Territorial / Simon Minter

03

Work's Christmas party was one of my all time favourite events of the year. Everyone got dressed up and we all sat down for a meal together. It was such a great opportunity to get to know the people you work with better. After the meal and a few too many red wines, most of the younger staff went to a few clubs for a bit. Emily and I tagged along with the rest of the group that were heading further into town, into the clubs. 

The red wine at the meal had definitely gone straight to my head as i skipped into the first club of the night. It took me a while for my eyes to adjust to the dark environment. From the corner of my eye i could see the strobe lighting from the dance for, nothing caught my eye much like strobe lighting and great music. I grabbed Emily's hand and dragged her onto the dance floor with me.

We were definitely both tipsy. We were dancing together in the middle of the busy dance floor. I was trying to keep my body upright, as people were pushing me left, right and center. But with alcohol in my system and the loud base music in my ears, i didn't care. I was really enjoying myself.

After a few more songs, Emily suggested we go to the bar and have a few more drinks. It probably wasn't the best idea but it wasn't one i was going to turn down. I hopped onto one of the bar stools and ordered four shots, two for each of us. We tapped the shot onto the bar and both tipped the shot down our throats. The alcohol burned. After the second shot, i was desperate for a chaser, ordering a vodka, lime and lemonade to get the awful taste out of my mouth. I turned around on my stool and watched all the dancers. The atmosphere in this club was amazing. The lights were flashing, purple, green, blue and everyone had grins plastered onto their faces.

Something caught my eye from the VIP balcony upstairs. My eyes wandered to a figure leaning against the balcony, staring down at me. His gaze didn't leave mine, which i wasn't expecting. He just carried on looking down at me. It was like i was in a trance, no part of me was ready to look away. Before i saw his lips twitch into a smirk and he pushed himself from the balcony and walked out of my view. How strange. His tall figure looked familiar to me, but my fuzzy mind couldn't comprehend where from. So i grabbed my glass and headed back to the dance floor. The previous encounter erased from my memory, as Emily and I carried on swinging our body to the sound of the loud music.

Half way through the night, Emily had latched herself onto a guy that was trying to dance with her. I awkwardly tried not to third wheel and carried on dancing by myself, keeping a close eye on them to check my friend was okay. The guy kept catching my eye as i was watching them. His gaze was intimidating, it made me shrink and turn away. My eyes locked onto a new gaze, a familiar gaze. The guy from the VIP section was dancing near me. His eyes locked on my own, again. 

"Don't worry about him" his eyes flicked over to Emily and this guy, who i assumed was his mate. "He's not the worst guy she could've chosen tonight" His voice made goosebumps rise to the skin on my arms. It was deep as he leaned closer to my ear so i could hear him, 

"Oh really? And who is?" I chuckled. We were in an innocent bar in the middle of town. There had been no fights. I hadn't seen any guys who looked to be advancing unwillingly on any of the girls. The vibe was great.

"I am" He whispered into my ear this time, i was still able to hear him. This should've made me weary of the guy standing in front of me, should've made me back away and dance somewhere else. But i was back in his trance. Staring into his eyes. I simply giggled and carried on dancing. Letting him dance with me. His hands were on my waist. 

I looked around the dance floor as i was dancing. I could see quite a few of the people around us had began to stare. Girls were standing with their mouths open, gaping at us. I could not figure out why we were getting so much attention. I guessed it was because i was dancing with this extremely attractive stranger. His dark blue eyes were mesmerising as they stared down at me. He slowly swiped his tongue over his pink lips, and i felt like my knees were about to go weak. I had never had this much attention of a guy like this before. Normally it was Emily or one of my other friends who attracted this much attention. I didn't know what to do. I felt shy under his gaze, but i still couldn't look away. 

"Are you going to tell me your name?" He still had that smirk plastered across his lips as he spoke. His voice still having a significant effect on me.

"I'm Zoe" I leant closer into him, and i felt his grip on my waist tighten slightly, but i ignored it.

"Zoe" He repeated. Almost testing out how the name sounded on his tongue. Although, i believe that anything would've sounded sexy on that tongue. I almost couldn't believe the thoughts that were going through my head about this stranger. I blamed the alcohol.

"Are you going to tell me yours?" 

"You don't already know?" His smirk grew as he pulled me closer towards him. Suddenly everything seemed clear to me. I looked up at his spiky blonde hair and tall figure, all my thoughts were confirmed for me. I slipped out of his grasp and walked quickly towards Emily.

"We need to go" I pulled her from the now not so stranger's arms, and dragged her towards the exit of the club.

"Why are we leaving?" She whined. She was obviously enjoying the attention as much as i was at first.

"Because i was just in the arms of the most feared gang leader in Seattle, and you were in one of his member's, i think we just found ourselves a hell of a lot of trouble Em"