"Another one bites the dust," Kaela said to Alyssa as they reached the bar that had been set up in one corner of the room.
Alyssa threw her hands up in frustration, "I know right!? How is everyone finding their man but us?"
"Maybe you're not looking in the right places," they heard a voice say behind them.
They turned their heads toward the bar to see a curly haired girl leaning over the counter and assumed she was the one who'd spoken.
"And you are?" Kaela asked with her eyebrow cocked.
"Oh sorry, I do that sometimes, I hear people say things and then I say things...I'm Ava. what would you like?' she questioned, nodding to the plethora of drinks lining the counter.
Kaela and Alyssa glanced at each other momentarily before looking back at the girl who was looking at them.
She pushed a tip jar with her finger and asked them, "So how about those drinks?"
The girls reluctantly put their own tips in the jar as Ava began to mix their requests.
"I'm sorry for butting in, but what's stopping you? Besides your own limits, of course. Sorry"
"Well, the fact that we can't find them is kinda stopping us," Alyssa told her as she took her drink from Ava.
"Who are you looking for?" she asked her in response.
"She's looking for Sage," Kaela said while sipping her drink and looking away to avoid the dirty look Alyssa was giving her.
"Oh, he's right over there." Ava replied while pointing towards a less crowded corner of the room.
Both girls whipped their heads around to catch a glimpse of the boy in question and sure enough, there he was laughing into his cup at something one of his friends was saying.
"How did you find him!?" Kaela asked in astonishment as she turned to find that Ava had disappeared.
"What the fuck!? Alyssa! Where'd she go?" She asked but Alyssa wasn't listening.
She was still staring at Sage. She was feeling many conflicting emotions. Part of her wanted to just walk up to him and say something but a much larger part of her wanted her to just run. She felt her heart skip a beat as he looked up and locked eyes with her. She decided she should've listened to the dominant part of her and run while she still had the chance. Now he'd seen her. No. He'd caught her staring and for some reason she was STILL staring. To be fair, he was still staring too. Why was he still staring?
The corners of his lips lifted into a smile before he turned to one of his friends and whispered something into his ear so that they were both staring at her. She swallowed heavily before turning around and taking a huge sip of her drink. Oh shit! What had he said!? What should she do?
"Alyssa! What was that!?" Kaela asked her.
"That was me definitely making a fool of myself," she groaned before letting her head drop onto the counter.
"Let's get away from here, fast. Please." She pleaded with Kaela.
"Yeah, sure. Let's go back to the dancefloor."
Alyssa gave one last despairing sigh before sitting up and turning to give Sage one last glance before she tried to disappear in the crowd. Except he wasn't there. He'd moved and he wasn't standing where she'd last seen him. His friends were still there though and they were all smiling at her. One of them even lifted their cup to her in a salute before smirking and turning away. Oh shit. She didn't know what that meant but she knew it couldn't be good.
"Looking for someone?" she heard someone breathe in her ear.
She felt her entire body flush as she recognized the voice in her ear.
"Umm...no?" she responded and she turned to find Sage leaning against the bar as he faced her.
He chuckled and she felt her whole face get hotter in response.
"Let's go dance, " he told her as he offered her his hand. She grabbed his hand and let him spin her onto the dancefloor.
She giggled and glanced at him a little hesitantly.
"Trust me girl, you know I'm the life of the party."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taylor laughed as Daniel managed to dip her on the crowded dance floor.
"This is not the appropriate way to dance to this song," she told him through her laughter.
He smiled at her,"This is how we dance to this song babe."
She smiled up at him, "You're so corny. Oh my god!"
She really loved him or was that the alcohol talking? Maybe it was both. I mean, they'd been together for a while now. Who cared right now anyway? All that mattered is she was here, she was having fun and she was with her amazing boyfriend even though he'd decided that he was going to go to New York for college and Taylor was staying in Florida.
Okay, clearly time for more drinks! She was thinking way too much and way too hard for a party.
"Daniel," she shouted as she tapped him on the shoulder.
He used the arm he had around her waist to pull her closer and then bent his head so she could speak right into his ear.
"I need another drink. I feel myself sobering up and you know I'm not about that so hop to it."
He rolled his eyes before pecking her on the forehead, "Stay here," he instructed her before disappearing as he went to find her another drink.
"Whatever," she shouted after him as she heard, "Shake Ya Ass" by Blackbear come on. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to stay still now let alone stay where he left her.
She completely let herself go as she felt the music wash over her and she didn't know how but she suddenly found herself dancing in a group of girls she didn't know. She didn't really know where her own friends were, hopefully getting some dick, but until they popped up again she was going to twerk and have a good time. It was probably another two songs later when she realized that she'd sent Daniel to get her a drink ages ago. Where the fuck had he disappeared to?
Honestly, he did this all the time. Just disappearing when she needed him to do something. Like earlier today at her house, she'd sent him to get some ice. Fairly simple and he'd disappeared and the next thing she knew, she was on top of a table with a giraffe.
She sighed heavily as she realized that she'd have to go and look for him now. She turned and craned her head as she scanned the room for Daniel or anyone who might know where he disappeared to. She spotted Tiara waving at her and made her way over there.
"Looking for Daniel?" Tiara questioned amusedly once she was close enough.
"Isn't she always?" Carter laughed from next to her.
"Oh, now that you're together you think you're a comic duo huh? Where is he? He was supposed to bring me a drink ages ago and now I'm hot, I'm thirsty and I'm a little annoyed because this is like, the second time he's done this today."
Tiara and Carter looked at each other before looking back at her and smiling.
"What are you two smiling at!?" Taylor questioned them suspiciously.
Carter laughed, "Nothing Tay. I'm pretty sure I saw him walking towards Parker's music's room. I'm also pretty sure he had your drink with him."
Taylor sighed in exasperation, "Get me a drink. Such a simple instruction."
She turned to go towards the music room as she heard Carter and Tiara laughing behind her. Why the fuck was he in the music room? Why was he always doing these things?
When the music room was in sight she sped up, determined to give Daniel a piece of her mind. This was going to be the last time he pulled this kinda shit.
She barged into the room, "Daniel! What the fu-"
She stopped as she took stock of her surroundings. The whole room was candle lit and there were huge vases of long stemmed flowers everywhere and red rose petals and tea lights scattered on top of the white piano in a corner of the room. The large wall to floor windows were exposed and she could see the stars and the full moon. She turned when she heard someone clear their throat from behind her.
Daniel was on one knee behind her, looking very much like he was going to burst into tears.
All Taylor could think to say was, "Holy shit."