noregrets1

Once again they sat across the booth from one another as though they were strangers."You two still at it?"AJ swiped his drink from the table taking a swig of it and reurned it to the table."I don't know which one of you is more stubborn,"he shook his head in amusement and returned toward the dance floor.
She tried hiding the smile forming upon her face as he growled,"Is it really that amusing to you?"
"Oh come on Howie. He is right. We fight over the silliest things."
"We do not."
"We do too."
"No we don't."
"Fine, but if you decide to come down off that high horse of yours in the next few hours, I'll be enjoying myself with the others."
"Go for it,"he mumbled under his breath as she walked away. She had a way of driving him crazy without even trying. She was right. They did fight over the silliest things and this was the silliest of them all. She was trying to escape the "witty reparte" of some jerk at the bar and he let the little green monster escape not apologizing for his reaction at all. He got lost in his thoughts as she was trying to will him toward the dance floor. It wasn't working but she felt a presence behind her and turned to find AJ."Age. I thought you'd be out on the dance floor with some little hottie by now."
"The excuses are long and wide tonight."
"Kinda like you,"she nudged him teasingly.
"Don't let Howie hear you say that."
"He could care less about me right now or he'd be all over your case just for standing next to me."
"Well since Howie's not paying any attention say you and I dance,"he suggested.
"I'd love to,"she said as her body started carrying the rhythm onto the dance floor. He clung to her every move as th music's pulsating rhythm of "Closer" eliminated any space between them."What do you think Howie would do if I took you home with me tonight?"
"He'd have a kiniption."
"What would you say if I asked you to go home with me tonight?"
"I'd say you almost waited too long to ask,"she returned.

They rode in silence as she kept reassuring herself this was only a physical thing that everything would be okay in the morning. Who was she kidding? She knew herself better than that. They turned into his drive and she was about to lose her nerve when the vehicle jerked to a stop. His hand steadily ran up her leg, over the black leather mini skirt she wore as he leaned across tantalizing her with his breath."Everything okay?" he held her in th mystery of his dark gaze. Before giving her a chance to answer, he exited the vehicle and traveled around to the passenger side. He opened the door and took her hand escorting her from it."Beth,"he requested as she steadied herself under his hypnotic spell as the massive set of doors swung open.
"Yes?"she looked to him.
"You don't have to do this you know."
"What if I want to do this or are you having second thoughts about doing something really stupid to your best friend."
"If he were any kind of friend period, he'd have called looking for you and me both by now,"he pushed the dooors closed.
"You know, I kinda have a confession to make here."
"And what might that be?"he casually returned as he dropped the keys on the entryway table.
She took his hand."I kinda instigated that little scene between Howie and I."
"What?"he withdrew from her.
"That was just to prove my point about him. He acts like a jealous boyfriend when he has no right to. For once, I wanted to go home with somebody and not have him all over my case about it."
"He does that because he cares about you Beth."
"Then what do you think he would do if he knew I was here?"she replied the phone interrupting their conversation.
"Hold that thought,"he picked up the phone off the table."Hello?"
"Age. I was wondering what happened to you. Do I need to call back tomorrow?"
"Naw man. Things are just fine. Have you seen Beth lately though?"he stood admiring the low cut vee in her black satin blouse set off by a silver belt draped loosely around her waist.
"I was just about to ask you the same thing. You think she's okay?"
"Maybe she just took a cab home or something like that."