Pieces of a Life

They danced, of course, for a long time after that. Leila was overwhelmingly flirty, but Alex played nice and kept his hands to himself. He did cut her off, though, and began making her drink water. He knew the crankier she became, the closer she was to sobriety. The issue would be getting home, because Rian had been the designated driver, but Leila had come with Evelyn, who was considerably toasted. Leila huffed and crossed her arms.

“I’m going to the bathroom.” She muttered irritably. Alex glanced at her but couldn’t grab her before she whirled around and made her way to the bathroom.

Of course there was a line, and Leila did not have the patience for it. She huffed again, more annoyed, and a familiar pointed face suddenly overwhelmed her vision. Dark eyes, sneaking smile, platinum hair. Vanessa. Leila’s eyebrows fell in a scowl.

“Leila Willows,” the blonde hissed with a smirk. “Fancy seeing you here.” Leila wasn’t going to humor her with a reply, but Vanessa continued speaking anyway, much to Leila’s great annoyance. “I see you’re with Alex. Does he know?”

Leila looked at her. “Know what?” She snapped. But she shouldn’t have, because now Vanessa knew she had her, and her smile widened.

“Does he know what a little fraud you are, princess.” Leila’s jaw dropped in offense. “Oh, don’t bother me with your little ‘wah wah wah’s. I don’t want to hear it,” Vanessa casually looked at her manicure. “Does he know why you really went to California? Why you came back here? And what you’re going to do?”

“What—what are you talking about, Vanessa,” Leila spat, sneering. “You don’t know the first thing about me.” And just as suddenly as she appeared, Vanessa was in her face, nose to nose.

“Don’t I?” She seethed. “Tell the truth. Why’d you leave?” Her eyes flicked over Leila’s face. “No, don’t answer, because you’ll lie. You didn’t leave for your bright future in San Francisco. Because places better than that wanted you, I know. You left because you’re a coward. You left because you’re afraid that if you stayed here you’d lose your dancing; you’d lose the only thing you’ve got.”

Leila was shaking her head and rolling her eyes. “I’ve never heard such bullshit in my—”

“Is it bullshit?” Vanessa raised her eyebrows. “I know you’re going to leave again, because you’re afraid; you’re a scared little girl and you know you’re losing your grip. Come on, Leila, you see the way he looks at you,” Leila’s blood was boiling, her face was red. Honestly, she couldn’t remember feeling any angrier in her life. She gritted her teeth and began to retort but Vanessa interrupted her again. “And you can’t have both, can you? You can’t keep dancing and have Alex, too. And you’re losing it.”

Leila wanted to shoot lasers from her eyes. They felt like they were bugging out of her skull anyway, the way she was tensing every muscle in her body. “You—you listen to me; you don’t know the first thing about my life, and you certainly don’t know about Alex and me. So I suggest—”

“Oh no, I’m not done,” Vanessa sang. “I do know, I know a lot more than you think, sweetheart. And I know you’ll lose it yet. You think you’ve got it all under control. But you’ll see.” Leila was on the verge of screaming when Vanessa merely smiled, maddeningly calm, and managed to disappear as easily as she had crept up.

Leila shrieked a muted, inward little scream and clenched her fists, turning around with such force her heel caught on the floor and, before she knew it, she was falling. It all happened so quickly, she didn’t even know what was happening until she was on the floor. She fell as ungracefully as anything in her life, never more humiliated than in that moment, and landed in a heap on her hands and knees, crashing into the hardwood floor. Her arm had scraped against the corner of a table, her ankle hurt from how she’d twisted it, and she knew her knees would be bruised and sore. Nothing so embarrassing had ever happened to her. She’d had her share of embarrassments, but this one really took the prize. She hadn’t even realized she was crying until she felt the hot, wet tracks on her face.

Alex went over to her and crouched down, tucking her curtain of hair behind her ear. “Oh, come on now,” He murmured when she looked up at him, wet cheeks and bleary eyes. She looked like a little girl who fell off her bicycle and skinned her knees. Her lips began to shake and he heard her gasp in an uneasy breath. “No, Leila, we’re not crying. Alright? We are not crying today.” He took her hand and pulled her up, pretending to dust her off and offering her a reassuring smile. “Come on, babe, it’s alright.”

“Y-y-you s-s-saw the whole thing,” She wailed into his chest, crying like an anxious little puppy. “She—she—”

“I know, I know,” He said, stroking her hair. “Come on now, you’re alright. You’re fine, babe, you’re fine.” He murmured over and over, hushing her and giving her squeezing hugs. Finally she inhaled a deep sigh and pulled away, using her shaking hands to swipe at her face. He wiped under her smeared eyes with his thumbs and pinched her cheek. Leila smiled weakly and sniffled. “See? You’re better than okay. It’ll take more than that to bring you down.”

“I don’t want anything to bring me down, really,” She mumbled, leaning her head back against Alex’s chest and closing her eyes. “I don’t like it.”

“Come on, Lei,” He gave her a squeeze and led her away, and she held his arm like it was a life preserver.

“Oliver can drive us!” Evelyn was insisting. “He hasn’t had a drop, have you darling?” She smiled at him. Leila exhaled loudly, pouting like a toddler. She had just been mortally embarrassed and now she was coming down from her drunken state, the combination making her more than irritable and desperately aching for her king sized bed and Egyptian cotton sheets. Evelyn turned her smile to Leila. “Don’t worry, pumpkin, we’ll take you home.” Evelyn staggered away to her car, leaning on Oliver.

Rian was prying Jack off of some girl and jerked his head at Alex to go. Leila was scowling, arms crossed. “Grumpy, are we?” Alex teased.

“A little.” She grumbled. He laughed and put his arm securely around her waist, walking outside.

They stood outside for a while as people around them made their exits, leaving in a cloudy haze of party punch and pounding bass, the only remnants of the evening they’d spent scattered throughout the house in the form of discarded red cups or careless lipstick marks on strangers’ faces. And, surely, as an internal sledgehammer against their skulls the next morning. There were some leaving with the reassurance of friends to support them, holding them up and nodding along at their drunken nonsense. Everyone was leaving, and Alex could see Rian fighting Jack to get in the car and Evelyn waiting for Leila with Oliver. Things felt urgent for some reason then, like there was a timer ticking down with this little window of opportunity, so he pulled Leila against him. She looked up at his face and blinked, confused.

“We’re both drunk,” He whispered, shrugging. “Might as well.”

He put one hand on her cheek and tilted her face to his, smirking as he heard her breath catch in her throat, her beautiful face the only thing in his eyesight. She wriggled closer until she was pressed against him and draped her arms around his neck, waiting. He had one arm wrapped around her waist, the other hand on her face, his thumb grazing her cheekbone. But he kept her waiting, and she was anxious.

“Just—just do it already,” She breathed. He smirked again and pulled away when she nudged her face toward him.

“Do what, Leila?” He asked innocently.

She clutched his shirt with one hand. “Kiss me.” She hummed, staring with wide eyes. She weaved her fingers into his hair and pulled at his shirt and they were both drunk, they knew it, but neither of them could really help themselves; and right then, standing there, in that moment, they couldn’t think of anything else.

Alex was the one who closed the gap between them, maybe because she told him to or maybe because he just wanted to, but he made the move that changed it all. It took a few seconds after the initial touch of their lips for them to realize what they were doing and think that maybe, this was not a good idea. But Leila grasped at his shirt and pushed herself closer, as close as she could possibly be, and deliberately moved her lips against his. He held her tightly by the waist and pushed against her lips as if there would be another way, a different way of kissing her that made their lips closer together. He gently tugged on her bottom lip, pulling her hips onto his, and she sighed contentedly. Finally, she gave him one last little peck of a kiss and pulled her face away.

Years built up had come down between them and now they were staring at a vast, uncertain world before them, a point of no return somewhere behind them, and an emptiness full of any sort of possibility surrounding them. But whatever it was, it was them, them together, them as a unit, now something greater tying the two to each other. She leaned her forehead against his, one hand still holding the thin fabric of his shirt. “Well,” She whispered, blue eyes flickering up to look at him. “I guess we should go now.”

Alex smiled and gradually let her go. “I guess so.” He replied, still holding the tips of her fingers with one of his hands. Leila smiled shyly and wiggled her fingertips in his hand, walking away slowly. She returned to Evelyn’s car and looked over her shoulder, watching Alex retreat to his ride as well.

Evelyn’s eyes were wide but her smile was little, like she was trying to hide it. “Oh, we’ll talk later,” She said. Leila sat in the back of the car. “Yes ma’am, we will.” Leila couldn’t help but giggle. What a night it had been, certainly meeting her expectations of eventfulness. It was an unusual night and she wasn’t thinking of the consequences, particularly that she would not be able to retreat back into her safe hiding place after tonight. Her defense was always to run and hide, and that had gone out the window. But that didn’t cross her mind. The only thing she thought of was the lingering scent of cologne on her skin that she hoped would stay just a little longer, and a sweet tingling in her lips that she shamelessly loved.