Romance Shorts

#30 - Nina Bloom

I've made it to 30 storys, and I have you guys to thank for being such brilliant readers.

As a pre-warning this was for a short story, editorial competition at my college where you had to write a story and edit it in 2 weeks and it had to be less than 500 words (which i'll be honest I found almost impossible). But here it is.

{I am hoping to create a full story out of this really giving the characters, especially Nina and Zac more depth and personality than they have at the moment.}

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8th August 2017 – 11:50pm

I just needed to go elsewhere. So in an attempt to escape from the pounding bass of the house music blasting from within Nina's lake house, I'd walked out of the party with the intentions of sitting on the pier until it was over. But the universe clearly had other ideas, as the – now infuriating – house music seemed to follow me outside as if it was clinging to me, and the peace, no longer an achievable goal. As I sat there on the slightly slimy pier holding a handful of giant pretzels that I'd brought with me from the party, I felt a rush of relief as I realised that no one would think to look for me out here.

"10!" I heard shouted from the grasps of the lake house. Almost Midnight.

"9!"

"8!"

"7!" I was glad that I wasn't there.

"6!....."

8th August 2017 - 11:00pm

We'd been going to Nina Blooms birthday party every year without fail, for 4 years. But this year it felt different, knowing that this would be our last one before we went our separate ways. It felt like goodbye.

All the usual lot were there already, dancing to the music that had changed from squeaky pop songs to thumping House over the years. Leo was DJing. Kimni, Nina and Nathan were dancing with some others I vaguely recognised and April was trying to calm Dani and Ruby. Again. But the one who caught my eye was Zac, stood over by the food table waving a giant pretzel at me.

"Hey stranger" he called as I approached the table.

"Hey back" I replied nudging him.

"Dance with me Rose" he urged after handing me the pretzel.

"I don't dance Zac."

"But it's our song."

"How is this our song?" I questioned.

"It's fate Rose. We met 4 years ago when this song was on."

I vaguely remembered the Earth Wind and Fire song that was on.

"This could be our last chance Rose. I'm not going to be here to force you to dance forever" Zac said with a lopsided grin, which slowly slid from his face as he looked at mine. "Rose?"

I turned around in search of Nina or Dani or water or something that wasn't Zac asking me to dance, and found my feet walking out of the door.

I sat in the pier crunching on a pretzel. I wouldn't see these people again. People who had become so vital in my life that I was secretly afraid about letting them go.

"5!"

"Rose!" I heard behind me. I spun around, almost slipping in, and was caught by the wrist by Zac. "Watch it - I've heard it's infested with sharks."

I laughed despite myself.

Midnight.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY NINA!" Celebrations erupted from the house.

"Dance with me Rose, it's our song"

"I bribed Leo" Zac said as I heard the song start again.

"Okay" I replied.

So finally after 4 years Zac got me to dance. It was on a slimy pier by a cold lake where it was starting to rain and to an old song, but it was with my best friend and it made me feel that for that one perfect moment not everything was going to fall apart.

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Thanks for reading guys! <3 I hope you enjoyed it!