Imperfectly Real (A Series of Imperfections) (5 page)

We laughed at his obliviousness, but he went right back to his phone doing God knows what. He was a lost cause ever since he’d got that thing. His addictive personality was better suited to not having one, but work had finally laid down the law—no pun intended—and told him he needed to grow up and get one. Just like Shane, he was trying to climb the corporate ladder within his firm and he was at their mercy. But it had been like this ever since he got the damn thing, constantly checking his email and doing business.

“You’ve got all the numbers right, Trudy?” Emma questioned one final time as she gathered her things from the kitchen table.

“Yes. We’ll have a blast.” Trudy, the one and only sitter Emma used, scooped up Felix and walked toward Emily. “Come on, kiddies, let’s go read a story shall we?” I watched as Emily gripped Elizabeth’s leg tighter while the sitter tried to encourage her by offering her hand.

“Go with Trudy, baby girl. Momma will see you soon, I promise.” Elizabeth knelt down and kissed her mini-Em on her forehead as Trudy picked her up with her free hand. Even though the kid wasn’t crying, Elizabeth continued to look guilty. I wondered if it was the first time she’d left her. I felt a slight pang of sympathy for her.

“Okay,” she breathed, “let’s go before she starts crying.”

We decided on walking the nine blocks to the new dance club, enjoying the crisp fall air. We laughed and talked just like old times, and I found myself reveling in the moment. Despite the familiarity, it was different walking those familiar streets now. But it truly was for the better.

Watching Emma and Shane together and seeing their joy truly made me happy. It really was something seeing your two best friends in love. Emma laughed at something Rob said, and Shane proudly put his arm around her neck before kissing her forehead. They belonged together—there was no doubt about that. He loved her, and I loved them. And Felix. Damn I loved that little guy too.

As the four of us joked and laughed, my eyes kept drifting back towards Elizabeth. She’d stayed at the back of our group, and occasionally forced some laughter in an attempt to fit in. I could tell she was uncomfortable and possibly still feeling slightly guilty, so I hung back, letting the other three take the lead, in order to join her.

“How’re you liking the city?” I questioned.

“I can see the allure,” she mumbled. “But I still don’t get how you guys know where you’re going. Every street looks the same, and I swear we just passed that same newsstand!”

“You get used to it,” I laughed. “Ah, see, here we are.” I followed the others as they quickly turned towards the entrance of the club. Without really thinking, I grabbed her hand and led her up to the front of the red velvet ropes. The line was long, but I knew we wouldn’t have to wait. Once again, Emma had worked on the advertising campaign for this particular dance club so we were able to skip to the front. It was always good to have connections, and I swear Emma had worked for everyone in New York. Girl was good.

We walked into the club and pushed our way through the throngs of people, straight to the bar. Rob, of course, took charge of the drink ordering and I suddenly realized that I still had hold of Elizabeth’s hand. I mumbled, “Sorry” before quickly dropping it. She smiled weakly and pushed up next to Emma who was already scoping out the dance floor, her head excitedly bopped to the beat. No matter where we went Emma just couldn’t help herself when it came to good music. She let the rhythm control her, and the girl could dance.

Rob turned from the bar and motioned for us to push through to join him. “Jägerbombs!” he yelled over the music.

“Doesn’t Jäger have human blood in it?” Elizabeth questioned innocently.

The four of us shared an exasperated look as we tried to hold back our laughter.
Was she really that naïve?
Apparently so. I shook my head in complete and utter disbelief.

“What?” she questioned. “I heard someone talk about it once in high school. They said something about it being blood …” Yep, she truly was that innocent. Poor thing had yet to taste the pure deliciousness of Jäger.

“Liz,” Emma said calmly with a smile on her face, “do you
honestly
think that the federal government would allow people to drink human blood in their liquor?”

Elizabeth paused for a moment. She bit her lip as she thought. I smiled at her naivety. It was endearing nonetheless. “Well when you say it like that …” she muttered, her face flushing with embarrassment.

“It’s just deer blood, Liz,” Rob added, nodding to the shot glasses in his hands.

“See, I
knew
I’d heard something about blood!” She must have felt better about her mistake as she yelled over the club music. She laughed before grabbing her shot glass from the bar. “What else is in it?”

“Quit asking questions, Half-Pint, live it up a little bit.” I spoke as I squeezed past her for my glass. I realized I’d slipped again and called her by that old nickname when everyone looked at me curiously. I shrugged before lifting the shot into the air, in between my friends. “Cheers to a night where we don’t have to fucking spell out the goddamn swear words!”

We all whooped it up before finally chanting, “Cheers!” We laughed, clinking our glasses together and downing them in one fell swoop. I hated to admit it, but I’d forgotten how fuckin’ awesome Jägerbombs were.

“That was good!” Elizabeth cried in excitement. “I think I want another one!”

I laughed and motioned for the bartender to bring us another round. I could tell that the night was shaping up to be a good one, and I was already prepping myself for an amazing Rob story in the morning. I’m sure he would find some sort of trouble or chaos to get himself into. And, seriously, the dude could tell a story. It helped that his epicness could not be contained, so he constantly found himself in precarious positions.

We sucked back another quick shot before the five of us made our way out onto the already packed dance floor. People were shoulder to shoulder and the music was thumping. We immediately lost ourselves into the crowd—the five of us gathered in a small circle all moving together. Emma and Elizabeth were actually acting like sisters and having a great time as they danced. Rob kept entertaining us with his typical asinine moves.
Really, who did the ‘Elaine’ or the ‘shopping cart’ at a club?

Shane made the trip to the bar for our beers. Rob followed suit and eventually it all became a blur. The beers kept coming and pretty soon I’d lost count of how many we’d had and began to feel that familiar fuzz creeping in. At some point, I lost track of Rob. I was sure he’d found someone or something that piqued his interest. I knew he’d find his way back to us—he always did—and then he’d have a story to tell.

Emma and Shane ultimately lost themselves in one another, leaving Elizabeth and I to our own devices. I watched while they stood among the sea of people, no longer dancing to the beat of the club music. Instead, they swayed close together, their eyes locked, totally oblivious to the world around them. Elizabeth was next to me, her eyes closed as she moved her hips to the beat. I tapped her elbow to get her attention and nodded towards the happy couple.

“Awww!” she yelled over the music. With a jerk of my head, I motioned for her to follow me to the bar and she giggled in response. I felt her grab onto the back of my shirt as we pushed our way through the crowd. I was reminded of her doing the same exact thing when Em and I took her to the fair when she was younger.

We’d only been fourteen at the time, but Mr. and Mrs. Sloan had thought we were responsible enough to take Elizabeth. She was nine and thought she was hot shit walking around the dirty fairgrounds with us. I’d thought it was cute that she’d been over zealous every time she saw someone she went to school with, but Em had found it annoying. Eventually it became overcrowded and Emma started to freak out. Back then she’d hated crowds and started to hastily push her way from one attraction to the next. That was when Elizabeth had decided to latch onto my shirt. I liked feeling needed.

Once we reached the bar I asked her what she wanted but the combination of the booze, her tiny frame, and the loud music prevented her from hearing me. I leaned over to her ear and a little louder I asked, “What do you want?!”

Her head turned towards me and her eyes smoldered as they locked upon mine. Without hesitation she said, “You.”

I paused knowing without a doubt that I’d misheard her. I leaned in again and yelled into her ear, a little louder this time, “No! I said what do you want?”

I leaned my ear towards her, encouraging her to make her needs clearer. Her lips found their way to my ear and she softly nibbled as she said loud and clear, “I already told you. I want
you
.”

I pulled away and looked at her, confused but strangely excited at the same time. I was wondering if my ears were playing tricks on me when Shane and Emma suddenly appeared next to us.

“What the hell you guys?!” Emma shrieked in her drunken club-octave voice.

My heart leapt to my throat knowing that we must have been caught. Elizabeth Sloan had just been nibbling on my freaking ear! Shane was going to kill me for starting drama when he had specifically urged me not to. I could protest my innocence but I knew he wouldn’t buy it.

Emma drunkenly slung her arms over our shoulders. “We’ve been looking for you!” And with that I breathed a sigh of relief.

“O-oh,” I stuttered. “We just came up here to grab some drinks for you guys!” I shared a look with Elizabeth, and even though the club was dark I could see that she was bright red with embarrassment.

I ordered another round of shots and we immediately sucked them down. Then, without missing a beat, the girls dragged Shane and I back out onto the dance floor. In the few minutes we’d spent at the bar, the floor had become even more packed—forcing us closer than we had initially been.

Emma and Shane immediately turned to dance together. As they turned, my back pressed against Shane’s and Elizabeth shared a look with me. Her eyes were full of desire as the bass thundered around us and she began swaying her hips to the beat. She was obviously on a mission, and she had lost her goddamn mind. ‘Blurred Lines’ by Robin Thicke thumped over the speakers and I couldn’t help but think of the irony of the situation. She pushed up against me, obviously hungry with lust. I prayed that Emma was too engrossed with her boy to notice that her sister had set her sights on me, and that I wasn’t doing anything to stop it.

I clenched my jaw as Elizabeth turned her back, pushing her ass against me, she continued to rock back and forth to the music. I was slowly coming undone. I froze, my hands stiffly at my sides, and looked over my shoulder just to double-check that Emma was oblivious, which she was. While I was distracted, Elizabeth grabbed my forearms and wrapped them around her shoulders while she continued to shake her ass on me. I knew I should make her stop and I wanted to back away, but I couldn’t. And Shane’s presence behind me wasn’t the only thing preventing me from doing so. I felt myself pull her closer than imaginable and I began to reciprocate her dance moves without any further thought of the repercussions.
It was just dancing. It couldn’t hurt, right?

Wrong.

The combination of the alcohol and ass grinding prevented me from
really
thinking about what I was doing. I knew better, but before long the music started to fade out and my lips found their way to her neck. I took a deep breath before pressing against her sweat-laden skin. She smelled like vanilla. Her hand found it’s way to my head and she gently tugged on my hair before spinning herself around in my arms. I felt Shane bump into my back and I quickly glanced over my shoulder again to ensure that they were still oblivious to what was going on, right under their noses. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that they were still having their own ‘Champagne Room’ moment and turned my attention back to Elizabeth, just in time for her hand to slide underneath the front of my shirt. I growled in response.

Breathless, I leaned down to her ear. “What the fuck are you doing?” I questioned, half angry, half turned on beyond belief.

“Something I’ve wanted to do since I hit puberty,” she breathed as her lips crushed onto mine.

I wanted to pull away, but something inside me was stirring and as bad as I wanted to, it was something I couldn’t ignore. I found myself wanting to make her happy—just like always, my own happiness be damned.

Despite our precarious situation, I groaned, my hand drifting down her body before finally grabbing her backside and pulling her even closer to me. She purred in approval and to be honest in that moment I just didn’t give a fuck. I didn’t care if she was my best friend’s sister, I didn’t care that she was married, and I didn’t give a flying fuck that she was a mother. She was filling a need for me—just like I was for her—and, in that moment, that was all that mattered.

Without further thought, I grabbed her by the hand for the third time that night. I paused next to Shane and told him that we were headed to grab drinks. I promised to be right back even though I knew that was the farthest thing from the truth. This was going to take awhile, and I was fuckin’ excited about it. My hand gripped Elizabeth’s tightly as we pushed our way through the crowd. It took us a while but eventually we made our way off the dance floor and passed the bar. The music faded once we entered the closed off bathroom corridor, and only the reverberations of the bass were audible. I knew that I was serious about what were about to do, but I questioned whether she was truly capable of it. This was something that was dangerous and exciting—everything Elizabeth wasn’t. In attempt to wake her up, I pushed her against the wall and gazed down at her, hoping that I could scare her with my size and seriousness.

“This is seriously fucked up,” I muttered, my eyes never breaking contact with hers. “You’re married …”

“Hardly,” she added coolly, turning her head away from mine. I was bothered by how cold she turned in that instant. I couldn’t fight the nagging feeling that I’d had since she’d showed up. I wanted to do something, anything, to numb whatever pain she was going through. I wanted to protect her just like I had throughout her younger years. I wanted to fix it … to fix her