checkmate , s.reid

001 » THE CLUB

The heat of the club clouds my thoughts, the smell of sweat and alcohol thick in the air. People are packed all around us as Alice pulls me through the crowd to dance. Giggling as she drags me past a group of young men, she winks at me and vaguely gestures to them all. I laugh and shake my head, fake gagging. "Gross," I mutter.

She holds her body close to mine, her arms resting on my shoulders. As I rest my hands on her waist, she slowly grinds her hips against mine in time to the music. "Alice," I warn, holding her hips still.

"Oh come on, babe, I miss you," she presses her lips to the side of my face, giggling softly.

I laugh slightly, rolling my eyes. "You're drunk, my love," I sigh, holding her face in my hands. She gazes into my eyes, pretty much begging me to kiss her. "I love you, but no."

Her eyes travel away from my face, over to my right- the bar area. She smirks softly, drawing her gaze back to me. "Some guy over there looks like he wants to fuck the shit out of you," Alice giggles. I briefly glance over, only to see the most atrociously ugly man I've ever seen.

"Well, he can wait," I say, grabbing her wrists gently. "'Cause we've got friends to get back to."

We head back through the swarm of people, maneuvering through various limbs that stick out as the people dance, and slide back into our booth. The leather seats stick to my skin; it makes me want to tear my skin off.

"Have fun?" June asks, sipping on their drink.

"Yeah, sure," I laugh as Ezra wraps his arm around my shoulders, squeezing me close to him.

"Congratulations on your job, my love," he whispers huskily into my ear, his breath warm on my skin.

"God, Ez, you act like a possessive mafia boss boyfriend," I murmur jokingly, lightly shoving him away.

He peels away from me, chuckling loudly. "Don't act like you don't know I'm messing with you, prick."

"Ez, leave them alone," June giggles, dipping her fingers into her drink and pulling out an ice cube, throwing it at Ezra's head.

"June!" Alice yells through fits of laughter. "You can't do that!"

"I can and I will," June responds with a casual shrug, throwing yet another ice cube at Ezra as he flips them off.

"Fuck you," he sighs.

"Not now, baby; later," she teases with a wink.

"Okay, okay, wait," Alice says. "Spin the bottle?"

"Oh, c'mon, Alice, we're not sevente-" I start, sighing, before Ezra cuts me off mid-sentence.

"Yeah, that'd be fun!" he says, elbowing me lightly.

"Oh, shut up, you just want to kiss me," I joke, rolling my eyes.

But eventually, I agree to play. We use a beer bottle, centering it on the table to spin it. The club is filled with a lot of noise and bright lights, so it's kind of hard to concentrate. As Alice spins, I find my gaze drifting over to a table across the room where loud laughter erupts from. One of the men at the table, a brunette with a nice smile, happens to glance over at the same time, and I catch his gaze. He smirks slightly, and I immediately look away, embarrassed. As I look back to my friends, Alice and June are kissing, and I can't help but laugh.

"What's up with you?" Ezra asks, noticing the change in my expressions.

"Oh, um, nothing," I say, briefly letting my eyes flicker over to the guy. He's gone back to paying attention to his friends, a soft smile on his face; he's gorgeous.