Queens of Geek

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: CHARLIE

My eyes are closed.

The rhythmic pulse is vibrating out of the speakers and through my body, making my bones tremble.

My heels collide with the dance floor time and time again.

My hips swaying.

My head bopping.

My lips curling into a smile.

The heat of all the bodies around me is palpable, making me sweat.

I feel her close to me.

Her hips swaying with mine.

Her hands on my shoulders, my back, my waist.

And when my eyes open, there she is.

Her eyes are closed.

She's moving to the music like she's creating it one beat at a time.

Sensing my gaze on her, Alyssa opens her eyes.

There's that smile.

The smile that tells me everything she's thinking.

Everything she's feeling.

Everything she wants.

I move forward, closing the gap between us. Tracing my eyes down her body and back up again, falling on her lips.

She lifts an eyebrow ever so slightly, daring me to do something about it.

Not one to run from a challenge, I do.

I wrap my arms around her neck and pull her in, crushing my mouth to hers. Blending my red lipstick with her plum shade.

Kissing her makes my heart explode.

So I don't stop, not even when the song does.

I'm not even slightly concerned about who might see us.

There are photographers here. TMZ. Entertainment Now. Randoms with camera phones, ready to tweet pics out to the fandoms.

I can see the flashes through my closed eyelids.

But I don't care.

The media, the Chase shippers, they can all say what they want about me.

Let them blog about how I should be with Jase.

Let them tweet.

Let them.

My true fans want me to be happy.

And one look at me right now, in this moment, will tell them I am.

I won't let the opinions of others get in the way of my happiness again.

I feel fingers wrap around my own and tug on my hand, and turn to see Tay pulling me off the dance floor with a bright smile. I follow, because she's my best friend and I know that wherever she's leading me, it will be great.

She points to the other side of the party. "Look!"

I giggle. "Yes! We have to. We just have to."

We run over to a photo booth and jump inside, throwing on an array of wigs and oversized sunglasses and bow ties. We take more than twenty photos together, laughing and hugging and having the best time of our lives.

Soon, Jamie, Alyssa, Brianna and even Skyler Atkins run over, squeezing in to the booth with us. We are a mess of giggles and grins.

While we're waiting for the photos to print, Tay gives me a hug. "Thank you for bringing me here. SupaCon has literally changed my life."