A Royal Internship | Complete

Chapter Four

I had done two laps of the crowded club and still hadn't seen a glimpse of Janet. I had run into the three large men in dark suits. Or maybe it was one of them three times. They all look the same. I was really starting to worry, so I skipped ahead of the line for the ladies' room, despite all the protests.

"I'm just trying to find my friend!" I pushed a girl in a spiderweb dress off me and walked in, but I couldn't see Janet. I waited until someone came out of all of the stalls and still couldn't find her, so I pushed my way out of the bathroom past the angry faces of the girls I'd cut in front of before.

"Sorry to bother you," I said to the spiderweb girl as I passed her. "I didn't find her so you can be happy about that." I didn't bother to wait for her response, walking back into the main area and searching once again for Janet.

I pushed my way towards the bar, hoping to get at least one drink in me before I spent the entire night hoping my friend hadn't been abducted. The stale smell of beer filled the air while I pushed through the crowds and hopped up onto a stool. I sent a quick text to Janet and then tried to get the bartender's attention several times with no success. Finally, on the fifth try, he walked towards me.

"What can I get for you?" He looked above my head as though I didn't even exist.

"I'll have a-" I started to reply until I realized someone behind me was ordering as well. I turned around to come face to face with Clarence. Now I know why the bartender suddenly paid attention to me.

When he finished ordering more drinks than one person should consume, Clarence put his hand on my shoulder. "And I'll have two of whatever this young lady wants to order." He pushed in between me and the girl sitting beside me to lean his elbow on the counter while he waited. I ordered my usual and smiled as the bartender left.

"You know, you might want to watch where you touch in places like this." I pointed to his elbow. "It can get pretty sticky."

"Do you ever just let things happen and not worry about things going wrong?" he asked me. "I mean, my coat and now my shirt. It's all just stuff."

Spoken like a man who had an infinite supply of 'stuff' available whenever he wanted it. I rolled my eyes at him. "Some of us believe in taking care of our stuff. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find your cousin." I tried to get off the stool, but the only way to do that was to get closer to him than I would have liked. I was on shaky enough ground as it was, I didn't need Josh to see me caught up in anything.

"But you don't have your drink yet," he said, sliding his arm fractionally closer to me. "Plus, I know where your friend is."

A moment later, the bartender brought us our drinks on a shiny black tray and didn't even ask for payment. "I put it on your tab, sir." Does everyone work for this guy?

I picked up the drink he had ordered me and took a sip. "So where's Janet, then?"

He downed three shots of something clear in quick succession and then pursed his lips and shook his head. "Sorry?"

I repeated myself. "I asked where my friend is. You said you knew."

"Oh." He pointed across the bar to a sizable group of people on the dance floor. "She's somewhere in that crowd of my friends. Probably also looking for you." He stepped back from the bar slightly so I could see.

"Well, if you'll excuse me." I took the opportunity to hop off the stool into the space he left. "I'm going to go find Janet. Thanks for your help."

I held my drink carefully as I swerved through the packed club, the lights making my glass change colour every few steps. It was glowing pink when I finally caught sight of Janet. I tapped her shoulder, and she turned around.

"Oh, my gosh! I've been looking everywhere for you." She hugged me, "Where have you been?"

"I've been looking for you," I shouted over the music. "I had to fight off several angry girls when I went to check the ladies' room. I was starting to worry about you."

"Me, too," she shouted back, though it was still hard to make out what she was saying if I didn't focus really hard on reading her lips. I'm pretty sure what she said next was, "I was worried about you until I saw you with my cousin."

We gave up trying to talk and focused on dancing. It was hard to dance with a drink in my hand, so I downed it as fast as I could and put the empty glass down on a table. Pushing my way back through the crowd, I could see Clarence talking to Janet by shouting in her ear.

"Hey!" I stood very close to Janet, hoping Clarence would give me my friend back and stop giving her work to do while we were supposed to be out celebrating.

Janet turned from Clarence to me and smiled. "No, it's okay!" She waved her hands frantically to try to get her point across, so I don't know how necessary the words were, but I understood her meaning: he wasn't talking about work.

I grabbed Janet's hand and dragged her away from the speaker and towards the stage as I danced through the crowd. Clarence and a couple of his friends followed us, which wasn't my intention, but he wasn't that bad to have around.

"You wanna dance?" he asked me when he caught up to us.

I held up my left hand, and the diamond caught the multicoloured light, flashing it all over his face. "I'm engaged."

"I'm not asking you to marry me." He held out his hand. "I'm just asking for a dance."

I looked at Janet, hoping she could help me get out of this. She must have seen the desperation in my eyes, because she took my hand and looked at Clarence. "You can dance with both of us, Clarence. Not all of us want to dance alone with someone we just met."

He rolled his eyes and disappeared into the crowd.