Overwhelming - Florence Pugh (ON HOLD)

Hotel Room Service

Lyric and I made it to the club, against my better judgement and protests. To be fair, she has never seen the aftermath of my panic attacks. I usually close myself up in my room for a couple of days so that I don't have a repeat and that means that she has no idea what's going on at this very moment.

Not my smartest move, I know. I'm regretting it now.

As soon as we stepped out of the car, I wanted to get right back in. Because of the convention, the club was absolutely packed. This meant that it was more than likely that the various people who showed up for the panels would be here.

My anxiety came flooding back, not that it had ever fully left, and I was already starting to get fidgety. I didn't know what to do with my hands and I was having major issues just standing in line.

"Hey, text Scarlett and let her know we're here. Maybe she can help," Lyric whispered.

With that, I remembered the text that she had sent me about her letting the bouncers know. I pulled my phone out, exceedingly grateful for the release texting would give my fingers. I let her know we were in line and what we were wearing, so that the person coming to get us would know who we are for sure.

"I texted her and I told her our outfits. She hasn't answered, but I'm sure the bouncers will be over here soon."

Lyric nodded and grinned excitedly. "This is absolutely insane! We were just two nerds sharing an apartment and now we have celebrity friends. What?!"

I rolled my eyes a bit at her theatrics. "You forget that I have a decent amount of connections to famous people."

"Yeah, but you don't use themmmmm. I want to meet Taylor Swift backstage at one of her concerts, dude!"

"She hasn't even gone on tour yet for her new albums..." I trailed off at the death glare that my friend gave me. "Okay, point taken, I'll see what I can do when she has a show near us."

"Thank you."

I was just about to make a sarcastic comment to annoy her even further, but a huge tank of a guy walked up to us. By tank, I mean he was at least seven feet tall and all muscle. I never thought much about aliens infiltrating the world, but this dude made me question ever interaction I'd ever had.

"Blake and Lyric?"

"Yessir," Lyric squeaked out. She's shorter than me, so this man had nearly two feet on her height.

I just gulped and nodded, mentally acknowledging that I was probably several shades paler than I had been about 30 seconds ago.

"Follow me."

He turned and walked past the people in line and we scrambled to follow him. When he opened the blockade for us, Lyric turned to me with wide eyes. Some people started protesting in line, but we were already through.

I stepped in behind Lyric and was immediately overwhelmed. The dance floor was huge and lit up with flashing lights and lasers. The DJ booth was up on a stage with several celebrities next to the performer, dancing and taking videos. To our right were the private booths and seating areas, each elevated to different heights with stairs separating them. To the left was a massive bar area that had four different bartenders working. This was some of the fanciest shit I had ever seen.

My observations were interrupted when someone called my name.

"Blake! Come up here, we're gonna get some shots and drinks in a minute," Scarlett yelled across the floor.

I laughed at her slightly tipsy nature and pulled Lyric to where she had an entire room reserved. It was a decent size, a couple couches and tables included and a flat-screen on the wall. Scarlett pulled me into a hug and I happily obliged. Her hugs are wonderful. She then pulled Lyric into a hug and patted her on the head, which made me snort at Lyric's expression.

We settled into our seats and talked for a bit before deciding it was time to drink. We walked up to the bar and ordered a few rounds of shots, immediately downing them all. I turned to Scarlett and was about to ask where Florence was, when I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I jumped slightly and turned around.

The shorter blonde stood in front of me, smiling slightly, with her hands behind her back. I let my eyes trail her body. She was wearing ripped jeans and a neon crop top that made her tanned skin stand out. Her hair was slicked back and she had dark eyeliner on. Rings decorated her fingers and a couple thin chains were around her neck. In simple words, she looked fucking good.

A throat cleared and I snapped my eyes up to meet hers.

"Does that mean you like the outfit, love?" She teased, a small grin on her face.

I felt a shiver run through my body from her raspy British voice calling me love. I played it off as well as I could and laughed. I leaned down and put my mouth right next to her ear, hearing her breath hitch slightly when my lips brushed it. "Oh, I think you would look good in anything, Flo." I stood up straight again and chuckled at her rolling her eyes.

Im not sure where the sudden confidence came from, especially since I've never been the one to put myself out there like I just had. I enjoyed it thought and I think she did, too. I'm aware she's in a relationship, so harmless platonic flirting is the best she's going to get and I don't think I'll really be getting anything back. Or, I didn't, until a second later when she pulled me down to her height again.

"And I think you'd look good in nothing, love."

Fuck...

My eyes darkened a bit and I had to shake my head to clear the haze that had begun to cloud my mind. Florence started laughing and I joined in as we stepped back to the bar.

"Whiskey sour for me, extra strong, and whatever she wants," I told the bartender.

"Sex on the beach, please."

I choked a bit and cleared my throat, pretending I didn't just have a junior high moment. I heard Scarlett giggling next to me and I turned to give her a shut up look. She just smirked at me and held her drink up as a cheers. I rolled my eyes and turned back to Florence, only to find her disappearing into the crowd.

I ignored the disappointment that made my mood dim slightly and decided to stay on the sidelines, like normal, and resort to watching people dance. This only worked for five or so minutes. Scarlett pulled me onto the dance floor, and we started to move together. Suddenly, 'Hotel Room Service' came on and we stopped dancing. I looked at her and she looked at me. We grinned at the same time and started getting into it. We were yelling the lyrics and dancing like there was no tomorrow. She was dancing up against me and I was laughing and playing along. We started doing this body roll move every time a certain verse came on.

Forget about your boyfriend
and meet me at the hotel room.
You can bring your girlfriends
and meet me at the hotel room.
Forget about your boyfriend
and meet me at the hotel room.
You can bring your girlfriends
and meet me at the hotel room.

And then as soon as the beat drops.

We at the hotel, motel, Holiday Inn.
We at the hotel, motel, Holiday Inn.
We at the hotel, motel, Holiday Inn.
We at the hotel, motel, Holiday Inn.

We stopped and started jumping with one hand in the air and the other around each other's waist.

People started cheering us on and even copying the dance moves. All I could think about was how this became a core memory. Dancing to a song with Scarlett Johansson, people cheering and others doing our made up dance.

The song ended and everyone started laughing and clapping. Scarlett and I smiled at each other and hugged. We walked off the floor back to the bar for a well deserved break and collapsed onto the stools. The bartenders took one look at us and handed us waters. I started laughing and nodded at them in thanks. I thought I only took a sip, but apparently I chugged it because it was gone when I blinked.

Scarlett and I talked for a bit about random things and joked about our dancing. I was about to ask her how she learned to dance when we heard an announcement from the DJ. We looked at each other with wide eyes and slightly dropped jaws. I silently asked her a question and she answered. I let a grin creep across my face and she matched it. We walked back out and held hands, which actually felt really nice. I squeezed her hand and looked at her in confirmation. Scarlett reciprocated and we stepped onto the dancefloor once again.

Things just got so much better.