DEAD INSIDE

(8)

As soon as I had put the first one down, I downed the second one and a freshly opened beer appeared in front of me. I took it eagerly. I looked to my right and saw Mel was in deep conversation with Dylan so I turned to Damian.

"Can I ask for a huge favor?" His blue eyes were already assessing me when I met them and I briefly wondered what had been on his mind. The only thing I was positive of was that he had no malicious hidden agenda.

"I'm all ears."

"Could you make sure I don't do anything stupid tonight? I don't want to keep Mel away from Dylan..." I could already feel the first effects of the alcohol in my system.

"Define stupid..." Once again, I was surprised by his soft – almost too soft - voice.

"Don't let me kiss more than one person tonight..." I put my thumb up. "No nudity whatsoever..." I paused but then added, "Unless everybody else goes skinny dipping, of course..."

"Of course..." He repeated with a big smile that revealed his two slightly crooked front teeth amidst his otherwise perfectly aligned white ones and made his eyes sparkle. "What else?" His hair was styled to look messy and a couple of locks fell over his left eyes. Without thinking, I lifted my hand and carefully pushed them to the side.

"No sex..." I then said, thinking it would deter him. Why else would he look so... so into me? I gulped at the idea that someone like Damian Kiolyan could be attracted to me.

"Ok, so let me recap, no nudity – unfortunately, I don't think skinny dipping is on tonight's schedule – no sex and I'm to make sure you don't kiss more than one person... Is that all?" He cocked his head and I nodded. "You're on. What would you like to do, first?"

"How about I get one or two more of those raspberry delish thingies?" He chuckled.

"Mary, Alison would like two raspberry delish thingies..." He called out to the blond girl in front of us.

"You got it..." She answered before winking at me and pouring some of the yummy concoction in both shot glasses.

I downed them one after the other and took a long drink of my beer, clapped once and stood up.

"Where are you off to?" Damian questioned.

"It's time to dance all my problems away..." I answered, my voice slightly slurred and headed to the middle of the dance floor, high-fiving all the people who stopped dancing when they noticed me.

Once I was satisfied with where I stood, I closed my eyes and let the music fill my body until it started moving in harmony with it. They popped open when two hands appeared on my waist from behind and when I turned around to see who they belonged to, I was relieved to meet familiar blue eyes.

I knew I should probably be more cautious.

Tonight was the first time I even talked to Damian but I could tell that he was trustworthy. I wouldn't be able to explain what had led me to believe that but I at that very moment, I was positive he would do me no harm, so I turned back around and resumed dancing.

Damian was a very good dancer, very sensual and it wasn't long before I started feeling too comfortable with his body constantly touching mine.

Don't get me wrong, he never grabbed my butt or tried to grope me, no, it's the way he made sure to pull me to him so I'd feel safe after expertly spinning me, how he constantly checked I was ok, handing me alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks whenever I got thirsty. All these little details that made me feel totally at ease with him.