The Art of Life (79 page)

               
When I make it to the bottom of the
steps, I can barely look up, but when there is nothing but silence, I have to raise
me
eyes.
 
Josh,
Kent and Jeremy are all there just staring at me.
 
My cheeks flush like they are on fire.
 
Finally, Jeremy is the first to speak.
 
“You are NOT wearing that.”

               
Heart broken, I look down.
 
“I look that bad?”

               
“NO!” Josh yells.
 
“You are hot as hell.
 
Oh
my gosh
, if
Jeremy has a problem, I will take you out.”
 

               
My eyes drift to Jeremy, the
look in his eyes is fierce.
 
“You picked
it out for me,” I finally murmur.

               
“Forget him!” Josh snaps.
 
He comes over and wraps his arms around
me.
 
“You are all mine tonight.”
 
That makes me laugh.

               
“No, you are not,” Jeremy states
harshly, almost losing his voice.
 
“Get
your hands off her Josh.”

               
He wiggles his eyebrows.
 
“Are you escorting her, because if you
aren’t, I am going to?”

               
Jeremy looks at him and narrows
his eyes.
 
“Of course I am taking her out
tonight.
 
I just…..I mean……I am going to
have to FIGHT guys off.
 
I don’t want
them to look at her like that!”

               
I cross my arms, “Why not!?
 
I actually feel sexy for the first time in my
life!
 
I refuse to let you rain on my
parade.”

               
“Damn straight,” Cassandra
interjects.
 
“Let’s go.”
 
She walks up past Jeremy.
 
“Are you driving her, or are you going to
have a coronary.”

               
“No,” he replies, shaking his
head.
 
“We will follow you.”

               
Josh sighs sarcastically,
“Fine.”

               
I kind of stand there as
everyone
walks
to the door.
 
Jeremy comes up and slides his hand into
mine.
 
I intertwine my fingers with his,
even though I know I shouldn’t.
 
With
that, we walk outside.
 
For some freakish
reason, it is really warm outside and we don’t need jackets.
 
Talk about an Indian summer, or…..global
warming.

               
We slowly make our way to the
car.
 
Jeremy opens my door for me.
 
Right before I sit down, I turn to him.
 
“Promise me that I don’t look bad.
 
I don’t want to go out and be……ridiculous.”

               
There is an instant soft look in
Jeremy’s eyes.
 
“No, Isabelle, it’s not
that.
 
You are
gorgeous,
I just…..don’t want to share you tonight.”

               
“Then don’t,” I whisper, just
looking at him.
 
We stand there staring
at each other for a few seconds.
 

               
Finally, we hear Josh yell, “GET
IN THE CAR!
 
Come on!”

               
As I get in, I try to pull my
dress down a little bit.
 
Nope, that
isn’t going to happen.
 
I feel slightly
awkward, but also slightly….daring.
 
Jeremy gets in and starts the car.
 
His eyes glance down to my legs.
 
It makes me blush.
 
I see him take
a deep breath, as he backs up.

               
The drive to the club is a quiet
one, but the air is filled with an unexplained tension.
 
It’s weird because it isn’t a bad
tension.
 
I just can’t quite describe it.
 
We park in the only spots in the club’s
parking lot.
 
The sign says VIP.
 
Well, aren’t we special?
 
Jeremy takes me hand and leads me to the
entrance.
 
There is a HUGE line, but Josh
walks straight to the front.
 
Doing that
fist bump thing with the bouncer, Josh says, “Hello Jimmy.
 
We have five tonight.”

               
Jimmy looks at me and raises his
eyebrows, “Who is the new girl?”

               
“Isabelle,” Josh replies, “But
hands off, she is Jeremy’s.”

               
“Lucky you,” Jimmy says Jeremy.

               
Jeremy just puts his arm around
me and pulls me tight against him.
 
Jimmy
laughs and pulls the rope back.
 
We walk
in and the place is thumping.
 
I have
never been in a club before but this is something straight out of a movie.
 
The lights are crazy and there are people
everywhere.
 
When you walk in, there are
three steps that go down.
 
Those lead to
the lower level.
 
I see that it is packed
with teenagers.
 
After you walk past them
and then the dance floor, you get to the stairs that lead to the second
floor.
 
That’s where we go.
 

               
A guy at the bottom just nods
his head at us, which makes me sigh in relief.
 
I don’t plan on drinking, but I also want to be on the second
floor.
 
We climb the stairs, and I am a
little careful because of the heels on my boots.
 
On top of that, I am slightly self-conscious
because Jeremy is right behind me, and the bottom of my dress doesn’t come down
very far.

               
When we get to the second floor,
I see that it is even cooler.
 
The DJ is
actually up here.
 
The bar is to the
right, the second dance floor to the left and tables in between.
 
Josh starts to push through the crowd and we
follow.
 
It’s then that I notice there is
another level up a few feet.
 
It is
barricaded off with ropes.
 
There are
only a few people next to one table.
 
Josh walks up to this little area and goes to one of the bar
tables.
 
“So, what are we all drinking?”
He chirps.

               
“Beer,” Jeremy and Kent say at
the same time.

               
“Rum and coke for me,” Cassandra
replies.

               
Josh looks at me.
 
I roll my eyes.
 
“I will have
a water
.”

               
He coughs and says, “
Underager
,” at the same time.

               
“Shut up,” I laugh.

               
Josh just grins back.
 
“I will go get the first round.”
 
He walks away and I just look around at all
the people.
 
It is a little overwhelming.

               
Suddenly, Jeremy presses against
my back and puts his hands on each side of me on the table.
 
“So,” He quietly whispers in my ear.
 
“What do you think?”

               
His breath hot on my skin makes
me shiver.
 
“It’s cool.”

               
“Are you going to dance with
me?” He asks.

               
I turn around and look at
him.
 
We are very close and face to
face.
 
“I have never danced in public
before.”

               
“There are a lot of people out
there,” Jeremy replies.
 
“I would say no
one would notice, but you are dressed very alluring this evening.
 
I have a feeling a lot of eyes will be on
you.”

               
“Then I will not be dancing,” I
state.
 
Jeremy gets a wicked look on his
face and grabs a hold of me.
 
He ushers
me down the steps and towards the dance floor.
 
Giggling, I snap, “Jeremy, I am not dancing!”

               
He grabs me around me waist and
pulls me into the moving crowd.
 
Jeremy
presses himself against me and says, “Just move with me.”
 
At first I feel awkward, but then the beats
of the music take over.
 
We dance around
with each other.
 
It is actually A LOT of
fun.
 
A little while later, I feel hands
grab me.
 
I spin to find Cassandra and
Josh.

               
“Where’s Kent?” I yell.

               
Cassandra shakes her head.
 
“He doesn’t dance, so Josh fills that need,
so that Kent doesn’t have to beat up another guy.”

               
That makes me burst out
laughing.
 
So, we all dance.
 
I never quite knew how freeing it feels.
 
The atmosphere is contagious.
 
Jeremy keeps pulling me against him, and I
let him, but I giggle at the same time.
 
One of the dances is where you drop to the floor, and we do.
 
It is great.
 
Finally, Cassandra grabs my elbow.
 
“We should go back to Kent.
 
He is
going to flip soon.”

               
Leaning in by her, I say, “We
need to drag him out here then.”

               
“If I get a few beers in him, he
will,” Cassandra replies, winking.
 
She
takes my hand and leads me back through the crowd.
 
Kent waves at us, obviously bored.
 
Cassandra skips up to him.
 
“Thanks for letting me dance baby.”

               
“No problem
hon
,”
Kent replies.
 
“You two need to drink
your beer before it is warm and nasty.”

               
Jeremy lifts his in the
air.
 
I follow by opening up my bottled
water.
 
There is a pause and then Josh
whips out a piece of paper.
 
“So, who is
going first tonight!?”

               
Furrowing my eyebrows, I say,
“Huh?”

               
“OH!
 
Isabelle is new, and has never seen this
before,” Josh exclaims.
 
“See this is
what we do, this is a list of pick-up lines.” He shows me and I just stare at
him like he’s babbling a different language.
 
“So, on this list are a whole bunch of bad pick-up lines that I looked
up.
 
What we do is see how many we can
use and not get slapped.”

               
“They aren’t that bad to get you
slapped,” Cassandra groans.
 
“You get
appalled looks most of the time.”

               
Josh gets a huge grin on his
face.
 
“I know, it’s
awesome!
 
So, we go around the
table and do this.”

               
“I am not doing that,” I state
solidly.

               
“No, just the guys,” Cassandra
interjects.
 
“I refuse to do it, too.”

               
Curious, I ask, “You let Kent do
it?”

               
“Sure, as long as he behaves and
doesn’t actually do anything,” Cassandra answers.
 
“I trust my baby.”

               
Kent kisses her and she
smiles.
 
Josh slams the paper down and
shoves it over to me.
 
“I will go first,
you pick Izzy.”

               
“Me?” I squeak.

               
Jeremy puts himself around me
and looks at the paper.
 
“Just pick one
that is really humiliating.
 
Josh doesn’t
care.”

               
I look down the list.
 
“These are horrible.
 
You really aren’t going to say these?”

               
“Oh yeah,”
Josh replies, rubbing his hands together.