When Angel took her first bite of the nachos, she closed her eyes and moaned. I felt another little stab of jealousy because I hadn't made her make that sound.
I shook my head because I was being ridiculous. Was I seriously jealous of tortilla chips?
Watching Angel eat was its own form of entertainment. She wasn't shy about how much she ate-which I loved-and more often than not, food ended up somewhere on her face because she was messy as hell. She also talked with her mouth full.
It was endearing. It was adorable. And it made me want to kiss the fuck out of her.
After Colton ordered, he talked about what went down at the shop the past couple days-mostly oil changes and tire rotations, which was the norm.
As he spoke, I had my arm lazily slung around Angel and I liked being able to graze my thumb over the smooth skin of her shoulder. I didn't miss the way her breathing hitched every time I touched a sensitive spot by her neck.
Throughout dinner, Colton and I asked Angel questions about Maine and what it was like, because neither of us had ever been there.
"The lighthouses are gorgeous. A lot of people go there for sight-seeing in the fall because the colors are just amazing. It always smells like the ocean … " She trailed off and looked a little homesick.
"Bet you've never seen so many cornfields before," I joked, trying to keep the mood light. "That's about all the sights you're gonna get around here."
Her faraway look cleared and she laughed lightly. "You're right about that. You basically live in the middle of a giant cornfield."
As we finished our food, the atmosphere in The Brick House slowly changed from a family-friendly restaurant to a night club. The lights dimmed and the music got louder, making it more difficult to have conversations.
The DJ started getting set up a little after 9 p.m. and for the first time ever, I actually thought dancing didn't seem like such a bad idea. If anything, it was a reason to have Angel close to me, to have my hands on her.
One of the reasons the Friday night DJ was so popular was because he played a little bit of everything, from oldies to country to current pop music.
It was tradition for him to kick off the night with a line dance. When ‘Electric Slide' pumped through the speakers, Colton let out a loud hoot before excusing himself to the dance floor.
"Watch this," I said to Angel and I pointed at Colton.
Angel and I started cracking up as he attempted to follow along with the moves. He was two steps behind everyone else and almost tripped over his own feet a couple times. At one point, he just started doing some random jig that resembled River Dancing.
"Is he always this bad?" Angel laughed as she gestured towards his jerky movements, which made him look like me might be having a seizure.
"Only for line dances. Doesn't keep him from doing it, though."
"Well, good for him. But you won't see me out there," she replied.
I was never one to back down from a challenge. Angel didn't realize she'd just made it my mission to get her to dance with me.
When ‘Earth Angel' came on, I laughed out loud because it was too perfect. It was also incredibly cheesy. I slid out of the booth and held my hand out to Angel.
"Come on," I said.
"I thought you didn't dance," she said as she reluctantly stood up.
"I don't usually, but we're dancing to this."
She rolled her eyes and followed me to the dance floor.
I took both of her hands and brought them up around my neck, then let my hands trail down to her waist.
As the song went on, we gravitated toward each other while we swayed to the music.
By the end, there wasn't any room left between our bodies and I touched my forehead to hers. Her fingernails lightly scratched the short hair on the back of my head and it made my skin tingle.
I wanted to pull her further against me but it wasn't possible. Our bodies were already plastered together. Any closer, and we'd be giving these people one hell of a show.
It felt like Angel and I were in our own bubble on the dance floor. It was so easy to tune out the rest of the world. All the people, all the noise. Everything else fell away as I held her in my arms.
Billy Currington's ‘Must Be Doing Something Right' came on next, and I sent a silent thanks to the DJ for playing another slow song. I wasn't ready to let her go yet.
Our faces were so close together that I could feel each puff of her breath against my lips. Just as I was about to close the distance, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
Colton stood beside me, and he had an apologetic look on his face.
"I'm sorry, dude. Check your texts," he said cryptically, before walking away.
Without letting go of Angel-who looked just as confused as I felt-I took my phone out of my pocket
Colton: Alert. Alert. Tara and Kendra are on their way here.
Colton: I repeat. Kendra Mc-Pukes-A-Lot is coming
Colton: Check your ducking phone
Colton: Fuck
Fucking great. Just as I slipped my phone back into my pocket, I felt a hand on my other shoulder.
It wasn't Colton this time.
"Hey, Travis," Kendra purred as she rubbed my arm. "I was hoping I would see you here."
I felt Angel stiffen in my arms. Her hands fell away from my neck and she tried to step back, but I held onto her.
"Hi, Kendra," I greeted her. I decided I might as well get the awkward introduction out of the way. "This is Angel. Angel, this is Kendra, Tara's best friend."
Hurt flashed through Kendra's eyes and I felt bad. My intention wasn't to hurt her, but she needed to know there wasn't going to be a romantic relationship between us.
My momentary guilt didn't last long though, because her glare turned hard and I could see the hurt turn to anger. I'd seen Kendra have a pretty nasty attitude in the past, but it had never been directed at me before.
"I see you're dancing tonight," she observed as her eyes briefly flitted to Angel. "You gonna save one for me?"
I sighed, and suddenly wished I'd been more straightforward with her earlier in the week instead of avoiding her. I knew that was going to come back to bite me in the ass.
"Hey, give me sec, okay?" I asked Angel. "I'll meet you back at the table."
She nodded. "Sure."
She didn't look sure.
Before walking away, she paused. "It was nice to meet you, Kendra."
She was so fucking sweet. Even with some strange girl staring daggers at her, Angel did the right thing. It wasn't lost on me that Kendra didn't return the sentiment.
The smug look on Kendra's face gave way to disbelief when she realized I wasn't going to dance with her. I walked off with her to an area where she could hear me better.
Because I needed her to hear me loud and clear.
"What the fuck, Travis?" she screeched.
"Listen," I started. "There isn't going to be another date for us. I should've been honest with you about that, and I'm sorry."
"Is it because of her?" I realized the shrieking might be something she did often.
"No," I told her honestly. I'd already known there was no future with Kendra even before I met Angel. Hell, I hadn't wanted to go on the date with her in the first place. "I just don't have those kinds of feelings for you. I'm sorry if I misled you," I said, trying to let her down gently.
"What kind of name is Angel anyway?" she sneered. "Where the hell did she come from? Is she even old enough to be in here?"
Her rapid-fire questions about Angel pissed me off. If Kendra was thinking about trying to get her kicked out of here, we were going to have a serious problem.
"Angel isn't your concern. Neither am I. You and I had one date, but that's where it ends." My tone was hard, and she blanched.
Kendra's eyes narrowed into slits and I was afraid she was going to cause a scene. Instead, she huffed and stomped away.
I hoped that was the end of it, but I should've known getting rid of Kendra wouldn't be that easy.
ANGEL
When Travis asked me to go back to our table, I thought maybe he was actually going to dance with that girl. A sigh of relief left me when I realized that wasn't the case.
But now I was stuck in some kind of limbo, standing between the dance floor and our table, because Colton and a blonde (who I assumed was his girlfriend) were having an argument in the booth.
I glanced over to where Travis was standing with Kendra, and he seemed to be in the middle of a heated discussion as well.
Since I didn't have anywhere to go I tried to act nonchalant, but it wasn't working very well.
The biggest problem I had when going for aloof?
I never knew what to do with my hands. On the hips? Clasped behind my back? Resting casually at my side?