Beware of Bad Boy

Chapter 5

"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and its better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." -Marilyn Monroe

CALEB

What in the hell? I probably looked like a fool, standing at the back of the club with my mouth hanging open. Dante nudged me and my head swung his way. He gave me a what-the-fuck look. I shook my head at him, not wanting to shout an explanation over the music.

Gianna and her crew finished their performance, the DJ flowed into a new track and the crowd transitioned into dancing again. Other places I'd been to hired dancing or singing acts to mix up the club experience. It livened up the crowd when a surprise performance occurred since they always seemed spontaneous. It barely registered with me when Skylar and Nina took off to use the bathroom. I couldnt see Gianna anymore and was scanning the crowd when Dante yelled over the music, "Hey, man, I'm gonna go talk to Taye!"

"I'll come with you!" I yelled back, figuring Gianna would be nearby.

We worked our way through the masses and found Taye chatting up a petite brunette. When Dante was done greeting his cousin, I pounced on questioning him. "Hey, Taye, who's the hot blonde in your crew?"

His expression filled with disapproval. "Don't even think about it, Caleb. I know you, man. We don't put up with anyone fucking around with Gigi or Cece." Huh, Cece must be the Hispanic chick that danced with them.

"Gigi?" Now this would be good. "It's not like that, Taye. It's just Im pretty sure I know her. Where'd she go?"

Taye gave me a skeptical look and pointed over to the dance floor where Gianna was dancing with one of the Hispanic guys from the crew. "She's over there with Jared."

My eyes darted over the pair, taking in her smiling up at the guy. So this was Jared. The guy she called when something went wrong. I'd rarely seen her smile and right now she was smiling as if she were high on life. At Jared. I didn't know why, but the uncomfortable feeling of jealousy coursed through me.

"Yeah, that's her, Gianna," I stated when Taye continued to stare at me with wary disapproval.

Finally, and almost reluctantly, Taye said, "Hey, you guys should come to the after party at Jared and Cece's house.

"Sure, why not?" I agreed nonchalantly. It would be interesting to see how Gigi handled me invading her group of friends. I'd known Taye for years but he and Dante didnt hang out much so I'd never met all of Taye's friends.

A while later Taye rode with us to the after party to show us the way. Nina sat between Dante and Taye in the backseat. Skylar sat up front with me since she was sort of my date for the night. We arrived to the house the party was at and unloaded from the car, with Skylar easing up next to me as we strolled up the walkway.

Urging her in front of me and ignoring the confused look on her pretty face, I let her and the others go in ahead of me and stood back when we entered the living room. There were people dancing in the center of the living room, showing off mostly. Gianna and the other girl from the crew were laughing and doing silly dance moves that mimicked the guys' serious ones. 

Taye called, "Watch out!" and slid into the middle of the group doing a head slide on the hardwood floor. He flipped forward onto his feet to grab the Hispanic girl, Cece, and lift her up in the air.

The girl laughed and whined, "Taaaaaye!" as a giggling Gianna tried to pull her down. While the girls were distracted, Jared snuck up behind Gianna and poured a bottle of water over her head.

Gianna spun around in shock and Jared dashed away. Before Jared could escape through a doorway, Gianna jumped onto his back and they tumbled forward to the floor. Gianna straddled him while his face was to the floor. Triumphant, she declared, "That's what you get, punk!"