"Uh, Cosima I don't know about this anymore," Scott hesitated underneath a neon flashing sign that read Underground Element.
"Scott, listen to me," Cosima grabbed his shoulders and turned him towards her," How many nights have you spent alone dreaming of feeling up some totally hot, but also complex, girl?"
"A lot," he replied timidly, looking every which way but Cosima.
"And how many times have you sat in your apartment playing World of Warcraft instead of doing something about it?"
"Too many times."
"Too many times! So, this is your chance to meet someone really awesome to fulfill that dream. Now we are going in there and getting you in the game, okay?"
Scott nodded, fully aware that any type of protest would be no use. He followed her through the door, always keeping her bouncing dreads in sight. A collective beat thumped through the entire club. Everything from the music, the people dancing, glasses clamoring on the bar for refills, even Cosima were all in sync with this beat except for Scott. His eyes mostly admired the floor, avoiding any potential eye contact. When they reached the bar, Cosima motioned him to sit on the stool beside her. A bartender in a tight pink V-neck immediately came over to take her order.
That how it's been with Cosima, people gravitated toward her . With her goofy yet charming personality, her take-no-shit style, and her geeky hot girl looks, Scott was constantly caught in her shadow. She was nothing less than a wonderful friend, even though she did enjoy teasing him a lot. Despite this, sometimes Scott wondered why she would ever want to hang around a loser like himself.
"We will have two vodkas with cranberry juice, please," Cosima ordered.
She spun around on her stool to face the dance floor and the rest of the club. "Alright, time for Mission Impossible: Get Scotty Laid, you ready? Scope out some potential candidates. Hm, what about that redhead over there dancing with her blonde friend?" she had to shout just to be heard over the music.
"Uh nah, I don't think so," Scott replied.
"What did you say?"
He repeated himself a little louder and gestured that their drinks were here. Cosima spun around again and sipped her drink through a tiny red straw. After grabbing his drink, Scott tried to imitate her suave move, spilling some of his drink on his jeans. This was a terrible idea, he thought. Maybe he just wasn't cut out for meeting girls this way, or at all.
When Cosima noticed his little mishap, she smirked and shook her head. She twisted her chair towards a girl to her right.
"Hi, could you hand me those napkins? My friend spilled his drink," she asked playfully.
"Of course! I think I have one of those, like, sticks that get stains out too," the woman replied with a bubbly smile.
She was a brunette, waves of silky hair reaching the middle of her back. The purple, skin-tight dress hugged her curves, the kind that Scott didn't know he was looking for in a girl, but now he was certain he couldn't live without. He had never seen a girl like her, nor did he know how to act around one.
The brunette stepped down from her stool and crouched in front of Scott, tools in hand. She assessed the stain on his thigh just about his right knee.
"Oh, that's it? That's not bad at all. Iv'e dealt with waaaaay worse stains than that in public. This one time I spilled red wine on my crotch at a dinner party. Imagine the looks I got," she giggled.
Scott smiled shyly and gestured for her to hand him the spot-remover and napkins, "Thanks."
The woman waved her hand, "It's okay, I'll do it for you."
She took the napkins and started dabbing the stain on Scott's leg. As soon as she touched him, he blushed and not just his cheeks, but his entire face. He glanced at Cosima for help, but only recieved a keep-it-cool-you-fucking-idiot look that he was all too used to seeing.
"Ya know, I usually know a guy's name before I start touching his thigh," the woman teased.
"I-I'm Scott."
"Hi Scott, I'm Lacey-oh, look it's all gone," she stood up with a grin.
He expected her to leave, never thinking about him again, but she stayed standing in front of him still smiling. Scott knew he would need to say something, anything before he looked completely stupid.
"Oh. My. God. I love this song! Come dance with me," she squealed, saving Scott from probably saying something he would've regretted later.
Cosima watched Lacey grab his arm and drag him onto the dance floor. She almost congratulated herself on a job well done getting Scott to talk to a girl, but remembered she never taught him how to dance. Ordering another drink, she prepared for the worst. She spun around and faced the bar to sip at her drink again. All the possibilities to cheer Scott up after this night started running through her head until she caught the eye of a woman farther down the bar.
A few seats away sat a curly haired blonde woman with her chin resting on her palm. She wore a shear white blouse and a bored expression as drank her beer by herself. Cosima couldn't help but notice the woman's black bra, even from far away. Her stomach fluttered when the woman locked eyes with Cosima when she looked up from the bar counter briefly. Suddenly, all of the tips and rules she taught Scott disappeared from her mind and she panicked, hoping it didn't show on her face. The blonde smiled slightly, a half smile that only made Cosima more nervous. Keep it together, Cosima thought to herself, go over and flirt with her. Way easier said than done, but Cosima managed to conjure up the courage.
With her drink in hand, she stepped down from the stool and strode over to the woman who was staring at her as try desperately hoped she didn't trip. For the first time ever, Cosima worried about the way she looked, fidgeting with her gray scarf and maroon dress. Was it tight enough or too tight? Were her dreads out of control? She made it to the seat beside the woman without even thinking about what to say at all.
"Uh, hi," she greeted, unable to control her spreading grin.
"Bonjour," the woman replied with a heavy French accent.
"Are you here by yourself?," Cosima asked calmly. French too? This girl can't get any better, she thought to herself.
"Oh, no. I came with my friend, but she's dancing with someone right now."
"Me too! That was actually the plan, though. I'm his wing-woman tonight," she smirked and pointed to Scotty, who looked so out of place. "He's the one with the glasses jumping around the girl in the purple dress."
The French woman looked in the direction Cosima pointed and laughed, "This is quite , how do you say a, a coincidence? That is my friend, Lacey, he is dancing with."
As they both stared at the unlikely couple on the dance floor, Scott waved to Cosima. He danced with clobbering feet, bumping into his dance partner after every other move her made. She didn't seem to mind, though. Instead, she showed him a move to do and he imitated it the best someone like Scott could.
"That is totally a coincidence. I'm Cosima, by the way."
"Delphine," the French woman replied with an outstretched hand.
Cosima shook it, finding the usually formal gesture kind of cute. "Would you, like, want to dance?"
Delphine smiled and nodded her head she set down her beer. Cosima climbed down from the stool and lead the way to the dance floor, finding the first open space on the edge. Her hips moved first, following the beat of the remixed song with a swaying motion. Dancing came naturally to her, rhythm flowed through her body just like the blood in her veins. She gestured Delphine closer, who was hestitating slightly. Delphine slowly worked up to the energy Cosima had, bouncing her body and swaying her head. They drifted towards the middle of the crowd of people, subconsciously gravitating towards each other. Before she knew it, Cosima's face was inches from Delphine's and her warm beer-scented breath was all Cosima could smell. Her round, puppy dog brown eyes never left Cosima's body, as if trying to take in as much of her as she could. Every time their bodies bumped into each other, she felt her heart beat a little faster.
Neither one of them remembered they had come with friends, until Scott grabbed onto Cosima's arm.
"Hey, we are gonna go back to my place. You okay here by yourself?" he screamed in her ear.
"Yeah, I'll get a cab or something," she yelled back and then changed her tone, "and way to go, Scotty."
He said goodbye with a gleaming smile and weaved through the crowd of people with Lacey following behind. Cosima debated whether to keep dancing or leave as well. She was exhausted, but she didn't want to be any farther from Delphine than she was right now, their hips gliding into each others'. Although, she wanted to get to somewhere quieter where she could listen to Delphine's accent that made her buzz on the inside. She leaned closer to her, her lips bumping into Delphine's ear as they bounced up and down. On purpose or not, she wasn't sure, but glad it happened.
"Do you wanna get out of here? Get coffee or something?" she breathed into her ear.
"Yeah!" she shouted back with a nod.
Cosima started to make her way through the crowd, when Delphine grabbed her hand from behind her as she tried to keep up. Turning around, Cosima watched Delphine make a face as she was cut off by a sweaty couple grinding. Laughing, they finally pulled themselves of out the crowd. While she paid the bartender and grabbed her red coat from the stool, Cosima cursed.
"Shit. I totally forgot I have an early lecture I have to go to tomorrow. Can we get a rain check on the coffee, say like tomorrow at 3?" she said with a sigh.
"Yeah, of course. Uh, let me write my number for you," Delphine replied and grabbed a pen from her purse and a napkin from the counter.
"But I can still walk you home, if that's cool?"
She lifted her head, just as she did when Cosima first saw her, with a smile, "I would love that."