The next day, the girls picked Rayla up from work, and they went straight to the salon. They had their nails and hair done. Nyx had deep blue highlights put in her hair, and had it put into a high ponytail with thick strands hanging loose. She had her nails painted deep blue matching her dress with turquoise rimming the tips. Claudia's dress was white so she had a strand of her hair dyed white, and the rest of her hair put into a low bun. Her nails were painted white. Rayla's nails were painted red, and lavender highlights were styled into her hair.
But that was as far as Rayla was going. She styled her own hair, it felt wrong to have these people do anything extra, if she could do it herself. They left to Rayla's house to change into their dresses and Rayla styled her hair at home. She braided parts of her hair, and used the braids to hold up a high ponytail. She'd curled her hair the night before. Finally they were ready and they headed to Soren's house where they'd agreed to meet with the boys.
They went inside and were immediately greeted by Soren. He instantly noticed Nyx and couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her. "Wow, Naimi, You look stunning!!" He exclaimed with a wide smirk holding out his hand.
"You don't look too bad yourself, Hotshot." Nyx gave him a once over, before taking his hand.
Claudia walked over to Callum who was sitting on Soren's couch sketching. She smiled hopefully, "Hey, Callum, do you think the new guy, Kasef, will be there?"
"I'm not sure." Callum replied, his eyes not leaving his sketch.
Rayla followed and put her hand on Claudia's shoulder, "He might, but it's doubtful. He seemed to be... well,'high'class."
"I can hope, can't I?" Claudia mentioned.
The moment Callum heard Rayla's voice, his head shot up to face her, and his eyes instantly roamed her figure.
Her dress was conformed to her shapely figure, the skirt of the dress perfectly accentuated her broad hips, and toned thighs. She wore two inch black heels that matched well with her crimson dress. The highlights in her hair and the brightness of her red dress made her eyes stand out beautifully. She was beautiful... forget that.. She was Hot. She rendered him speechless. A bright red heated his cheeks and ears.
Rayla wasn't much better. She was checking him out observing his every detail. He looked fantastic. He wore along sleeved, black shirt which he always rocked, navy blue dress pants that conformed well to his thighs and rear end, a deep blue denim jacket with a buttoning collar, and black dress shoes. He surpassed handsome.
Callum swallowed hard as he stood to his feet, trying to keep his eyes on Rayla's, "You look... "
Rayla shyly smiled, "You know, you don't have to..."
"Beautiful!" Callum finished his thought. He would've preferred to say the truth, and flat out call her "Hot" but that didn't seem all that outwardly appropriate especially, since they were just friends.
A flush of red heated Rayla's face and entire body. She'd hoped it wasn't noticeable. She didn't think she lookedthatgood. "Oh! Um... thanks, Callum. You look..." She smiled wider checking him out, once more, before complimenting him. But Callum interrupted her.
"Ridiculous!"
"Great!!!"
"Really?"
"Yeah, the jacket suits you, and you always look good in black. Except, you may want to button your..." Rayla stepped til they only had inches separating them, and buttoned his collar, "There!" Just then she noticed a strand of hair sticking up on Callum's head. "Oh, no, hold on a wee moment."
She licked her finger, and extended her arm above his head to fix it. Before she could touch his hair, he gently grabbed her hand to keep her from doing it.
"Just let me get it, it's just..." Rayla argued trying to use her other hand to get it, only for Callum to grab that one, too, with his other hand.
Here they were, again.
"It's fine. I thought you said I looked great." Callum retorted looking away from their joined hands.
"You do. It's just sticking up." Rayla countered slowing her speech, seeming to look at their left hands. It caught her attention.
Callum let go awkwardly chuckling. "Sorry."
Just then, Rayla matted his hair down, "Gotcha!!" She giggled. She might as well take advantage of the distraction.
Callum playfully rolled his eyes.
Claudia looked from one to the other and shook her head. "If you two are finished, maybe we can go sometime today."
~RxC~
They arrived at the warehouse where the club was held. Even from the outside they could hear the loud music playing inside.
It's going down, I'm yelling Timber
You better move, You better dance
Let's make a night, you won't remember
I'll be the one, you won't forget.
Timber by Ke$ha blasted through the surround sound speakers. The dance floor was huge taking up most of the large space with two long tables set in the side corners. Bartenders at the tables, were ready to serve punch, soda, and for those who"needed"a break, alcohol.
Callum and Rayla looked around observing their surroundings. Clubs were new to both of them. Callum had heard much about clubs, but that was nothing compared to the real thing.
There were red lights hung from the ceiling, and extra orange spotlights set in the corners.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long for a very familiar face noticed Rayla walk in, and instantly decided to make his way to her.
Callum was the first to spot him coming her way. "Uh-oh." He grumbled.
Rayla turned to face Callum, hearing his comment, "What is it?"
Callum pointed to Carl who was almost there.
"Uh-oh." Rayla repeated.
"I may have told him we weren't dating, and now a lot of members of Soren's football team think you were playing'hard-to-get'." Callum warned chuckling nervously. "Sorry."
Rayla looked around for a quick escape. Suddenly, she took Callum's hand, and pulled him through the dancing crowds. Thankfully, they'd escaped Carl's line of vision, unfortunately in the crowds Rayla lost Callum's hand. Looking around to find him again, she found a man had walked in front of her smirking and eyeing her.
"You're new." He stated through sly chuckles.
Great, she was on her own. "Yeah, I am. New, andnotinterested." She walked around him, and continued her search for Callum. He was her only source of comfort in this crowd.
Then Carl found her, "Hey, Ray." He said with a growing smirk.
Boy, Did she want to punch this guy! "Call me that again, go ahead, Idareyou. Didn't you get the hint? I'mnotinterested." She replied almost threatening him.
"Just one dance, Sweetheart." Carl insisted as if he hadn't heard a single word come from her mouth. He grabbed her hand leaning forward to close the space between them.
"No, I'm not..." Rayla tried to moved, but Carl gripped her wrist tightly slightly tugging at it to pulled her closer.
In a split second, Rayla grabbed his wrist, swept the leg tripping him, and twisted his arm. "Did you not hear a word I said? I'm. Not. Interested. Idon'tthink you're cute, Idon'twant to dance, and, in case this wasn't clear, Idon'twant to be anywhere closer than 6 feet away from your nasty rear. What part of that escaped your earshot?"
The crowds fell silent as they watched the scene, the music fading in the background.
"But- but..."
"One tug and your arm could be dislocated. Two? You may want to look for a new profession. Do you understand?"
His face on the ground, and his ego well-bruised, he agreed, "Yep! I completely understand."
"Good." Rayla's expression lightened, and she released his wrist allowing him to get up and out of the club. No girl was worth his ego being damaged.
Callum, Claudia, Nyx, and Soren rushed to watch the second they heard her voice clearly in the crowd. When Carl left, everyone applauded which caused Rayla to realize everyone was watching. A light blush reached her cheeks, "Uh,.. Thanks."
No one dared to ask her again, all of a sudden they were content being single.
Claudia walked up to her, "Woah, where did you learn to do that?" She asked in awe.
Rayla took a deep breath to calm herself down from the idiocy of Carl, "My Step-dad... and sort of, Uncle, at the same time. He trained me for 13 years to be an assassin. I decided against it, but the trainin' stuck. Good thing there's a good use for it. Nit-witted numskulls who think'No'means'Yes'and'Scram'means'Kiss Me'. " She nearly scoffed at the logic of Carl's perspective.
Claudia still stood in amazement, "That was awesome!" She then turned to Callum. "Did you know she could do this? She could've kicked your butt and won."
Callum slightly nodded. He knew about Runaan and his"determinations", as well as Rayla's incredible skill in fighting.
Rayla turned to him, "Wherewereyou?"
Catching onto what she meant, Callum replied, "Well, you let go of my hand, and I got lost in the crowds. Then someoneactuallyasked me to dance, so there was that." He sounded almost shocked that someone had even asked him.
Someone asked him to dance? Rayla did her best not to look jealous or mad in any way. But his tone caught her attention and her jealousy somewhat melted, "Why do you sound so surprised?" She asked skeptically, but worriedly.
"Well- well, no one's really ever found me, I don't know, interesting enough to want to dance with me. It's just out of the ordinary, that's all."
"Callum, what makes you think, you'renotinteresting? You are. You're handsome, sweet, and a gentleman, That's interestin' tome." Rayla reassured him smiling and blushing bright, lucky for her the lighting of the room covered it.
"Th-thanks, Rayla." Callum rubbed the back of his neck. He didn't think Rayla would think he washandsome, of all things.
"Did you know her?" Rayla tried not to sound jealous. She just wanted to know.
"That's the weirdest thing, I didn't- don't. You probably would've known, if I did anyway." Callum said thoughtfully.
As happy as it made her to hear he'd tell her if he'd met someone, it didn't stray her mind from the fact that someone asked him to dance. "And what- what did you say?"
"I said- I told her I didn't want to. I wasn't interested."
This quickly made her feel better. It wasn't that she didn't want him to dance and have a good time. She just- she just wanted to dance with him. Just him. "Okay."
The two of them were quiet and noticed Nyx and Claudia arguing about their favorite singer. Soren shook his head in disapproval. This was clearly a regular thing for them. As if reading their minds, Soren eludicated for them, "This place takes song requests. They always make hard drives, to take to the club. They both argue every time on who will give it to the D.J. first."
"Shakira is better. She actually has rhythm, and her music is unique and always something you can dance to." Nyx retorted to Claudia's previous comment.
"No, Ke$ha is better. Her songs are fun and understandable. I prefer to dance to her songs, over'What's-her-name's'songs." Claudia bickered.
Callum wasn't familiar with either artist so he just watched, "Which one doyouprefer?" He asked Soren assuming he would have, at least, an inkling of what either of them were like.
Soren shrugged, "I don't know. I've never listen to either one of them very often. Which one doyouprefer?"
"I don't know, I don't even know who they are." Callum stated plainly.
Both heads turned towards Callum. They looked at each other and nodded. They came to an agreement, and presented Claudia's hard drive to the d.j..
Wake up in the mornin' feelin' like P Diddy (hey, what up girl?)
Grab my glasses, I'm out the door,
I'm gonna hit this city (let's go)
Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack
'Cause when I leave for the night,
I ain't comin' back
I'm talkin' pedicure on our toes, toes
Tryin' on all our clothes, clothes
Boys blowin' up our phones, phones
Drop-toppin', playin' our favorite CDs
Pullin' up to the parties
Tryna get a little bit tipsy
Don't stop, make it pop
DJ, blow my speakers up
Tonight, I'ma fight
'Til we see the sunlight
Tick-tock on the clock
But the party don't stop, no
Oh, whoa, whoa-oh
Oh, whoa, whoa-oh
Don't stop, make it pop
DJ, blow my speakers up
Tonight, I'ma fight
'Til we see the sunlight
Tick-tock on the clock
But the party don't stop, no
Oh, whoa, whoa-oh
Oh, whoa, whoa-oh
Tik Tok by Ke$ha, played through the speakers. Claudia began dancing happily to it, and Nyx shook her head. "Thatis not dancing."
Rayla did the same towards Nyx and left, "I'm goin' to get a drink."
Callum nodded and followed, "The music isn't too bad, but I agree. I'm parched." They went to one of the bar tables to get something to drink.
The bartender noticed them approaching and grinned. Not many people that came to the club already had an intended partner. Most just came to dance with strangersnotwith their significant other. "Welcome, New Comers, What'll it be?" He handed them a single menu to share. He leaned over to Callum, "You're a lucky guy." He smirked as he whispered.
Callum looked at him with confusion in his eyes, "What?!"
The bartender didn't repeat it, and returned drying a glass cup he'd washed and he placed it in the cupboard.
Rayla just stared at a word on the menu thoughtfully,"Punch". "Why does everythin' have somethin' to do with fighting? A club? A punch?"
Callum chuckled. The logic behind these names wasn't exactly clever, but who was he to complain. "No, Club has different meanings. And punch does, too. It's like a fruit juice or a mix of fruit juices." He explained.
"Oh!" Rayla's expression lightened with interest. "What kind is better?" She referred to the menu that had a list of different flavors of punch.
Callum shrugged in reply. He'd never seen so many kinds. He wasn't sure. Just naturally guessing, Callum ordered, "How about Berry blend punch, for both of us? Two, I mean. Like one for each."
The bartender nodded, mouthing"I got that"And in less than a minute, he had their drinks served and in front of them.
"How much?" Callum readied to pull his wallet out.
"Oh, no, this Club is free of charge." The man winked.
"Oh! Okay."
"So what do you think of the 'Club' so far?" Rayla asked randomly wondering as she took a sip of her oddly fizzing punch, and nearly spit it back out in to cup. Luckily, she managed to swallow it. "What wasthat?" She began looking inside the cup to see anything in it, but found nothing.
"What was what?" Callum questioned in concern.
Rayla swirled her drink in its cup. "That tasted... off."
"Off? Let me try, maybe it's just..." Callum drank from Rayla's cup to check. "Hmm, you're right that tastes...reallyoff." Then he took a sip from his own. "That... tastes odd. We still had better finish our drinks. Dad told me that someone can slip something on your drink if you're not careful."
"Alright, then. Down the hatch!" Rayla raised her glass, and downed it like a shot of alcohol even though she'd never had any before.
Callum couldn't do the same. It was fizzy, for some reason, and it burned his throat trying to gulp it. But he eventually managed to drink the rest of it.
Nyx celebrated as a new song played on the surround sound speakers. She pulled them so that they could stand, "Now, this is real music."
Soren tapped her shoulder, "Naimi, Shall we?" He gestured to the dance floor and Nyx nodded.
Callum and Rayla looked around for a moment and noticed Claudia dancing with the new student, Kasef. "Huh. Imagine that, hedidcome." Rayla stated.
Whenever, Wherever by Shakira
Lucky you were born that far away so
We could both make fun of distance
Lucky that I love a foreign land for
The lucky fact of your existence
Baby, I would climb the Andes solely
To count the freckles on your body
Never could imagine there were only
Ten million ways to love somebody (body, body)
Ledo lo le lo le, ledo lo le lo le
Can't you see? I'm at your feet
Whenever, wherever
We're meant to be together
I'll be there, and you'll be near
And that's the deal, my dear
There over, hereunder
You'll never have to wonder
We can always play by ear
But that's the deal, my dear
As the music played, Rayla began nodding her head to the beat, then began moving her body to the music. Callum looked at her with slight amusement, and an impressed smile crossed his lips, "You can dance?"
Not stopping to talk she explained as she danced, "Just because I've never been to a Club that doesn't mean I don't know how to dance." She scoffed playfully as she swayed her hips, shoulders, and moved her feet to the beat. "Don't tell meyoudon't know how."
"I do!" Callum disagreed taking only slight offense to the question.
"Okay, then Show me." Rayla took his hand pulled him towards her still dancing.
Her words didn't fully register to him, as he couldn't take his eyes and attention off of Rayla. She moved her hips and shoulders with perfect rhythm to the song, the way her entire body moved to every note change. His eyes studied her every movement. He was mesmerized by her dancing.
But Rayla snapped him out of it. She took the lead for a minute, twirling him, and dipping him. "Callum, can you dance or not? You're seemin'reallystiff." She giggled.
Finally getting the gist, Callum answered, "I- I can, too."
With a sly, but devilishly flustering smirk, Rayla whispered, "Impress me." She didn't mean too much by it, but after doing it she slightly regretted it. Only slightly.
Her twinge of regret faded, when Callum returned the smirk. "Okay." He stood twirled her and dipped her letting her up as he did as he'd said. They both moved their bodies to the beat enjoying every minute of their dance. They were practically in sync as they danced both perfectly comfortable dancing with one another.
The song ended in a dip, their faces barely even inches from each other, and they glanced at one another's lips in their closeness.
Trying to break the very comfortable silence between them, Callum smirked once more speaking somewhat out of breath, "Impressed?"
"Maybe." Rayla responded as he pulled her up, but consequently too close. Rayla didn't even hesitate to let her lips land on his. This time he wasn't at all hesitant, Callum kissed her back. She had no clue how long he'd been wanting to kiss her. They regretted needing to pull away. Their eyes opened and Rayla didn't know what to say to explain herself.
She kissed him... again.
She cleared her throat shyly looking around, "Um.. I should.. uh.. get some water... to drink.. I'll be.. I'll be back." She backed up and walked to the bar.
Callum just stood in the middle of the dance floor dazed with a smitten grin never so clear on his lips. Soren found him, and casually grabbed two waters, slipping one cup into Callum's hand. "What wasthatall about?"
Still in a daze, Callum managed to reply, "We- She kissed me... Wow!"
Soren nodded, "Yeah, ever so clearly. I saw that. Take a sip, it'll help."
That snapped Callum out of his trance, "What- what is it?"
"Water. Literally, theonlysafe beverage at the bar. The bartenders don't even know they're serving alcohol. The members spike everything else and claim it's'cross contamination'with Soda. Likely story." Soren informed blankly.
"Wait...Allthe juices? Spiked? With what?" Callum quickly worried. He'd promised Harrow he wouldn't drink alcohol, until after he was of age. That must've been why the juice tasted so wrong.
"Vodka! Strong stuff. Only takes a single cup to get any weirdo drunk."
Uh, Oh.