Joey said, turning to Parker, “where did you find her, and how are you going to make sure you keep her?”
“Joey, I don’t even actually have her, so I can’t keep her,” Parker chuckled, heading towards the door.
“What are you talking about? She told me you guys have been driving around together for almost a month, so what do you mean?” he asked. Parker shrugged.
“I mean exactly what I said. We’re not together, not like that,” he told him. Joey gaped.
“How is that possible? Have you looked at her? Have you looked at you? What’s the problem?” he demanded. Parker stopped with his hand on the door handle.
“I’m pretty sure she’d cut my nuts off if I ever tried anything with her. Literally. She’s shown me the blade,” he said. Joey barked out a laugh.
“Oh, c’mon, have you even thought about trying to start something real with her? I saw the way you were looking at her.”
“I think about it every day, all the time, whenever I’m with her. But it’s not like that, she doesn’t think of me like that,” Parker insisted. Joey rolled his eyes and pulled the door open under Parker’s hand.
“You two are idiots – you're so lucky you called me. Now, let’s go rope you an Amazon!” he exclaimed, leading the way down the stairs. Paige’s form was silhouetted in the doorway, still dancing even though there was no music now.
