“No.” She pointed toward the forest on the other side of the tower. “They already started.”
I caught a glimpse of a fire and realized it was where the party was taking place. As we got closer, the bonfire came into view as well as about a hundred people.
“I thought the guys wanted it to be just us.”
She shrugged. “Word got out. It always does.”
Where were our friends? I scanned the area and smiled when I spotted Malik dancing with Travis, his non-crush. They looked adorable together, him in his tall, dark, and handsome glory contrasting with Travis’ pale skin and sandy brown hair.
The Sorcerer's Society kids were there, and I couldn’t help but watch as the brunette had her arms wrapped around two of the guys while a third offered her a chunk of a brownie. I wanted someone to feed me chocolate.
“There’s Daniel.” Hannah squeezed my hand, snapping me out of my creeping. I followed her line of sight to the far side where he stood with Carter and Sai.
“Go ask him to dance,” I prodded.
She shook her head, still frozen in place.
“Hannah, he’s one of your best friends. It’s not weird.”
She bit her lip, and I waited for her to gather her courage.
“Come on, if you do, I’ll talk to Sai.”
Her head snapped toward me. “You have to ask him to dance too.”
Shit. I totally walked into that. “What about Carter? I don’t want to leave him alone.”
“One of the girls will snatch him up. It never takes long.”
I could do this for her. She needed a push, and I could be brave.
“Fine.”
“Really?” Was that panic I heard?
I nodded, faking confidence I most definitely did not feel. “Come on.”
I took her hand and carved a path to the guys.
“Hey!” I called out when we were close enough for them to hear us over the music.
“There you guys are!” Sai smiled, and my stomach did a little somersault.
“Wow, you guys look great,” Daniel grinned, and his eyes lingered on Hannah.
“Thanks,” she said to the ground.
“Do you want to dance?” I asked Sai, ripping off the Band-Aid before I had a chance to change my mind.
His eyes widened a fraction, but he recovered quickly. “Yeah, yes.”
I turned and headed in that direction, leaving Hannah to live up to her end of the bargain. Sai fell into step next to me and pointed to Malik and Travis when we got close. “Let’s go by them.”
They smiled and greeted us when they saw us, and I realized with a flash of dread that I had no idea how to dance. With a guy. To party music. This wasn’t a slow song we could just sway back and forth to.
On the few occasions I went out with my friends, in the PD days, all the girls danced together, and the guys hung out around the edges of the room. It didn’t matter then if I looked like an idiot. I should move my hips and shoulders to the beat, but what about my hands? What did they do? Do I touch him?
He took the decision-making responsibility from me by taking my hands in his and doing little side steps in time with the music. Okay, so he wasn’t some secretly amazing dancer either. We could figure this out together.