In Reach?

Everybody’s quiet again. All you can hear is the music in the background. Time for a change of vibe.

I down the last of my drink and get up. I give my hand to Mason to take, but he just looks at it.

“What?”

“Come on, let’s dance.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so. I don’t dance.”

I really want to dance, and these drinks have made me a bit tipsy and brave. But, judging from everyone’s chilled vibe, I’m going to assume that they’re probably also a bit tipsy.

I take his wrist and pull him up.

“Hey!”

“Trust me, this is more for you than it is for me.”

He raises his brow.

“Let’s face it. You got some serious stress issues.” I say as I put his hands in place, one on my waist and the other in mine. “Otherwise you wouldn’t train so much.” I step closer to him, pulling on his arm to follow my lead.

“I’m a warrior. I’m supposed to train a lot.” He looks at my feet as he tries to follow me.

“But you’re past the point of ‘buff’. You’re on your way to looking like a walking cloud.”

He huff. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I thought I might get you in on cooking to calm your nerves, but you clearly can’t handle the ‘heat’.” I smile at my pun, though he doesn’t look too impresses. He takes another step, but looks confused.

“But I don’t think dancing is going to work either.” He looks around and over my shoulder. That’s when I notice, everyone is staring at us. I look back at him and he’s trying real hard to focus on my steps, but his hands are getting tighter.

Oh dear. His nervous.

“Hey.” He looks at me as I stop moving.

I lean forward and raise a bit on my toes to his tall frame as I try to whisper in his ear. “Just picture yourself invisible.”

He looks at me even more confused, but a second later he catches on,- that I know he’s worried about the ‘spectators.’ I start moving again.

He chuckles. “Really? That’s the best you can do?”

“What? People get confident when they feel invincible. And you don’t always need to be the big scary guy to be invincible.”

I look up at the others still sitting and staring. “So are you guys just going to sit there and watch, or are you going to join?”

Aubrey squeal. “Of course I also want to join. But do you think these woodsmen can dance?”

I chuckle and look to the other side, where the guys are sitting, but Noah is trying to avoid eye contact. Typical.

Theo though gets up. But the moment Noah notices him walk towards Aubrey, he jumps up and runs towards her. But before he can stop Theo, she already took his outstretched hand. “Not this time Noah.” She chuckles.

Now he’s just standing there in front of Sarah and Aiden. But Sarah is already pulling Aiden up to dance with. “Oh Sarah please don’t. I have two left feet.” He tries to sit back down.

“Don’t even think about it, or I’ll tell your mother about this.” He stops dead in his tracks, huffs and goes back to her.

Noah finally decides to go to Liz to get her to dance. He walks up to her and sways his hand in front of her. “Come on Liz.”

“Nice, real nice Noah.” She takes a sip and stands up.

Practically everyone is dancing around the fire now. The song ‘Lately’ by Dan & Shay is playing, and you can hear chuckling all the way round. That’s when I notice Liam. He’s still sitting as he’s sipping his beer. I want to dance with him, and I don’t know if this is the alcohol talking, but I think he wants to dance with me too the way he’s staring at me.

“Ow!” I hear Sarah, as Aiden stepped on her foot.

“I told you I had two left feet.”

I look back at Mason, and nod towards Aiden as I smile. “You want to show him how it’s done?” He seems to be getting it now, and surprisingly looks excited to go help Aiden out.

He leaves me there and I instantly look at Liam. He’s still looking at me. I make my way to him.

But before I can even say anything he’s already up and pulls me into his arms. My breath hitches at the suddenness of this, but I start smiling, realizing he’s already taking the lead with me. Well somebody knows his way around the dance floor.

He smiles back as he’s looking down at me. We’re so lost in each other’s eyes and smiling, it really feels like we’re invisible. Like no one can see us, can see into our world, where it’s just me and him.

I know I sound ridiculous and that I can at least just blame the alcohol on this tomorrow. But, the way he’s pulling me closer into his chest and his hand fitted perfectly in my lower back, it’s like our bodies just know each other, like they’ve always known each other.

He twists me into a twirl, and I’m so surprised by his skill, I can’t help but laugh out loud from the excitement, as he twirls me back into his arms. God, I love dancing. And I love dancing with him. I love the feel of our bodies together, and his scent, I love it on me.

We’re still looking into each other’s eyes when we’re pulled from our trance as we hear cheering around us.

We both look to the side as we step back from each other. They’re cheering at each other? Oh, the song just finished.

I don’t like this growing knot in my stomach. I should numb it. I make my way for another drink. Maybe hard liquor will do this time. My buzz barely lasted long enough.