Baby, Are You From Tennessee?

“Laidie, will you please hurry up? The line is gonna be a mile long if we don’t leave soon.”

Adelaide Johansson rolled her eyes at her reflection as she heard her sister yell out to her. “Lena, don’t rush me. I’m almost done,” she yelled back as she brushed some blush onto her porcelain skin. Staring at her reflection once more, she tousled her copper colored hair. Satisfied with her appearance, she opened the bathroom door and stepped out into the small hall.

“Jesus, it’s about time you’re done in there,” Lena called from her room. Adelaide walked over to her sister’s door and saw her fixing her own make up in front of her mirror.

“Seriously? You’re hounding me to hurry up and you’re not even done yourself?” Laidie chided.

“I am done. I was just putting on another coat of lip gloss,” Lena clarified.

“Yea, okay, whatever. Let’s get a move on,” Adelaide said, holding out her elbow. Lena smiled at her before jogging over and slipping her arm between her sisters as she flipped off her light switch. Both girls exited their small apartment before walking down and hailing a cab.

A few minutes later they were getting off in front of one of the hottest clubs in the Boston area. “Laidie, I told you we should have left sooner. Just look at this line,” Lena whined when she took in the dozens of bodies standing outside the club. Laidie’s eyes scanned all the bodies standing along the side of the building before looking back at the door. A giant smile tugged at her lips.

“Come on,” she said, taking a hold of her sister’s hand. She led them over to the young man holding a clipboard that was standing in front of the door, two large, bulky men standing behind him. “Justin!” Laidie called out, jogging the last few steps before standing in front of the twenty-something year old hottie.

“Adelaide Johansson as I live and breathe. Girl, it’s been ages. How are you?” he asked, hugging her before placing a kiss on her cheek.

“I’ve been good. It has been too long,” Adelaide exclaimed, retracting from his hug. “I don’t think you ever met my sister. This is Adelena,” she introduced. Lena smiled at the guy her sister had just introduced her too.

“So nice to meet you,” Justin said to her before turning back to face Laidie. “I never knew you had a twin!”

“Yea, she went away for school,” Laidie briefly explained with a shrug.

“Well, I bet you didn’t come all the way down here to talk to me. You girls have a good night,” Justin said with a smile, stepping aside and allowing the two sisters to walk in.

“Thanks a bunch Justin. Come find me later and we’ll keep catching up,” Adelaide called out as Lena excitedly dragged her into the club. Once inside, Lena smiled brightly at her sister.

“I’m so glad you stayed home for school and know of these places. This place is seriously so sick Laidie. And there’re so many cute guys!” Lena proclaimed as a group of guys walked past them, all of their heads turning in their direction.

Laidie rolled her eyes before saying, “Come on. Let’s go grab drinks and then dance.” Lena agreed, so they went over to the bar and ordered their drinks. With daiquiri’s in hand, the sisters grabbed onto each other’s hands, raised them in the air before making their way to the dance floor. They were mindlessly dancing with each other and enjoying their drinks when Laidie saw one of her friends from school. “Emily!” she called out. Emily looked up from the guy she was grinding on and Laidie waved at her.

“Laidie, oh my God, hi!” Emily exclaimed, going over to her, dragging the guy she had been dancing with over with her. That’s when Laidie recognized Emily’s boyfriend Eric, another friend of hers.

“Guys, this is my sister Lena,” she introduced once she had greeted them both.

“Nice to meet you,” Emily and Eric stated. “Laidie, are you two here by yourselves?” Eric asked. She nodded her head. “Well then you guys have to join us. Karina, Danielle, Logan, and Brett are here too. We have a few tables,” Eric stated.

“Awesome. Come on Lena,” Laidie said, taking a hold of her sister’s hand as she followed Emily and Eric off the dance floor. After weaving through a few more gyrating bodies, they finally got to the table. “Hey guys!” Ladie exclaimed, greeting the people Eric had mentioned were also there. She introduced them all to her sister before sitting down and catching up with the group.

From across the club another group had taken notice. The four boys had noticed when the girls arrived and had been watching them interact with each other and the other people they had just sat down with. “Damn, the red head is banging,” one of the guys proclaimed, shaking his head in admiration as he watched Laidie from across the room.

“Derek, they’re twins,” one of the other guys, Hunter, pointed out.

“Yea, but the blonde one already seems to have found a guy,” Craig chimed in as he eyed Lena. He had his eye on her from the second the twins walked into the club. But when they had gone to sit with another group of people, she had instantly started chatting up one of the guys. And she looked pretty into him.

“Alright boys, I think it’s time for a little friendly competition,” the last guy, Josh, piped in.

“What did you have in mind?” Derek asked, his eyes finally peeling away from Laidie.

“Who can bag the red head first,” Josh replied, a smirk pulling at his lips. He was pretty confident he would be able to win this thing. All of his friends were good looking, but he was usually the one that had girls lining up to be taken home. He would win this hands down.

“Guys,” Hunter stated, shaking his head. “Do you really think this is necessary?”

“What’s the matter Hunter, afraid of a little competition?” Derek asked, already having liked the idea the second Josh suggested it.

“No. I just think it’s morally incorrect to bet on which one of us will “bag” a girl,” Hunter replied.

“Oh wait, guys, we forgot. Huntie has a girlfriend now. He’s probably afraid she’ll get here as he’s trying to bag the red head,” Derek teased.

Hunter’s eyes narrowed at his friends as they all laughed at his expense. “You know what. Fine. I’m in. What are the stakes?”

His friends’ grins widened. “Ok, well obviously the winner gets the girl,” Derek stated.

“And the losers,” Josh cut in, “have to pay the tabs for the rest of the month. For the winner and any girls he so happens to pick up. Deal?” he asked, eyeing each one of his friends.

“Deal,” they all replied simultaneously.

Josh slammed his hand down on the table with a hoot. “Alright boys, I’ll make this quick and painless. Get your wallets ready ‘cuz you’re gonna be paying for my drunken ass weekends for the next month,” he said, taking one last swig of his beer. “Let the games begin,” he said as he stood and walked over to where Laidie was.

“Hey there cutie,” Josh stated with his boyish grin that made panties drop everywhere he went.

Laidie looked up from the conversation she was having with Karina to see a pretty handsome guy standing over her. He had chestnut brown hair and the most clear blue eyes she had ever seen. He looked extremely fit and the shirt he was wearing accentuated that feature.

“Hi,” she replied, finally looking back into those piercing blue orbs.

“How are you doing tonight?” he asked casually.

“Pretty good. Yourself?”

“I was doing a whole lot better till you took my breath away,” he stated, flashing the same grin from before.

Laidie couldn’t help but burst out laughing, making his face fall. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh at you, but does that line really work on girls?”

“Usually,” Josh mumbled, feeling completely out of place. He had never had a girl laugh at one of his pick up lines before. Hell, he couldn’t remember the last time one of his lines hadn’t worked. He felt his skin heating up in embarrassment—feeling grateful for the darkness in the club.

“Oh. Well, I’m sorry, but it’s not going to work on me,” she stated with an apologetic smile. She really felt bad for the guy—it was obvious he had been confident in himself when he came up to her, but she wasn’t interested. Having dismissed it, she turned back around to talk to Karina. She burst out laughing as well when the guy had left, having had watched the whole thing.

“Wow Laidie, that was so mean. You could have at least told the guy you had a boyfriend. I mean, his pick up line wasn’t that bad. And he was really cute,” Karina said. Laidie just shrugged before taking another sip of her drink. She was about to continue her conversation when Karina looked at her with wide eyes. “Oh my God. Okay, don’t look now, but I think he and his friends are in a competition right now. He just walked back to his table and shook his head at them and they all started laughing.”

Laidie curiously looked over her shoulder and sure enough, another guy was getting up from his seat and walking towards her. Her eyes scanned the other guys at the table before they locked on a pair of bright green eyes. The guy smiled slyly at her before shaking his head and turning back to his friend that had just come up to her.

“So she just started laughing at you, huh? Guess this won’t be so quick and painless,” Craig jibed as Josh finished telling him and Hunter about his failed approach. Derek had just finished approaching her, so they all quieted down as they looked on to see what would happen. But not without one last ‘shut up’ from Josh and a hard shove on Craig’s shoulder.

“Hi there.” Laidie tried to hide her smile as she turned around to find the second guy from that group standing behind her.

“Hello.”

“The name’s Derek,” he stated, sticking his hand out to her.

“Nice to meet you Derek,” she replied, shaking his hand. He stared at her expectantly and she raised her eyebrow at him.

“Do you have a name?” he asked with a chuckle when she didn’t offer him that much.

“Yes,” she replied, her own playful smile now pulling at her lips.

He chuckled once more. “Are you going to tell me what it is or am I going to have to pry it out of you?” he asked, with a boyish grin.

“And how would you go about doing that?”

“I have my ways,” he responded, his smirk growing wider.

“It’s Lena,” she stated, trying not to laugh.

“Lena. That’s cute. Can I buy you a drink?”

“No thank you Derek. I’m good,” she said holding up her glass, even though there was only one sip left.

“Well, I want another drink. Come on Lena,” Karina said, getting up. “Let’s go to the bar.”

“It was nice meeting you Derek,” Laidie called out as Karina dragged her away, giggling.

Derek walked back to his friends, embarrassed that he too had been rejected. “No luck?” Josh asked. Derek shook his head, taking a long swig of his beer. He didn’t like this feeling. Like Josh, it was a rare thing for girls to turn him down. “Good, at least I wasn’t the only one,” Josh voiced his thoughts.

“Shut up dude. At least I got her name. That’s more than you can say,” Derek defended.

“What’s her name?” Craig asked.

“Lena.”

Hunter spit out the sip of beer he had taken—faking his laughter as coughing. “You okay man?” his friends asked concerned, Craig going so far as to blow his back.

“Yea, I’m fine. Alright Craig, it’s your turn. Good luck,” Hunter stated.

“Yea. That red head is harder to crack than my econ professor was,” Derek grumbled.

“Dude,” Hunter grimaced, shaking his head at Derek as Craig walked over to the bar.

“Lena?” Craig questioned anxiously from behind her. She didn’t respond so he tapped her gently on the shoulder. “Lena?”

Laidie turned around and saw another guy standing behind her. “Hi,” she said.

“Hey, look, I know by now you’ve realized what’s going on. And I know you’re not interested, but could you at least pretend to be into me? I’m the shyest one out of my friends and it will really throw them for a loop if I get farther than they did,” he rambled. “And by get farther I don’t mean like scoring or anything,” he added.

Laidie giggled. This one was actually kind of adorable. “Tell you what, I’ll let you buy me a drink and give you a kiss ‘thank you’. How does that sound?”

“Fair enough,” he replied, getting the attention of the bartender and ordering her drink for her. “I’m Craig by the way,” he introduced while they waited.

“Nice to meet you Craig. This is my friend Karina,” she introduced when she felt a jab in her back. Clearly Karina was interested.

“Nice to meet you,” Craig said to Karina as Laidie got her drink.

“Well Craig, thanks for the drink,” she said pressing a kiss close enough to his mouth that it looked real. “And it was great meeting you,” she stated with a kind smile. Both girls waved as he walked back to his friends. However, before he left, he heard one of the girls say ‘Can’t wait to see what the last one comes up with’.

“Dude!” Both Josh and Derek hollered when he approached them. “She let you buy her a drink?!” Derek exclaimed.

“And she kissed you!” Josh gawked.

“She still wasn’t interested. Guess it’s your turn Hunter,” Craig said as he resumed his seat.

Hunter clapped him on the back before getting up and walking over to Laidie—she had gone out to the dance floor after getting her drink. When he was right behind her, he leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Baby, are you from Tennessee? Because you’re the only ten I see.”

Laidie turned around and looked up into his gleaming green eyes. They made her just as weak in the knees as the first time she saw them. She smiled slyly up at him and the same boyish smirk his friends tried using on her pulled at his lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and brought his face closer to hers. “I’ve been waiting for you to approach me all night,” she whispered huskily.

“And I’ve been waiting for those idiots to realize you weren’t interested in any of them so that I could come over and do this,” he murmured, closing the short distance between their lips. Laidie’s back arched as she pressed her body up against his finely sculpted body. When she couldn’t breathe, they pulled apart. He moved his head down and started pressing gentle kisses on her neck. “Are my friends looking at us?” he whispered in her ear. She casually looked up and saw all his friends gaping at them.

“They’re gonna start catching flies soon,” she whispered back.

“Do you think we should go over and explain things or torture them a bit longer?” he asked, his lips moved against her jaw line.

Laidie moaned at the feel of his lips before yanking his lips back to hers, kissing him deeply. “We should put them out of their misery,” she replied.

Taking his hand, she allowed him to lead her over to his friends. As soon as they got to the table, Josh asked, “Dude, what did you say?!?”

“Oh you know, I just asked her if she was from Tennessee,” Hunter shrugged, a grin pulling at his lips.

“And that worked for you?” Derek asked, looking up at her.

She giggled before burying her face in Hunter’s chest. “Hey guys, remember how I told you I was going to introduce you to my girlfriend tonight? Well, meet Adelaide.”

“You told me your name was Lena!” Derek proclaimed.

“And you asshole, you let us embarrass ourselves knowing she would turn all of us down!” Josh bellowed.

“Hey, I told you it wouldn’t be a good idea, but you didn’t listen to me. Now come on, Laidie and I are thirsty. You guys are going to have one hefty tab to pay tonight.”

All of the guys looked really pissed, so Laidie said, “Sorry I played along guys.” None of them looked mad at her though, just Hunter.

“Ass-wipe,” Josh grumbled at him, grabbing the neck of his bottle dramatically before marching off to the closest girl he could find. Derek did something of the same nature.

“So you’re sister…” Craig started off.

“Already has her eye on someone else. But my friend Karina seemed to be interested in you,” Laidie offered with a smile. That was all it took for Craig to leave them by themselves.

“It really was mean of you to let them go through with that humiliation,” Laidie whispered into Hunter’s ear, snuggling up to him.

He wrapped his arms around her fiercely, pulling her so close to him every inch of her body was pressed to his. “Oh well, they’ll get over it. Although, that kiss you gave Craig was cutting it close.”

Laidie rolled her eyes. “You know you’re the only ten I see,” she stated with a smirk, mimicking his choice of pick up line. Hunter growled at her teasing before crushing her lips with his, kissing her with all the passion he’d been waiting to show her all night.