meet his gaze. She searched for telling green exit signs instead in the dark and crowded bar.
‘What? Why?’
‘The same reason as why I needed to not walk in.’ Leigh took a slurp from her beer to soothe her parched throat and then pressed it into Bruce’s red shirt. ‘Thanks for the night Bruce it was fun but-’
‘… Carry each other… carry each other…’
Leigh’s heart tripped. ‘Now. I’m leaving now.’ She pushed past Bruce. ‘Bye.’
‘Leigh…’
‘No.’ Leigh shook her head and ducked under someone’s elbow. She’d spotted streetlights through a gap to her right and she focused on them, still swallowing the beer and telling herself that what she was doing was right, even if it was rude on several counts. She was a good girl! A mama’s girl, no doubt and her father’s angel. She rarely drank beer and she almost never went into crowded clubs, and never wasted! She wasn’t going to be fucked in an alley behind a bar like some cheap groupie, and she knew that that was exactly what was going to happen if she didn’t get the hell out of there.
Maybe it would have been okay if they’d gone there the night before- because Ryan had genuinely cared for her then. But something had altered between them, and there was nothing patient or understanding about the way Ryan had just looked at her. She didn’t blame him one bit and she was fairly certain that she’d probably just leveled him with a lusty, trampy come-hither stare of her own, and that was what was so damn scary. She liked him more than she liked herself- she would do anything, say anything and be anything to make him happy, and those girls never got happily ever after’s. Oh, they usually got the guy- but never the heart.
‘Closing Time’ started playing just as Leigh broke through the jammed front door and into the frosty night air and she shivered and pulled her jacket off the top of her handbag, sliding her arms into the fitted sleeves. She lost her balance a little doing so she staggered down the path for a few metres so that she could lean back against the façade of the building while she fumbled with her buttons.
I know who I want to take ME home! And that’s precisely why I need to get the hell out of here!
He walked outside a second later and Leigh froze, staring at the last button between her shaking fingers and wondering how on earth he could be outside while music was still playing within. Then she remembered Bruce’s teasing, about trading places with Ryan and she groaned inwardly, wondering when they’d both left her team and forged one of their own.
She didn’t need to look up to know it was Ryan. The buckles on his boots made a light jingling sound as she heard the metallic clink of his zippo lighter opening. But she slid her eyes across the pavement anyway and checked out the color of his frayed jeans for confirmation, before truly allowing her brain to shut down.
Is he going to tell me what he thinks of me before he shows me how little he thinks of me?
Ryan’s boots shuffled along the sidewalk until they were directly in front of her gaze and when Leigh understood that she had nowhere to go that he wouldn’t follow, she leaned back against the wall and forced herself to look at him, then immediately wished she hadn’t.
Ryan took a draw from his cigarette then lifted his chin to exhale it in one thin stream, not taking his brilliant blue eyes off her the entire time. There was nowhere to look that was safe, and her heart began to thump between her legs. He had his leather jacked balled up under one arm as he shoved his lighter back into his pocket, and his discerning gaze challenged her to walk away from him, and see how far she got.
‘D-don’t you have a set to play?’ she asked weakly, her teeth beginning to chatter as night air did what night air did to intoxicated girls in the presence of cool-as-ice men.
Ryan took another drag of his cigarette and shrugged, flicking it gently to the
‘What? Why?’
‘The same reason as why I needed to not walk in.’ Leigh took a slurp from her beer to soothe her parched throat and then pressed it into Bruce’s red shirt. ‘Thanks for the night Bruce it was fun but-’
‘… Carry each other… carry each other…’
Leigh’s heart tripped. ‘Now. I’m leaving now.’ She pushed past Bruce. ‘Bye.’
‘Leigh…’
‘No.’ Leigh shook her head and ducked under someone’s elbow. She’d spotted streetlights through a gap to her right and she focused on them, still swallowing the beer and telling herself that what she was doing was right, even if it was rude on several counts. She was a good girl! A mama’s girl, no doubt and her father’s angel. She rarely drank beer and she almost never went into crowded clubs, and never wasted! She wasn’t going to be fucked in an alley behind a bar like some cheap groupie, and she knew that that was exactly what was going to happen if she didn’t get the hell out of there.
Maybe it would have been okay if they’d gone there the night before- because Ryan had genuinely cared for her then. But something had altered between them, and there was nothing patient or understanding about the way Ryan had just looked at her. She didn’t blame him one bit and she was fairly certain that she’d probably just leveled him with a lusty, trampy come-hither stare of her own, and that was what was so damn scary. She liked him more than she liked herself- she would do anything, say anything and be anything to make him happy, and those girls never got happily ever after’s. Oh, they usually got the guy- but never the heart.
‘Closing Time’ started playing just as Leigh broke through the jammed front door and into the frosty night air and she shivered and pulled her jacket off the top of her handbag, sliding her arms into the fitted sleeves. She lost her balance a little doing so she staggered down the path for a few metres so that she could lean back against the façade of the building while she fumbled with her buttons.
I know who I want to take ME home! And that’s precisely why I need to get the hell out of here!
He walked outside a second later and Leigh froze, staring at the last button between her shaking fingers and wondering how on earth he could be outside while music was still playing within. Then she remembered Bruce’s teasing, about trading places with Ryan and she groaned inwardly, wondering when they’d both left her team and forged one of their own.
She didn’t need to look up to know it was Ryan. The buckles on his boots made a light jingling sound as she heard the metallic clink of his zippo lighter opening. But she slid her eyes across the pavement anyway and checked out the color of his frayed jeans for confirmation, before truly allowing her brain to shut down.
Is he going to tell me what he thinks of me before he shows me how little he thinks of me?
Ryan’s boots shuffled along the sidewalk until they were directly in front of her gaze and when Leigh understood that she had nowhere to go that he wouldn’t follow, she leaned back against the wall and forced herself to look at him, then immediately wished she hadn’t.
Ryan took a draw from his cigarette then lifted his chin to exhale it in one thin stream, not taking his brilliant blue eyes off her the entire time. There was nowhere to look that was safe, and her heart began to thump between her legs. He had his leather jacked balled up under one arm as he shoved his lighter back into his pocket, and his discerning gaze challenged her to walk away from him, and see how far she got.
‘D-don’t you have a set to play?’ she asked weakly, her teeth beginning to chatter as night air did what night air did to intoxicated girls in the presence of cool-as-ice men.
Ryan took another drag of his cigarette and shrugged, flicking it gently to the
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