Page 64 of The Pieces We've Lost

ellison

We left the fairgrounds to go to the street dance. We walked since the fairgrounds were only a short distance from Main Street. The street was blocked off from traffic and there was a stage for a live band. It seemed as though the entire town, and then some, had shown up. The road was filled with people. Children were running around while their parents watched from the sidewalks and everywhere people were dancing. The smell of cinnamon fry bread and grilled meat filled the air, and the entire event exuded small town charm.

The band, whose name I had paid zero attention to, started playing a cover of “Wagon Wheel.” Even though I had no idea who they were, I was enjoying the music. Colter grabbed my hand to dance. I tried to brush him off to keep walking, but he was already starting to spin me around.

I had to hand it to him, he was a great dancer. It felt natural—effortless—with me predicting his moves but still letting him be in control as a lead—how dancing should feel. It was like we’d known eachother for years and not only a couple months. As he spun me around, I could picture myself fitting into his world—this community—more and more.

The song ended, and he pulled me close to him again, instead of letting go of my hands, planting a kiss on my temple.

“Let’s go find Reid and the boys, shall we?” He pulled away and started walking in the direction of one of the bars.

We walked into Rudy’s, a bar about a block away, and looked around for Colter’s friends. I had no idea what they looked like, with the exception of Reid, so I wasn’t a lot of help.

“There they are.” Colter nodded his head toward a pool table in the back of the bar. There was a group of four guys standing around it.

In addition to Reid, there was a younger looking one, likely around my age, with sandy brown hair. The others were a bit older. One of them was shorter, probably only about five-foot-eight, if that, and he looked to be the oldest with dark hair and a five o’clock shadow nearing on the side of too short. The fourth guy was a bit taller than Colter and had blond hair.

We walked over to them, and they immediately started saying hello to Colter.

“Hey, Colt. Hi, I’m Reid.” Reid introduced himself to me, shaking my hand for a quick moment before he walked around the pool table to line up a shot.

I gave him a small smile, but couldn’t get my own introduction out before one of the other guys started talking. Loudly.

“Carson, my man. Good to see you. Nice to see you’ve got a pretty lady with you for once.” The short one startedeyeing me a little too closely, making me guess that he was Mikey.

“The pretty lady has a name. It’s Ellison.” I raised an eyebrow at him, unimpressed so far.

“Sorry about him. This is Mikey.” Colter introduced us and confirmed my suspicions.

“She’s a real firecracker, ain’t she, Carson?” Mikey snorted.

Oh, you have no idea. You haven’t even seen anything yet.The thought put a smirk on my face.

“This is Hayden.” Colter pointed to the younger one. “And this is Jake.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Hayden waved from across the pool table.

Jake just gave me a nod of acknowledgment.

“Ah, shit,” Reid mumbled as he hit the cue ball into one of the pockets.

“Damn, man. You need to work on your skills.” Jake slapped him on the back before lining up his own shot. “My grandma can play pool better than you can.”

I couldn’t resist a snort at his comment. After Jake went, Hayden made a couple shots, making up for Reid’s misses.

“Even if your grandma couldn’t shoot better, I’m sure I could.” I yawned.

“You think so, Firecracker?” Mikey’s eyes piqued with interest.

“Of course. I could definitely at least beat you.” I looked him up and down.

“All right, prove it.” Reid handed me his pool stick as Mikey lined up a shot. He easily pocketed the shot as well as another. But then he missed, setting up a difficult angle for me.

I pouted my lips, trying to figure out how I was going to swing this.

“What’s wrong there, city girl?” Mikey taunted me as I figured out how I was going to make the shot. He clearly didn’t know anything about me other than the fact that I was from around Houston.

I pulled back the cue stick and looked Mikey right in the eye as I took the shot, bouncing the cue ball off the cushion to make a bank shot in the corner. “Nothing’s wrong.” I made another two shots and pointed out the pocket that I wanted the eight ball to go into before sinking it. “And I’m not a city girl.”

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