Page 15 of Ink & Ambition

Danika squeezes the life out of me and Sydney hands me a beer, which I accept gratefully. Now that I’ve gotten the worst out of the way, I might be able to relax and actually enjoy myself for once at one of these parties.

Dani takes my free hand and leads us toward the living room, which is also the dance floor. As we walk, I get the lowdown from Sydney that Nico tried to corner Danika while I was outside talking to Alex, but he didn’t get very far. In fact, from what Sydney told me, he got a swift knee in the goods and an expletive or two thrown in his face but that’s about it.

Danika leads the three of us directly to the center of the dance floor and while I’m usually much more comfortable lounging against the wall, content to watch the revelry, tonight, I’m feeling bolder than usual. I faced a fear and put myself out therewith Alex and it paid off. Now, I’m ready to let even looser if it keeps getting me the same positive result.

We laugh as the song changes to one I haven’t heard since I was in middle school and I start to sway my hips back and forth. The music tied with the beer is intoxicating and I’m finally starting to understand why Dani drags us to these parties every weekend. That is, until I feel unfamiliar hands snake around my waist.

“Hey gorgeous,” a deep voice speaks in my ear and my entire body tenses up. Danika watches the exchange from a few feet in front of me and eyes the guy for a second before leaning in to whisper in my other ear.

“Baseball player. He’s cute and has never given me any trouble before. Let yourself have some fun,” she says, pulling back with a wink. I trust Danika more than I trust myself sometimes so it’s only with that glowing endorsement that I step a little deeper into his embrace and move my hips along with him. Danika and Sydney stay close to me as we all dance together.

Finally, after the song finishes, I turn and face the stranger behind me. Dani’s right, he is cute. His friendly grin matches mine as he extends his hand toward mine. It’s tight to his chest since the dance floor is rather crowded but still a sweet gesture.

“I’m Ryan,” he says and I take his hand in mine.

“Margot,” I reply. He doesn’t let go as he continues the conversation and I let him keep holding my hand, which I quickly realize is a stark difference from how I pulled my hand away from Alex’s grasp earlier in the night.

Ryan leans into my ear to continue the conversation in the middle of the crowded dance floor. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around these parties before. I would’ve noticed.”

I shake my head and pull his neck down to speak back into his ear. “I don’t come often but when I do, I’m just usually in the shadows.”

I hear his soft laughter in my ear. “That’s no place for someone as pretty as you.” I can feel the blush creeping up onto my face. No one has ever spoken to me like this before. Truthfully, I’ve never given anyone the chance to.

“Do you want to go outside and talk where it isn’t so loud?” he asks and I nod. Ryan takes the hand he’s still holding and pulls me along with him. I glance back toward Dani and Syd, who both nod encouragingly at me.

Just before we make it to the door, I feel a pull against my shoulder and I whip around to see a furious Alex standing in front of me.Talk about deja vu.

“What the hell, Alex?”

“You can’t be here anymore. You need to leave.” He says to me but his glance keeps shifting above my head to Ryan standing behind me.

“Excuse me?”

I sense Ryan step up behind me but something in Alex’s stare keeps him back a step. Alex then unleashes that withering stare on me.

“Listen, I told you I’d tell you the details later but you can’t be whoring yourself around–”

“Excuse me,” I step toward him, ready to battle, and his gaze softens only a little when he sees the hurt and confusion in my eyes. By now, some people have noticed the scuffle and Danika and Sydney have pushed right to the front of the crowd.

“Please, Margot. Just leave,” Alex pleads with me, and it’s not lost on me this is the first time he’s used my real name. I have absolutely no idea why he’s kicking me out of his party after that whole conversation we just had but, with the way I’m feeling right now, there’s no way I’d want to stay anyway.

“You know what, fine by me. I never wanted to come here in the first place,” I say, giving him a push to get his intoxicating scent away from me. I turn on my heels and brush past a veryconfused Ryan as I continue down the walkway. I don’t even have to turn around to know that my roommates are only a step behind me, but I’m too furious to stop and wait for them.

“What the hell was that all about?” Dani asks as they both run up and flank me on either side. “I thought you said you had a good conversation with him?”

“I thought I did too,” I reply, still entirely confused.

“Do you think he was jealous seeing you with Ryan?” Sydney asks and I burst out a laugh just at the mere thought of that.

“Please, there’s no way,” I reply, shaking my head, but Sydney only shrugs.

In the current furious state I’m in, my walking speed is double what it usually is so we end up at our apartment building in half the time it usually takes.

“What exactly did he say to you?” Danika asks as we head up the stairs to the second floor. Sydney unlocks our front door and we all kick off our shoes before heading into the living room.

“He said, ‘you can’t be whoring yourself around’ or some repulsive, sexist thing like that,” I say, laying down on the couch. I close my eyes to try and collect myself.

Danika grabs my legs, pulling them up to make space for herself and pulls them back down onto her lap. Sydney grabs us all fresh water bottles from the fridge before she cozies up in the armchair next to the couch.

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