Caught in the middle

Ch 7

Kai's POV
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Kaye shrieks at me the moment we're in the vehicle. She's facing me from her seat in the passenger side of my car.
"Can we not do this right now babe? I do NOT have the mental space to deep dive everything right now. We can totally debrief this whole thing tomorrow." I sigh. What I don't add is that I haven't even sorted my own feelings or head out about it. And these drinks we had tonight aren't helping my slightly fuzzy train of thought. I'm only a drink or two till I'm past my 'safe' drive rule. We need to get this show on the road to Frank's.
"This is going to be the debrief of the century babe. You'd better be ready for, like, literally dozens of questions. Clear your schedule tomorrow and mark a big ole 'K' access the whole. Just for me. Got it?" She demands of me. I sigh. I love her to the ends of the world but does she absolutely need to be so bossy and demanding?
I make eye contact, "Scouts honor. Every detail. Every drop of info you could want or expect."
"Deal," She smiles, her face glowing with excitement. "Now take me to the bar. I'm feeling some shots to finish out the night. And I'm hoping to find someone to accompany my home tonight so we better get moving or I'll be strapped for time and have to work extra hard."
With that we head to Frank's. We park across the alley from the back patio of the bar and quickly head inside to get a drink and wait for the guys. Fridays are always quiet but all of the college students have moved back after their finals ended so we basically have the bar to ourselves aside from a few bar fly regulars. We slip onto a couple of the stools at the rail to get our usual drinks and order a couple shots to get us started. Joshua and Chris arrive just as we're downing our first of the two shots each of us have sitting right in front of us, and I quickly throw back my second one. Liquid courage. I'm going to need it.
"Hey guys. Sorry to get the party started before you got here. You took too long. And time is a-wastin'." Kay says. The bartender comes back and takes the guys drink orders, quickly preparing them and sliding them over. I slip cash out of my pocket to cover their drinks and ours, handing it directly to the bartender. The bartender quickly takes it and walks away.

"You don't need to do that." Joshua retorts.

"I do, you paid for all of the drinks and you paid for axe throwing," I tell him. "It seems a little bit unfair to assume you're going to pay for us. We didn't plan this agead of time. It's fine. Really. I want to."
He gives me a heated look up and down. "When a guy is out with a gorgeous girl, he wants to pay. Trust me. It's my pleasure. Don't pull cash out for the rest of the night. You're on my tab."
A small smile flickers across my lips as I thank him and turn back to Kaye. "Are we dancing and tearing this shit up or are we dancing and burning this whole place down? I'm feeling pretty adventurous and want to enjoy the night out while we're out."
"Girl, you already know with how hot we are, we're going to. Burn. This. Place. Down." She grins at me as she annunciates each word. She won't accept anything aside from that her and I are the hottest thing to grace this bar, litterally ever, and I laugh and grab her beautiful face and kiss her cheek.
"Well that's not going to happen without a dance floor. Throw that drink back and let's get over to the Crown to show people what they're missing." I hear Chris groan as he watches us both toss back the last of our drinks and Kaye finishes her second shot. Inside I feel a tiny little twinge of guilt because these two have no idea what they're getting themselves into with us on a night out. But they chose to come. We didn't make them. I spin around on my stool and go to hop down. Only when my feet hit the floor, my legs don't react in time quite. I stumble a step and grab into Joshua's arm and the bar to stop myself from totally toppling over. He grips my shoulder to steady me, looking down with a face full of concern. Or maybe irritation. Probably irritation. I can't really tell. It's dark in here and he's once again got his face cast in shadow by his black hat from last weekend.
I giggle and try to give him my most charming smile. "Thanks, the ground wasn't where I thought it was. My legs thought it would take longer for them to need to work."
"Maybe you should consider slowing down." He chastises.
"Maybe you should speed up and catch up to us. Nobody like a party pooper." I tease.
"Who would make sure you don't end up cuddling the floor tonight if I did that? By the way, maybe you should pass me your keys. I'll keep them for you until it's time to go home." He holds his hand out expectantly. I roll my eyes but fish my keys out of my pocket and make a dramatic little show of dangling them in between us and dropping them into his palm. He slides them into the pocket of his jacket and pats it. "Right where they will be safe and sound so you stay safe and sound."
I roll my eyes at him and spin around grabbing Kaye's hand and tugging her towards the door. "Come on. The Crown is calling my name. Time to start shimmy and shaking." We take off running to the door. Pushing the heavy wooden doors open the cool night air hits us. It may get hot during the days but after the sun goes down it gets chilly still. The alcohol takes the edge off the cold though, so I hardly notice it. We skip down the block past the closed businesses hand in hand with the guys trailing behind trying to keep up with us. Kaye looks both ways at the intersection, always the responsible one, before we dart across to the Crown. We push open the double glass doors and and a faint wave of heat washes over us as we step into the pounding music and flashing lights from the DJ booth a cross the dance floor to our right. The gaming machines are on our left next to the pull tabs and the blackjack table. We head for the bar straight ahead. It's not busy so there's only a dozen people scattered throughout the whole bar, mostly concentrated at the bar rail and the blackjack table. We climb onto a couple stools and wait for the bartender to come over to us. When he does we order two more shots each of their house shot, something they call "the rags". I don't know what it is but it's in a shot glass like a Chuck Norris shot would be so the two kinds of liquid are separated into different rings of the shot glass. We down the first one as Joshua and Chris walk up. They taste like apple but more rich. Like something savory, maybe cinnamon? I hear them both groan as they see our empty shot glasses on the bar in front of us. We giggle as we make eye contact with each other.
"Hi! Ready for one?" Kaye smiles as she grabs their hands and drags them in between her and I to belly up to the bar. She waves the bartender over and asks for two more for them. I pick my second "the rags" shot up and lift it to her and she copies me. I wink at her and we toss them back also. The bartender sets the two shots down in front of Kaye and she pushes them over to Chris and Joshua, eagerly smiling and waving her hands at them to hurry up and take them as if the bartender hadn't just set them down moments ago. "Well? Get on with it! We want to dance!"
Joshua gives her a flat look, not impressed at all. "If I take this, it's the last alcohol I'm having tonight."
"Come on man, lighten up. Were supposed to be having fun." Chris laughs, playfully punching his arm.
"We can have fun, but I'm not drinking any more. Someone has to make sure you guys make it to see tomorrow. That ain't going to be these guys. Or you it seems," Joshua deadpans. "Let's take these and get it over with. I don't even want to know what they are. Cheers, buddy."
He raises his shot to Chris and looks over to me holding my eyes as he takes the shot and tips it back to his lips drinking it almost like you would a glass of water at 3am and you wake up parched. Almsot like long pulls of it, if that's even possible with a shot. He winks at me and sets the shot glass down. There's a drop of the alcohol at the corner of his mouth caught on her facial hair. Almost as if it was beyond my control and I was being controlled my someone else, I reach up and swipe the drop of liquid from the corner of his mouth with my finger. I hold his gaze as I lick it from my own finger, feeling the cinnamon apple flavor on my tongue. His eyes darken as he watched my tongue dart out to lick the drop from my finger. I smile and look over to Kaye and Chris watching us. Kaye's mouth is a little 'o' with her eyes huge and she breaks into a smile when I look at her. Chris looks between Joshua and I, confused and questioning what the hell is happening. Did he maybe not say anything to Chris about our little run in last weekend? About him beckoning me to the bike with his eyes? Interesting.
i feel the alcohol loosening me up. My face is going slightly numb, the world around me seems a little fuzzy, and I feel light and excited. I grab Joshua's wrist and lace my fingers through Kaye's and tug them towards the dance floor while I walk backwards trying not to trip over my feet. Kaye grabs Chris's hand and tugs him after her. The DJ has had more quiet music playing while the dance floor was empty but as people have trickled in as it has gotten later in the evening, closer to 11pm now, people are slowly trickling into the bar and onto the dance floor when we do. The DJ turns the speakers up and starts playing 2000s. Typical small town bar. "Hot in Here" by Nelly comes on and I turn to Kaye, grinning ear to ear. I'm met with her cheeky grin. We squeal and I wrap my arms around her shoulders, her arms wrapping around my waist. I start singing the song to her swaying my hips back and forth while she serenades me back, running her hands up and down my sides.
I'm really fully convinced in a different life, we would have been romantic partners. We complement each other and we clicked instantly when we met as little girls. She's my other half. She makes the world feel bearable. Given my intoxicated state and my love for this girl, I pull back and laugh, grabbing her face and planting a kiss on her lips that she returns like she always does. I feel her laugh and smile when we pull back from our quick kiss. I hug her tight around her neck as the song changes and I feel hands, much too big to be Kaye's, touch my hand.
I look to where the hand is coming from and find it connected to Joshua's tattoo'd arm. I look back at Kaye and she smiles at me pushing me towards him while she spins and grabs Chris and pulls him towards the bar, telling him "I think it's time you buy me another drink."
I face Joshua, unsure what to do now. I'm not sure if I used up my courage pulling him out here in the first place and now I'm clammed up and unsure what to do. I look up at him, taking in his face fully for the first time. The lights from the DJ flashing across his face but now that I'm not accidentally bumping into him, doing my best to make a quick get away to avoid my embarrassment, I can really see him. The lights illuminate his face in red, yellow, blue, and green. He's handsome. His facial hair is well kept and his hazel eyes are accentuated by his thick black eye lashes. I have to tilt my head back to look him in the face because of how tall he is and how close we're standing. My eye level come to his chest, just barely. My head spins a little bit as I look up at him. His eyes flick over my face. Bouncing between my eyes, my mouth, and back to my eyes. My head swims a tiny bit as I look at him and I stumble a little bit. Joshua quickly grabs my waist to steady me, for the second time tonight.
"Woah, you ok?" He frowns, slightly concerned it seems.
"Yeah. I'm ok. I just need some water. I'll get some in a bit." I brush off his concern. I slip my hands up his arms and over his shoulders. The leather riding jacket is soft and smooth under my hands. I lace my fingers together behind his neck. "Love in this club" by Usher floods my ears as I look back to Joshua. I smile as I play with his hair that brushes past the nape of his neck and start dancing to the music. Swaying and rolling my body, I start to sing to myself. I love singing to myself normally but I really love singing when I drink. And I'll sing to and around anyone then. Joshua's hands skim over my ribs and back down to my waist as he moves with me, watching and smiling while I sing. We dance for the next few songs in a small bubble of just us on the increasingly crowded dance floor.
Finally a song comes on that I don't know and if I'm being completely honest, I'm tired. I didn't want to stop, but my legs are exhausted. With a sigh I take a slight step back and lace my fingers through Joshua's and step off the dance floor. I'm not ready to give up the physical contact but I need a little space from the physical intimacy that's teasing the very sad and lonely space at the back of my mind left over from Uriah still. We walk to the bar where I still see Kaye's waist length naturally curly brown hair swaying as she laughs and talks animatedly to Chris over the noise of the music and bar. She's got her flirty smile on and she's touching his arm and leg while he eats up her attention. I hug her from behind and plant a kiss on her cheek.
"Hey babe! I wondered when you would come find us," She hugs my hands to her chest and leans back into me. "I think we're heading out. I didn't want to leave you before finding you. But I didn't want you to interrupt." She winks with that last comment.
I feel a pang of disappointment. I'm not ready to leave yet. For my night to end. But your girls come first, right? "Ok! I'm ready when you are."
She giggles, "No, silly. Chris and I. I'll call you in the morning. I promise. But I wanted to check on you and see if you need a ride before we leave." My eyes go huge but she gives a quick squeeze of my arm still wrapped around her shoulders to stop my questions.
"I, uh," I stammer
I feel a quick hand on my waist and instinctively reach back to place my hand over it, releasing Kaye as she turns to face me. "She's ok. I'll make sure she's safe. You guys can go." I hear faintly over the noise, feeling Joshua ever so lightly squeeze my hip to reaffirm he means what he's saying.
Kaye looks to me to confirm I'm ok with this. I smile encouragingly at her. "Ooohhhhhkay," she drawls, "call me if you need anything. I'll keep my volume up and I'll be there if you need me."
"She won't." Joshua informs her. She rolls her eyes.
"Well. I'll call you in the morning babe. I love you. Call me. Seriously. I'll be there." She plants one last kiss on my cheek and squishes me in a hug and steps back. She throws a less than happy warning look at Joshua but refrains from commentary and spins, marching out the door with Chris's hand clamped in hers. I pray mercy for the poor man.