“Really?”

Dana turned around, allowing just enough lift in her
voice to let the other girl know how sweet she thought the simple gesture was.
The tennis player tried to remind herself that she only met the brunette like
five minutes ago, that she barely knows anything about her, and that someone as
hot as Melanie Caplan would not just play tongue-twisters with Dana if she
could have any other girl in the room!

“Well, I know I’m not exactly in perfect shape but,
come on, you’re like an athlete!”

One glance at the girl smiling at her with a cocky grin,
and whose hands still gripped her waist, Dana also reminded herself that the
whole point she came tonight was to meet people and have fun. Screw Alice if she
needed a designated driver!

“Your shape looks fine to me.” Dana replied,
raising an eyebrow. Omigod! How lame can I be?! Please don’t think I’m a
loser. Melanie responded by pressing her body closer against Dana’s.

“Well in that case–”

“Oh, YEAAHH! Woo-hoo!”

Dana looked towards the dance floor to see where the
yelling was coming from. She saw Shane who apparently looked over-happy about
the song that was playing. She also saw Alice who was now dancing with the
brunette from the bar. Well… that’s if you can call THAT
“dancing”.

Dana was about to dismiss them from her mind as they
headed for the door, but the brunette bumping into Nadia, the girl from Mr.
Piddlestone’s office, caught her eye

“What, Dana…? What is it?” Having seen the
distracted look on the other girl’s face, Melanie grew concerned.

“It’s that girl,” Dana pointed towards the
general direction of the bar. “We don’t like her.” She whispered,
witnessing the brunette’s “call me” signal, while she was with Alice!

“Oh-kay, well you’re gonna have to be a little more
specific because, as you can see, they’re all girls in here.”

Dana rolled her eyes and brought her attention back to
Melanie. The other girl had removed herself from beside Dana and was now
pulling her towards the back of the club.

“Where do you think you’re taking me, missy?”
Dana asked jokingly, laughter coloring her words as she saw the excitement on
Melanie’s face. “It’s not some remote place where you plan on seducing me,
is it? Because, I will have you know, I can scream pretty loud.”

“Okay, well, before you go all damsel-in-distress on me,
follow me to the back, will you…? There’s something I wanna show you.”
Melanie smiled at herself when she saw the apprehensive but curious look on
Dana’s face. She wished silently to herself that this was not a mistake.

Little did she know, Dana was making the same wish in
her head as she let Melanie lead them through the crowd. They reached a remote
corner and Dana thought she could see a turn in the corner that led to another
room. Dana’s curiosity was starting to win over her apprehension and she was
actually eager to see where Melanie was taking her. They’d almost reached it
when suddenly Melanie stopped short and gave Dana her second ‘oompf’ of the
evening.

“Whoa! Sorry, I forgot something…” Melanie seemed
nervous and fidgety, Dana didn’t know why, she’d seemed fine just a minute ago.
But she could not move her body to do anything other than just stand immobile
and observe Melanie’s actions. “Hold on, just… wait here a sec.” She watched
Melanie’s retreating form and couldn’t help but think, Oh god, I’m SO lame!
And now I’ve probably scared her off with the “shape” comment.

“Hah, she’s probably dancing with Heather right about
now. Hold on, my ass! I’m checking this out myself!” With that, Dana turned and
walked determinedly around the mysterious corner.

——————-