AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You know me too damn well,” he laughed. “I’ll be at your apartment in two hours, but Blake, if anyone at work finds out about me dancing, I will murder you.”
“Oh, sweet Nathaniel, it’s cute that you think you still scare me.”
He grumbled a string of curses at me and hung up. I smiled at my smitten roommate next to me.
Chapter Six
Friday night.
Still three days before.
The rhythmic loud knock on the front door prompted me to look at my phone. It was almost two hours since I talked to Nathaniel, and he was always on time. A few seconds later, he knocked again, rattling the doorknob that was seldom locked before bedtime. He should really have a key to our apartment at this point.
I swung the door open, and a knockoff cowboy stood in front of me.
“Did you raid a cowboy store while you were in Texas?” I chuckled.
“Do you like it?” he asked.
He slightly lifted his jeans and showed off his brand-new dark boots. They had a square toe and made him half an inch taller. His beer-themed shirt fell over his jeans. Apparently, he had drawn the line at getting a stereotypically shiny belt buckle. A black cowboy hat covered his usually messy, curly, dark hair.
“If someone told me I would see Nathaniel Williams in a cowboy hat and boots, I would have called them insane.”
“Holy cowboy!” Gabby might as well have screamed behind me. “Hey there, hot stuff.”
Gabby walked past me into the landing of the elevator where Nathaniel was standing. His face lit up when she stepped out to him. She wore bell-bottom jeans and a crop top that didn’t leave her belly button to the imagination. Her white boots peeked from under the fabric.
He opened his arms for her, and she hopped up and wrapped her legs around his waist. Effortlessly, he hooked his arm under her butt. She took his hat and placed it on her head.
“Hey, muffin,” he happily mumbled into her lips.
“You know,” I said, grabbing my phone from the entryway table. “This whole dating but not dating thing you have going on isn’t healthy.”
“Don’t worry, little Blake,” Gabby hopped off her cowboy and hooked her arm around me. “We’ll get your legs wrapped around handsome gym stranger tonight.”
Nathaniel’s eyes widened at her comment, which prompted Gabby to recount the conversation with Parker at the gym. Through laughter from them and a little bit of secondhand embarrassment for me, he praised her for taking the initiative. Just as Gabby did, Nathaniel knew I probably would have said no if Parker had asked me to get a drink without Gabby there.
“Ah, I get it. You called me to protect both of you in case he’s a serial killer?” Nathaniel dramatically flexed his bicep. Gabby’s eyes ate him up, and I thought she would faint if he kept that stance up.
“I hadn’t even thought about that!” I exclaimed.
We took my car to the dance hall since Gabby didn’t have a car, and Nathaniel’s car was too fancy for me to feel comfortable driving. Thirty minutes of loud music and laughter in the car went by quickly, and I pulled into the dirt parking lot of the dance hall. It was still relatively early but starting to fill up.
The air conditioning was blasting, and I regretted wearing a sleeveless top. The lights were dimmer than I remembered, and it took my eyes a few steps deeper into the room to adjust. Most of the brightness came from the lit signs on the wooden walls and the dim beer bottle chandelier over the dance floor.
Most people were on the floor, but a growing amount lingered around the bars and the few tables that lined the edge of the dance floor. Some waited for their partners, and some waited for the courage to ask someone standing next to them to dance. Others were more concerned with chugging enough liquid courage to make it onto the dance floor in the first place.
The floor was stocked with people swinging, twirling, and laughing.
“Are you going to be okay by yourself for a little bit?” Gabby bent down to yell in my ear over the music.
“Of course! Go dance!”
It didn’t take much egging on my side for Gabby and Nathaniel to disappear into the dancing crowd. I stood at the corner of the bar and watched them for a little bit. Nathaniel pulled her close during the slow song, and she nuzzled her nose into his neck. She was also tall, so they fit together like a puzzle.
They effortlessly swayed to the slow rhythm of the song. A satisfied smile spread across both of their faces. I enjoyed seeing the softer and kinder side of Nathaniel that Gabby managed to pull out of him. He always wore a scowl in the office unless he talked about baseball or Gabby. Many people found him intimidating, and he was cutthroat, but Gabby softened him.
Their relationship was weird, but it worked for them for now. Unofficial but exclusive. In love but avoiding the finality of commitment. As I watched them dance with a smile, I was struck with a sliver of jealousy.
