My Neighbor's A Gangster

Chapter 34

   We danced for at least an hour while sipping wine in between each song. It felt great to live in the moment without worrying about anything else. I laid my head on his shoulder while we swayed back and forth. I felt my stomach growl; the laugh Kole let out let me know he'd heard it too. 

 "You wanna eat?" I asked trying to hide my blush.

 "Yeah" he replied holding my hand as we walked over to the picnic. 

  I watched as he pulled out the finger foods first followed by two Italian subs. 

 "Thank you" I said as he handed me mine. "Not just for feeding me but for planning all this. It for sure beats whatever prom would have been like back home. It's way more special this way" I explained before taking a big bite of my sub. 

 "No need to thank me, you deserve the world" he said smoothly before taking a bite.  

  The butterflies in my stomach felt like they were lodged in my throat, it was like he literally took my breath away. I must have been staring hard because he froze before taking another bite and looked at me with his eyebrow raised. 

  "You're pretty amazing, you know that right?" I asked trying to calm my nerves. 

  He let out a small laugh "As long as your happy, so am I" he said avoiding my compliment. 

  I was going to say something else, but the thought went out the window when my favorite song came on; Charlene by Anthony Hamilton. 

 I dramatically dropped my sub and grabbed Koles hand pulling him up. 

 "What? What's wrong?" he asked looking around. 

 "Nothing, this is one of my favorite songs" I replied laughing. 

  He playfully rolled his eyes as he settled back into his calm demeanor. I wrapped my arms around his neck taking in all the lyrics. Something about this song filled my soul, it's gotten me through a lot. The instrumentals in itself brings a comfort I can't explain.   

 "Isn't this song kind of sad?" Kole asked softly

  "Not necessarily, it's raw emotion. You can feel the regret, the sadness, but most importantly the love." I explained simply "It's soul grabbing from beginning to end" 

  "Ahh" he said in understanding. 

  We stayed silent as the rest of the song played, enjoying every moment of each other's company. 

  After a few more hours of dancing, food, and drinking I was definitely feeling the buzz. So much so that I had a sudden urge to go swimming. Without looking back at Kole I walked far enough for the waves to reach my ankles, it was a little chilly but not bad. The sun had already set leaving a dark orange color that was slowly fading away now. I glanced around to see the distance of the other houses, with it being darker now I doubt they will see me if I slipped my dress off. 

  Without another moment of thinking I pulled the dress over my head tossing it behind me. It must've been the wine giving me the confidence to practically strip naked. I had a black strapless bra on with black lace panties to match. 

  I took a few more steps until I was knee length. 

 "Lexi!" Kole said from behind me "What are you doing?"

  I turned around so that I was facing him, watching while he looked me up and down with a shocked expression on his face. 

  "Swimming!" I yelled back to him as I backed up farther in the water.