Floating

Chapter Six

You told Nat you had a date this evening, but you flat-out refused to tell her who with.

When she saw you dressed to the nines in black tie she almost waterboarded you to get the information, but you held firm, insisting that you didn’t want to jinx the evening by giving too much away. There was no way she suspected the truth, but you still got the hell out of your apartment as swiftly as you could- just in case.

Bucky said he’d meet you outside the venue. Your taxi pulled up a little early and you climbed out, feeling your heartbeat in your throat as you hastily walked towards the address he’d given you. You really shouldn’t have been this nervous, it was just a favour, but you couldn’t help getting in your head about your first proper outing together.

Man, this whole friends with benefits situation would be a helluva lot easier if he just stuck to the fucking rules every once in a while. 

You turned the final corner and saw the grand-looking building, lit up like a Christmas tree with faint music coming from inside, Bucky casually leaning against the wall outside.

You had to give it to him, that boy could rock a tuxedo.

He started grinning like an idiot as soon as he spotted you, pushing himself upright and prowling towards you like a leopard approaching its prey. Your heart was close to punching clean through your rib cage by the time he was in touching distance.

‘Well would’ya look at that,’ he took both of your hands in his and pulled you towards him, ‘my date doesn’t look half bad.’

The way he said that made some of those feelings you weren’t allowed to have bubble up in your chest, so you quickly had to bag them up and go drown them in the river; you were just here as his friend, you had to keep reminding yourself of that.

‘You can chill out with the date shit, I’m only here to make you look less lonely.’

His hands started to explore the length of your back, fingertips pressing lightly into your skin when they reached your hips. ‘Oh yeah? That’s the only reason you came?’

‘Course. Why, what’re you getting at?’

‘Nothing at all.’ He shot you a wink, moved to your side and offered out his arm. ‘Showtime.’

You audibly gulped before letting him lead you up the stairs.  

As soon as the two of you stepped inside, you sensed half the eyes in the room shooting in your direction, some low-level whispers starting as you made your way through the crowd. Bucky obviously had a reputation amongst these people too, because they were staring at you the same as they’d stare at a dress-wearing dog walking in on its hind legs. You’d never felt like such a spectacle. 

He guided you over to a bunch of guys standing in a circle, squeezing the two of you into the group and greeting a couple of them with elaborate handshakes. They seemed just as surprised by your presence as the rest of the crowd, a couple of them exchanging confused side-eyes, but they thankfully kept their mouths shut and greeted you politely.

Looking around the sea of tuxedos, you couldn’t help noticing a slight issue.

None of them had dates.

So, either every single other person in the circle had been bailed on this evening, or Bucky had flat-out lied in order to get you here. Why the hell would he do that? Was this some kind of stupid fucking bet?

You’d definitely be having strong words later.

Before long, the group managed to locate some seats, and you noticed that Buck was starting to acting a little weird. He scooched his chair as close to yours as was physically possible and planted an arm firmly around your waist, a position that must’ve been at least little uncomfortable for him but it barely moved all evening.