The Country Boy and The City Girl

We Can Do This All Night

Jason's POV

"You ready for this?" Andrew grinned as we stood outside the fraternity house. Trina giggled with anticipation as she clung to his side, now in her party dress and heels. She threw a fit when we almost didn't let her change.

To be honest, I wasn't all that thrilled about this party. I really needed to study and Trina and Andrew would probably sneak off to make out the first chance they got. I would be the third wheel. Joyyy. But I wasn't about to be the buzz kill and look lame in front of Trina...

"Let's do this," I sighed.

Music. So much music blared into my ears and drowned out any thoughts I could've had at that moment. My head should've exploded, but all I felt was adrenaline. The hours passed by like minutes. I felt great.

I watched in awe as one of the cheerleaders did a one-handed handstand on a keg and chugged for two minutes straight, feeding off the shouts and cheers of the crowded room. My heart began to race, my throat let out a surprised laugh, and I headed towards Andrew and some other guys from our Psych class.

"How's your first college party? Took ya long enough," Andrew chuckled as he took I swig of his drink.

"Can't complain yet," I shouted over the deafening speakers. "Where's Trina?"

"She went off with some girl friends. I'll find her later." He pointed to his red solo cup. "You want some?"

"Maybe later. I'll catch up to you in a bit, man. Gonna do some minglin'."

"That's my boy! Get some!" he called after me as I turned and made my way past the crowd. I knew I wasn't about to chat up some cheerleader or drunk redhead standing in the corner. I was going to find Trina. As I moved through the sweaty masses of jumping and dancing students, drunk and loud, I scanned for her face.

Where was she?

"JASON!!!" Trina shouted from on top of a table. I looked up and chuckled as she hopped down and wrapped her arms around me. "Hey!"

"Hey," I smiled all goofy. "Havin' fun up there?"

"I looovvveeee parties," she sighed happily as she held on to my shoulders and leaned back. She was definitely a silly drunk. "I made friends!"

"Did you now?" I played along, giving her a cheesy grin. She was cute when she was loopy.

Her dark hair flopped in front of her face as she stood straight again. "You need to meet them! They're funnnn!"

"I'm sure they are. Let's get some food in you first." She nodded with a flop of her head and followed close behind me.

As I led her to the food, I felt her fingers intertwine with mine. It's funny, I didn't feel that same electricity that Danni's hand gave me, sending sparks shooting up my arm. It was warm with Trina, but it was empty feeling. The thought of it made me frown a bit. Was I just kidding myself?

We rounded the corner of the kitchen and found our way to the pizza and chips, already strewn about the tables like a pack of wild animals had come through. "Here," I handed her a slice. "Eat."

"But I don't wanna," she whined childishly. "I want another one of those!" I followed the direction of her finger to another girl's drink.

"Nope. No more for you. Stick with soda. Eat."

"You mean pop!" she giggled.

"Soda."

"Pop!"

"Does it matter?"

"You're cute when you're irritated," she smiled. I felt her arms wrap around my waist, a little lower than the just friend zone. "Do you like me, Jason?"

My cheeks flushed and I put the pizza down. "Why would you ask me that?"

"We've been best friends for awhile and you haven't tried to kiss me? But when I flirt, you get all flushy faced," she pouted. "Do you like me or not?"

"You have a boyfriend: my best friend!"

"That still doesn't answer my question," she sighed. "If you like a girl, just tell her."

I looked into her big brown eyes and knew they weren't the ones I had been wanting to see for months now. I had taken advantage of a distraction and put feelings into it that were meant for someone else, not realizing it until now. I looked down at the floor and avoided her eyes. "I did," I replied quietly. "But not for the right reasons."

"Who needs reasoning to like someone? I like you and I have zero proof of why," she chuckled as she threw her hands up into the air. "Besides the fact that you're gorgeous."

My face flushed as I ran a hand through my hair. "But you have a boyfriend."

"Yeah and he's not my husband. So I like both of you, big deal. Everyone's felt that feeling once or twice, if not more, in their life."

I cocked an eyebrow at her and laughed, stunned. "You're pretty philosophical for a drunk, you know that?"

"And you're blurry," she squinted her eyes and laughed. "What's your excuse?"

I shook my head and rolled my eyes as I led her back to the party. She wasn't Daniella. She would never be Daniella. I'm just stumped as to why it took me so long to figure that out. I had Trina right where I wanted her, and yet...I didn't want her. Was that totally messed up?

"You have to meet my new friends now. No excuses! I just met them awhile ago and found out they're from out of town. Cool, right?"

"Yeah," I answered dismissively. "Cool."

She pulled me along through the rooms until we reached the main mob of dancers. I didn't think the music could get louder...I was so wrong. "They're over here!" she called over her shoulder as I turned around to get a drink. I was not ready to see who I saw next.

Daniella.

"Hi," she choked out as she dropped her cup. I don't know if it was the music vibrating through my chest and rupturing my heart or the fact that I forgot how to inhale and exhale, but I felt like a thousand ton weight had started to crush me. I now knew for sure that those blue eyes were the ones I desperately needed...

"This is Daniella and...Audrey is somewhere around here...they're from UK!" Trina squealed with excitement.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Danni shouted as she gestured towards the other room. I nodded and let her take me aside.

She looked great. Her short blonde hair was curled and bouncy, the short black cocktail dress she had on made my eyes linger just a tad too long, and the impact and shock of seeing her for the first time in months made my heart seize and twinge with hurt and happiness all at once. "What'd you need to talk to me about?" Her back was to me, hand tightly pushing her hair back from her face.

"Daniella-" Before I could finish, she spun around and marched up to me, immediately bringing my lips to hers.

I guess what they say about picking up where you left off is just like riding a bike: you never forget how to do it, even after so much time. Her arms wrapped around my neck, mine wrapped around her waist. I didn't bother with being gentle as I threw her back against the wall and kissed her neck as our breathing turned to gasps. After awhile longer, I finally stopped to look at her.

"Please tell me beach boy is history," I breathed. She smiled and pulled me closer.

"Ancient."