Link Dane

SEVENTEEN

| dedication: LeahKeys - for that cool cover xox |

SEVENTEEN

Thomas turned his head back to me over his shoulder, his eyes squinting under the bright light that shone behind me. He was cooking up something, possibly a response to justify his reason for bringing me here.

The strip club wasn't open for anyone - clearly shown by all the chairs that were empty but the big guy by the front let Thomas in with one look. It was a first for me to be here and even though it wasn't open, the mere vibe this whole setting brought made me think twice about everything.

"Is that a problem?" He asked nonchalantly.

I raised both eyebrows at him, wondering if he thought me wanting to skip classes meant going to the nearest strip club and chill there. I looked back at the group that stood on the stage and saw that they had dispersed and left a beautiful girl, with long blonde gracefully dancing on a pole. I was trapped by her moves, and the music that played in the background set the mood perfectly.

"She's beautiful right," Thomas voiced my own thoughts and when I spared him a glance, I saw that he too, was engrossed by the girl. "At night, when everything is packed, she still makes everyone turn heads." Thomas finished, strangely sounding proud of that.

I jutted my chin in her direction. "Do you know her?" I asked him.

Thomas let out a chuckle and then he started to walk away, not giving an answer to my burning question. I chased after him, trying to catch up to his massive strides with my short and quick ones. He halted next to a door that had 'lounge' written on it, and pushed it open. I half expected a bunch of rowdy men to be sitting there, smoking, or watching the girls dance but instead, I saw someone's long dark hair. He was sitting on the double leather sofa, his legs pulled up to the table in front of him. His head was thrown backwards, so he had a direct view of the ceiling but he did have his hands over his face - which defeated the whole reason for admiring the empty ceiling.

The room was small, at least the room I was in but I could see, just over the stairs, there were a few other smaller rooms adjacent to each other. All the lights were on but I could imagine, when it hit the party hour, the rooms would be lit up in a way to seduce and allure.

"At this time?" Thomas questioned from next to me. He walked over to the table and picked up the beer that was on there.

"Fuck off Thomas. I can hardly speak, let alone deal with you right now," the guy spoke through his sprawled fingers and he sounded really familiar to my ears. I shuffled on my feet slightly, trying to catch the guy's face but it was to no avail.

Thomas ignored the guy and carried on speaking to him. "Look, I didn't come all the way to be faced with your fucking grumpy self. I've got company with me and she-"

At the word company, the guy dropped his hands from his face and trained his eyes on me. I reared back when everything fell in place. I almost didn't recognize him, what with the dark shirt and messy hair and the cut on his lip and the proud bruise forming on his left cheek.

"What happened to you?" Thomas exclaimed, reaching out his hands but Nolan swatted him away, his own eyes trained on me. They lifted up at the sight of me and he slowly took my whole length in, lingering a few seconds.

"Shit got messy last night and I had to step in." Nolan answered his friend but his eyes were still on me. I raised one eyebrow at him, silently asking a question.

"Nice to see you again Ori," he finally muttered. I was slightly relieved that he recognised me and didn't let me stand there and pretend otherwise. Especially after the once-over.