Heart Beat Song (A Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist Fanfiction)

Chapter Twenty-Four: Prove It

After the presentation, I made my way to the dance floor again, Where I found Leif and Tobin a few feet away from Max and Autumn dancing to the upbeat club music.

"Hey! You look great, Mare!" Tobin greeted.

"Thanks, you too." I flicked the bill of his hat.

"Thanks. So, turns out you were right about Charlie. He totally flaked." I held my hands out.

"What can I say? Genius means nothing if you're a douche-bag." He nodded in agreement, glancing behind me. I turned around to see Leif with his hand held out to me.

"Is it time to cash in that Rain Check?" I smiled, taking his hand and laughing in surprise when he spun me around. Then he pulled me back to him, grabbing both of my hands, pulling me closet to him, then pushing me away. He then pulled me back, pushing me out again only to let go of my other hand. I spun into him so that his arm was completely wrapped around my waist and then he grabbed my opposite hand, lowering me into a dip. "Whoa!" He picked me up again with his hands on my waist. "Leif Donnelly's a dancer?"

"There's a lot you don't know about me." He said, wrapping an arm around my waist and grabbing my hand, moving us around in a kind of upbeat waltz. I threw my head back, laughing. He spun me out again, only to have Tobin grab my hand and spin me into him, dancing just like Leif and I were which caused me to laugh again.

"Now you I'm not surprised by in the slightest." I said.

"Think you can keep up?" He asked, twirling me around. I raised my eyebrows.

"Tobin Batra?! Is that a challenge?!"

"Girl, you know it!" 

~~~

After a while of upbeat club music, Mo decided to slow it down, leaving couples and friends to get together on the dance floor. I stood at a table with Zoey and Simon, just having small talk, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to once again face Leif, who had his hands in his pockets.

"Do you want to dance?" He asked. "Assuming that's not crossing a line." I smiled, pulling his arm until his hand came out of his pocket before sliding my hand into it and pulling him onto the dance floor again. He wrapped  his arm around my waist, grabbing one of my hands. I put my other hand on his shoulder and we began to sway. "This is an awesome party."

"Yeah, Simon and Zoey really pulled it off." I agreed, looking around at the other couples.

"Well you too. You were part of that." I shrugged.

"So you've been having a good time?" I questioned. He nodded.

"Yeah, yeah its been great. I um...I really appreciate you making an effort to hang out with Tobin." I raised my eyebrows. "Its just...he's my best friend, you know? He's important to me, and I'm glad you two are getting along, because...you are important to me too." I smiled.

"Thanks, Leif," I said, "If only that went both ways. You're probably the least important person in my life right now. Darn, that's really embarrassing for you." He shook his head in annoyed amusement, jokingly pulling away from me to walk away. Before he could get too far however, I brought my arms up so that they were wrapped around his neck. He sighed, stepping closer to me and putting his hands on my waist.

"You're lucky you're smart and beautiful because you're really annoying." I smiled. 

"My bad." He chuckled, when suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder. We both looked up to see Tobin standing there.

"Mind of I cut in?" He asked.

"That depends, who are you asking?" I asked, smirking at him. He shot me an annoyed look and Leif stepped back, gesturing towards me.

"She's all yours." He stepped up, putting a hand on my waist and grabbing my other hand. I found it strange how he was doing the same thing Leif was only because it was him, it wasn't the least bit romantic.

"I didn't take you for the slow dance type." I pointed out. 

"I'm not, typically." He said. "But I thought this was a good opportunity to talk to you." I furrowed my eyebrows. "I wanna know what your intentions are with my bro."

"My intentions?" I asked. He shook his head.

"Look...I've known Leif for a long time. Since we were kids, which is how I know he hardly ever has any interest in relationships. Since we started working here, he's had none until now." He said. "He's very selective about the people he gives his time to and I just want to make sure that you're worth it."

"Ok...how do you know that? What are your standards here?"

"Look, its no secret that you're a hot girl," I rolled my eyes, "And you're charismatic. You like to have a good time, so my question for you is this:" I raised my eyebrows. "This thing you and Leif have going on...is it serious?"

"Serious as in..."

"Don't play dumb Mary, we both know you aren't." I smiled. "Are you getting close to Leif because you genuinely like him and want to date him, or is this just a casual fling for you?"

"I don't do casual flings," I pointed out, "I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm very good at reading people, and get very irritated when it comes to wasted time. I'm not wasting my time casually flirting with guys that I have no intention of dating. If I'm flirting with you, I mean it." 

"Prove it." I furrowed my eyebrows. "The reading people thing, not the flirting thing, although I will be looking out for proof of that."

"How?" I asked.

"Read me." I nodded.

"Easy. Already done." He looked at me expectantly. "You mentioned once that your life has been a series of rejections from the opposite sex."

"Yeah."

"I think the reason for this is because of your Mom," I said, "You also mentioned that your mom left."

"Correct."

"So you like to display this misogynistic, douche-bag persona in order to push girls away before they can get too close, because you're scared that if they get to know the real you, they'll leave." He swallowed.

"That is inferred from information I told you. That's not reading people." I nodded.

"I know. That was just the precursor. What I'm reading is your real personality." He nodded. "in reality...you're a really sweet guy who wants a real relationship, you're just scared. You're smarter than you pretend to be and you have much deeper thoughts and feelings than what you portray on the surface. That's why Leif is friends with you, because Leif isn't the type of guy to waste his time on a friendship that is not mentally enriching. There's a whole other side of you, you're just very selective about who you let see it." He nodded.

"Wow...you are good."

"Thank you." I said.

"But you're not gonna...tell anybody that, are you?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Nope. Your secret is safe with me." 

"And...my boy?" I raised my eyebrows, causing him to sigh. "Leif?" I nodded.

"Him too."  He nodded.

"Good."