Prohibition

Part 5

"Okay, Landon, come on now. You owe me a dance after all that hell you gave me at the train station." Hope leveled him with a challenging and playful glare. He looked somewhat guiltily down, swallowed hard, and shrugged.

"Whatever you say, Missy." Landon offered his hand without truly looking at her and led Hope out to the floor. He wasn't a terrible dancer and when Jade began to lead the band into a slower number, Landon pulled her close.

"How well do you think this is going to go over with Uncle Ric?" Landon asked in a low, rumbly, and deep tone so only Hope could hear him.

"A pretty smart man once told me that what he doesn't know won't hurt 'im." Hope shrugged her answer off, she arched one eyebrow and Landon nodded noncommittally in return. One of Landon's hands held them just a bit closer together.

Even once the band had finished their set, Hope wasn't the first to pull away either. She swallowed roughly before peeling herself away to clap for the band. Every time she looked back as she made her way to an empty table that she turned around, Landon was still watching her.

Kaleb was in the middle of a lull at the bar when Hope sat down across from where he stood. "You wouldn't happen to know where MG might have ended up?" Hope asked, shooting Kaleb a bright smile, and enjoying how his face lit up at the sight of her.

"He ended up getting called into work. Say, I've been watching ya, how did you learn all of those fancy dances out in your middle of nowhere hometown?" Kaleb replied and asked back in turn.

"From watching the movies over and over. My friends and I would all practice together with the old records. We got pretty good." Hope shrugged in answer.

"I find myself inclined to agree. Are you ready for another drink?" Kaleb asked, pouring this one a bit lighter than the others. Hope smiled, glad to see someone was out keeping an eye for her.

"So, do you ever get a chance to get out on the dance floor yourself?" Hope asked.

"For the most part, I hang out here and let the interested parties come to me instead," Kaleb answered with a soft chuckle, and Hope eyed him with a smirk as Landon rejoined them.

"So, what do you do to work out?" Hope asked unwittingly and turned a curious glance to Landon as he raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"She meant for exercise, you absolute dunderhead," Landon said hoarsely. Hope caught herself blushing once more under each of their heavy gazes. She could already tell Kaleb was a real gentleman and choked back what she was going to say. Hope didn't want the bartender to think poorly of her.

While the two young men became distracted with talk of push-ups, sit-ups, weights, and other things Hope really didn't give a rip about, Hope glanced around the speakeasy, trying to memorize it all for days when she needed the happy memories. She saw Rafael still at the same table, in the same seat, and nursing the same drink. All the ice had already melted. No longer able to resist her curiosity, Hope went to attempt a conversation with him.

"I have yet to see you dance, or tap your foot, or even move. I'm also pretty sure that if you were to squeeze that glass any harder it would shatter in your hand." Hope pointed out as she took a seat across from him.

"Is there a point you are trying and failing to get at?" Rafael asked lowly.

"I'm not sure that I understand why you're here," Hope spoke drily. "You don't dance, I wouldn't call that drinking. I don't see the point."

"I am avoiding or attempting to avoid drunk tomato women, like yourself. On rare occasions, it can be kind of fun. This isn't one of them." Rafael spoke with a shrug, taking a half-hearted sip of his drink.

"I know everyone needs a hobby, but I doubt this is yours. There are places with less noise you could go, you know." Hope suddenly felt more insightful and brave than she ever had before, or maybe it was just the alcohol in her system. "Maybe you are all scarred up from the war, as MG said, but I don't believe that all of your hurts on the outside."

Dark eyes went wide, suddenly more ferocious than they had been cold. "You shouldn't make mention of things you have no notion of. Now, get outta here." Rafael seemed deadly serious, so Hope took her leave, content in the knowledge her words had hit home.