“Okay, you can do this. It’s been years,” Elmer Lawrence told xemself in the bathroom mirror of Club Q. Xe had just seen a person xe had a crush on when xe had attended school with them. Xe had never spoken to them. Not out of class anyway. "Just walk up to them and tell them how you feel." At that moment someone entered the bathroom, xe watched them enter then looked back at the mirror awkwardly. Elmer took a deep breath and washed xyr hands before leaving the bathroom.
Back in the main part of the club, Elmer spotted them again, Ashley Lindsey perching themselves up on the bartop. Their friends seemed to have left them there for the time being. Elmer inhaled deeply, held it, then released it out of xyr mouth before marching up to them.
"Hi there, Ashley, it's been a couple of years. I just wanted to tell you that I've liked you ever since that first geography class where we shared a desk and was wondering if you wanted to dance?"
Ashley blinked a few times. "Sorry, who are you?"
Right then, Elmer could have sworn xyr heart actually stopped. Full of doubt, with no hope getting in, like a hopeless plug had been crammed in. Years watching her from afar, the way she flicked her hair out of the way or how her left eye twitched when nervous; they were always in the same classes together. Hell, there was even a project once, in a group of five where they presented on some boring subject that they had spent months on, and she was just there smiling with those perfect teeth...
Ashley burst out laughting, which made Elmer follow up with a nervous chuckle out of scared confusion. "The look on your face!", she hollered between gasps, before lightly punching xem on the shoulder. "Nah, I'm just messing with you. Wow, you're really into me. That's kinda crazy, right?"
And then, there were a few seconds after she laughed and spoke to xem where Elmer's mind was still reeling over her words, trying to make sense of this entirely new direction.
Instead, xe croaked out a slight, "Yeah...?" while scratching the back of xyr neck. "It's not like anything special- no, I mean, stalkery," xe hurriedly corrected him. "You're just really nice and kinda popular, so talking to you is actually hard. You know, it's a club. People dance." Xe smoothed out xyr dress shirt once again. The lights were inconsistent enough that xe wanted to look away at something, anything else out there, to make an excuse to leave. It was embarrassing what xe was doing. There was folly of irrational thoughts floating around in xyr head, but xe couldn't do anything, not even move. Xe could only feel concerned for those poor choice of words. It looked so much easier to talk to a crush on film.
Ashley pushed herself off from the bar, and Elmer could have sworn there was a new light in her eyes, though xe couldn't be too sure despite the years obsessing over her. Drink forgotten; she reached forwards to grasp his shirt collar lightly. Xe froze, staring straight ahead, into her eyes.
"You're cute," she whispered, casting a side glance toward her dancing friends already spread out across the floor. There seemed to be one guy in particular that made Ashley narrow her eyes, and Elmer was able to catch enough of the figure to identify another renowned girl from her clique dancing with him. Popular student drama, inescapable everywhere, as it turned out.
The moments between felt a breath too long. Nothing moved between them except for the cascading lights, which were something xe could get used to when up this close to her. Then Ashley dragged Elmer out toward the shinning tiles with a turn of her heels and leaned in uncomfortably comfortably close, throwing her arms around xyr waist. "I'm always down for a good dance," she murmured, and for a bit, it almost seemed like she was rotating their positions to catch a view across the club.
Things were progressing in a way that Elmer hadn’t expected. On the one hand, dancing with Ashley had been a dream of xyrs for years. However, Ashley seemed to be using xem as an excuse to send envy vibes to someone else. The expression on Elm’s face shifted from disappointment to determination. Xe took hold of xyr crush’s hands and used the momentum to turn Ashley on the dance floor until her back was pressed firmly against xyr’s chest and both their arms were intertwined. The music being played was not the type to match this type of dance but their movement had become part of the dance; it seemed to work.
“Isn’t it best to pay attention to your dance partner than to someone else?”, Elmer rumbled into her ear. Xe then twirled her outward and back in, guiding her hands to drape across xyr shoulders, instead.
Ashley’s stunning eyes were stunned and Elmer got what xe wanted, her full attention. She bit her lower lip when she felt a pair of warm hands settling on either side of her waist. “Someone knows how to dance,” she taunted.
She wasn’t wrong. Knowing full well just how much Ashley loved to dance, Elmer had prepared for months to do at least that much back in school, yet never had the courage to show her. Xe hadn’t exactly planned on sweeping her off her feet but xe was certainly going to try.
"I'm full of surprises," xe answered after the third full spin. Her attention was on xem now, not her friends, nor on that man either. An appreciative smirk on her face, she was interested. "I didn't know you were-"
"-queer?", Ashley finished, once again showing how much more confidence in situations she had than Elmer.
"Yeah. Wait, no, I just mean that I haven't seen you in here. Not that I come here that often, I come a bit, it's just I haven't see you here before." Elmer was feeling a little flustered.
Ashley laughed. The blush that rose to Elmer's face was a direct result from the sound of Ashley's lovely laughter. Dancing was one thing but the burst of determination xe had a mere moment ago was rapidly dissipating. Why did Elmer think xe could go through with this, again?
"Just because you haven't seen me here doesn't mean I don't enjoy going to other spots like this one, Elmer Lawrence," Ashley responded.
Elmer's eyes went comically wide, prompting a snicker from xyr dance partner. "You really do remember me," xe mused aloud.
Ashley pulled her torso back from xem, one hand splayed on her chest while the other remained touching xyr arm. Then with a smile on her lips, xe could tell she was doing it mockingly. "How could I forget you? You never went unnoticed from my eye, Elmer." Ashley moved closer to xem, leaving only an inch between them. "I'm pleased you approached me just now."
Elmer stared back in disbelief, blinking rapidly. Xyr mouth had gone dry. "...I," xe croaked, trying to find xyr voice. "You noticed me in school? But I was nobody."
"No one's a 'nobody'," Ashley insisted. "Being hesitant and shy is not the same thing as being flavorless. Everyone's made up of their unique variety of spice. And you are someone I've been aching to taste."
If Elmer xemself were to have traveled back in time to the moment xe first began to develop a crush on Ashley Lindsey and said they'd end up locking lips, there was no way Elmer would have believed it. But xe couldn't deny the daring dancer what she wanted. At that moment, it seemed that Ashley wanted to devour xem whole.
Her long, warm tongue took the lead in an entirely different dance than Elmer hadn't prepared for. Not a moment after, xe was the one who all but dove into her mouth and drew her body closer. Their mouths stoked a fire within Elmer that xe had never felt before.
Elmer had many times 'danced' with another person. Sometimes it had been pleasurable and sometimes a little awkward, which this time was not the latter. Xe had waltzed before where both of their tongues circled one another over and over, as well as the jive, which had been ever so quick as they prodded their way in each other's mouths.
As for right now, that was the best dance, the tango. Being both energetic and fascinatingly sensual, both knowing where the other is going and moving in time with them. Their tongues moved as one and Elmer's mind lost all concept of time. Being so in the moment with Ashley, xe almost forgot where they were.
Until a feminine voice shouted from behind, overtop of the music, "Ash, we're going to another club. You coming?"
Ashley had a look of annoyance on her face that pleased Elmer more than xe would admit. Elmer looked on as she turned and gave her friends some kind of hand signal.
Unnerved by the conversation that Ashley was having her friends behind xem, xe began overthinking. Worrying that this was a pity make out, and that her friends had given her this realisation. Xe didn't feel panicked by this, only hurt that xe had been given this little glimmer of hope to something unrequited for so long could be possibly happening.
When she turned back towards xem, xe leaned down to hear what Ash had to say.
"I told them I know who I want to take me home," Ashley explained. "So, will you?"
Xe was speechless; wide-eyed and without words.
"Elmer?", Ashley repeated xyr name after half a minute when xe hadn't spoken. "I didn't mean-"
"-Absolutely," Elmer hastily responded, still sounding slightly flustered. "...I would be more than happy to take you home."
Comments (0)
See all