the longest summer in america - jevin

chapter 4

the music is pounding in ian's ears and he can feel the vibrations of the bass in his chest, but he doesn't mind it. he loves it. In fact, he downs the last of his drink and knocks the glass down on the counter, then turns around and struts right to the middle of the dance floor.

in his mind it's fierce and it makes him look sure of himself; to the outside eye, it probably looks like he's drunk off his mind. which is not that far from the truth, anyway, so. let them think what they want.

he twirls with his hands over his head, happily not giving a fuck about anything. just this night, he deserves it for keeping everything together for so long. that's probably way too dramatic. or maybe he has every right to feel what he's feeling. he knows somebody who definitely wouldn't think so.

right on cue, ian feels arms slide around his waist from behind. he doesn't have to look, to know who it is. the industrial amount of cologne he can smell gives it away.

"may i have this dance?"

ian rolls his eyes and shrugs, continuing with his own dance while nick tries to keep up. they probably look ridiculous. but again, fuck what everybody else thinks.

they jump when the music asks for it, they sway dramatically when it slows down enough, even laugh together at the faces some of the other people on the dance floor make at them for being too loud when they sing along to the one song with actual lyrics the dj puts on.

it's almost nice. it actually is, for a while.

when there's a pause in the set, they stop by the bar to get new drinks, then stumble together back to their table, where the other people who had gone out with them are sitting.

that's where the night takes a turn for the worse and never really goes back.

"hey, ian!"

coming to a halt right by the table, ian frowns and stares jaden straight in the eye, as if looking at him that hard could change the fact that it makes no sense that he's there. this is ian's group of friends... people, and jaden is in it. jaden, who is not part of said group. what?

"what?" he actually says it out loud.

jaden smiles like something is funny. the way nick makes ian step back with a hand on his chest definitely isn't. ian wiggles free from his hold and goes to sit in front of jaden, on the other side of the table. nick follows, sitting at the very end of the bench and forcing everybody to squeeze closer together.

"having a fun night?" jaden asks, looking specifically at ian.

"yeah!" ian answers happily. "i like the music!"

"you would never say that he likes to dance like that, would you?" nick intrudes the conversation.

ian makes a complaining noise and looks at him with outrage written clearly on his face, while jaden barely tilts his head to the side and smiles a fake smile at nick.

"i don't generally like to judge people based on what they look like," he says.

nick takes a handful of the peanuts sitting on the middle of the table and stuffs them in his mouth, but doesn't answer. he does keep staring at jaden, though.

"we saw a dolphin out in the ocean today," ian excitedly tells jaden, desperate to lighten the mood. "that was pretty cool."

"i saw one the other day as well! they're so cute."

"they are! they're so... cool," ian nods, beaming.

"they remind me of you," jaden leans on the table and bites his lower lip. "you got lucky, nick."