“Hey,” he said.
“Can I help you?” Lauren asked.
“I’d hope so. How’s your detective skills? I have apparently lost something. But let’s talk about a dance first.”
Matt barked an appreciative laugh. “Nice.”
Lauren gave the slightest hint of a smirk but it disappeared quickly. “Let’s not. I’m waiting for someone. He gets real jealous.”
“Shame. Well, if you change your mind, we will be over there,” he replied, gesturing behind him. He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a thick wad of green one-hundred-dollar notes and placed one on the table. “Next round’s on me.” He gave Matt a thank you nod and left.
Lauren slowly turned her head back and stared at Matt.
“What. The. Hell. Is. Wrong. With. You?” She had mouthed the question, pausing after every word, accentuating the direness of his actions.
“You said he was hot.”
“What if Dante had seen him come over?”
“You said Dante wasn’t here.”
Lauren huffed and went off to the bathroom, but not before giving Alex an explain-before-I-kill-him look. As she left, she punched Matt on the shoulder.
Once alone, Alex snuggled up to Matt and ruffled his hair. She realised it was sort of a gesture one would give to a smiling dog that had trashed a pillow because it didn’t know any better, and she felt a twinge of guilt. Didn’t Matt deserve more? Alex gave him a soft, lingering kiss. “Love you.”
Lauren soon returned and the songs continued on. Massive dance hits from every decade from the 70’s and onwards. Every single was a hit with the crowd, bringing roars of appreciation as they started. The three of them danced together, the girls dancing against each other, putting on a show. Alex put her arms around Lauren’s neck as Lauren wrapped hers around Alex’s waist, grinding together, shouting the lyrics along with the artists on the big screen. Matt and a few others cheered them on vigorously.
Breathless, they retreated to the booth, the girls talking about the hottest guys at the club, which Matt joined in, picking out the dodgiest looking blokes he could find, caused the three of them screaming with laughter.
“God, look at the time,” Alex said, looking at her watch. “It’s almost two! This has been awesome. I hereby put forward,” she raised her drink and looked at Matt, “that T is the official hot spot for the Musketeers!”
“Seconded!” Matt grinned, pouring more into the shot glasses that lined the table. “All for one,” he said, placing one in front of each girl, before taking them back and skolling them. “But more for me.”
Alex squealed playfully and smacked him. “No more for you! What do you reckon, Loz? Loz?”
Lauren didn’t appear to have heard her. Alex saw Lauren looking past both of them. She followed her gaze to the entrance at the top of the stairs where they’d all come in earlier. A handful of people were still coming through, but Alex saw what Lauren saw.
“Oh, look, Loz! He came after all.”
“That’s Dante? Well, I can’t deny I’ve seen worse looking dudes.” Matt grinned.
Before long, the bronzed, green-eyed, square-jawed Adonis was standing beside their table.
“Good evening.” His voice was deep, smooth. Warm and commanding. His shapely shoulders and V-shaped torso were even more prominent under his slim-fitting charcoal suit, not to mention his closer proximity.
“Dante!” Alex screamed, raising her hands in tipsy delight, tripping over Matt to crawl over him and wrap her arms around Dante’s neck, giving him a huge squeeze. In turn, his large arms moved around her, but kept his hands on her back and sides. Far too gentlemanly, she thought.
“Hello, beautiful. It’s good to see you.”
Just when Alex thought Matt couldn’t take anymore, the hands that held her were removed and Dante presented one to Matt.
“Oh, I’m sorry! Dante, this is my Matt, boyfriend.”
“Dante Delavega.”
Matt took Dante’s hand in a single quick shake. “How ya goin’?”
“Fine, thank you,” Dante replied.
“And of course, you know Lauren,” Alex said, gesturing to the statue that once was her best friend. Dante looked over and gave Lauren a small nod and smile. Perfectly friendly, thought Alex, but she couldn’t help but sense an air of indifference.
“Is this really the same guy Lauren is convinced will be her next conquest?” Matt whispered into Alex’s ear.
Before she could answer, people started coming over to the booth, greeting Dante. Women kissed him on the cheek. They blushed and fluffed their words, and asked him to join their table, or hinted at him to buy them a drink, and offered to buy him one. Dante greeted everyone warmly, and although he denied the requests for a drink, he promised to buy a round and catch up with them all.
Instead, however, he sat down at the booth beside Alex and they began to chat like they’d known each other forever.
*
Lauren had been patient, well, patient by her usual standards. She’d noticed Dante had brushed every single person off, but made it a point to come over and sit down. She kept trying to catch his attention, running her finger slowly across her bottom lip, but he kept his face turned towards Alex.
Lauren loved Alex like a sister. And like a sister, Lauren was annoyed at the fact that Alex had never managed to draw attention from the same guys she liked, until now. Tonight of all nights, the guy of all guys. Lauren had been trying to get the message across to Dante for weeks. Now it seemed like he wanted her to know he got it, but was playing a game with her. The indifferent way he greeted her, saying he would get to the other chicks soon but sitting down immediately and then making a point of not looking at
