Stay || Sam Holland

16

I slipped on a red cocktail dress and some matching heels. I turned to the mirror to check myself out for the 100th time. When I was finally satisfied with myself, I shyly crept down the stairs to meet with Noah.

There I saw him, following the dress code matching to mine. To my surprise, the other girls, Lily and Chloe stood as well, wearing their own choice of a casual dress. Both of them wore a great amount of makeup, one intimidating to me, for I had not put anything other than mascara and lipstick: I chose to keep it simple and cute, meanwhile they wore full faces of makeup with eyeshadow matching their warm coloured dresses. They smiled at me, and complimented my look, making me feel a little better about myself as I returned them a well-deserved compliment.

"Didn't know you were coming," Lily said, although she wasn't looking at me in the eye. Instead, she was raising an eyebrow at the boy, who wore a white button up shirt and some dark jeans. 

"I invited her." Noah answered for her, giving me a reassuring wink. 

"Let's go then." Chloe grabbed her friend's hand, and lead us all outside, and into one of two the cars parked by the driveway. She chose a black Range Rover, one Noah claimed to own. He offered to give me the passenger seat, I shyly accepted, and the girls sat at the back. I anxiously fiddled with my phone case, every now and then turning it on, expecting an unpredicted notification. 

Throughout the car ride, I was told about their daily life here. I was told who not to mess with, Scarlet Bloom, one of those pretty girls who lived downtown, a spoiled brat who got everything she wanted, yet was never enough for her. And when it came to people she wanted, that was a fight she refuses to give up. They said encountering her was a horrible experience, they tend to avoid talking to her, avoid working with her; she was a bitch.

By the sounds of it, I think she was. 

We arrived to the club, music was already blasting from inside, my heartbeat already accelerated at the sudden adrenaline. I opened the car door, and stepped out, waiting for the others to do the same. Noah locked the car, adjusted his collar, then we all went inside after showing our identification. 

The music was much louder, and the room was much more full than anticipated. It was filled with young adults, perhaps some in their 30s too, all wearing different shades of dresses and shirts, dancing to upbeat music controlled by a DJ dressed in neon colours matching the club's lighting. 

On the side, there was a black bar decorated in neon lights and black seats, most of which were taken, but fortunately, there were enough for all of us to sit together after kindly asking a young couple to move over some seats. 

The first round was on Noah; he ordered some tequila shots; a drink I never knew I needed, and one I wish I had tried sooner. The waiter took out 4 shot glasses, filled them with the strong alcohol, a strong stench it had, and brought out a small metallic dish with lime wedges and salt shakers.

"So how do these work?" I leaned in to Noah's ear, he helped too, he leaned down due to our height difference. I didn't remember much about the drinks I had the time I partied with Sam; I got really drunk, and the things I did remember I wish I hadn't: when he rejected me, and completely ignored me after kissing me with no context. 

No, tonight's the night to get my mind off of this. I thought, and shook those thoughts away, before paying close attention to Noah's response.

"Let me show you. Repeat after me." He shouted through the loud music, and I nodded, gesturing I heard what he said. He nodded back, and took a salt shaker. He waited for my mimic, so I took the other one, and waited for him to continue. 

He shook some on his palm, I quickly mirrored his actions, and he smirked at me, before licking the small pile he had created, and taking the shot glass after. He gulped it down, before grabbing one of the lime wedges, and biting into it. He winced at the sour taste, I could tell when it was gone when he sighed in satisfaction. 

He pointed with his chin at my palm with too much salt; I wasn't sure what it was for at first, and after he had taken his shot was when I realised I had shook too much on. Shrugging it off, I copied his movements, licked the salt off, dumped the shot down my throat, and bit into the lime. I felt my insides warming up, I felt myself becoming all woozy.

Memories were coming back of the last time I had done tequila shots. I now remembered licking the salt, biting the lemon. I remember gaining a desperate urge to dance: like I am wanting to now. Lily and Chloe were already lost somewhere in the giant dance floor, so why not join them and avoid a burdensome silence between Noah and I. We barely met, tipsy, intoxicated, whatever you like to call it or not, I didn't know what to talk about.

And dancing, is a great way to get to know someone. For a starter, you know if they're a dancer or not; you learn if they're introverted or extroverted; you learn their way of having fun. I found the art of dance extraordinary, so many genres mixed into one passion, and something that doesn't even have to be a hobby, but something to do to waste time with those you love.

The DJ switched onto the next song, a remix of some popular song that played regularly on the radio, only this one was transformed into something you could dance and jump around to, it had a partier mood than the original, and it had one of those iconic dances to it that just everybody knew. A dance no talent was required to know.

I swayed my hips, and swung my arms into the air, losing complete control of my body, and letting it go with its own feeling. Noah laughed at my enthusiasm, not in a mean way of course, but he seemed fascinated at my sudden uplift of mood. 

I shrugged it off, and continued dancing to the song, moving in synchronisation to the rest of the crowd, including the boy in front of me. His smile was bright and contagious, a feature that stood out among the rest, bright white teeth, small dimples on each side of his cheek, and eyes shrinking into crescents. 

That smile soon disappeared, like two weights were pulling down each corner of his lips, and into a frown. By then, he was looking at something else, something behind me. He wrapped his fingers around my wrist, and dragged me out of the dance floor. My eyebrows were furrowed, I was confused, I never got a sight of what was bothering him.

"What's wrong?" I asked. 

- "I saw Scarlet." 

"Where?"

The boy pointed his chin at a corner of the dance floor, and there she stood. She was gorgeous, it was mildly infuriating. Her dirty blonde locks were gracefully sitting on her shoulder, contrasting with the red velvet skin tight dress that revealed most of her breasts. Her lips were a dark matte red, one matching to her dress, and her eyeshadow was painted a shade close to it. Her eyes were an emerald green, ones hidden behind her tan skin, giving them a greyer vibe. 

She was with a random group of people, none of which I really bothered caring about.

That is, until I saw my own boyfriend, dancing with them.

- - -

I'm going on vacation on Tuesday, so I decided to try and write a long chapter to make up for it. I hope you like it, and I apologise for the sudden writing style. Lately I've been trying to improve my story writing, and this is just a start. Thank you for all the reads, votes, and comments! I'll be back in August, stay tuned! Love you~