Drip Drop Teardrop, a Novella
grimaced.
“ Chillax? Really?” She tried to shrug him off again and only ended up
spilling her drink.
    “ She said get
off her, man!” Josh was suddenly in the guy’s face, pushing him
aggressively away from Avery so she lost her balance and would have
fallen if Sarah hadn’t been beside her.
    “ Hey, man,
chillax, chillax.” The guy could barely open his eyes he was that
far gone.
    “ Chillax?
I’ll fucking chillax, man.” Josh made to lunge for him but Adam
thankfully grabbed his arm, pulling him back. “You better take
off!”
    The drunk stumbled down
the stairs away from them, half the people at the nearby seats
glaring at him and the other half at Josh. Avery was with the
latter half.
    “ Jesus,
Josh.” She thrust her empty glass at him, her cheeks burning with
embarrassment. “I didn’t need your help.”
    Josh glared at her,
completely taken aback by her attack. “The guy wouldn’t get off
you! I heard you ask him to a dozen times!”
    “ I was
handling it,” she hissed, wishing she could melt into the floor so
people would stop staring. This was why she had broken up with the
idiot.
    “ No, you
weren’t. You’re just a little thing, Avery.” Josh moved to brush a
hand down her arm but she jerked away from him. “You’re not strong
enough to deal with guys like that.”
    A flush of
anger crawled up from the pit of her stomach, up across her chest,
spreading up her neck like a rash of indignation. She was so fed up
of people telling her she wasn’t strong enough. You’re not strong enough to cope with college and work,
Avery. You’re not strong enough to cope with a sick aunt, Avery,
maybe we should look in to getting you some help. You’re not strong
enough to beat off some drunken guy, Avery! These people had no idea who she really was - the crap she
had gone through and was still going through. And all she wanted
tonight was to freakin’ dance without people staring at her
expecting her to fall to pieces!
    “ You’re not
my boyfriend, Josh, and you won’t be ever again,” she snarled, ignoring
Jemima punching the air in support, clearly glad Avery was finally
telling him off. “So stop pretending we are something,
OK.”
    He looked like a wounded
puppy but Avery refused to feel bad. He’d used that look too many
times to manipulate her in the past. No wonder he thought she had
no backbone. “But, Ave-”
    “ No. No ‘but
Ave’ anything. I am going back down to the dance floor and if you
follow me and try to dance up my butt again, so help me God I will
kick you in the nuts.”
    She swept past him
hurriedly and down the stairs, hearing Sarah rushing to catch up
with her. Once on the dance floor Sarah gazed at her wide-eyed,
clearly desperate to laugh. Avery threw her a sheepish shrug,
wondering where that blast of anger had come from, and then
hi-fived the hand Sarah held up to her. They burst out laughing.
God, telling Josh off had felt so good. Chuckling, she spun around
letting the music take over again, stripping her life down to just
this moment, on this floor, with this music in the air.
    A little while later she
felt a tug on her arm and Sarah was gesturing at her. She leaned in
and Sarah yelled in her ear, “Hey! That guy is here. He’s staring
at you again!” She pointed through the crowds and Avery followed
her gaze to the tall, dark scarred guy across the room. This time
when she looked he didn’t look away. Their eyes locked and Avery’s
heart began racing like crazy, a hot tingling flush completely
different from the heat she felt from the dance floor seized a hold
of her, and for a minute she couldn’t breathe, the sound of the
music growing muffled, like she was under water or something. And
then she blinked and he was gone, the hotness disappearing with
him. She took a huge gulp of air and turned to Sarah
wide-eyed.
    “ You OK?”
Sarah shouted, looking concerned. “He’s really creepy, Avery. And
he looks really dangerous all scarred up like that.

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