The Dancer

For some reason, the first thought that ran through Dakota’s brain the next day was that she was holding her boobs. She became conscious before she opened her eyes and realized she was sleeping on her stomach with both hands folded under her, cupping her breasts. Realizing how weird that was, she spread her arms out and felt them tingle as she got feeling back in them. She turned her body so it was facing the left and put her right arm under her head with her left hand hugged up against her.

That’s when she felt the arm drape over her waist.

Her eyes popped open immediately. She scrambled away from the person, resulting in her tumbling off the bed. She immediately pulled the sheet she’d brought with her up to her chest and glanced at the bed. Standing up and wrapping the sheet completely around her and looked at the person who was still sleeping. He mumbled her name and rolled over, his face now visible to her.
Brian.

Her eyes widened and her hand covered her mouth. Oh, God, what had she done? Immediately she moved around the room, picking up her under clothes and frantically searched for her dress. She caught a glimpse of it outside of the bedroom door and made a run for it. She pulled it over her head and went back for her shoes.

“Looks like the clock already struck midnight a long time ago, princess.”

She whirled around to see Brian sitting up in the bed. His hair fell over one eye and he looked incredibly boyish and ruggedly handsome. Dakota gulped and stood up from her squatting position, one shoe on and one shoe in her hand.

“Uh, yeah…”

“Where are you going?”

“This was a mistake,” she said and gripped her shoe. “I’m not really sure what happened… but it was a mistake for me to do this.”

“You don’t remember what happened?”

She watched as he threw the comforter away from him and stood up. He was wearing nothing but boxers and she gulped again at the sight of his full-sleeved arms and tanned chest. Brian walked closer to her and noticed how nervous she got.

“Let me remind you,” he said.

She watched as his hands came up to cup her face and roughly pulled her closer to him. His lips captured hers and his tongue shot out to run across her bottom lip. She dropped her shoe. Her fingers trailed along his sides as the kiss got deeper until he finally pulled away.

Images of her leaned over the console in his car, dropping her dress on the top of the stairs, and Brian pushing her onto the bed flooded through her mind. The feeling of his fingers curling inside of her before she cried out as he filled her completely made her shake and she looked to the bedside table where an empty bottle of Jack was sitting.

Her hand covered her mouth again and she backed away from him.

“Oh, God, this was a mistake.”

“Actually it was the best sex I’d ever had,” Brian said, looking at her.

This side of Dakota was a bit confusing. She seemed scared, even, that she’d slept with him. He was so used to her witty remarks, biting comebacks, and her confidence that this behavior unnerved him.

“Was it?” she asked, surprised.

“Fuck yeah,” he said, smiling.

“Oh, God,” she said and hobbled to the bed to sit down.

“What’s wrong?”

“I shouldn’t have slept with you. Oh, God, this is bad.”

“Why not? You wanted it and I obviously wanted it, so why is it bad? You said you don’t have a boyfriend.”

“I don’t,” she immediately replied. “I need to go back to my hotel.”

“Whoa,” he said, stopping her as she shot up from the bed and headed to the door. “Wait a minute.”

“I can’t stay, Brian.”

“Why? Do you have to leave today?”

“No, I don’t leave until tomorrow,” she said, seemingly distracted.

“Well, what are your plans today?”

“I’ve got some things to do.”

“Dakota,” he said, making her stop.

From the way she was looking at him, he decided not to argue. He sighed.

“Fine. Give me a few minutes to shower and I’ll take you back to the hotel, okay?”

She nodded and he disappeared to the bathroom. While he was in there, she decided to be a bit nosey. Even though it was a mistake to sleep with him, she still couldn’t believe she was in his house. There was a balcony attached to his room and after she grabbed her cigarette pack, squished and containing one cigarette, she opened the door, stepping outside into the sun.

Lighting the cigarette, she basked in the sun, wishing she could be at the beach right now. Hell, she didn’t even know what time it was because she’d left her phone at the apartment, knowing she wasn’t going to need it the night before. She could only imagine what kinds of texts and missed calls were on it, from the girls and from her sister or mother. She decided she didn’t care.

Too distracted in soaking up the sun and her cigarette, she didn’t even hear Brian come outside.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?”

She dropped her head down and looked at him, white sleeveless shirt, camouflage cargo shorts, barefoot, and water still dripping from his hair.

“Yeah, it’s great. I wish I lived at the beach.”

“There’s nothing like it,” he said, smiling.

“That’s what I had planned to do today, something I’ve always wanted to do.”

“Which is what?”

“See the ocean,” she said, smiling.

“You’ve never seen the ocean?” he asked, astonished.

“Nope, never.”

“Well what the fuck are you waiting for? Do you have a swimsuit?”

“At my hotel,” she said.

“C’mon,” he encouraged, motioning for the door.

She put her cigarette out in the ashtray on the table and followed him inside.



They made it to Long Beach and back to Huntington in no time and Dakota was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn’t even noon yet. She knew she’d had literally no sleep, but she was used to it and with the idea of going to the beach in her very near future, she couldn’t contain her excitement.
Nervously, she pulled at the strings on her jacket as she sat cross-legged in the passenger seat of Brian’s car. He’d changed into board shorts before they left his house and he was shocked to find he was excited, too. He wasn’t excited to be spending the day at the beach because he did that so often, but he was excited to see her reaction to seeing the ocean for the first time.

Purposely, he took the PCH all the way to and from Long Beach just to see her face light up. He’d almost been tempted to ask her to pack her things at the hotel so she could stay with him again, but knowing he had another show the following day and the band would be leaving early, he decided against it.

Her eyes were glued to her window the entire trip, only looking away whenever he would speak to her or she would tell him to leave it on a song when he was about to change it. It was crazy to him how eclectic her taste in music was. She would go from some Top 100 song to System of a Down to country and back. It always made him laugh when she would sing along with a song he didn’t see her listening to.

When he finally found a spot on the strip to park, he’d barely cut off the car before Dakota was out of her side. Hurriedly, he jerked the key out of the ignition, grabbed the towels, and slammed the door behind him.

She was already at the surf by the time he caught up with her. Her flip flops were in her hands and her hair was blowing behind her. He came to a halt beside her and looked at her face. Even behind her sunglasses he could see her eyes sparkling at the sight of the water. Her smile reached both of her ears and he felt the smile spread to his own lips.

“Get in.”

It was almost as if Dakota forgot he was there because she visibly jerked and looked at him. Quickly, she unzipped her jacket and shrugged it off. At the sight of her in her bikini top he was taken back to the night before, her hips rolling as she was on top of him, the image of her glancing over her shoulder as he pumped into her from behind, and he found his mouth had gone dry. The top of her ribcage could be seen, but it wasn’t a sickly thin, more of a healthy one, and he watched as she pulled off her shorts and dropped her sunglasses.

The beach wasn’t fully filled for a Friday in April and he knew the water might be a bit cold but she didn’t seem to care. The weather was in the upper 70s, almost 80 and he knew the water would feel good.

He spread the towels out and fell backwards onto one as she edged closer to the water. The cool, blue-green foam rushed over her toes and she giggled. She looked back at Brian sitting on his towel and she smiled. Whirling back to the water, she closed her eyes and let the breeze blow her hair. She stepped forward until she was waist-deep in the water. Without any notice, she immediately dove under the water and came up a few more feet out into the water. She pushed her hair back on her head and smiled, turning around.

Brian saw her go under and stood up. He slowly walked into the water, getting used to the temperature. He watched Dakota walk further into the water, her dermal piercings flashing every once in a while in the sun as she moved, and he frowned. He was supposed to have the one night with this girl and nothing more, but here he was, excited to see her reaction to the ocean for the first time. He shouldn’t want more, but he was finding he did.

The night he’d spent with her had been one of the best nights of his life and despite his vow to himself to only have one night, he was already thinking about another one. She wasn’t supposed to do this to him and he wasn’t supposed to allow her into his brain, but she’d done it since the first time he’d met her. Her smile, her arrogance, her charm, her quick wit, and her beauty all played a part in his attraction to her. He’d been so shocked to see her shopping in Miracle Mile that he almost didn’t recognize her. She’d seemed so much more alluring with clothes on than she did with them off. He didn’t understand it.

Dakota dipped under the water just as he reached her. She came up smiling, wiping the water off of her face. She looked at Brian to see him frowning.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Grumpy Gills?”

He just looked at her.

She knew this was wrong. She shouldn’t be engaging with him like this but she had time to think while they headed back to her hotel. Technically she was on “vacation” which meant she was able to do what she pleased, and Brian pleased her immensely….Or so he said. She wished she could remember but so far only bits and pieces were coming back to her. She knew one thing, though: she was going to enjoy the last few hours of Brian before she went back to real life.

“Nothing’s wrong,” he said, smiling.

Dakota knew he’d been thinking about the same things she had. Without words, they were on the same page and she smiled. Her lips curled more mischievously when she realized the top half of his body wasn’t wet. She exaggerated the sucking in of air and went under the water.

When Brian realized she wasn’t coming up immediately, he moved so that he was standing over her. All of a sudden, she pushed off the sand and jumped out of the water onto him. He was quickly able to throw his arms up to catch her just as she latched onto his neck. Dakota covered him with water as she hugged him close. While he was distracted by the water, she pulled on him with all her might, taking him down into the water with her.

They broke the surface, Brian spitting out water. Dakota laughed heartily as she wiped water off of her face. Brian’s hair was all over his head, covering most of his face and she laughed harder.

“You are so gonna get it!”

He shook his head, throwing water all over her as she squealed before jumping towards her.