“Well, I think she’s amazing,” Claire said. “And she deserves this after Trey.”
Her mouth flattened into a frown when she mentioned Trey. I wanted to make her forget him. I wanted to make her forget every guy that wasn’t me.
It occurred to me that she could have a boyfriend. In fact, it was likely she did. But then, on the off chance she was single, I had to try my luck.
“Wanna dance?” I asked.
“Sure,” Claire said. She hopped down from the barstool and followed me towards the floor.
“I should warn you, I’m a terrible dancer,” she said.
“Me too,” I said.
She was not a terrible dancer. She just didn’t dance like other women. First off, she didn’t even try to be sexy. There was no sensual wiggling of her hips or gyrating. Instead, Claire just danced however she wanted. She jumped and twirled and spun her arms around and laughed.
Claire wasn’t trying to be anything besides who she was. It was the sexiest thing I had ever seen.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her small but wiry form. I wanted to trace the indent of her waist with my hand and run my other hand along the curve of her muscled upper arms.
But I didn’t. I kept my distance. I grabbed her hand to twirl her and, when she didn’t let go, I twirled her again. One song bled into another, and eventually she edged closer and closer to me. I got more and more lost in the way her eyes flashed when she looked up at me. There was something there, I could tell.
Then she was only inches away, and I gripped her back with my hand while we spun. Like it was as easy as breathing, she draped her arms over my shoulders while my other hand found her waist.
We danced like that for a while before having another round of drinks. Kim tracked us down at one point, and we all danced together, but I didn’t plan on leaving Claire’s side. She seemed ok with that.
It was on the wrong side of midnight when the three of us exited onto the sidewalk. Kim had danced with a bunch of people and even made out with a guy in the bathroom, but she wasn’t going home with anyone. She was not the type of girl who needed to fuck a rando to get over a guy.
“Claire!” Kim squealed. “You’re the best, and I love you.”
She wrapped her arms around Claire and hugged her. Given that Kim was at least six inches taller than Claire even without her heels, I was concerned that Claire was going to get squished. Kim had definitely taken a tequila shot or two with her dance partners.
“Thanks,” Claire said. “You’re the best too!”
Claire then helped Kim call a car. Kim waved goodbye to us one last time before departing.
So it was just me and Claire, alone on the sidewalk. The music from inside the club throbbed behind us, but the crowds were a distant memory. The world shrunk to the two of us, beneath a streetlight’s glow.
“Fun night,” I said.
Claire nodded. She looked at the ground and then glanced up at me from beneath her lashes.
“You want to split a car?” she asked.
She had no clue where I lived, and I didn’t know where she lived. For all we knew, we could be on opposite ends of La Playa.
But there was no way in hell I was saying no to her.
“Sure,” I said.
Claire asked with my address and then fiddled with her rideshare app for a few seconds. “It’ll be here in five minutes.”
A bevy of giggling women stumbling out of the club’s side door made us move up against the wall. As the women tumbled into cars and disappeared, I stepped closer to Claire.
I hadn’t known her long, but I knew that she was fearless and bold. And yet as I lifted my hand to touch her jaw, I moved with agonizing slowness, like she was a scared animal likely to bolt.
Maybe I was the one who was scared.
As my fingers rested just near her ear, she lifted her chin and locked her eyes on mine. At that moment, I knew that she wanted me just as much as I wanted her.
