Time Changes

Part Five

Bob.

And from his expression it seemed he’d not noticed their tryst. Fortunately. Stunned and unsure of herself, or her feelings, Alexis took a second to compose herself then, Peter on the other hand leaned back in his chair and smiled at Bob.

                "I was dreading you wanting another dance!" Lex finally managed when it was obvious Peter was going to sit in smug silence!

Bob guffawed loudly, "Maggie always says I’m no good dancing! You should show Alexis your moves Peter! See if you’re better at this dancing thing than me!"

Chuckling, he pooh-poohed the idea, "I’m bushed Bob...."

The older man laughed tweaking his shoulder playfully, "Go on, these nights are meant for the younger people!"

                "How can I refuse that?" Peter asked awkwardly, as Alexis shrugged feeling even less in control as the evening progressed.

He led a still disorientated Alexis to the dance floor, just as the band switched to a ballad. "Typical!" he muttered, forced to pull her into his arms.

She snapped out of her daze at his harsh word. "What do you mean?" She asked, moulding to his dance position, but leaning back to look into his eyes.

                "I said it’s typical that a ballad comes on as soon as we dance. This could be awkward!"

She stopped dead, "why is that an issue? All evening you’ve been trying to rekindle our childhood friendship, despite my concerns. Now you don’t want to touch me?"

Peter’s eyes were sad, "it’s not going to work Alexis, this is too difficult. And it only becomes more difficult if we’re smooching like this."

Alexis had had enough of the mixed messaged he was emitting, and she squared up to him, "too difficult? All night you’ve been watching me, dropping hints that you want me, they may have been subtle, but I’m not stupid! You can deny it all you want," she thrust her pelvis into his and smiled at the reward of feeling him hard against her stomach. "But this tells me you do! We’re two consenting adults..." She had no idea where her bravado had come from, she was hardly the most confident person when it came to men, but he was angering her, making her confront how she felt about him, then running away. It was ludicrous!

He grabbed both her arms and shook her gently, "STOP! Nothing is going to happen, of that you can be sure! So go to bed little girl!"

Alexis saw red, this was the final straw, she hadn’t thrown all her eggs into his basket for him to throw it back at her, patronise her. Had she read this all wrong? Was she really about to make a fool of herself? Either way he was insulting her."Little girl?" she stepped away from him, "Is that what you think? Shit! And to think I would’ve..."

But the words died on her lips, turning she stormed away from the dance floor, not stopping until she was back in her room.

Peter, after watching her leave, drank himself to oblivion. She was right, he’d been fighting his attraction for her since he’d first set eyes on her, but she’d been full of anger and animosity, that only made her more desirable, but the second he’d managed to penetrate her defences, he’d thrown cheap gibes at her. He shook his head, he was a bastard. And her parting comment had killed him, would she have what? It had taken every ounce of his self control to let her walk away.

Alexis woke with a headache, and as her eyes opened and the room came into focus, her memories of the previous night came flooding back. Oh God! She rolled onto her back, keeping an arm sprawled across her eyes, how the hell did she face Peter today? Part of her was still furious with him, the insult was still fresh in her mind, but she was also aware that she’d dropped her guard. He knew she was interested in him, and that hadn’t got her far last time. It had taken SO long to recover when he’d abandoned her at sixteen so dramatically. Looking back now, she could see that it was all wrong, she was too young, it would never have worked, it couldn’t have. But after promising her everything, he’d disappeared, left her to face the music alone. That was what hurt. Whilst he thought she hated him she could cope, she was safe, but now he knew that she wanted him, and it gave him far too much control over her.