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April
Dominic
Theairwasmuskywith the scent of sweating bodies and lack of oxygen.
It was so packed that I could hardly make out my surroundings, but I could see enough to tell the dance floor was to my right, and the bar behind it. A spiral staircase in front of me led to an upper level that overlooked the floor and was littered with leather couches. That must’ve been what Carter meant when he said they were upstairs.
I chuckled to myself as I took the steps two at a time. I tried time and again the last couple of years to get Carter to try going out with me when he came to visit, and I failed every damn time. I don’t doubt that one bat of Penelope’s eyelashes had him agreeing to coming to a stuffy place like this. Although I hadn’t seen her in a few years, the Penelope I knew would’ve hated this too.
It made me wonder how they actually ended up here.
Spending twenty years of your life around someone gives you a keen awareness of their presence, so it took me no time at all to locate my best friend. He was standing at the back of the upper level, leaned over the railing with his eyes intently watching something below him. I came to stand beside him without saying a word.
We didn’t greet each other that way. Never had. We don’t hug, and we don’t say goodbye, either. We rarely answer the phone with a greeting, choosing instead to jump directly into the conversation at hand. We’d never been taught to live without each other. In the entirety of our childhood, I could count on one hand, probably, how many times I went more than twenty-four hours without seeing Carter. So when we ultimately became separated in our adulthood, we didn’t really know how those things worked.
I looked at him, he nodded in acknowledgment to my presence, but he didn’t turn away from where his stare was. His brow was scrunched in concentration– or frustration, sometimes it was hard to tell. By the tightness of his jaw and the clear grind of his teeth, I guessed at the latter. I followed his gaze and was snagged by a deep red ponytail swinging back and forth.
Ah. Okay. Frustration, then.
It had been years since I’d seen that expression, so I didn't recognize it immediately. Everything began to click into place as we both watched Penelope twirl on the dance floor, her hands slowly sliding up her torso in a seductive way that was clearly a message. I spent so many years watching that expression on his face, wanting to smack it off him. Begging him to do something about his incessant, painful, and seemingly (to only him) unrequited love.
When he told me he was going on a trip with her, I thought it meant something different.
But I guess we’re back to square one.
God, they’re fucking annoying.
It made sense to me now why he was here, though. If Penelope walked up to me wearing that good-for-nothing shirt and asked me to endure ear-drum decimating, shitty dance music and the smell of alcohol induced body odor, I’d say yes too.
I could’ve sworn she didn’t have boobs like that the last time I saw her.
“Stop.”
Another thing about being friends with someone your entire life is a keen awareness of their thoughts too, apparently. I laughed. “He speaks.”
He took a long slug from the beer bottle in his hand and looked at me from the corner of his eye. “Hey.”
“What are you doing, dumbass?”
“I don’t fucking know.” He shook his head. “She asked me to dance and I said I had to wait for you.”
“Glad to know we’ve gone back in time ten years and you’re using me as an emotional blockade again.”
“I locked up, dude. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
We both looked back down at the dance floor just in time to catch her glance up at us too. I grinned, waving at her. Her eyes darted away, pretending she hadn’t been looking.
“Why are we here?”
“Honestly, not where I’d like to be. I doubt Pep would, either. But Macie wanted to come.” Right. Penelope’s friend or something.
“You all came because she told you to?”
Carter chuckled. “She can be a commanding presence.” He shrugged. “She planned the trip, she’s entertaining to watch, so we endure.”
“She sounds…interesting.”
Carter nodded. “She is. She’s the blonde down there with a red dress on. Curly hair.”
