Before I could answer, I felt a hand press gently on my lower back, and I turned to see William holding a drink for me. “Thanks,” I said. William smiled at me and joined Nick and Trent on the other side of the table. The place where he had touched my back still tingled with an electric hum.
When I turned back, Sasha and Melissa were both staring at me with wide eyes. “What’s going on there?” Melissa asked.
“Mm-hmm,” Sasha hummed with a smile. “Trent said he saw the two of you jogging together the other day.”
“Just hanging out with my housemate. Just friends,” I said.
Melissa chortled, “Friends with benefits, I hope!”
I shook my head and laughed, but I wondered if Melissa had a point. Maybe we could just be friends with benefits? I tried to change the subject.
“I love the decorations.”
“There’s a lot of mistletoe hanging around here tonight,” Melissa winked.
I pointed to the DJ table. “A DJ? That’s fun!”
“I heard she’s great,” Sasha offered. “Plays the perfect mix of pop, hip hop, country, and reggaeton music.”
“Nick helped Ray find the DJ. It’s part of the new push to attract more young adults to stay in Creekstone. I thinkyour friend, William, has been helping Nick start all kinds of programs,” Melissa said with a grin.
Sasha, Melissa, and I played a few rounds of pool. Sasha was an unbelievable pool player, so it was mostly just rounds of Melissa and me waiting for Sasha to sink all her shots. Occasionally, I’d look up to see William listening to Trent and Nick. Sometimes, he would look over and watch us playing pool. I felt his gaze linger a little longer than necessary on me.
By the third drink, Melissa was sharing stories about holiday ER patients. Mostly Christmas decoration mishaps and holiday cooking gone wrong. Suddenly, Melissa’s eyes widened and she pointed at Nick.
I looked over to where Melissa was pointing. Nick was standing between Trent and William. Nick looked like he was giving a campaign speech. William had his arms folded across his chest as he listened. He was nodding along as Nick talked.
“I can tell he’s talking about work. Let me go and bail Trent and William out.” Melissa bounced around and over to Nick. She shook a finger at him. “No work tonight! You promised.”
Nick looked like a kid whose hand had been caught in a cookie jar. Melissa tugged at Nick’s arm. “Let’s dance.”
Trent and Sasha followed Nick and Melissa out onto a spot where the tables had been cleared away for dancing. William walked over to me, and he shoved one of his hands in his pockets. We stood awkwardly for a moment, and finally William said, “Wanna dance?”
Maybe if I hadn’t had three strong mixed drinks I would have responded differently, but at that moment, all I could really think about was being close to William again.
William was a surprisingly good dancer. He struck the perfect balance of dancing close enough to me so that other guys didn’t try to cut in, but far enough away that I wasn’t creeped out. After a while, I was sweating, and I motioned to William that I was going to the bar to get a drink.
The bar was crowded. I waved at Ray behind the bar, and he gave me a nod. I leaned on the bar and turned to watch everyone as I waited for my drink.
A tall, skinny guy with a backwards baseball cap appeared next to me at the bar. “Hey, I was watching you play pool earlier. I’m Brett. What’s your name?”
“Annie,” I muttered.
“Annie. You wanna dance?”
I turned to see Ray bringing me my drink. Just in time, I thought.
“No, thanks,” I said, waiting for the drink to arrive.
“Aww, come on,” the guy said. He took a step closer to me, and before I could say anything else, William stepped behind me.
“I was looking for you,” William said to me but looking directly at Brett, who stepped back and held up both hands.
William motioned to Ray to bring him another drink. I turned toward the bar and looked over my shoulder at William, who was watching Brett skulk off.
As soon as Ray dropped off William’s drink, I said, “It’s so hot in here.” I fanned my face. “Wanna go out on the back patio?”
William followed me through the rear door of The Pub, which opened onto a patio area. Since people usually only ate outside on The Pub’s patio during the spring and summer months, the tables and chairs were not set up. Strings of lights lit the area, giving it a warm, inviting ambiance. Outside was much quieter, but we could still hear the steady thud of music from inside. A handful of people were standing in small groups, drinking, and smoking.
