don't leave me this way

f i v e

It was around half an hour later and Lisa found herself sat on the benches when a slower song started to play. She swayed to and fro for the first few beats before a hand was held in front of her face and she looks up to see Riff waiting for her.
"I said I'd save you a dance so come on" he motions and she takes his hand as he leads her to the floor.
They stand together and he wraps an arm around her, his other hand coming to hold hers by his shoulder. He pulls her in closer by her waist so that their faces are almost touching, breaths mixing. He places his forehead onto hers and she smiles lightly.
"You look like you had a lot of fun dancing earlier" he whispers to her and she nods slightly.
"I did, been waiting for this one though" she replies and he smirks lightly.
"Me too, and when I come back to yours later"
"Later? You're going to have to start paying rent if you keep sticking around as much as you do" she giggles, the sound making butterflies form in the boys stomach.
"Well maybe I will, anyways, when I'm back at yours, we can catch up on all the dances we lost"
"With no music?"
"We never need music" he says spinning her out before pulling her back in and dipping her so that their faces are mere centimetres apart.
"Better be careful, your girlfriend might kill me with the daggers she's glaring into me right now" she giggles as they resume to their upright position, glancing over at the blonde who had been watching from the sidelines since he had taken her hand.
"She'll get over it" he sighs as he twirls her around before pulling her back in close.
Truth was, he didn't care about Grazie in that moment, he only cared about the girl he was dancing with, who's apartment he had stumbled into all that time ago.
The pair continue to dance together for the next few minutes as close as they can get before they heard Bernardo raising his voice.
They look over and see him having a go at Tony and Riff goes to move before the girl next to him grips his hand tighter.
"He can handle himself" she seethes, not wanting him to get involved.
"Yeah sure, that's why he went to prison, let go lis" he snaps, yanking his hand away from the girl who sighs as he leaves her alone on the dance floor.
She closes her eyes and clenches her fists tightly, angry that he had once again put stupid conflict above his own safety, and even to leave her alone when he promised to save her that dance. She watched as the pair squabbled before they started to leave, and the girl was having none of it. She grabbed onto his coat and he turned to face her.
"You better not do anything stupid" she threatens and he scoffs.
"Stop worrying about me, I'm fine" he snaps again and walks away from the girl who just sighs in defeat.
She stands there for a few seconds as everyone resumes to dancing and debates about going home and just waiting for him but this thought is interrupted when she gets a tap on her shoulder and she spins round to see John stood there smiling at her.
"Hey, how's your ear?" She asks him, taking a look to see if it had healed any more from that morning.
"It's better, I got it cleaned up more when I went home, thanks for the help this morning" he smiles and she nods.
"I saw that Riff left and you look amazing tonight, we all think so, and I was wondering if you'd like to dance with me?" he asks sheepishly and her face breaks out into a wide smile.
"Of course I would" she says as he takes her hand and leads her back over to the dance floor to join in with the other happy couples.
Whilst a few had left with her friend, most of the jets were still at the mixer dancing away and were happy to see that Lisa was still there too. Though they never said it, they all considered her a part of the gang. She would clean them up after all their rumbles and make sure they were all being fed and every so often would let them crash at her place and they would all watch as Riff would retire to her room, lay down next to her, pull her in close and fall asleep peacefully next to her. They all knew he was in love with her, it didn't take anyone smart to figure that one out. It was why they kept out of her way, they wanted him to realise how he felt on his own, without anyone provoking any jealousy. On the other hand though, they could all see that she felt the same with him. The way she would softly press her fingers to his face when cleaning up his wounds, almost afraid that the contact would make him crumble, how she was with him almost every day making breakfast or sleeping next to him, and even down to the way she would endure all his crap. No matter how much trouble he got into, she would always be there to bail him out- sweet talking the cops, hiding him in her place until tensions died down, even pushing a few guys off to protect him when it got too rough. The gang all had bets on how long it would take one of them to finally say something or just kiss the other to shut them up. A few of them were convinced that if she found out the details about the rumble tomorrow night, that she would stop him going and confess then to ensure that he wouldn't go and do anything stupid. Their money was riding high on it.
As the night continued on, she kept dancing with the boy before she moved round the rest of the jets who were all happy to twirl her about and tell her how beautiful she looked before they all ended the night dancing in a big circle. She was so happy to be able to call the Jets her family. She loved these boys with her whole heart no matter how much trouble she had to bail them out of.