Flirting with Danger Bk 1

“Woohoo! You go girl!” Sue cheered, running over to us. Louis and Jack followed after her at a tense gate, sharing several irritated glares as they made their way over. Dale, Jason, and I shared a questioning look. How, in the ten minutes that I hadn’t seen them could they have gone from being happy to glaring at each other?

Sue looked at us confused and then glanced back at Jack and Louis, shaking her head. She leaned over to us, putting a hand up to hide her mouth, and said low enough that only we could hear, “They’re fighting about who you were smiling at.”

“What?” I asked, a smile at the corner of my mouth.

“Yeah, I know. They’re so pathetic.” she said, smiling and shaking her head as she reassumed her normal position.

As Jack and Louis got closer, they began trying to outdo each other in their exuberant behavior. They nonchalantly shoved the other away, shouting that I was the winner to the public and complementing me on my performance. I smiled, laughing at them in my mind as they made fools of themselves, drawing odd looks from strangers that made me blush.

This was harmless as far as I was concerned, the only consequence being that I got embarrassed, but then they got a little too ramped up and started being rough. We were coming up on the rental store a short ways away, Jason having to tighten his grip on my legs as Jack and Louis began fighting over who should get me down.

“Here Kota, let me help you down.” Jack said, reaching up for me.

Louis shoved him aside quickly though and said, “No, here. I’ll help you.”

I looked between their eager faces, knowing that if I picked either one of them the other would start something that could turn in to a huge fight. So, trying to keep the peace, I turned to Dale. “Dale?” he looked up at me, “Help me down?” He nodded, a grin on his face, and got me down. Louis and Jack looked down at that and got on either side of me, pouting like five year olds.

We returned all our equipment and then left the resort, the competitiveness continuing between Jack and Louis. After they got over their pout they started trying to smoothly get the other away from me, and when I realized what they were doing I planted myself between Jason and Dale, who were successfully able to fend them off. I looked forward, a smile on my face, and put my hands around Dale and Jason’s waists, their arms draped on my shoulders. Sue was on Dale’s other side, while Chase, Jack, and Louis stayed silent behind us.

We went back to town, stopping at the local theater for a comedy movie and filling up on junk food while playing in the arcade. We all took turns playing each other at air hockey, the guys claiming they let me win when I beat them, but I finally got dethroned by Dale, who made me buy them all a round of nachos.

After we got bored of the theater, we headed out onto the street, wandering into any store we wanted and chatting up any other teens we passed, all celebrating their week of freedom. But as it got dark, we ran to a little club at the edge of Brookstock. We danced for a while, Jason pairing up with a pretty red head, Dale and Sue dancing, and Jack and Louis both trying to dance with me. At this point, I was sick of both of them and wasn’t having a good time at all.

I would have thought they would be over it by now, but they persisted with their rough looks and shoves between themselves. “I need a break.” I managed to say as Louis twirled me away from Jack and got between him and me. He looked a little disappointed, having finally gotten me away from Jack, but he nodded and we went to a little table close to the doors

“You need anything?” he asked, pointing at me.

“Yeah, uh, a rootbeer.” I said, sitting down. He smiled and headed to the right, towards the bar at the side of the building.

“Hey, what happened? Where did you go?” Jack asked as he appeared in front of me.

“I needed a break.” I said, looking up at him.

“Oh well, you need a drink?” he asked, coming towards the chair across from me.

“Louis is getting me one.” I said.

“Oh.” he said, looking down and to the side. We were silent for a few minutes, and just as I was about to say him and Louis needed to stop fighting, Louis showed up holding our drinks. When he saw Jack his face hardened, but kept his smile, though it was tense.

“Here we go.” he said, putting my rootbeer in front of me. Then he set his own down beside mine and sat beside me, draping his arm on the back of my chair. I glanced at Louis and then looked over at Jack, who was staring at Louis lividly. Jack was just starting to get up when Sue, Dale, and Jason walked over.

“Hey, there you are.” Jason said, sitting at the head of the oval table, Jack on his left.

“We were looking for you.” Sue said as she sat beside me.

“I needed a break from dancing.” I said for the third time. I was starting to feel like a broken record.

“Hey, get up.” said Dale, patting Louis once on the shoulder.

“I’m sitting here if you haven’t noticed.” said Louis, glancing up slightly in Dale’s direction before moving his head back close to me. I didn’t know how this problem between him and Jack got so big, but I was thinking, They do know I have a boyfriend right?

“Hence the ‘get up’.” Dale said and patted him again. Louis looked up at him again, actually meeting his eyes. Then he sighed and got up, moving one chair over to Jason’s right, looking at me glumly before he was hidden by Dale, who sat down.

“Hey, um, can someone help me?” Chase asked, coming slowly over with his arms and hands laden with glasses. Jason jumped up and ran over, taking some, and they slid them to everyone. I looked over at Jack as he grabbed his drink and he seemed happier, and so did Louis.

We were quiet for a while, drinking and looking around us, until Louis said, “So, who are we going to get to stand in for Kota?”

“How about you Sue?” Dale turned to her, but she blushed and shook her head.

“No, no way. I couldn’t do that.” she said, glancing down nervously.

“Why not?” asked Chase.

“I, I just couldn’t.” she said, latching onto her drink and taking a long swig.

“Well, who else do we have?” asked Jack.

“Well, there’s Cindy.” said Chase, looking over at Dale, but he shook his head.

“Not Cindy.” he said.

“Why not? I thought you two were…” Louis trailed off, wearing a smirk and showing what he thought they were in his eyes.

“No, she’s not my partner anymore.” said Dale, giving Louis a look.

“What? I thought you thought she was hot?” Sue said, mirroring Louis’s look.

“Yeah, well she was an airhead and a jerk.” Dale said. “I have a new partner.” A smile spread across his face.

“Really?” I said, smiling too. “Who is it?”