I've never been one for school functions; especially when there was dancing and alcohol involved. But Bea had set the target and by god I was going to make this count. Easiest two hundred dollars I'll ever make.
Yeah right.
Pulling my dress a little higher over my thighs, I ran my fingers through my hair and walked over to where Gloria, Damon and Lilian sat. It was obvious, even from where I was standing, that no one at that table was even remotely close to sober.
"Hey!" I yelled out. The music was pounding so loud, it was difficult to even breathe without feeling the sound echo through your being.
Gloria looked up, eyes unfocussed, and gave me a happy wave. Gloria, she was a happy drunk. An insanely naiive, annoyingly happy drunk.
"Hayley!" she yelled. "You should totally join us."
Damon and Lilian gave me a smile each and scooted over. "Where've you been?" Gloria shouted once I'd sat down. I waved a dismissive hand. "Around. Are you the only ones at this table?"
Gloria shook her head. I only just noticed that she was rocking to the music.
"Michael and eh ... yeah, Michael."
I felt the Bea in me smile.
"Where is he?"
God it was so easy to get Drunk Gloria to tell you the truth. I made a mental note to never tell her anything I wanted to keep private.
"Uhm..." her brown eyes scanned the room, then lit up. "THERE!"
And like an image from a dream, Michael stumbled out of the crowd. Looking him up and down, I realized that he wasn't drunk. At least not drunk enough to be drunk. Biting my lip, I cursed quietly.
His sobriety might make tonight's endeavour (and my two hundred dollars) a little difficult to achieve. I mean, I didn't know how committed he was to girlfriend girl and what his thoughts were about one night stands.
I was just about to quit the whole project when Bea popped up beside me. She had a bottle of tequila and shot glasses in her hands. Gloria gave her one of her happy go lucky grins.
"Hey Bea!" she said.
The bitch didn't even look at her. Pulling my face close to hers, she looked me straight in the eye.
"Giving up so quick, Hayley dear?"
Her breath reeked of alcohol.
Turning away, I pushed her half dressed body off of me. No one could dress trashy as well as Bea Mathews.
She fell on her ass, but laughed at me.
"Knew you'd chicken out."
Hit suddenly by another wave of bruised ego, I stood and gave her my most withering glare. Her smile fell off and she cringed.
"The night's not over yet."
Marching over to where Michael was standing, I laced my fingers through his empty hand and pulled him to the dance floor. He hesitated for a moment but followed me anyway.
"Let's dance." I whispered in his ear once we were safely inside the throng of moving bodies.
He didn't make any effort at subtlety. Raking his eyes over my very short, very tight dress, he looked me in the eye and smiled that heart stopping smile.
God, do you know how good you look when you smile?
"Let's."
And we did.
