Dancing With a Stranger - Connor McDavid

Five • Connor

If she told me one more time to stop acting like her brother I might spontaneously combust. The emerald dress she's wearing is hugging her figure perfectly and her dark brown hair contrasts against the color of it, which happens to be my favorite. Her eyes, normally a vibrant blue, looked slightly more green tonight. She's practically drool worthy, and she keeps referring to me as her brother. Didn't I just say that our kiss was good? But it wasn't just good. It was the best damn kiss I've ever had, and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't think about it every day for the last two weeks.

I had been on a temporary hiatus from Gray. After we kissed, or more like during our kiss, I realized a few things:

One. She wasn't the innocent, sweet, best friend that I grew up protecting from idiots and bullies anymore. No, she was sexy, and powerful and confident. And I was blinded by our friendship unable to see what was underneath. There is definitely more layers to Grayson, that I didn't know about surprisingly.

Two. Damn did she know how to use that mouth. Thinking about her tongue turns me on. I can only imagine what would happen if- nope, not going there.

Three. There may have been something under the surface that I didn't realize was there before. And I don't want to say it because it makes things real. And if things become real with her, I risk losing our friendship, or I risk losing her as a person. That will always play a bigger factor than what I could potentially gain. It just always will.

And finally, I can't protect her anymore. More importantly, I can't save her for myself.

So this predicament, I guess is what I'll call it, has put me in a rough spot. I want her. More than I have ever wanted a woman in my life. And I can't fucking have her. Not if I want her to stay.

And as I hear her say the words, "I love you. I really do..." my stomach does a weird little flip, but then it's like I want to choke when she gets to the end. "...allowed to make my own decisions. Just like you do."

Just like I do.

God. I need to stop. I need to stop nodding my head in agreement. I don't want that. But it's the best thing for us right now. "Okay." I choke out, "I think I can do that."
"Good." She smiles brightly, the glow of it warming my insides. Then she places her hand in mine as she gets up, carrying her drink with the other. "Let's go mingle."
"Oh lord." She drags me out out of my seat and I barely have time to grab my drink before I'm halfway across the restaurant. She's walking in front of me, hand in mine, It's kind of funny actually. Usually I'm the one leading her places, but as she guides me over to Oscar, I realize I really like following her. I think I would follow her anywhere if she asked me too.
Not to mention, she did it for me.

"What's up Bomber?" She says pulling him in a hug. He grips her a little tighter than usual and he looks at me over her shoulder. I give him a death glare and mouth "No fucking way, not a chance."
And he just smirks at me. The little bitch.

"Oh nothing much Gray, just glad to support Leon and Celeste. I haven't seen you in a while, Mac got you locked up or something?"
"Something like that." I mutter and she glares at me.
"I've just been really busy the past two weeks. I think I'm going home soon, so I've been making some accommodations at work."
This is news to me, "You're going home in a few weeks?" I ask, surprised she didn't mention it before. Or that it didn't come up in our conversation a few minutes ago at least.
"Dave-O didn't know? Yikes." He laughs. "I think I'll let you two figure that out, but Gray, it was good to see you, we should meet up before you head back home."
"Sure thing Oscar." She smiles as he walks over to Ty. She turns to look at me and I'm having none of it.
"Oh no. No way." I say.
"Connor what did we just flipping talk about?" She whisper yells.
"Okay but this is my teammate!! It's different. Oscar's a flirt and your just going to be disappointed when it ends badly." Honestly I just don't want to see them flirting at the rink, or hear about her from him, or see her wearing his jersey on game day. That's something that's reserved for me. And I want to hear about how she's doing from her.
"Okay. I get it. That would cross a line. I'm sorry." She apologizes and I take her hands.
"About you going home in a few weeks-"
"Actually I think I'm going home next week. Things kind of came up quick and my mom made arrangements for me to come down earlier than expected." I start to play with her hands.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"We weren't exactly in the position to be sharing what's going on when that was happening." She says playfully pushing my arm back.
"I'm coming with you." I say. I want to be around her as much as possible. Maybe to keep an eye on her a little bit, but maybe just because I want to.
"What? Connor no, it's fine."
"I have training starting in Toronto in like two weeks anyway. It would be nice to get there early and spend time with my family." That's a damn good excuse if I ever did see one.
"Fine." She says.
"Send me your booking information when we get back to the apartment."
"Okay."
"Don't act like I'm a burden to you." I nudge her shoulder and laugh as she smiles again.
"You're not a burden to me." She laces her arms around my neck and wraps me in a hug, nuzzling her head into my neck. I kiss her forehead and rest my chin on her head as I wrap my arms around her and say, "Good."

We stay there for a moment as I run my fingers up and down her back and a slow song comes on. I can barely hear it over the chatter in the room but it's still there. "Wanna dance?" I ask and she nods her head.
The chorus to You and Me by LifeHouse starts up and we just stay how we are, in the same position, swaying to the music. Her arms around my neck, my hands on her waist. It felt natural to be with her like this. So why am I trying to fight it?
"You know Dave-O," She starts, " I didn't realize how good of a dancer you are."
I laugh, "We're just swaying, I'm not as good as you think I am."
"Give yourself some credit! You're not as awkward as you used to be. For starters you're not stepping on my toes like you did at senior prom."
"Yeah? I think that improvement just comes with the agileness of being an athlete." I laugh then spin her around.
"What was that?" She questions with a smile.
"What was what?" I grin sheepishly.
"That little spin? That wasn't bad either. You've got some moves. What else can you do?" She challenges.
"I've got something in mind." I say giving her a smirk, "Are you sure you're ready for it though?"
"Bring it on McDancer."
I laugh and then dip her back a little bit, my grip firmly on her, making sure she doesn't fall. As she comes back up our noses touch and I realize just how close we actually are. I want to kiss her again. Badly. Those full lips are just within reach and I can feel her heart beating wildly against my chest. Her eyes flick up to mine and then she realizes how close we are.

She smiles and spins herself, still holding onto my hand. And when she faces me again she jokes, "Wow, didn't know you had those type of moves in you."
"Don't get used to it." I say light heartedly.

I'm so screwed.