Dalliance (on hold)

Stephanie

Almost as soon as we walked in the door, Colton strolled up to me with a slight frown on his face. As he got closer, his frown shifted into a smug smile. I kept my face emotionless, and waited for the comment that would inevitably occur as he stood in front of me.

"Couldn't stay away then?" There it was.

I laughed a fake, sarcastic laugh. "Harry is Maddison's cousin." I said.

"Hmm." He looked at me skeptically. I raised my eyebrows before following Connie and Maddison to the bar.

"Three vodka and cokes, please." I shouted over the music that was pumping throughout the club. I handed over three pounds and then waited patiently as the girl filled three glasses with a shot of vodka each and then coke. I took three straws from the counter and popped one in each glass, handing two of them to Connie and Maddison. I sipped at mine slowly as I turned around and watched people dancing. We had pre-drank a little before we left so I was already feeling a little more confident than usual.

"Pretty good, eh?" Maddison shouted.

"Yeah." I replied, watching Colton laughing with a couple of guys in the far corner. One had started dancing wildly, which they all found hilarious. I caught the edges of my mouth lifting slightly at the sight of them laughing and quickly righted myself.

"I need to go to the toilet." Connie said in my ear. I nodded and finished off the rest of my drink, leaving the glass behind on the bar.

The toilets were pretty grim considering they had been open for less than an hour. Swarms of girls were coming in and out to fix their make up in the mirror. The three of us fit into one large cubicle, Maddison holding it shut as the lock had already broken.

"Colton makes everything so awkward." Connie said.

"I know, right?" I replied. "He's so full of himself."

"We can leave soon if you want." Maddison whispered, as if she didn't want people to listen in. "As long as we've made an appearance."

"I don't mind staying a little longer." I said, noticeably louder than Maddison had spoken.

The hand dryer was slow. I didn't use the toilet, but I washed my hands anyway. The dryer was one of those painfully slow ones that was uncomfortably hot. It would have been easier to shake my hands dry.

The music had changed to a remix of a current pop song. Almost everyone was singing along as they waved their arms in the air.

"I love this song!" Maddison grinned, pulling us towards the dance floor. The three of us started dancing along to the music, singing at the top of our voices. I closed my eyes and just let myself feel the music, the sound waves vibrating through my chest.

I opened my eyes to find Colton, dancing in front of me, singing a long to the song, way too enthusiastically. He grabbed my hands and waved them up in the air, giving me a huge urge to pull them away and slap him right across the face. The alcohol prevented me from doing this, and so I danced along thinking that I may as well humour him. Maddison was watching us warily, so I smiled at her to reassure her that it was fine.

Colton leant down to whisper in my ear. I expected a sarcastic comment about how I had declined his offer to come here tonight and then showed up anyway.

"You enjoying the club?" He said. I was shocked I must say. I nodded to him.

"You do that a lot." He shouted.

"What?"

"Nod." He did an over-emphasised nod.

"It's too loud to answer properly." I shouted.

He nodded. And then laughed at his own ironic joke.

Colton was a twat, for sure. But the alcohol inside me was letting me believe that maybe he wasn't as bad as I had made him out to be. We danced for a while, until Colton lifted his phone out of his pocket to answer a call. He put the phone to his ear and then swiftly moved to the front entrance to take the call outside where it was quieter.

"What are you doing?" Connie shouted.

"I'm just dancing." I laughed.

"You're not just dancing." She shook her head.

"Nothing's gonna happen, Con. You know I don't like him. I just don't want to make tonight awkward."

She didn't say anything else, but I could tell she didn't quite believe what I said. I wasn't sure I quite believed it myself.

Colton returned, being dragged by the hand by a girl who was just an inch or so shorter than he was. She had long sleek hair with a hint of red, and smokey black eye shadow on her eyes. She was pretty; gorgeous in fact, and I felt intimidated by her presence from the other side of the room. They walked over to the seated area, where it was a little quieter. The three of us walked over with our best 'model walk', which seemed to make Colton uncomfortable. He flinched as we got close and his face grew red and flustered.

"Tanya," he said to the girl, after she looked at him expectantly. "This is my friend, Nag."

Friend? Since when were we friends?

"Nag?" She smiled. "That's an unusual name."

"My name is Stephanie." I interrupted.

"Oh?" She looked confused.

"I shortened her name," Colton explained. "And these are her friends, Connie and Maddison."

"It's nice to meet you all." She said.

"This is Tanya." He cringed ever so slightly, not enough to notice really, but I could tell it was a cringe. "My girlfriend."