The Right Girl

That was about a month ago to the date. Ever since then, John had honestly been going a bit over-the-top with creative ideas to impress me and convince me that I had made the right choice in taking him back. We went to the zoo, and we got a private, backstage tour where I got to feed and pet a lot of the animals. We went to a water park and just stayed in the wavepool for half the day, just wading and talking. One night a week, we went back to that spot where we had first kissed, and all but had sex on the same hill.

We even acted as matchmakers for Cora and Kennedy to get together, probably one of our best accomplishments to date.

I was lazily lying upside-down off of the edge of John’s couch in his family room, watching some stupid comedy movie that FX had on, when he came in front of me and stood in front of me. I looked at him and said, “John, move,” but because my words were going against gravity, my voice sounded weird. I laughed at the sound of it and ended up falling off the couch, bringing John down with me as we got tangled on the ground.

“Ah, shit,” I said, as John laughed and untangled us. He kissed me on the forehead.

“I have a question,” he said as I rubbed my head from where it had hit the hard corner of the couch.

“Shoot,” I said to him, frowning as I felt the lump forming underneath my skin.

“Jared’s birthday party is tonight, and we want to go all out. I know that you know all the best places to party in this town, so I was wondering if you could possibly do us a favor and...” John stopped, probably thinking of the best way to word it. I laughed and rose my eyebrows.

“Pick the venue?” I asked him. He nodded ecstatically, pointing a finger towards me.

“Exactly!” He said, pulling me in quickly as I squealed and laughed, pushing at his chest. He pressed his forehead to mine and smiled down at me, murmuring, “I love how you always know what I’m thinking.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, John. Any idiot could figure your mind out,” I said, grabbing his face and lowering it down to my level so I could kiss his forehead. When I pulled away, I saw he was frowning and I laughed again. “You know I’m just kidding.”

“I know,” he grinned. “But seriously, do you know of a venue that could hold such an important and awesome event such as the celebration of Jared’s birth?”

I laughed, nodding. “I know exactly the place.”

--

“This place is rocking!” Jared yelled, looking around the club. It was one of my favorites, a club called Fuze that was in the heart of downtown Phoenix. It was pretty exclusive but, like at any other bar or club I had visited, I had paid a tip to the bouncer and we were in. Jared turned to me and wrapped his arms tightly around me, roaring into my ear to be heard above the music, “Thanks so much, Ashton! This is already the best birthday ever! I love you!”

“Go, have fun, fuck a hoe,” I said to him, slapping him on the butt as I let him lose on the club. I laughed as I saw him immediately strike up conversation with a cute brunette. That was the thing about Jared-- although people weren’t usually initially attracted to him, they grew attracted thanks to his award-winning attitude and personality. I turned to the rest of the guys and said, “Fly like the wind, my baby birds! Go socialize or whatever.”

Garrett chuckled and shook his head as he headed towards the bar. This place didn’t card as long as you looked above the age of fifteen. Kennedy told us to be careful, then walked with Pat onto the dancefloor to probably go find girls to dance with. Hands slipped around my waist, and lips reached down to my neck. I smiled and locked my fingers through John’s, as he murmured into my neck, “The floor awaits you, Dancing Queen.”

I elbowed him gently in the stomach, then pulled him out to the center of the dancefloor with me. Although it was packed, when I danced with John, it was like we were the only two there. Eyes trained on us from every angle, jealous glares and lustful stares. John pulled me closer and closer to him with every passing second, then eventually gave up and said, “Come with me.”

He took me by the hand and led me to a bar, sitting down on a bar stool. He pulled me onto his lap and our lips crashed together, our hands all over each other. This was the one public place where we could make out and not really care or worry about what the people around us would think.

“Hey, honey,” one of the bartenders said as I swiveled around on John’s lap to face him. “I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to move unless you want to play.”

“I’m game,” I said before I even realized what I was doing. The bartender rose his eyebrows, but shrugged and took out a few shot glasses. The bar stools next to me filled up quickly while I remained on John’s lap and he held me there. The bar tender explained the game, and my smile just continued to grow wider and wider with every word he said.

As LMFAO’s ‘Shots’ came on, each of us had to take a shot on our predetermined ‘Shots.’ When they sang, “Everybody!”, we all had to take a shot in unison. John laughed as he watched what was probably the stupidest game anybody in a bar had ever invented, and kept his arms protectively around me. Once the song was over, I had one shot left. I shrugged, thinking, what the hell. I tipped back my head and downed it, and... well I don’t remember much after that.

Honestly, the rest was just darkness to me.