Page 120 of Awry
Presh bounces on her heels when I catch her gaze and gesture her toward me.She comes without question.Kris lingers at the jukebox, her gaze over my shoulder on DeVille.Or maybe on Rought.He drew the attention of everyone in the bar when he entered, and most have barely managed to glance away.
I mean, I most definitely see the appeal.But people are gawking as if they’ve never seen him before, and I would have assumed he’s been a fixture in the club for years.A lieutenant by his twenty-first birthday, he said.
Presh, still bouncing gently to the music, hovers a couple of feet away from me.I lean over to say, “Shall we play a game?”
She smirks, nodding eagerly.
“Close your eyes.”
She does.
I take a final sip of my milkshake as I step around her slowly.One of the waitstaff turns from bussing a nearby table, and I pop my empty drink container on her tray with a murmured thank you.She nods at me distractedly, heading back to the bar to pick up another round of drinks.
Stepping in time with the music, I complete my circle around Presh, speaking next to her ear again.“The game’s called ‘stay with me.’”
“Okay,” she gushes excitedly.
I allow myself to move to the music a bit more, letting it tug at me, direct me, while I open my senses to take a peek at the vibrant coil of essence, of life force, that surrounds Presh.
We are clearly connected now.The thread between us glimmers, vibrant and full.I allow my focus to fall on that connection, then I tease my fingers across it.
I’ve never had a person so tied to me before — by pure intent, that is, rather than by blood.So perhaps this is a lesson for me as well as for Presh.
Her mouth falls open a little, and she sways into me, but she keeps her eyes closed.
“Stay with me,” I murmur as I move, twisting and bopping to the music myself, slowly twirling around Presh but not quite close enough to touch her.
She’s hesitant at first, as expected.But then she falls into dancing.And it’s mostly that, just dancing.But once she relaxes, I stay in one place.Mostly.Shifting my hips and shuffling my feet to the music, and every so often giving my connection to Presh a slight tug or tweak.
Still dancing, she moves with those tweaks, guided slightly to the left or directed to the right.
Under the right circumstances, I can move most anyone in a similar fashion by grabbing one of their threads, whether they’re connected to me or not.But this is different because of the connection between Presh and me.Once I show her, whether or not she fully understands what she’s feeling, I let the thread between us do as it wills.
Then I move.
Presh stays with me, ghosting my footsteps, following my lead.It’s subtle.It will look to outsiders as if we’re simply dancing together.It might even feel that way to Presh, but subconsciously, she’s reacting to the shifts in my essence, in my energy now.
Grinning, I turn my attention to the side of the dance floor, reaching out and giving the vibrant energy that surrounds Cayley and Doc Z the slightest of tugs toward us.A bare whisper ofintentbecause I want to complicate the lesson but not disrupt it.I then glance at Kris and beckon her in the same way.
All three come to us willingly, already dancing, then surrounding Presh and me.
“Stay with me,” I murmur to Presh a third time.My words, my command, strengthens the connection between us.Presh gasps.
I step back, then start to slowly weave my way around Cayley, Doc, and Kris.Eyes still closed, Presh follows me.Some of it is pure instinct, and some of it is feeling the energy that crackles around us— and being able to distinguish the tenor of my essence among it.
The song changes.The tempo becomes more upbeat.
Cayley’s eyes widen.She glances over my shoulder a moment before a warm body ghosts against my back.He’s suddenly close enough to share the energy we both emanate, though not actually touching me.
Rought has joined us.
Presh’s eyes snap open to take in her brother with a grin.I don’t miss the surprise that flickers over the faces of the others.
More people pile onto the tiny dance floor, forcing us all closer together.
Forgetting the lesson, Presh turns and starts dancing with Kris.Cayley and Doc dance solo near us.
Rought’s hand ghosts my hip as I sway and move to the music.Words, lyrics, filter in, the beat moving me.But nothing matters — just for that breath — except the energy shifting between us.
