Ari was dancing with Josh. I mean she was dancing closely with Josh. There was some major grinding going on. I had never seen a girl move like how she was moving. There must have been at least a group of ten people standing around whooping and hollering. I saw her look over towards Jeff and the look on her face was sending a clear message.
“Gunner, do you know why Ari is dancing like she’s staring in the next dirty dancing movie?” Ellie asked over the music. Fuck…. what was I suppose to say. She was going to be pissed at Jeff.
I looked at Jeff to see if he was going to say anything. Nope. He couldn’t pull his eyes away from where Ari was dancing. We just stood there…watching Ari. Amanda and Heather joined in on the dancing. Josh looked like he had died and gone to fucking heaven. Even I was getting turned on just watching Ari dance with Josh.
A slower song started to play, “Fall Into Me” by Brantly Gilbert. I shook my head at Jeff and looked down at Ellie.
“I love this song……will you dance with me Ellie?” I asked as I took my hand and ran it down the side of her face.
Ellie looked over at Jeff; clearly she knew something had happened, and then she looked over at me and smiled.
“Or course I’ll dance with you. ”
I scanned the dance floor and saw Ari was dancing with Josh. I thought I saw her quickly wipe a tear away from her face but I wasn’t sure. Shit…. Jeff fucked up big time.
I took Ellie in my arms and held her close. I took a deep breath in and breathed in her smell. She would forever smell like daisies to me. She molded perfectly into my body. She was tense when we first started to dance but I could feel her relax more and more as the song went on.
I looked up to see Rebecca and Jeff dancing………and kissing. Jeff didn’t even have his eyes closed. It was almost like he was on auto pilot.
Stupid drunk bastard.
I was going to fucking kill him tomorrow. I kept Ellie turned away. I didn’t need her leaving me now to go bitch out her brother. I closed my eyes and pictured Ellie and I all alone just the two of us dancing.
The song ended and Ellie looked up at me with the most precious look on her face.
“Gunner…. . you have a beautiful voice. ” She said as she stared into my eyes.
I could lose myself in those beautiful blue eyes. If I had not known better I would think my knees were about to give out from under me. Wait……what did she just say? I had a beautiful voice? Was I singing?
“I didn’t realize I was singing out loud. I’m sorry!” I said with a laugh. “That must have been pure torture!”
Goddamn, there comes that smile I would die for. It slowly spread across her cheeks along with the blush that I have grown to love so damn much.
“No…. it was……it was one of the most romantic things ever. It took my breath away. ” Ellie said as she looked down and away from me. She looked back up with a weak smile.
“You’re going to make some girl very happy someday. ”
Fuck. I had my work cut out for me. It was pretty damn clear she was sticking to this whole friend’s bull shit. She was just going to keep pushing me away. Patience is all I needed. If it meant ending up with Ellie the rest of my life…. then I was going to have to learn to give her the space and time she needed.
Ellie and I danced together most of the night. I was pretty sure I didn’t see Ellie dance with any other guy. Not that they were not asking her to. I saw her turn down more guys tonight than I cared to count.
I stopped drinking after my fourth beer. I needed to have a clear head. Between keeping the vultures off of Ellie and her friends, watching dick head Jeff and trying to keep Crysti at bay, I needed to be as sober as I could.
The most interesting part of the night was when Ari stood right next to Jeff and Rebecca and danced to “Shut Up” by Christina Aguilera.
“Okay, what is going on with those two?” Ellie asked me while she watched Ari dance and never once did Ari look away from Jeff. He looked like he was going to blow any minute. I was just hoping that they didn’t rip each other’s eyes out.
I shrugged my shoulders and prayed that Jeff didn’t kick Josh’s ass since he was dancing pretty damn close to Ari and she had a shit eating grin on her face the whole time. Jesus those two were going to be the death of me tonight.
The party started to wind down around midnight. I was standing in the kitchen talking to Scott and Brad when I felt someone come up behind me and wrap their arms around my waist. I instantly knew it was not Ellie.
“Hey there handsome, what do you say to a dance with me?” I took the arms that were wrapped around me off my waist and turned around to see Crysti standing in front of me. She looked like she was wasted. Fuck, I wish her and her Barbie doll friends would just leave already. Rebecca had been clinging to Jeff damn near all night.
“Ah, no thanks Crysti…. . you might want to start gathering up your friends. We’re shutting things down soon. ” I said as I gave her a blank look. Last thing I needed to do was encourage her anymore.
“What the hell Gunner…. . you have a few high school girls at your party and we all have to go to bed earlier tonight? I know who I want to go to bed with ……” Crysti said as she threw her arms around my neck.
Of course that would be the moment Ellie and her friends had walked into the living room. She was scanning the room. Probably looking for Jeff but he fucking disappeared about 30 minutes ago. She caught my eyes. She tried to keep her face natural but I was not stupid. Her whole body tensed.