Don't Touch

-2-

"Girl! We need to get you out this weekend. C'mon!" Lali said sitting on Syd's bed.

It was Saturday and Syd was at her desk finishing up a few more edits so she'd be caught up in time for Monday.

"Out to where?" Syd asked without looking away from her screen. "I'm not sure I'm in the mood to party."

"Well, you'll just have to get in the mood because we're going out tonight! Chris got us entry to that exclusive club, Midnight!"

"That's a boring ass name for a club," Syd scoffed. "What's it gonna be? A bunch of uppity ass people not dancing and flexing for Instagram?"

"Okay, so we definitely need to get you out. And get you some dick because you're catching an attitude like you can't catch these hands too."

Syd laughed before finally turning around and realizing how right her best friend was. She'd been feeling bitter after what happened with Hector. She used to love to go out dancing and she was never one to snap at people before, even if she was upset about something herself. "Fine," she surrendered. "Who else is going so I'm not third-wheeling it with you and Chris?"

"Char and Grace are coming."

"Okay, well Grace is definitely bringing her girlfriend. And is Char dating anyone? I haven't seen her in a minute."

"Girl, you know Char is a free spirit like your ass was before Hector tied you up." Lali laughed as she texted the group chat.

"We were fresh out of college. We all should've been free spirits. Hell, we should be free spirits for however long we want."

"Alright well, we're meeting them at 11, which gives us four hours to get ready and I'm picking your look tonight." Lali smirked.

***

When they arrived at the club, Lali gave the bouncer Chris' name and they skipped to the front of the line.

"You're with the party of Chris Wright?" The pale hostess said with an unrecognizable accent. "Right this way." She led them through the club to their own section where Grace, her girlfriend Anna, and Char were already sitting with Chris and another guy.

"Chris!" Lali jumped into her fiancé's arms before acknowledging her other friends.

"Damnnnnn Syd!" Char wolf-whistled as she walked over and grabbed Syd's hand to spin her around.

"Nice work!" Grace said to Lali.

Syd was wearing a low-cut black romper that hugged her curves perfectly and was complimented by silver jewelry. She wore a matte red lip with smoky eyes and her hair was pulled into a curly bun at the top of her head.

Her friends' positive reactions brought a smile to her face. Syd hated that she allowed Hector's infidelity to hit her self-esteem the way it did. This was the first night in a while that she actually felt good about her appearance. Syd hugged her friends before going to greet Chris who had Lali sitting in his lap and the other guy with him.

"Hi, I'm Syd," she reached out to him with a smile.

"Michael," he responded as he took her hand into a firm shake as his eyes scanned over her body before he nodded approvingly. "It's nice to meet you, Syd."

"Are you one of Chris' friends, or-"

"Yeah, we work together. Well... technically he's my boss." Chris chimed in.

"Ah," Syd said as the smile grew on her face. "So does that mean you represent artists cooler than the ones Chris represents? Like say... Beyoncé?" She raised her brow.