Lost in Hollywood

Stupid Decisions

Sky was having fun.

It was unexpected and surely undeserved, but also an undeniable fact.

The fun had started with Caleb's hip flask. When Tom returned to the table with the three cokes, Caleb spiked them, dividing the contents of his flask equally into the three glasses. It wasn't a lot - certainly not enough to get wasted - but maybe that was a good thing.

That one drink was enough to loosen Sky up a bit, to make her let go of the grief that had been squeezing her lungs like a tight iron band. After downing the sweet, burning mix of coke and vodka, she felt like she could breathe again - for the first time in ages.

And then there was the music.

Sky had always loved dancing. Dad was always telling her how she used to drive him crazy, wanting to start a new hobby, a new dance class every other week. Between the ages of 3 and 13 she'd browsed through ballet, jazz dance, hip hop, step classes, and a dozen more, before concentrating on cheerleading and capoeira, which maybe weren't exactly dancing but in her mind fell into the same category - moving your body to the music. She was good at it, had always been, but more importantly - she loved it because it was fun. Dancing was life. It provided an escape from this reality, one Sky had otherwise only found in drugs and alcohol. Kat had been the same as her. Wherever there had been music they had been the first two on the dancefloor, giving it their all, dancing like it didn't matter who was watching.

Sky had missed that like Hell.

She couldn't even remember the last time she danced like that. But now—

The dance floor called to her like the best drug, the music was a siren song she couldn't resist. Dancing, dancing, dancing— she raised her arms high up over her head, to the glimmering disco balls, and just like that, she was alive again, awake after a lifetime of darkness, alive after being six feet under for a thousand years.

The beat was in her blood. It turned her into the girl she had once been, a lifetime ago, the girl who had laughed and loved and lived and smoked weed and danced on a beach until the sunrise, and—

She was that girl again. She was laughing, as her hands found Moon's high up in the air. The beams of light reflected from the disco balls fell on her face, her hair was flying in the air. It had been a wise move not to try and wear heels. With the comfortable ballerinas, Sky had no trouble staying on her feet, staying centered, finding her balance. She hadn't realized it before— but maybe all the work she had put into training in Eagle Fang was finally paying off. She felt strong, beautiful, invincible. She felt like she could do this all night long, without even getting out of breath.

With Moon— and with Caleb.

It happened so naturally. He reached a hand for her, she took it, and let him lead.

He turned out to be a great dancer, which was a wonderful surprise. He was sure on his feet, confident in his moves, and when he was spinning her around and around and around, Sky could trust that he wasn't going to let go, he wasn't going to let her fall— but his strong, steady hands brought her gently back into a halt when it was time to stop.

"Are you having fun," he asked, with an adorable grin, when the music slowed down after the third track they had danced together.

"God, so much!" she admitted, giggling, only realizing it was true as she said it out loud.

Ever since her feet had touched the dancefloor, she hadn't thought about Eli and their stupid argument, or Kyler and how much she had feared that his friends would show up and ruin this night for her, or Cody—

"More?" Caleb asked, his grin widening, and Sky forced those thoughts out of her mind the best she could. Caleb's eyes were dark, his hand in hers was warm, and there was such happiness in this moment that it took Sky's breath away.