Thank you @tinex3007 for the basketball themed poster!
Chapter 65: Pass Him By
We were sitting on sound equipment. Hand in hand, I mindlessly traced his fingers as my hand rested on his open palm. I was happier here than back in the beach club party. I could still hear the music and felt zero desire to return.
All my desire was locked in the shape of Luke Dawson.
A handsome shape that left me in a dreamlike state.
Song lyric maybe? Suddenly, we heard shouting behind us.
Two bouncers were carrying Austin out of the backstage area. He was yelling something, and I looked back to see DJ Pumpa T himself, standing there and looking amped.
"How did you even get in here, dawg?!" the DJ yelled out, "I thought we had good security here for real!"
His blue tipped spiky hair created a weird halo effect around him. He was wearing a hoodie with cartoons and a mad splattering of color on it. It felt strange seeing him up close after watching him on stage for two hours.
Austin yelled back, "You lay another hand on-"
The bodyguards wrestled him back and one wrapped an arm around his neck, preventing him from talking.
"Stop, you're hurting him!" I yelled out.
Luke reacted faster than me. He was already walking towards them.
He passed Oma and said, "You filming?"
She quickly took her phone up and pressed 'record' in case anything went wrong. Documentation was a defense.
"Put the flash on," Cearra said, so it'd be obvious they were on camera.
I ran up after them, wondering what I could do to help.
Luke started talking to the bodyguards, but they yelled at him to back off. He didn't. And when they took a more aggressive stance against Luke, that relaxed their grip on Austin, who ducked out of the chokehold and danced back to the rope separating him from backstage access.
He continued to taunt the DJ. The bodyguards tried to go back to Austin, but Luke got involved, creating a scuffle that I couldn't quite see.
"There!" Oma said, pointing her phone in the direction of an opening door.
The phone's flashlight followed the movement and cast a spotlight on Lara as she stepped outside.
Lara flicked her dark hair over her shoulder and raised her hand over her eyes, trying to see through the scuffle that was happening at the entrance. She held a wine glass in her other hand.
"Austin?" she asked, and her expression became alarmed when she saw the violence escalate, "Austin!"
She approached the velvet rope, where the DJ was busy raising his fists in random motions against us. He was boxing the air and protected by a rope that separated him from all of us.
"Try to get a piece of this!" DJ Pumpa T yelled out.
"What are you playing at?" Lara asked him, pointing at his 'boxing hands'. She lowered them so she could pass him by, and then said, "I'm leaving with them."
Lara unclipped the velvet rope, though the DJ tried to stop her with words that sounded like lyrical flow. Luke helped her undo the rope, stop the DJ and lead her across.
DJ Pumpa T tried to intervene again, but Luke told him, "This rope doesn't protect you from anything."
"Get off of me!" Austin yelled, shrugging the bouncers off.
The DJ reached out for Lara to convince her to stay, but Luke pressed his hand on DJ Pumpa T's shoulder to stop him.
Touching the DJ was not a good move. That set off a whole new chain reaction. A bodyguard grabbed Luke, but Austin shoved him off.
"Public space!" Austin argued, "You're going to let that guy harass a girl?! What's wrong with you, man?"
"I'm doing my job," the bodyguard replied, trying to grab him in another clinch.
"Yeah, that's what every guy working for an assh*le says," Austin said.
"You're the assh*le trying to ruin everyone's new years'," the bodyguard answered, while they were both stuck in this bear hug.
Lara still held her glass of wine while she argued with the DJ.
He finally flipped his nail polished middle finger at the rest of us, "Let these losers go. You're lucky I don't get you locked up for trespassing."
Luke replied, "Higher chance you'll be behind bars for going after teenage girls."
**
We were banned from the beach club for life. All of us. Banished.
"Is there some explanation for what happened back there?" Lara asked in a casual, nonjudgmental tone, "Or am I just going with it?"
If she was confused, then I'm on a different planet.
"It got out of control," Austin apologized, as we walked through the parking lot to find Chad's chauffeur.
The parking lot was sparsely lit up by white streetlights. Our shoes clacked on the concrete as we heard the faint sounds of the party behind us.
"You didn't," Luke said, "Chad and Bianca are somewhere back there."
True. They had gone in to find Lara but disappeared pretty quickly after that. I'm sure they were somewhere backstage, living it up.
"This photo is everything," Oma said, zooming in on a still shot of Austin being carried in the air with the DJ cursing at him.
"If that didn't go down so badly, I would've asked for his autograph," Cearra sighed.
**
*00.51 AM*
Chad and Bianca were partying the night away backstage at DJ Pumpa T's after party. The beach club party was going strong. Shouts of "Pump the funk" could be heard from the parking lot.
Our bracelets had been cut off as we were banned from returning to the party. We couldn't find the car, since the chauffer had driven off, waiting for Chad's call to return and pick us up. And we couldn't find Chad because he was at the after party.
Austin tried his number again, "He's not picking up."
"Pump the funk," Cearra sighed, sitting on the curbside, with her heels in her hand, "What a ridiculous chant."
Lara stood under the spotlight of a streetlight in her white dress and matching white converses. She seemed in good spirits, despite the abrupt change in her New Years' plans.
"I'll call my uncle to send a car," Lara offered, lifting her phone to her ear as she took a sip of her wine.
"So what happened back there?" I asked, leaning against Luke since my feet were hurting so much in heels.
Austin told us the story while his phone rang. "I was looking for Lara and when I pointed to her, the DJ said she was staying with him tonight," Austin said, while he clicked call on Chad's number again. "I said she's underage and he said all groupies lie about their age."
I gasped. Austin nodded as his call to Chad went to voicemail. So he clicked dial again.
"It got worse. He said some other things that I won't repeat here. Then Lara saw me and came over. The DJ tried to grab her and she shoved him. Then I shoved him, which is when the bodyguards came."
Lara walked up to us, "Uncle's sending a car over to pick us up and we can go to his party."
I wouldn't mind going to bed, but that's just me.
We'd completely forgotten that Austin's phone was still calling Chad until he suddenly picked up.
Chad's voice yelled out through the phone, "WHAT?"
"Never mind," Austin replied, completely unphased, before hanging up.
**
*01.37 AM*
The party at Lara's uncle's home was still going strong. There were a lot of older people here, so the music leaned heavily on 80's hits. Some guests had gone home, which left more space for us.
Everyone was letting loose. Chad and Bianca showed up an hour later. At one point I saw Lara dancing with a retro corded phone.
I kept my eye out for the ostrich lady. I really think we could be friends.
*02.49 AM*
Chad tried to get on stage to play drums. He can't play drums.
Was ostrich lady an ostrich or a swan?
*03.23 AM*
Luke and I slammed the doors to a bathroom open and stepped clumsily inside. Our lips were pressed against each other's. My legs were wrapped around Luke's waist as he carelessly closed the bathroom door behind us.
He pressed me against the wall, kissing my neck and pulling my dress down to expose my bare shoulders.
"Anyone can come in," I breathed.
"That's what makes it hot," he kissed my shoulder, while one of his hands roamed my body and the other was pressed up against the wall.
His hips grinded down on mine and a gasp escaped my lips, which he swallowed as his lips covered mine.
*03.56 AM*
Austin was dancing to a Patrick Swayze song with an elderly lady.
She's like the wind in all its romantic glory was playing on the speakers now that the band had gone home. The dance floor was relatively empty, but Austin and the elderly lady kept it up.
Luke stood beside me, watching Austin with an entertained expression. He then asked me, "Why can't we dance like that?"
I knew he was mocking Austin but I decided to put his joke to the test. I dragged Luke to the dance floor. He was so reluctant, trying to invent all the excuses for why he shouldn't dance... and that's when I realized how bad of a slow dancer he is.
"Wow," I gasped, "I finally found a sport we're equal in."
*04.23 AM*
I made a beeline for the buffet again. The food had changed and been replaced by breakfast foods.
I helped myself to some syrup-soaked waffles, before Cearra convinced me to join the others outside. I followed her through that double wall situation and back to the stargazing room. The others had all gathered here, one by one.
I sat cross legged on the floor with my plate of waffles in front of me. Oma had a bowl of fruit in her lap. Our drinks were scattered around on the ground or in someone's hands.
Since there was no ceiling, we sat under a dark sky, with tiny stars glittering in the calm surface of the pool. Lara took her shoes off and dipped her feet in the water, creating a ripple that expanded over time.
The sound of the water was cathartic, as we sat waiting for the time to pass. No one was in a rush and no one had anywhere to be. It felt liberating.
Austin and Luke were standing next to a column, talking. Luke was leaning slightly against it and Austin stood with a hand in his pocket. The wall cast a shadow over half their bodies, and the other half was under moonlight. What a picture-perfect moment.
"Is he your boyfriend?" Lara asked me, subtly indicating Luke with a tilt of her head.
"Is it that obvious?" I asked, blushing at how I'd been caught staring.
"No," she laughed gently, looking down at her legs submerged in the dark water, "But I'm sure you two make a good couple."
I cut a slice of my waffle and put it in my mouth before the syrup dribbled onto my dress.
I chewed, swallowed and changed subject, "Since this is your uncle's place, do you know why he has a room with no ceiling?"
She was sitting on the edge of the pool and tugged her dress up slightly to give herself more flexibility. She then replied, "It's a funny story actually. Austin's mom came up with the idea for this entire room."
I never expected that.
"I thought this was Chad's dad's friend's party," I said, getting confused by all these social networks. How was Austin connected?
"Austin's mom used to date my uncle," Lara smiled, already anticipating my shocked reaction, "That's how my mom met his mom. Apparently, they came on a group vacation to Dubai when they were in college. They fantasized about buying a place here and the parties they would throw when they were older."
I watched Lara dip her fingers into the warm water and flick some water on her arms. She continued with the story, "Austin's mom pictured a room like this, straight out of her imagination. She has a really creative mind. Have you seen the grotto she built in her home?"
I nodded. The parties Austin throws there are very well attended.
Lara sighed and her hair glistened as she leaned back, "They broke up, but my uncle kept the dream alive. Several years later, he bought this place and created the very room she dreamed of."
"So, your uncle still loves Austin's mom?" I asked, getting very intrigued by the love story.
"I asked my mom the same question and she had an interesting answer," Lara explained, "She said that love can come in my many forms. Sometimes, you can love the person you were when you were with someone else. Austin's mom made my uncle a dreamer. It made him creative and spontaneous and he wants to keep that part of him alive. It's hard to stay that way when you grow up."
Lara was a good storyteller and I was hooked by the history of this room. Did I think Austin's mom was high when she created the double wall illusion and no ceiling idea? Probably.
*05.21 AM*
The sun was shining overhead, and familiar heat was returning. I had pulled an all-nighter and was exhausted.
I didn't want to be the one asking to go home, but I was so relieved when Chad called his car to pick us up. I was the first one out of the house.
"Glad you still got energy Millie," Chad commented as he walked down the carpeted steps after me.
I stopped, sensing something wasn't right. "Why are you glad about that?"
"Because the day's just beginning," he smiled, putting his sunglasses on, "Let's get breakfast."
A/N: Confession! That last line came straight from real life. That last Millie – Chad interaction came 100% from my own experience (a party pre-covid of course).
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