Phoenix's Lies

A Possible Strip Tease and A Teasing Stranger

(The song is for when Phoenix and River are dancing before they go up to the private room and then the roof)

Phoenix

It was always the same shit that happens at the post-game parties. Didn't matter if I was back here where I grew up or at my old school in Phoenix - my namesake state. At least that's what I tell myself, What I need to believe. Because if not then I'm going to get sucked into what had driven me to Ari's the first day I was back. That I was home. Something I was no clearer about, my mind still on what she'd said yesterday.

I guess you'll have to wait and see. Little daredevil. Little daredevil? No one had called me that since Riv did when we were kids. I had been almost certain before that nickname that it was her, but now? Now I am not only certain but after answers. Something that if River herself isn't going to answer I am just going to have to ask Ari about. My only issue was that I could find neither of them at school today. The one time even caught a glimpse of Ari was when she was at the game. Though not River. She, I noticed, had been absent.

Slipping through the party crowds the lack of proper lighting makes it hard to make out faces in the dark but I can recognise Ari's signature red hair anywhere. Even if only in flashes. Though she seems to be alone. Did she come alone? Knowing Ari that seems unlikely but then again I haven't seen her for a full five years before this week so maybe she had. Maybe I don't know her as well as I'd like to think. As I'd used to.

But why did that feel like a lie?

Slipping through crowds I take a mouthful of my drink, the alcohol leaving a burning sensation as I search the halls and rooms for the brown head I'd been next to all week. I keep trying room after room but see neither the mystery girl nor Ari anywhere after the brief glimpse I'd had of my friend hours ago. Though when I'd looked outside I hadn't seen Ari's white Audi so how had she gotten here?

Certain that she would have the answers I needed, I take the last mouthful of my drink only to hear the song change and see a very drunk girl pass in front of me, her eyes lost and her left hand holding a full red Solo cup as she moves, body dipping and swaying to the song. Eyes closed. The way she moves seems familiar but I can't place where or why until she bumps into me and I have to reach out and steady her, the girl's scent of blue cypress and Amber surrounding me as she wobbles for a second before her eyes open and dark hazels regard me with a blank look.

"S-Sorry," She slurs, the - her- voice unmistakable even when she is heavily intoxicated and borderline blackout drunk. The sound of it causes my body to respond almost automatically as the room becomes too hot, and my clothes too tight. "I-I'll leave you be," She turns to leave before shaking her head and turning, cocking her head to the side as she keeps dancing, seeming to have decided to stick around here for a little while. "Hey, I know you. Your Phoenix North. You're cute." her words run together but I know what she was saying since whilst we'd been talking she slips again and I reach to catch her. She offers me a wonky smile. "Sorry,"

I chuckle, placing her hands on my shoulders to steady her since she keeps swaying the longer we're standing together. Swallowing down the odd feeling it provokes she turns and starts to move, running her hands up and down her body as she moves against me where I remain immobile, all too easily thrown off by her. She was here. Rubbing. Teasing. Breathing heavily she keeps moving, making it hard not to at least kiss her, yet somehow I do.

"How much have you had?" I ask her, dipping my head to talk into her ear, and seeing how she shivers. Pulling me closer where she has now turned so she was standing against me, her back flush with my chest as she kept moving. Always moving as if to tease me until I snap. She keeps dipping and swaying left and right. Ran her hands up and down her body and tipped her head up so it rests under mine, her throat moving as she swallows what was left in her cup before dropping it and sighing as she digs in her pocket and pulls out a handful of pills that flash with the lights as she hunts around for another drink.