Chapter 7
"So what are you guys doing here?" Margie asked AJ, having to raise her voice to be heard over the loud music.
AJ looked around in mock confusion. "I'm dancing. What are you doing?"
Margie laughed. "You know what I mean. What are you doing here in Spain?"
"Ohhh," AJ grinned. "We're here on vacation. No touring, no performances, no publicity, no nothing, for two weeks!"
"Wow, two whole weeks! What are you going to do with yourself?" Margie teased.
"Just chill, work on my tan, meet some pretty ladies..." AJ trailed off, looking deep into her ocean blue eyes.
"When do you plan on starting all that?"
"I already have," AJ replied, becoming a bit more serious.
"What?" Margie looked at him in confusion. "How?"
"I met you tonight, didn't I?" AJ asked in reply, moving closer to Margie.
Margie blushed and looked away. AJ cupped her chin in his hand and turned her face to his. "Let's go for a walk, so that we can get to know each other better."
Margie nodded in agreement, a bit baffled at the sudden shyness that had overcome her. She gave herself a mental shake, and took the hand AJ held out to her. He led her off the dance floor and out of the lounge.
* * * * *
"So how do you like Spain?" Brian asked Claire. They had tired of dancing, and gone to sit at a table near the back of the lounge.
Claire took a sip of her drink before answering. "I haven't seen very much of it," she admitted. "We came straight here from the airport, and I haven't left the hotel since we got here, except to go down to the beach."
"Well then, we'll just have to remedy that, won't we?" Brian said matter-of-factly. "Will you go sight seeing with me tomorrow?
Claire smiled happily. "I'd love to." Claire said this calmly, but inside she was screaming and jumping up and down in excitement.
"Great," Brian grinned. "So we'll leave around nine, and make a day of it?"
"Sure, that sounds fine," Claire replied.
"Then it's a date," Brian said, and moved closer to Claire.
"Yeah. It's a date," Claire repeated softly, gazing deep into Brian's eyes.
* * * * *
"So Laura, where are you from?" Howie asked while he and Laura were dancing.
"I'm from Poultney, Vermont. Kara, Becky, Margie, Claire, and I all grew up there," Laura replied. "We just graduated from high school a week ago."
"That's great. What are you going to do in the fall? Are you going to college?" Howie asked.
"Yup, I'm starting college in September. I'll be going to Skidmore College, in Albany, New York." Laura replied.
"Cool, what are you studying?"
"I'm majoring in music theory. I wanna teach music someday."
"That's cool. Do you sing at all?" Howie asked.
Laura blushed. "A little. I had the lead role in my high school's production of West Side Story, last spring."
"That's great. I love that show." Howie smiled at her.
"I like it, but my favorite things to sing are old ballads, stuff by Patsy Cline, and Barbara Mandrell." She said sheepishly, a little embarrassed. "My mom used to listen to that stuff all the time, that's why I like it so much."
"Used to?" Howie questioned her.
"Yeah," Laura replied, a sad look shadowing her face. She died when I was fourteen, of ovarian cancer."
"I'm sorry," Howie put his arm around her, drawing her into his comforting embrace. He thought of how good she felt in his arms, and hugged her slightly closer to him.
Laura returned his hug, thinking how wonderful it felt to have his strong arms around her. She felt him tighten his arms around her, and she pressed closer to him, unwilling to let go.
Eventually they broke apart. Howie held her at arms' length and looked deep into her mesmerizing eyes, which, in the dim lights of the dance floor, looked almost golden in color. "Let's go for a walk," Howie suggested softly. Laura nodded her head in agreement, and arm in arm they left the lounge.
* * * * *
Becky, Nick, Kara and Kevin were all dancing together when the song that the little kids had danced to earlier during the show came on. Kara grinned happily and motioned for Kevin, Becky, and Nick to line up and do the dance with her. "But we don't know it," Kevin said to Kara.
"It's not hard, I'll teach you," Kara replied. "It goes like this." She demonstrated the dance for Nick and Kevin, and Becky joined her when she recongized the dance and realized that she did know it.
From over in the deejay's booth, Xavi was watching Kara with interest, and saw her begin dancing. He left the booth and went over to her and her friends, and fell into place beside Kara, dancing with her and Becky. "Good," he commented, "I see you haven't forgotten a thing."
Kara glanced over and saw him dancing alongside her. She grinned and said, "Nope, I love this dance. When I got home last summer, I special ordered the song, so that I could teach the dance to all my friends."
Xavi glanced at Becky and saw that she did indeed know all the steps to the dance. "And it appears that you did a great job teaching it. Maybe we should give you a job here at the hotel, as my assistant," Xavi blatantly flirted with Kara.
"Maybe. I'll think about it, Kara replied. She looked at Kevin and saw that he and Nick were silently watching the exchange between her and Xavi. Feeling discomforted by this, she went over to Kevin. "Come on, dance with me, it's really easy."
Kevin followed her over to a free space on the dance floor, leaving Becky and Nick with Xavi. Kevin was very disturbed by the way Kara had been flirting with Xavi. He wondered if there wasn't something more to their relationship than she was letting on. Afraid of sounding jealous, when he had no right to be, he bit his lip and kept his mouth shut.
Kara, who had been slowly going through the steps of the dance, finally realized that Kevin wasn't following along, and his mind seemed to be elsewhere. "Kevin?" Silence. "Kevin..?" Still nothing. "Kevin?" This time Kara snapped her fingers in front of his face.
Startled, Kevin looked at Kara. "Sorry. What did you say?"
"Are you alright? You're being awfully quiet." Kara asked Kevin, concerned. Uh oh, she thought inwardly while waiting for Kevin's response. Did I flirt too much with Xavi? I was just trying to make Kevin jealous, but did I make him lose interest instead?
Kevin's voice brought Kara's attention back to him. "I guess I'm just tired. It's been a long day," Kevin replied lamely, not wanting to tell her the truth, that he was afraid she didn't like him as much as he liked her.
"Oh," she said dejectedly, her face falling. "Did you want to go then?"
"No!" Kevin said quickly. "I mean.. I'm not that tired... I've just had a lot on my mind lately. Sorry."
"No need to apologize. I'm getting sick of dancing anyway." Kara looked into Kevin's mesmerizing green eyes. "Do you want to go up to my room and we can talk, you know, to get to know each other better?"
Kevin looked deep into Kara's green eyes, which were startlingly similar in shade to his own, and slowly nodded his head in agreement. "Sure, we can do that. Just let me tell Nick that we're leaving."
"Kay," Kara said. "I need to let Becky know, and get the key from her anyway." Together they went over to tell Nick and Becky what they were doing, and then headed up to Kara's hotel room.
To Chapter 8
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