Blood Match (4 page)

Oh well! She thought. She wriggled her hand free of his, smiling outwardly at him, but with an inner grimace and made her way to the other side of the group.

She hugged Joanne and Emily and gathered them up. They went off to the ladies cloakroom to ‘retouch’ their makeup, which everyone knows is really a metaphor for gossip!  They burst through the door of the ladies room with a clatter of high heels.

“Hey Serry – Just look at you! I love your dress. I love your hair. In fact I just love you period. You’re totally gorgeous!” squealed Emily giggling like an idiot. She seemed to be even more worse for wear than Serena had been. How many had she had…?

“I love you too, Emsy!” Serena hugged Emily’s short voluptuous body tightly. “So what’s happening girls?” She asked.

“Oh, you know… same old… work, play, more work, more play” Emily bubbled, getting out her lip gloss.

“You seeing anyone?” Serena asked her.…

“No. There’s one I like a lot though. I’ve liked him for a long time now. You know him
very, very
well…” she said giving Serena a
‘you know who’
wide eyed look.

“Mmmm….If you mean Adam, then I don’t know about that Em. I think you’re just a friend to him…. perhaps you could try the blatant approach to get his attention, but I don’t know how that might turn out. Honestly I don’t!” she suggested. “He has his eye on some little redhead he saw in the restaurant tonight. She may appear soon so don’t hang about!”

“Blatant? Yeah – I just might…” she squealed again. “He’s so hot, your brother. I so want to …well you know…!” Serena was a bit surprised she was telling her this. She was his sister after all.

“Emily Jones!  – Join the Adam shagging fan club, why don’t you!  Honestly! So, what about you Jo. Anyone special in the Joanne camp?”

“Yeah. I’m seeing Dave actually. We hooked up at a party a few weeks ago. It’s going good so far… I’d have thought Adam may have told you?”

“No he didn’t mention it. But that’s really great news, I’m so pleased for you guys.” She said turning to the mirror to check her new eye artwork was still in place.  It was.

“And you?” asked Joanne… “What about you…? I’ve never seen you with anyone Serena. Someone like you should have a really hot man in tow. It’s compulsory!”

“Well, I have been busy with Uni and that and looking for a job up till now. I will get round to dating men in my own good time. I’m not an old maid just yet!”

“Tony likes you quite a bit.. d’you know that?” Joanne added

“Mmm – I guessed – it’s not mutual though. He’s a nice guy to talk to, but not for me.” Serena said. That was the whole sad truth of it.

She was feeling a lot less affected by the alcohol rushing around her bloodstream now. The straw slurping effect had worn off a lot. She felt good and stable, just a little bit high and daring. She had the urge to dance her feet off.

Her little high rise croc shoes were snapping and raring to go.

“Come on girls – let’s go for it.” She said heading out of the door as ‘Temperature’ blasted through the air.

She was in a dancing daze. She boldly stepped up on one of the low spotlight podiums with Emily and danced with Adam who was being hero worshipped by an identically dressed pair of twin girls below them. She was really stepping out of her comfort zone now and enjoying it too. They were all really into their thing for a half a dozen tracks and then the DJ rather annoyingly slowed down the tempo with a rather sexy love song. Well this was a novelty, she thought. He announced that they were introducing a regular smooch time at the club. “Time to cosy up real close to the object of your desires.” He drawled sexily over the microphone.

They stepped down from the platforms to the floor level and she saw Tony heading her way. Oh no and no again! She was certainly not cosying up closely to him. She backed off into the crowd of gathering couples.  She saw Emily take Adam’s hand and pull him away and he trotted after her unwittingly. She wondered how that would go down. She ducked behind the pillar nearest to the DJ station and waited for a minute or two. She peered out again. Tony had lost sight of her and had gone.  She spotted Adam and Emily dancing not far away. She had her arms around his neck already. Okay, it didn’t look like a hot clinch so far, but who knows…?

Chapter 6

She made her way towards the bar for one of her favourite Breezers. Wine was much too strong and went straight to her head, she didn’t want any more of that. Wriggling in between the tightly packed clubbers, she arrived at the middle of the long bar. As she waited to be served she noticed Mr nice eyes standing at the far end with his other companions. He caught her gaze and held it.  She would normally look away in such a situation. She wasn’t good with extended eye contact, but something forced her to stare at him. Suddenly her mind was focused and everything zoned out. She was swamped by a strange almost ‘out of body’ experience. There was no one else in the club but him. That and the incredibly hot music playing in the background.  She began to feel a rising tide of excitement bubbling up inside her.  Is this what she had been missing out on? She vaguely remembered this fluttery feeling from her rare and unrequited teenage crushes…

The bartender’s voice finally cut through her trance and asked her what she wanted to drink. With difficulty she disengaged her eye lock to place her order. When she looked back, Mr nice eyes had disappeared from his group. She felt a little deflated at his departure. It’s probably just as well though, she said to herself. He was way, way out of her league, without a doubt. She paid for her drink and turned to leave the bar.

There he was, standing right behind her.

She took a deep breath. He was quite tall and she could see he looked even more good looking than she had first thought now that he had his jacket off and they were up so close and personal.

“Hello – I noticed you looking my way earlier…” He said.

“Well, a girl’s got to look somewhere.” She managed to squeak back with a touch of wit.

“Are you with someone, the fair haired one?” He asked tilting his head to one side slightly …

“No,  he’s just my older brother.” She said smiling proudly. “I’m hanging out with some of our friends over there.” She pointed across the club. “What about you… ?”

“Just some of my extended family.”

He smiled very slightly revealing a glimpse of the most amazing white teeth she had ever seen.  She was getting a little breathless and tied in knots inside at this point. She was hopelessly inadequate when it came to men, she admitted to herself, especially one as handsome as this. She might look rather confident and hot in this get up– but she certainly did not feel it. She felt shy and insecure facing him now and completely tongue tied. She knew this all boiled down to zero dating experience and lack of confidence, but that didn’t help her present situation.

Her goddamn awful teenage years  hadn’t helped. That never ending tortuous period in her life when she was blessed with braces on her teeth, glasses and occasional outbreaks of acne… Oh yes, all that plus the fact that she had been a very late developer on the figure front…. Her teenage phase had definitely destroyed her confidence completely. It was a hell she had never quite recovered from; her teenage trauma years…

But still, she reasoned, at her age she should have a far better handle on men.

She had deliberately chosen not to, up until now….

He must have sensed her nervousness somehow.

“Hey, don’t worry. I won’t bite.” He joked. “Come, have a dance with me…” He held his hand out to her.

Refusing him didn’t enter her mind. She put down her drink and he took her hand and led them towards the dance floor. Oh yes, she thought as she was swept along, this man was just what she had in mind for a little light fun tonight, in fact he was a double dose! He turned and held her closely against him, his hand firmly in the centre of her waist. She placed hers lightly on the side of his. She could feel him through his shirt… He was way better than nice, she thought. The sultry music was whipping her senses into overdrive. She could smell the subtle scent of something fresh and spicy and felt the gentle warmth of his body pressing gently against hers. She loved the touch of his hand. It was cool, soft and smooth to the touch .

“I’m Ethan.” He said with his mouth against her ear and she shivered with delight.  She could feel his breath running down her neck.

“I’m Serry.” she whispered back breathing in his heady scent some more. He leaned back and looked her in the eyes.

“Serry. That’s a lovely name. It suits you.”

“Thank you.” She mumbled quietly.

His hand squeezed her fingers, he circled her palm with his and he began to brush his thumb up and down hers. The whole of her insides squeezed tightly with excitement. Her temperature shot up a hundred degrees… she felt steamy.

“Did you enjoy your meal?” he asked, his breath warm against her ear whilst his thumb continued to caress her hand.

“I did. And you?” She replied almost sighing with pleasure at his touch.  Any kind of witty conversation had left her brain completely.

“We didn’t really eat here tonight, just some champagne and cake. It’s my sister’s birthday today you see.”

“Oh! Well in that case happy birthday to…what’s your sister’s name?”

“It’s Nina – and you can tell her yourself, because here she is!”

She turned slightly to see a small, extremely pretty dark haired woman standing to her side.

“Happy birthday Nina!” She said cheerfully.

Nina gave Serena a dirty look and raised her eyebrows at her.

“Ethan, do leave the local wildlife alone! Come back to us now please.”

Serena was stunned into silence, rather upset at being referred to in such terms and stood rooted to the spot in Ethan’s arms.

“Nina….!  That was just so rude. Apologize to Serry this instant!” said Ethan angrily.

“I will not! Don’t be so absurd.” She said loudly whilst giving Serena a look that could kill.

“Look. I must to go back to my friends now…” Serena said quickly, pulling away from him rather disappointed.

Their moment had been well and truly spoiled.

She collected her drink from the bar and rushed off towards the other side of the room, not looking back. It had started so well. He was more than dreamy. But what an unpleasant sister… She seemed to be rather possessive of him.

She arrived back at the gang’s spot after weaving her way around the central DJ station and found Emily and Adam pressed up against a pillar stuck together like glue indulging in some heated tongue exploration. The ‘blatant’ approach had worked then….! She tapped them both on the shoulder.

“Hey – You two – Get a room!”  She said grinning.

They both smiled at her and went straight back to the kissing.  Further along Jo and Dave were dancing, moulded together like a pair of little sardines… obviously newly love struck and they looked so sweet!  In fact she was surrounded on all sides by hot couples doing their thing. Phil, Tony and Dean were standing to one side on the edge of the floor and judging by the number of empties at their side, they were focusing way too hard on their drinking. She stood to the side of them slowly sipping at her drink for a minute or two, then she put it down on the table and approached the guys.

She pulled Adam’s best pal Phil to the dance floor in a fun mood for a little dance together.  He was definitely tanked-up to the eyeballs and must surely have mistaken her for someone else. It was as if she had given him a bright green light with a cherry on the top. She had merely offered him a quick dance with her, not sex on the dance floor… Jesus, what had got into him? He was all over her! His hands squeezing her backside and rubbing her bare legs…. Pulling her so close to him like that! She could feel parts of him that she really wished she couldn’t! This was a side of Phil she had never seen before and she was more than a little stunned. They had never touched each other much at all before. All those times he’d been round their flat. She almost looked upon him as an adopted brother.

Serena toyed with the idea of pushing him away but she was intrigued. She gave up trying to fend off the wandering hands and let him carry on, in the interests of seeing where this was going. He started to nuzzle her neck which was a little tickly as his stubble grazed her skin but actually quite nice, she admitted to herself. She furtively looked at her dress watch over his shoulder…  hmmm, it was still so early and here she was abandoned with the boys – so much for her raving hot night dancing herself silly with Adam and the girls. All her dancing friends had paired off! She’d have to try and make the best of this evening somehow! Phil slurred something unintelligible in her ear, moving his hand up to the back of her neck and before she could react he’d got her in a tight grip pressing his mouth to hers and kissing her rather intensely.

Serena’s eyes widened in surprise and a little shock.  Oh my! She thought, as she felt a tiny stirring of something run through her.

That little buzz didn’t last very long. She crashed back down to reality in horror as she caught sight of Mr nice eyes standing just a few feet away from them with his arms crossed, a look of disappointment and a touch of disgust showing openly on his solemn face.

She pulled away from Phil roughly feeling humiliated and more than a little disappointed as she watched Ethan stalk off through the crowd.

Chapter 7

Serena woke in a blur of nausea with a painful throbbing shooting through her head. What had she done last night…?

Oh yes…

Oh no!

She remembered now – and God she wished she didn’t! The excessive Breezer drinking, the highly suggestive podium dancing and the over the top snogging sessions with Phil and then ‘know it all Dean’ …. And that other tall guy. She couldn’t even remember where he came from or how that happened…! Her face heated up with shame. What on earth had she been doing …..? What must they all think of her…! She had set out to let her hair down, but she had gone way too far offering herself up as ‘pass the parcel’.

Well, I certainly won’t be doing that again, that’s for sure!  She thought. Ugggh! It was just as well she came home early as she was rather drunk. God knows what she may have got up to otherwise! She might have to cconsider giving up drinking altogether. It seemed to be a very dangerous pastime. Drink and Serena didn’t mix well. She suddenly remembered Ethan’s look of distaste when he saw her in a face lock with inebriated Phil, literally five minutes after telling him she wasn’t ‘with’ anyone….