“Are you having fun yet?” Kassy laughed at Howie’s forwardness.
“Surprisingly, yes,” she said, truthfully. The two had been dancing for the past three songs, Kevin and Kristin by their side, though they had seemed a thousand miles away ever since their arms went around one another. Howie and Kassy had tried to make a few snide remarks that would break their concentration on each other, but they were what was called “lost hope.” That comment had caused Kristin’s heeled shoe to come flying at Howie’s butt, but other than that, nothing.
“I’m surprised not that many people are here,” Howie commented, looking around. Kassy gave him a wary look.
“D, the place is pretty full,” she said, motioning to the occupied tables positioned around the dance floor. Howie only shook his head.
“I mean, there aren’t a lot of celebrities here.” Kassy scowled. Howie frowned. “Great, now you think I’m some high society snob. Kas, I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just-” Kassy’s laughter interrupted him.
“I’m only teasing you, Howie,” she said, shaking her head with a smile. “You really need to learn to lighten up.” No sooner had Howie started to say comment when the some ended and yet another soft ballad came flowing through the speakers. The band was pretty good, but they played nothing but slow songs.
“Can I steal her away for a dance, D?” The two turned to see Brian standing next to them, a smile plastered on his face. Kassy could sense something was wrong and looked at Howie. He nodded and slowly unwrapped his arms from around her waist. Taking her hand, he kissed it before heading back to his seat. Before another word was said, Brian and Kassy had their arms around each other.
“Brian, what’s wrong?” Kassy asked, concerned. Brian only shook his head.
“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” he said. He smiled again, but it seemed genuine this time. “Are you having a good time so far tonight?” Kassy smiled and nodded, looking down at the floor.
“Yeah, thanks for inviting me,” she said, softly. Brian sensed something in his friend that he had never sensed before. Shyness. Slowly, he put a hand under her chin and lifted it up so their eyes met.
“Kas, are you okay?” he asked, concerned. She nodded silently. “Hey, you don’t have to be shy around me, you know that. We’re best friends.” A small smile tugged at the corner or her lips, but something quickly suppressed it. “Kas, what’s wrong?” She shook her head.
“Nothing, Brian,” she said, firmly. “Let’s just dance.” Nodding, Brian pulled her closer to him, complying with his silence.
“Do you think she’ll stick around, Kev?” AJ asked. Kevin only shrugged and took Kristin’s hand as they sat down at the table.
“It wasn’t her that left last time, Jay,” he corrected. “It was Brian.” AJ shrugged.
“Still . . .”
“I’ve always known Kas to give someone more than a fair chance. For both their sakes, I hope she does,” Kevin replied. “Brian’s been so happy since he saw her in the audience last night. I don’t want anything to spoil that. Seeing her at family reunions hasn’t been too easy, either. You couldn’t tell by looking at her since she hid it so well, I could tell just by talking to her that she felt out of place without him. If he ruins things with her again, I think their friendship will destroyed forever.” The table turned silent as they all thought of the consequences.
“She’s really nice, though,” Nick offered, trying to find some kind of consolation that would cheer everyone up. It worked. Kevin smiled dreamily.
“Definitely is, Nick, but she’s had her share of moments.” Grinning, he went into a story. “There was one time, at one of our family barbeques, where I had brought my girlfriend of the time, Cheryl.” He squeezed Kristin’s hand as if to make emphasis on the words “girlfriend of the time.” “Like I might have said before, Kas is an incredible judge of character. She always made her opinions of people from first impression . . . and they were usually right.” He smiled. “She always told me that she could tell by looking into their eyes. Like, there was some way to read their personalities through them . . . I dunno, anyway, I had brought Cheryl with me and she and Kas met for the first time.
“Kassy knew Cheryl was up to no good from the get-go, and she warned me about her at the party, but, me being my stubborn self, chose to ignore her warnings. It turned out later on that she had been right.
“Kas was so intent to prove me wrong, that she and Amber – y’know, my cousin and your ex, Nick – well, they took her into the living room and struck up a conversation with her. Amber pretended to be drunk so Cheryl thought she wouldn’t remember anything and Kassy had pretended to hate me. Well, Cheryl fell for their act hook, line, and sinker, spilling out every detail of her date with Brad Telnis the night before the party. Of course, it was everything they could do to keep from throwing up since the two had had sex, and God knows how Cheryl liked to brag about that.”
“And you believed them, Kev?” Howie asked, confused. “I mean, you didn’t believe her the first time. Why the second?” Kevin grinned.
“Easy. They had it on tape.” The table quickly erupted into laughter and Kristin smiled. She’d enjoyed the story, but she was focused on something else. She felt Kevin give her hand a light squeeze and looked up. Concern shown in his eyes. “Hey, Kris, you okay?” he asked, softly. She smiled and nodded.
“Yeah, I’m just watching,” she said.
“Watching what?” She pointed towards the dance floor.
“Them.” The entire table followed her finger and all ten eyes landed upon the dancing couple. Their arms were tight around each other and their bodies were pressed together. She had her head on his chest and his chin was resting on top of it. Both pairs of eyes were closed.
“Damn,” AJ breathed. Nick smiled, happy for his best friend. He needed someone better than Leighanne. Howie was watching the band and was doing a fairly good job of hiding his disappointment. While Kristin studied them, Kevin bit his lip and watched them intently. He was sure as hell hoping that maybe something would work out. He wouldn’t be able to bare watching Kassy go through all that pain and suffering again. It was hard enough the first time . . . and once was enough.