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I looked between the stranger and the dance floor, gripped by confusion. “You? With me? Right now?”
“Unless you’re not into it,” he continued, throwing a look over at Nicholas. “Oh, shit. Sorry, man. I didn’t even see you—I wouldn’t have asked your boyfriend to dance if?—”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Nicholas added, a little too quickly. “He’s not anything to me.”
Ouch.
I knew he was straight but saying I wasn’t anything to him? Not even a burgeoning friend?
I rolled my eyes as I took the stranger’s hand and headed for the dance floor. “We’ll be right back, Nicholas. Keep an eye on my Sidecar for me?”
“Will do.” There was a strange look on Nicholas’ face as he watched the stranger and me sidle up next to a row of people on the dance floor. I rolled my eyes yet again, no longer interested in concerning myself with what Nicholas was thinking about, before I turned back toward the stranger. He flashed a smile at me as he began to move in time to the music, expertly keeping in step. I tried to follow his lead, even though I was desperately offbeat, unable to figure out the right moves before the song shifted from verse to chorus.
“You’re really good at this,” the stranger commented, hips swaying.
“And you’re a really good liar,” I said back, unable to stop myself from laughing as I fumbled yet another step.
“Here. Let me help…” The stranger reached toward my waist, his hands resting on either side of me. He turned me around to face him, his frame suddenly oh-so-very close to mine. But just as he began to take a step backward, in time to the beat, I felt another pair of hands pulling me away from the dance floor.
“What—” I looked over at Nicholas, his arm now firmly wrapped around my waist. He didn’t stop moving until we were at the back of the bar near the restroom area, with him soon pushing open the men’s restroom door.
“Nicholas, what the hell?” I ripped myself away from him and leaned against the nearest stall. “What’s going on with you?”
Nicholas stared at me for a few seconds, his expression blank, unreadable.
“I don’t…” His words trailed off as he eyed me up and down. “I don’t really know what’s going on with me.”
“Did you think that guy was going to hurt me or something?”
“No.”
“Then, why did you stop us from dancing with each other?”
“Because… I wanted you to be dancing with me,” he murmured. “Because I…”
He stammered for a few seconds, like he was desperately searching for the right thing to say but just couldn’t find it.
“Nicholas—”
His name was the last word out of my mouth before his lips were pressed tightly against my own. I soon found myself kissing him back, a sudden electricity crackling between us, like it’d been just underneath the surface, waiting for its time to sizzle to life. A few seconds later and he was pressing me even further back against the stall, both of us stumbling backward as its door swung shut behind us.
“Hi,” I whispered, a smirk growing on my face. “How are you holding up?”
“Holding up?”
“After realizing that you’re insanely attracted to me.” I let out a small laugh, now extremely aware of how close our bodies were pressed against each other in what was technically still a public place. “I can’t lie. I didn’t really see that one coming?—”
“Yeah, me neither,” Nicholas admitted with a shrug. “Something about seeing you out on that dance floor…”
“Set you down a burning path of jealousy and rage?”
“It just… I don’t know…” Nicholas was laughing now, too. “Fuck. I’m sorry. This is—you’re not?—”
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t make this complicated and ruin everything.” I beamed, reaching behind Nicholas to lock the bathroom stall. “We’re having fun, right? We should just keep having fun.”