Page 8 of Pretend I’m Yours
And it wouldn’t hurt to look anyway.
4
Hannah
“How are you doing that?” I asked with a laugh. I tried to mimic Teisha’s dance moves, but I was far too uncoordinated to have a prayer of keeping up with her.
“Girl! You just have to cut loose and let the music move through you. You’re trying way too hard!” she laughed back at me. I once again made an attempt, but once again failed miserably. She laughed and walked right up behind me, almost grinding against me to the beat of the music.
I got down low and moved my arms around, trying to keep up with the tempo while staying right with her. I had to admit, though there were a billion things waiting for me back home on my counter, I was glad that she’d finally convinced me to come out with her and the girls.
“Did you see where Cami went?” Mel asked as she stumbled over to us. She had a drink in her hand and held her other arm out long for support, having to raise it above her head from time to time to keep from hitting one of the other dancers.
I was always surprised she was able to make it out on the floor with a drink in her hand. Mel never held her liquor well, and she was already showing signs of having more than enough.
“She’s making out with some dude over on the other side of the bar!” Teisha yelled. It was nearly impossible to be heard above the sound of the music, but her pointing one hand while cupping her mouth with the other put Mel in the right direction.
“What the hell? She was supposed to be hanging out with us tonight! Not getting laid!” Mel said as she tried to keep an eye on the fourth member of our party.
“Leave her alone! You know how she is with men! If she found someone who has managed to get her to talk to him, then why interfere?” Teisha yelled back. She was the unofficial matchmaker among us, and she always approved when she saw someone was making strides with Cami.
Mel, on the other hand, was fiercely against any of us breaking our friendship circle. She didn’t want to add any men to the mix, and she didn’t want to lose any of us to a new relationship. Of course, we always managed to find our way back to each other, even when we did get caught up in the throes of love.
But we all knew a new relationship would take over Cami’s life for a while, as it did all our own. Mel, having been single now for nearly two years, was thoroughly sick of any of us out at the club to pick up boys, and she wanted to put an end to Cami’s flirting before it had the chance to truly go somewhere.
“I’m going to go get her!” she announced loudly, ever the cock block. She took a couple of steps toward the edge of the dance floor when another dancer backed into her, causing her to spill her blue martini down the front of her white blouse.
“You idiot!” she shouted. “What the hell? Watch where you’re going! Moron!”
“Uh-oh, you better get over there and break that up before she gets us all thrown out,” I said as I looked over my shoulder. In a sense, we all looked up to Teisha as being the leader. Though we were all far beyond high school, she was the one who had brought us all together.
She’d been friends with me the longest, while Cami and Mel had known each other since college. The three of them had met at work, and Teisha had become fast friends.
It took some time for me to get used to the idea of the two of them being around so often, but they grew on me. They were still very much like freshmen in college despite the fact they were in their late twenties, and Teisha was often the one to pick up the messes they left behind.
“Come on, Mel, hold your liquor!” Teisha muttered. I couldn’t hear the words above the noise of the club, but I could read her lips like a pro. It was something we’d done since we were kids. We could carry on entire conversations across the room without ever saying a word.
“I’ll be right back, honey, don’t you go anywhere,” she said over to shoulder. I gave her the thumbs up to show that I’d heard, then I started to make my way toward the corner of the floor.
When I was alone, I didn’t like to be in the middle of the sea of people. I felt exposed, and I never knew who was going to come up behind me. More than once some stranger had started to grind on me without my consent, and I’d since learned to do my part to keep that from happening.
