The Opposition

Chapter 30: Carter

I don't know what to say to that. My brain seems to be short-circuiting. I can only think about Sadie, and her lips on mine, and us pressed against each other in the pouring rain. I need to get it together. If she thinks this was a mistake, then fine. She can think it's a mistake.

"Are we going to get groceries?" I ask.

She stares at me as if I didn't just ask a question, but then shakes her head. "I don't think we need them anymore."

"Should we call a ride and go back to the hotel?" I hope someone is fine with us entering their car dripping in rain water.

"No," she says, and I look at her, confused. "We're going to find Gracie and Felix."

My eyes go wide. "You want to go to a sixteen-plus club?"

"Fuck yeah, I do." And she turns on her heel and begins heading in the opposite direction. I just follow behind her.

It's almost as if the last twenty minutes never happened.

It's not a long walk to the club. The bright neon sign kind of gives it away as soon as you're within a mile radius. Now that we're here, Sadie looks anxious. I've never seen her at a party. Maybe one in freshman year, but, after that, if it wasn't organized by the school, she wasn't there. She definitely has the social status to be invited to them, but her, and her friends, always decline.

All of the lights in front of the building are off, but, through the windows, you can see coloured strobe lights lighting up people's face red and blue. There's a bulky man standing in front of the entrance to the club. He's dressed in all black and holding a clipboard. "IDs?" He asks as soon as we approach him.

"We're over sixteen," Sadie says. I don't think she knows how these things work.

"IDs," the man repeats, but it's not a question this time.

Sadie rolls her eyes and pulls her school ID from... the inside of her bra? The security guard looks at little shocked that this girl dressed in a soaking wet dress has identification hidden in her bra, but he quickly regains his neutral expression and gestures her to go inside. She does.

I hand the guard my Student ID, and, after glancing at it, he hands it back. "Why are you all wet?" He asks before I can escape after Sadie into the club.

"It was raining," I say.

"Okay," he says, but he sounds skeptical. "Don't drip water all over the floor. It's a hazard."

"Wouldn't dream of it," I reply, sidestepping him into the club.

He lets out an annoyed huff and mumbles somethings that sounds suspiciously like "kids" under his breath. He didn't tell us not to drink, but I'm assuming that it's implied that anyone under 21 has to stick to water and Coke.

I haven't been in a 16+ club since the incident with Dimitri, but it's all exactly the same. The brightly coloured lights to entice teenagers to dance instead of stealing bottles of beer from college students. The mass of hot and sweaty bodies grinding against each other and bouncing to billboard hits. It's loud and almost impossible to see anyone. Clearly Sadie didn't think it was necessary to wait for me by the door. So. Fucking. Difficult.

We're supposed to be finding Gracie and Felix, but we can't find anyone if we are not together. I head over to the bar, hoping to find Sadie sitting on a stool and not dripping water all over the dance floor. I'm surprised that it doesn't take long to find her.

"Can I buy a pretty girl like you a drink?" I hear a deep voice ask.

"Can an old man like you fuck off?" Sadie. Of. Fucking. Course. God, this girl is going to make me go crazy. If I haven't already.