Wish You Were Here

Part 3: Runaway Date

We pull up to a restaurant that looks really nice, and very expensive. I can tell that it's Italian and curse my choice to wear a tight dress. No pasta for me, no matter how good it looks.

Luke is the first out of the van, reaching back for my hand to help me out. I watch Ashton do the same for Rach, and now I'm wondering why I wasted so much time on any man before the ones in front of me. There's been small gestures all night, pointing to them being perfect gentlemen.

Dinner seems to fly by with easy conversation and glasses of wine. I ate a salad after a silent argument with myself about the importance of not bloating right now. Somehow we ended up there for nearly two hours talking about anything and everything.

I can tell that Rach is in her element with Ash. I've listened into a few conversations between them, they glide between topics easily. I can tell they're hitting it off big time, and I wonder if Luke got stuck being wingman after Ash saw her in the lobby. Maybe that's what this is, it wouldn't be the first time I was a pawn. The mere thought of him using me makes my head spin, and my chest ache. I focus on my breathing, and try listening to my own heartbeat. I try looking out the window, or staring at my hands, or counting colors of cars that fly past. It won't stop though, the thought of it, the nagging, aching feeling in my chest.

"Are you alright?" Not that I'm counting but that's the first Luke has spoken to me in thirteen minutes.

"Yea, just uh, thinking." I turn my attention to the hem of my dress, and the way it sits on my legs.

We arrive at a very busy looking club and are immediately led to a VIP area. There's a few different drinks around already, and we can request whatever we want from the bar. I start to feel my mind swallowing me, so I swallow two shots of vodka to pull myself out.

"Dance?" Rach asks after I finish, and I nod before following her.

"So are you ok?" She yells over the music when we get away from the VIP section.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, I'm in my head. You're having such a good time and he adores you already. I'm anxious, and self-doubting I guess." I have to yell directly in her ear as we near the dance floor. The VIP section is visible from where we are, and we can see the boys watching.

"A little bit of you and me. You'll feel better." She assures me, squeezing my hand that she's been leading me by. We put on a show for a while, trying to be all seductive or whatever since we know they're watching.

I feel my skin heat up from dancing, and the shots are catching up. The real show comes when I lighten the hell up and start goofing off with my best friend. Screaming lyrics at each other, laughing until our stomachs hurt, and jumping around. After a while though  it becomes exhausting, and we need drinks badly.

"We're back, did you miss us?" I ask as I take my seat next to Luke again.

"Of course, how could we not?" Ash responds and kisses Rach on the hand. Part of me wants to stomp on Luke's head for being so uninterested in me but I can't blame him.

"Drink?" He asks me and I nod, he gestures around to various bottles and I point to basically any clear liquor. He makes a request from the section waitress, and she runs off to the bar. She returns with what looks like whiskey for him, and something clear for me. I take the first sip, and I'm surprised he guessed my usual.

"This is what I always get. How'd you know?" I ask him, but he shrugs.

"Lucky guess, I figured everyone loves vodka tonics." I can't disagree with his logic, it's a classic.

"Did you get roped into this somehow?" My liquid courage is coming out, and I know she's going to ruin me.

"What do you mean?" He asks, taking a drink and turning towards me to listen.