Citrus [completed]

Chapter 8

Vanessa adapted to our friendship like a duck to water. She would start showing up at the Viper and settle into the same seat every time. The significance wasn't lost on any of us that Vanessa was becoming a regular.

Eden had christened it as Vanessa's chair. He made a whole ceremony out of it, and by ceremony I mean he toasted a drink to Vanessa. Lucy was fine with the extra regular and even gave Vanessa a tab to keep her drinks on. This meant Vanessa didn't have to pay upfront for her drinks, just needed to pay eventually. The news flustered Vanessa and paid extra for her drinks, much to Lucy's chagrin.

Vanessa fits into our group perfectly in two ways. One because she was hilarious. Not in the way where she has a joke to say during every situation, but because she showed her emotions on her face and had wisecracks.

The second because she was willing to go out whenever she was free and Blair and Eden quickly dragged her away every night. Blair and Eden were hard to dissuade when they wanted to have fun. This was how our group was going out bar hopping again.

My friends knew how to have a good time. The minute we made it to the bar Blair and Eden broke off, heading to the dance floor. This left Vanessa, Glory, and I to find a table.

We enjoy our night, Blair and Eden occasionally running back to our table to take sips from their drinks before grinning wildly at us. For a few songs, I watched the two of them dance before I felt like joining them. Glory waved me off, fine with staying in her seat and watching. Vanessa hesitantly stood to join me, the music speaking to her.

Blair whoops as she sees me and Vanessa slink over before pulling me in between her and Eden. The loud music swirls around me. Instead of fighting the rough flow of the crowd, I let it guide my twirls to the music. I grind against Blair when our favorite song comes on. Chloe and Halle sing 'Do It' at us and I watch as Eden yells he knows the dance for this song.

Vanessa dances with Eden, more laughing and swaying as she watches Eden spasm on the dance floor. With a smile, I go to rescue Vanessa from his dance moves, drawing her into my arms and pulling her away from his swinging arms. I spin her in my arms, watching as Vanessa laughs and laughs instead of dancing. We go through minutes of dancing and I'm starting to sweat so I decided to sit back down. Vanessa comes with me and we leave Blair and Eden before going back to the table. Glory was missing from the table, but with a quick check of my phone she had seen some of her friends from class and made off with them to the bar.

"They don't stop, do they?" Vanessa happily pants as she collapses into her seat. She still looks at Blair and Eden from where they dance.

"No, isn't it great," I marvel. Vanessa nods eagerly as she watches me for a few seconds. She takes a long sip of her long island, the straw sitting in between her lips as she lightly pulls on it. I look at the sight as I tip my glass of lemonade up and we just watch each other drink.

"You don't drink," Vanessa commented as she stirred her straw. She looks innocent and curious more than anything, but the question causes me to go stiff in my chair. For a few seconds, the statement hangs in the air between us and I feel it pushing in on me.

"Bad experience," Is all I say and I know my eyes are hard. Vanessa blinks at me once but reads the look on my face that screams, 'I'm not talking about this.' It feels like she's trying to unpack what my response means as her eyes race across my face. There aren't many times I withhold information from anyone, but Vanessa can't have this. She clears her throat and makes a small oh sound.

I'm saved from sitting there awkwardly as Glory reappears at our table. Taking in her wide grin and slightly hazy eyes, I laugh because I know from the almost empty glass in her hands, she's tipsy. Glory Minabou the lightweight.