He parked his truck as close to the entrance as he could get without getting parked in, and climbed out. Rushing toward her side of the car, he helped her out, and she thanked him. Once again, he had an unmistakable urge to kiss her, but he held back as behind him he heard some shouting. This wasn’t the place to do what he wanted. With her hand inside his, they both made their way toward the bar.
Neither of them spoke, and Cole couldn’t think of a single thing to say to her, or to make her feel relaxed. What was the matter with him? This had been what he was wanting for a long time now. Longer than he liked to think about.
“There’s Juliet, and your friends,” she said, pointing toward a booth near the main dancefloor. It was already thriving with life, and completely loud. Pulling Elena in front of him, he began to lead her toward his friends.
“Cole, I thought you were skipping out on your friends there,” Danny said.
“Of course not.” He waited for Elena to take a seat, and Juliet was there, smiling at her.
“Everyone, this is Tiffany,” Danny said. “My date.”
Tiffany was one of the ex-cheerleaders from their high school.
“They already know me, right, Vincent?” Tiffany asked, with a wink.
This was going to be one long ass night.
“How about I go and get drinks?” Cole asked.
“I’ll have a beer,” Elena said.
“Me, too,” Juliet said.
“Ew, girls, do you know how many calories are in beer? I mean, it’s like eating an entire loaf of bread,” Tiffany said. “I’ll take a small white wine.”
She named a brand that Cole would never remember. “You still want a beer?” he asked.#p#分页标题#e#
“Yes.” Juliet and Elena answered together.
Leaving the table, he made his way toward the bar, and gave a wave at Connie.
“Be right there, honey.”
“So, what do you think?” Danny asked. “She’s mighty fine.”
“Vincent is here on a date with another woman, and you think it’s funny bringing an old fuck buddy?”
“Come on, it’s hilarious. You should have seen his face. It was so funny.”
Cole shook his head. “Your biggest problem is you never take anything seriously.”
“You think I should take Vincent and Juliet seriously? I mean come on. Look at them.”
He glanced toward their table, and he watched as their friend kept trying to ignore Tiffany, and join in with Juliet and Elena.
“Go and save our friend. I’ll get the drinks.”
“If you insist.”
Life for Danny was just one long joke, but when Cole looked at Vincent, he saw that he was in fact interested in Juliet. Danny made it to the table, and Vincent left to come and help.
“I think I want to kill Danny,” Vincent said.
“Join the queue.”
“Doesn’t he have a long line of women who hate him?”
“Yes.”
“Great. I’ll get them, and they can do our dirty work for us.” Vincent pulled out his wallet.
“Why did you bring Juliet?” Cole asked.
“I saw her at the store. I think she’s pretty, and I asked her to go out with me. End of story.”
“Look, this thing with Elena. I want it. I want it to be real, and for that to happen, I need you to not hurt her best friend. I don’t want to have to deal with that kind of drama.”
“There’s not going to be any drama, Cole. Stop worrying about everything, and just enjoy your night out.” Vincent paid for the drinks, and Cole carried them on the tray. Making their way back toward the table, Cole saw Elena smiling at him.
She took the bottle of beer from the tray, and waited.
“To first dates,” she said.
“Wait, wait, wait, you’re on a first date?” Tiffany asked.
“Yes.” Cole placed his arm across Elena’s shoulders and pulled her in close. She didn’t fight him, which he liked.
“This is totally crazy. Holy crap, do you remember what they used to call you in high school?”
Cole saw the laughter die in Danny’s eyes.
“Yeah, Tiffany, let’s go for a dance.”
“No. I don’t want to dance. This is just so good.” Suddenly she had a cell phone in her hand and she was typing away. “I just got to totally put this as a status update. Chubby Chaser and Fatty are going together.”
He felt Elena instantly recoil, and even Danny looked disgusted.
“I need to use the bathroom,” Elena said.
“Yeah, me, too.” Juliet followed her out, and Cole gritted his teeth. This was not going the way he wanted it, not at all.
He watched Elena walk away, and Vincent was chasing after Juliet.