Lover's Dance

"Lips like licorice, tongue like candy. Excuse me Miss, but can I get you out your panties?"
I removed myself from the sweaty dance floor, trying to catch my breath after dancing for five songs nonstop. I pulled down my dress before heading over to the drink table and getting myself a beer.
One of our good friends had decided to throw a party at the last minute, pretty much sending out a mass text to bring music and booze -really that's all we needed. That and the added strobe light someone brought, the party was as good as any other. I personally loved a good party, being around so many people, dancing, drinking, it was a good way to let loose every once in awhile. But no one liked a good party better than Jacob. That ginger literally went fucking crazy -you'd think I was using a metaphor when I said he was bouncing off the walls. All those crazy teen movies that had some random kid doing crazy ass things in the background? That was Jacob. He was a party animal, and he didn't even need to get drunk to do it, he just preferred it that way.
Someone came over with a camera and quickly told me to smile. Without thinking, I stuck my tongue out and widened my eyes. He looked at the picture before laughing.
"You look like a child." He slurred.
"I usually do." I said as he walked away.
Kayla came over, sweating from all the dancing, and laughed, grabbing my drink and taking some for herself.
"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" She smiled, looking around at the chaos. I nodded. Kayla took the moment to take off her jacket.
"It's been a good two months since the last time we partied, I think."
She glanced over at me slyly, handing me back my drink. "Are you ready to go fucking crazy?"
I opened my mouth to respond but was quickly distracted by someone's arm draped around my shoulders. Amanda rested her head on my shoulders and laughed loudly.
"Laney Bo-Baney, I'm ready to go. Don't you-" she hiccuped, "Don't you want to leave too?"
I smirked and held back a laugh, partly because Amanda has always been a lush but mostly because she has a British accent when she's drunk. I calmly told her I'd take her home before glancing at Kayla, who'd given us a ride. She frowned apologetically.
"I promised Jacob I'd take him home tonight too." She shrugged. I rolled my eyes, who knew when Jacob would be done? I sighed.
"Alright, I'll find someone else to take us home. Be careful, okay?" Kayla nodded. "Call me later." She promised she would and gave me a quick hug. I pulled Amanda away and went to look for someone I trusted enough to get in a car with.
I spotted Daniel having a smoke on the couch across the room, chatting with a blonde guy I'd never seen before. Daniel and I'd been friends for a few years, and I would be lying if I said I'd never had a thing for him. In fact, I had a big thing for him at one point. Though for awhile it seemed like he didn't know I exist -how cliche- he actually asked to hang out once, and we ended up making out in the back of his jeep. It didn't go too far after that, I realized he only wanted me for my body and he realized I was more dorky than I was sexy, but we still talked every once in awhile. He was a cool guy, he had a great sense of humor and a smoky laugh. I'd long since realized he was more apt to talk to me when I was in less clothing, but sometimes that worked to my advantage.
Like now, when I was in my little black dress and I had sex I-was-actually-dancing-for-hours hair. I walked up to him, holding Amanda's hand, and he stopped talking almost immediately, looking up at me and smirking.
"Delaney," he purred. "It's nice to see you. What brings you over to the dark side?"
I smiled and pulled Amanda up front so he could clearly see my intoxicated friend. As if on cue, Amanda began to giggle profusely.
"I need a ride home," I said.

With Amanda rolling around the back seat, Daniel and I sat up front in his jeep and laughed over the music. Daniel hadn't changed a bit, he still told too many dirty jokes and still had a cigarette in his mouth constantly.
"You'd think the guy would get the hint," he laughed, looking over at me from the driver's seat. "I was going to smoke in the bar whether he liked it or not."
I laughed, not doubting Daniels story one bit. Daniel had always had a sort of confidence, one of those I'm-not-going-to-change-fuck-the-world types. I'd always envied him for it.
I wondered why I hadn't talked to Daniel in so long, he was so much fun to be around.
"So tell me," He started, "After you get Miss Nash over here to bed, are we gonna fuck?"
Then I remembered why.
"No, Daniel," I laughed. "I just needed a ride from you, honest." He glanced over at me skeptically.
"Alright, if you say so. But I'm telling you, one of these days we're going to have to finish what we started. Miss Rockstar's always on tour, never has anytime for old Daniel." His eyes trailed down my body, and he licked his lips. "I miss you."
"I miss the bloody Muppets!" Amanda yelled from the back, going into another fit of giggles. I laughed, silently thanking her for saving me from awkwardly dodging his pass. I'd long since had a thing for Daniel, and now after Josh- well, I just didn't see him that way anymore.
"Looks like we're here." I noticed as we pulled in closer to Amanda and I's place. Daniel sighed and pulled into the driveway, turning off the car.
"Well come on then, let's get her inside."
We managed to get Amanda out of the car and to the front door in one piece, politely ignoring her many compliments geared at Daniel. "He's so fit!"
"I've got it from here." I said, getting her through the door. "Thanks Daniel, I mean it." He nodded, leaning against the door frame.
"So here's what I'm thinking," he said. "I'm going to go. Stop by the drug store and get another pack of cigarettes, give you some time to get Miss Britain to bed, then I'll head back over and we can get to bed."
I raised an eyebrow and laughed. "Please, don't."
"But-"
"Goodnight, Daniel." I insisted, beginning to close the door.
"You're missing out!" He called just before I shut the door. I laughed, shaking my head and locking the door. I looked over at Amanda, who'd managed to throw herself on the floor and was trying to make carpet angels on our wood flooring. I sighed.
"Come on, you." I went and picked her up off the floor, half throwing her over my shoulder so I could get her up the stairs.
Amanda's mother was a doctor, so it was her idea to pay for the house we stayed in. Of course, we still paid utilities and such, but no rent. It was a decent house, a rather large for a two bedroom. It had two floors and a attic with a triangle roof we used as a guest bedroom/ game room. Most of the time everyone was over at our house, since Amanda was a freak about keeping our fridge stocked to the brim.
I'd put Amanda into pajamas of sorts and gotten her to lie down, putting a trash can beside her bed in case she barfed. I went to quickly get her a glass of water and some aspirin to stop her from having a hangover in the morning, which she resentfully took before demanding another blanket. Sighing, I went to get one but found her sound asleep when I got back. Knowing she's had a little some Hennessy tonight and knowing she'd probably start burning up soon, I kept the blanket folded on the floor next to her bed. Turning the light off and shutting the door behind me, I left sleeping beauty to herself.
I was walking down the stairs when the doorbell went off. Laughing in disbelief, I ran down the stairs and threw open the door.
"I thought," I laughed to Daniel, "I'd made myself clear-"
I stopped, my breath catching in my throat, when I saw it wasn't Daniel at my door. No, the attractive boy who'd driven me and my drunk friend home had probably taken my words to heart and gone back to the party. But the attractive boy at my door obviously hadn't been listening when I told him to leave me alone.
Josh fidgeted with his jean jacket nervously, his eyes widening a bit when he took in my appearance. I know, slinky black dress and fuck-me hair were probably the last he expected to find me in at 11 at night, but Josh Hutcherson at my door wasn't exactly the first thing I'd been expecting, either.
"Josh." I finally croaked out. "What- what are you doing here?"
"You told me to stop calling you." He said. I nodded.
"Yeah, I did."
"You didn't tell me not to come to your house." He shrugged. I blinked, my mouth falling open even wider, if possible. My insides were raging a war, one half of my wanted to slap him and kick him out, though the other half wanted to jump into his arms and kiss him and watch him smile.
"You shouldn't have come." I said softly, looking down. His shoes were wet. Had it been raining?
"Delaney, please-"
"You didn't call." I said, sadly. "You kissed me and you held my hand and you made me feel like magic, and then you didn't call. You just- didn't. And, maybe I'm over reacting, and this isn't nearly as big of a deal as I'm making it, but it's a big deal to me. I flip flopped from hating you to hating myself so much these past two weeks, I don't even know what to feel anymore."
Josh's face fell. "I'm sorry-" he took a small step towards me and I took two back.
"But then you did call." I continued shakily. "And it was like you didn't care that you'd ignored me for almost a month, like it didn't matter. It was like you didn't care about that great night and you didn't care about me." I bit my lip and closed my eyes, I couldn't believe I was saying any of these things. I hated confrontations, I'd rather pretend something wasn't happening than face it. I couldn't believe I was telling Josh this and I couldn't believe I was about to say what I was going to say. "I cared about you, a lot." I admitted. "So it really sucked when you didn't care at all."
After a second of silence, I opened my eyes and expected Josh to be gone. But he was still there, staring at his feet quietly. He looked up at me and bit his lip, looking like a lost puppy. He moved to come closer, and I immediately went to close the door. He jammed his foot between the door and held it open.
"Stop, please!" He pleaded. "I should've called you. I know, I'm sorry. I really, really wanted to. But I was so hesitant and then so much time had passed I didn't even think you wanted to talk to me."
"Hesitant?" I repeated, confused. I opened the door a little. "Why would you be-"
"Because, I'm an actor. A fairly well known actor, famous enough to be hounded by paparazzi. But I'm used to that. I couldn't stop thinking about us going out and being stalked by them, I didn't want to drag you into a life where you're always looking over your shoulder, always striving to be perfect in front of people you can't even see."
I frowned, "But Josh, I could've-"
"Also," He added quickly, "I didn't call because, well- you were this amazing, larger than life rockstar who was so pretty and down to earth. I could hardly believe you existed, much less like me. And I am so so sorry because I realized how big of an idiot I was but it might be too late and please don't cry."
I blinked, startled and confused. "What?"
"Well," he explained, "In a movie, this would be the part where most girls cry because they're overwhelmed by my declaration and their emotions. Then they'd either kiss me and invite me in, or slap me and slam the door in my face."
"But this isn't a movie," I argued. "It it was, then at the end of the day someone would yell 'cut' and I could go back to a somewhat normal existence, if it was then in the end it all would've been fake, and I wouldn't have hurt so much." Josh frowned, looking at the ground and nodding sadly. I tried to catch his eyes. "If it was," I added slowly, "Then I could be oh so cliche and say that I'm not like most girls."
"I'll say," He mumbled quietly, smiling to himself.
"Then," I smiled softly, "I'd lean in and kiss you."
His head snapped up. "What?"
I took a step towards him, reaching over and grabbing his collar, gently pulling him closer until our chests touched and I could kiss him properly. His lips were just as I remembered, if not better. He wrapped his arms around my waist and held me tightly as he kissed me softly.
"Then I would call you an idiot," I whispered, once we pulled away. "And then I'd invite you inside."