Take This Dance
The after party was in full swing at Chaplin. I’d won 2 of my 3 awards tonight. Jeff and I won best on-screen chemistry while I won best actress. Michael Cera and Jenna Tress beat us for Best Off-screen chemistry, and I was happy for the two, but Ed and I were clearly cuter. Michael and Jenna have denied rumors of dating, but Ed and I haven’t yet. For all the public knows, we could be dating, and they just hurt our ego.
The public is selfish. This is why Teens shouldn’t get the choice to vote. I mean, we were clearly cuter. You know what, whatever. I’m here with Noel and Jeff, and we’re going to-
Noel and Jeff. Where did they wander off to? I could’ve sworn they were just on the dance floor. No. You know what? I bet they’re getting drunk. They’re going to end the night at each other’s place just like every time we go clubbing. Great, just great.
As I was looking around for my most likely hammered friends, I noticed a group of 5 boys laughing together at a table. They were all drinking, so I guess Niall learned his lesson about getting his friends to get drinks for him. We wouldn’t want a repeat of the last time he tried to buy.
Looking at the boy band, I realized how badly I actually wanted to hang out with them. It’d been a solid month and a half since I’d had a proper conversation with the lot of them. In fact, the last time –minus at the award show –that I’d talked to them was when I said it’d be best if we separated ways.
I should’ve been making my way over to the group and catching up on how things were. I actually almost started going towards them, but my eyes landed on Liam’s face as he laughed at something Louis was telling him.
There was no denying that Liam Payne was attractive. It’s part of why he was so desired. Yes he’s talented as all hell, but there was something about the way he presented himself that was truly an attractive quality. But his attraction was the problem.
Maybe it was dumb of me to make that bet with Ed, but let’s be honest here: I’ve controlled my hormones for 18 –almost 19 –years now. Some bubblegum pop star isn’t going to ruin that streak for me.
Ignoring the desire to go and spend time with the boys, I made my way to another British pop star that I was glad to call my friend. He may have made a bet against me, but I was still going to marry him, so I might as well get a dance with him.
“Can I have this dance?” I asked as I approached Ed at the bar.
“I thought you’d want to reunite with your boy band.” He cocked his eyebrow at me, placing whatever beer he was holding behind him.
I rolled my eyes at him. “None of them compare to my ginger dream.”
“Or does one of them beat me out,” he started, looking towards the table that One Direction was occupying. “And you want to avoid him?”
“Wow,” I deadpanned back to him, feigning hurt “I just wanted a dance, not a psychosomatic review.”
“You can’t play this by ignoring Liam,” he changed the subject, but kind of stayed on subject.
“I can and I will.”
“The point is that you can control your hormones for 2 months,” Ed explained, speaking slowly like I was a dumb child. “Not that you can avoid him for 2 months.”
I again rolled my eyes at the older Brit. “They correlate with each other, don’t they?”
“Not at all, love.” Ugh. There he goes, calling me love again. Is he trying to make me swoon?
“Just fucking dance with me.” I know I’m being demanding, but come on. I just want a dance.
“Not a chance,” he shot me down. “I see a beautiful blonde calling me.”
“Hey!” I yelled at him. “I’m beautiful!”
“You are,” he agreed. If I was in love with him, I would’ve felt light-headed. Oh, who am I kidding? “But if I dance with you, Liam won’t talk to me ever again.”
“Haha, Ed.”
He didn’t look like he was joking though. “No seriously. He keeps looking over here.”
If Liam was looking over here, I’d want him to know that he and I weren’t happening before the 15th of September. “Then at least let me tease him.”
“Isyss Tyler, you’ve teased that boy enough.”
“But it’s fuuuuuunnnn,” I sang. Okay, maybe it was a whine.
Ed rolled his eyes at my immaturity. But, hey, I’m 18. I can be a kid. “Go dance with him.”
“No.”
“Isyss”
“Ed”
“Go.”
“No.”
“Hey Liam!” Ed suddenly yelled, and I turned around to see Liam heading towards us.
I quickly faced the traitor I was speaking to. “What? No. What are you doing?”
“It’s time for you to stop talking so much, love,” he whispered, making me drop my jaw, gobsmacked. “It’s not good for you.”
“Excuse me?” I was more than a little offended.
“Stop talking-” he whispered harshly before snapping his eyes up and painting a smile on his face. “Hey Liam.”
“Hey, mate. What’s up?” Liam was greeting Ed, but I noticed his eyes flickering to me briefly.
“Isyss wanted to dance,” Ed got straight to the point as I sat there with my arms crossed. I am a teenager after all. “But I must go address a blonde.”
“That’s not an actual excuse, man,” I shot out to the asshole that I loved so dearly.
Ed just rolled his eyes at me. “What did I say about talking?”
Liam laughed at our banter, and I almost smiled at the musical sound it made. “You guys sure you’re friends?”
“Yes,” Ed confirmed, though I wasn’t so sure. “Which is why you should dance with her, so I don’t leave her alone.”
“You’re ridiculous, Ed.” I addressed the boy that was trying to walk away from me before turning to the other pop star. “Liam, you don’t have to dan-”
But I was cut off. “I’d love to.”
“What?” No. Don’t do this.
“Brilliant,” Ed clapped his hands before he disappeared into the crowd.
“Wait, no.”
“You don’t want to dance?” Liam asked, giving me a look that made my heart melt. His eyes were extremely big, making the warm, almond color stand out. His bottom lip overlapped his top one, and his eye lashes were fluttering. I always thought the puppy dog look was dumb, but seeing this grown man doing it in front of me, I knew I was fucked.
“It’s not that, it-”
“Then let’s go,” he interrupted, grabbing my hand, trying to pull me to the dance floor.
I planted my feet on the ground, trying to halt the pulling. “No, wait.”
“This is going to be difficult if you keep stopping, love,” he explained, and if I thought Ed saying love was swoon-worthy, you should’ve heard Liam. Ugh. It was heaven.
“It’s just that…” This was difficult to explain, making me trail off in midsentence.
“Yes?”
“I don’t actually dance with like moves it’s more like-” he cut me off.
“Grinding?” He asked. I nodded at him, and an overly sarcastic man appeared in his eyes. “Oh dear. A 20 year old man and an 18 year old woman grinding. Call the police.”
“You are extra snarky today,” I managed to comment.
He just chuckled at me. “Tipsy. I’m tipsy, not snarky.”
“Same diff-”
“Are we dancing or what?” If he doesn’t let me finish a sentence, I’m going to choke him and his puppy dog face.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to comment on his cutting me off because he was dragging us deeper into the clump of bodies. I’d been clubbing quite a few more times since the premier of Imagine, so I’d learned how to properly dance. And Liam? Oh, he knew how to as well.
I wasn’t going to deny that his hands on my body was making me heat up faster than I normally would have. I wasn’t going to deny that his body was the perfect size for me to fit into. I wasn’t going to deny that I wish the song was longer, so I could’ve been pressed against him for longer. I wasn’t going to deny any of it, but I wasn’t going to come right out and say it either.
“Thank you for the dance,” I thanked him. ‘Dance’ seemed more appropriate than “Thanks for letting me shake my ass on your dick.”
Liam just smiled at me. “It’s no problem. And I’ll see you on Saturday.”
I normally spend Saturdays watching movies and doing dumb shit with Ed. “You will?” You shouldn’t.
“Yea,” he nodded, keeping that glazed smile on his face. “Ed invited us to crash your party.”
“He did?” I asked, but kept my slight anger hidden. “Great. See you then. Bye.”
Sure that may have totally confused him, but I had more important things to worry about. Like why on earth Ed would invite anyone to our BFF days. We may have been grown adults, but that doesn’t mean I wanna share my special days with anyone other than Ed.
“Ed!” I yelled, storming up to the ginger that called himself my friend. What rubbish!
“Isyss,” he greeted, drinking from his second beer (that I knew of) of the night. “How was your dance with Liam?”
Don’t hit him, Ice. “It was fine, but-”
“Did I win the bet?” He cut me off.
“What? No.” He wouldn’t have won that easy. Sure, I may like the guy, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to get half naked for him at a club filled with some of my colleagues and other VIPs.
“Then to what do I owe this pleasure?” You owe this pleasure to your negligence of being a best friend, Ed.
I decided to get straight to the point. Mostly so I could kill him sooner. “Why’d you invite the boys to Saturday?”
He shrugged as if this wasn’t a horribly inhumane thing to do. “I thought it’d be a nice thing to do.”
A nice thing would’ve been some warning. Oh. Or not invited a boy band into our private place. “Saturday’s are our things.”
“I thought it’d be rude if I didn’t invite your boyfriend,” he said, and the asshole didn’t even crack a smile. He was being serious, and that ticked me off.
“You’re asking to get hit, Ed.”
“I’m sure that’s just the sexual frustration speaking,” He was speaking to me like I was a 6 year old.
“Ugh,” I groaned.
And Ugh was right.