The club felt electric. That was the only way to describe it. The flashing lights. The moving bodies in skimpy dresses and expensive tee shirts. The alcoholic beverages spilling over the rims of red solo cups. The distinctive smell of marijuana floating through the atmosphere. The hard beats of songs that everyone knew and everyone loved. Usually the club wasn't her scene. She liked to keep to herself and mind her own business but after a long week at work, her friends had dressed her in a baby pink suede dress, dragged her out of their shared house, and forced her into the popular club. It wasn't like she wasn't having a good time, there were just other things she would rather be doing. Like sleeping.
"Refill?" The bartender questioned, causing Demi to turn away from the crowd and face the bartender instead. She glanced at her half empty cosmo and lightly shrugged. "It's on the house."
"Actually, I can pick up her tab," a man next to her said, slipping into the seat beside her as he asked the bartender for a cup of Hennessy. After he got his drink, he turned to Demi and flashed her a smile that she instantly recognized, causing her eyes to widen as she drank him in under the dim lighting.
"Trey?" She nearly squealed, not realizing how excited she sounded until it came out of her mouth.
"The one and only," Tremaine Neverson said with a smirk before taking another sip of his drink.
Demi didn't know if she should reach across the space in between them and hug him or slap him across the face, so she didn't do either. She just sat there in astonishment because it had been years since she had seen him.
"What are you doing here?"
"I own this place now. Tonight's the grand opening. I had to show my face," he answered as Demi cocked her eyebrow in surprise.
"Is singing getting boring?" She asked but he shook his head.
"I just thought I would try something else out. And it's a good place to sell my moscato line. But the real question is, what are you doing here? I thought you gave up partying after that night in college when you-"
"STOP!" She exclaimed, her cheeks heating up because she knew exactly what night in college that he was talking about.
"And my friends dragged me here. We had a long week at work and they thought it'd be a good idea for us to unwind. I just can't believe you're here. It's been...a long time," she breathed out.
And it had been, and they both had changed. Trey looked a lot more mature now. He had grown his hair out a lot and his facial hair was neatly trimmed. He was dressed in a white button down shirt with dark washed jeans and an expensive pair of loafers on his feet, the complete opposite of what he used to wear to the club. And he was 32 years old now. Everything about him just seemed so much different, but she hadn't seen him in about seven years so she didn't know what she was expecting. Well, she certainly wasn't expecting to see him.
"Yeah...it has been."
An uncomfortable silence settled between them as their minds flashed back to all of the memories that they shared. There was so much history between them, so much unresolved conflict, that even being in the same vicinity was awkward. Or at least it was awkward for her. Maybe Trey didn't care. Maybe he had moved on. But she always had issues moving on.
"How have you been?" Trey broke the silence as she played with the hem of her dress, suddenly feeling extremely naked under his hard stare. She wasn't stupid. His eyes kept drifting to her chest and she suddenly regretted her bold decision not to wear a bra.
Demi shrugged, not knowing what to say. How do you sum up seven years apart in one sentence? So much had changed. So much.
"Well, order whatever you want. It's on the house. He probably told you it was on the house before but that's just because he was trying to get in your pants. This time I mean it. I hope you enjoy yourself tonight, and I hope I get to see you again soon."
Trey was always sincere with everything he said. That's one of the many things she loved about him. He was so passionate in everything that he said and did. He couldn't do anything without putting his whole heart into it. It was one of his strengths, but also one of his weaknesses.
She obviously didn't respond fast enough, so Trey took that as his cue to leave. He lightly brushed his hand against her arm before disappearing into one of the back hallways. Demi didn't know why and she would probably regret it later, but she finished off what was left of her drink, what was left of his, then followed after him.
The dress she was wearing barely reached the middle of her thighs but since she had been sitting down it rode up. She pulled it down and combed her fingers through her hair as she walked down the hallway, trying to guess which room he had slipped into. The first door she tried concealed a couple having sex, leaving her scarred for life. The next two doors were bathrooms. Demi knocked on the door at the end of the hall and heard a gruff, "who is it?" That was clearly Trey. So she mustered up her liquid courage and opened the door, revealing an intimate office with Trey standing behind the desk shuffling through some papers.
"What's up?"
Suddenly all that liquid courage she had built up in the hallway was gone and she had a moment of clarity. Why exactly did she follow Trey back to his office? What was she looking for? It was that same magnetic pull that had attracted them to each other in the first place that reared its ugly head once again.
"Um, I just realized I didn't get your number. If you wanted to catch up again sometime, we would need some way to contact each other," Demi breathed out, only realizing how lame she sounded once she finished speaking.
But Trey found it endearing and she could tell because of the way his lips curved into a smirk.
"Or you could take a chance and pop up at the club again...hopefully in that dress," Trey said as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked around his desk.
Demi's cheeks flushed once again as she clasped her hands behind her back and Trey moved closer towards her, until their bodies were pressing against each other and she was sure he could hear her heart beating out of her chest.
"I really did miss you, Dems," he said, using the nickname he had given her as if "Demi" wasn't short enough for him, as if he needed his own personal name for her that no one else called her.
"I missed you too." Her voice was barely there because she felt breathless. Trey wasn't even touching her and she was already weak in her knees just from the way that he was staring at her.
"It's been so long." One of his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her even closer to him. She didn't even notice that he had turned them until her butt hit the front of his desk, and he nudged her legs open just a little bit, pressing himself against her even more. "And you still make me feel this way."
Demi didn't know if he was referring to his actual emotions or his hard on pressing against her throbbing center, but she nearly fainted when his other hand wrapped around her waist and slowly lifted her onto the desk.
"We shouldn't." She whispered into his ear, but she was really talking to herself. Being with him like this again would open a can of worms that she hadn't thought about in years, a can of worms that it took her years to get over.
"Then tell me to stop," he said, his hand finding its way under her dress as he nudged her legs apart some more. Her body was on fire. All rational thought was gone and she was a very rational person.
She opened her mouth to reject him, but once his hand grazed over the thong she thanked God she had worn, she was finished. And Trey knew it. Once he cleared everything off of his desk and pushed her onto her back, almost ripping her dress in an attempt to push it up her hips as she unbuckled his pants and freed him, there was no going back.
