The Experiment © [Completed]

Chapter 15 - The Dance

RJ decided to walk the longer way to the elevator from Matt's office so he could pass by Dei's cubicle.

He saw her looking at her monitor intently with a serious look on her face. She seemed too engrossed with whatever she was doing and she didn't see him walking over even though she was faced towards him.

He slowly made steps to stand behind her and touched her lightly on the back.

"Hey!" she said, looking pleasantly surprised. "Why are you here?"

He grabbed a vacant chair from another cubicle and moved it closer to Dei while giving Mara a friendly nod. Mara was wriggling excitedly on her seat again.

He sat beside Dei, looked around and then quickly kissed her hand. She blushed while Mara let out a suppressed scream again. They ignored her.

"I was at Matt's office," he said simply.

"You look flustered," Dei noticed, touching his face.

"Seriously guys, you're killing me. Let me just excuse myself for a while," Mara said suddenly as she walked out of their cubicle.

RJ and Dei laughed. He grabbed Dei's hand that was touching his face and kissed it again as discreetly as he could.

"Matt was being a pain in the ass, as usual. But I'm okay now." he said. "See you at lunch?"

"Okay," she answered, smiling.

RJ squeezed her hand, kissed it one last time and left.

+++++

They were on their way to dinner with Ken and Beth and he just had to take a quick snap of Dei as she walked beside him on their way to the elevator. She looked gorgeous in her off-shoulder, midnight blue dress that fell just above her knee and she had applied some minimal make up on that perfectly enhanced her natural beauty. He gazed at the picture and loved the candidness of the shot so he immediately shared it to their followers.

They arrived at the restaurant a little while later and Ken and Beth were already there.

"Oh my God, finally!" Beth exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly as they walked towards them. She gave Dei a warm hug and asked them to sit down.

RJ and Ken talked to one another while Beth and Dei started getting to know each other. Dei found Beth so genuinely nice and it was easy for her to get really comfortable with her.

She found out from Beth that RJ and Ken were actually childhood best friends before RJ and his family migrated to the US. They kept in touch the whole time RJ was away and he helped Ken get into TrendBuzz as soon as it opened locally.

Beth was their classmate since freshman year in high school so he knew RJ pretty well too. She said that he had always been a heart throb in school but he never had a serious girlfriend until he was 21 and was already living in the US.

Dei thought about that. So RJ had always been afraid of commitment but she wasn't the first one to capture his heart. She thought of how he needed to travel halfway around the world to escape memories of the ex girlfriend and she wondered how much he had loved her to be affected that much. Suddenly she had this nagging feeling of insecurity that she had to keep shoving away for the rest of the evening.

After dinner, Beth suggested that they go to a bar for a few hours and chill. RJ asked Dei if she was ok with it and she said yes. She had been to bars before, especially when she was working for the fashion magazine. She could drink and she had never been drunk before.

They went to an upscale bar and immediately ordered drinks. The girls ordered cosmo while the boys ordered two beers each, not wanting to drink too much because they would be driving. A little while later, Beth pulled Ken to the dance floor and left RJ and Dei in their lounge.

"You're being quiet," he whispered, moving closer to her.

"I'm fine," she said, giving him a smile.

"Do you want to dance?" he asked.

"Not really," she said with a nervous smile. "I don't dance very well."

RJ smirked. "It doesn't matter. No one will watch you anyway. These people are too busy doing their own thing," he said, gently pulling her up.

"Let me just drink this up," Dei said, grabbing her cosmo and downing it in one go. Her throat burned a little and she felt warm all over.

"Woah, Dei," RJ said, giving her a stern look.

He led her to the dance floor and they began dancing. The alcohol gave Dei the boost of confidence she needed and soon enough she was swaying her body to the music with less care in the world.

He watched how she was dancing and felt hypnotized by her movements. She was simply swaying her body, trying not to be over the top with her movements but the more she tried to keep it simple, the more he found her sexy. She blushed when she noticed him looking and she ducked her head.

He pulled her chin up and moved closer to her so he could whisper in her hear. "Stop doing that, you're driving me crazy. I might kiss you right here on the dance floor."

She blushed some more at his words but she kept her face steady, glancing at him as he pulled away.

He grabbed her hand and twirled her twice and then turned her one last time so she was facing away and they danced that way for a few minutes.

Dei could feel the firmness of RJ's chest as she leaned against him while they danced, and she could smell the faint smell of his perfume too. She danced closer, enjoying his warmth and she shivered when she felt the touch of his breath against her ear. Then she almost freaked out when she felt something unmistakably hard against the spot a little below the small of her back.

RJ stepped back and she turned around. There was a dark look on his face and he was breathing hard as he shook his head at her.

++++++

"Are you okay?" Dei asked as their car turned the last corner to their condo. RJ had been quiet for the rest of their drive home and although he still talked to her after their single dance on the dance floor, she noticed him avoiding her gaze a lot.

"Yes," RJ answered. "Are you?"

"Yes." she replied.

"Good."

RJ held her hand as they walked across the lobby but he was still quiet till they reach their unit.

"I feel like we're not okay," she couldn't help saying as they both walked towards their rooms.

RJ sighed and walked her to her door. "I'm sorry," he said, kissing her forehead. "Please know that although it's very hard, I'm actually trying my best, and I'm getting good at controlling myself. Sleep well, Dei, we're leaving early tomorrow." he planted one kiss on the top of her head, smiled at her and said goodnight before finally walking over to his room.

Dei blushed furiously as she closed her door, his words playing inside her head over and over.