CHAPTER 10:

A/N: Okay- dance in this chapter, I promise! Ughh, I'm super mad at the TV show right now though because of all their super cute Calleigh/RYAN moments and I hate Calleigh/Ryan-ness lol and ugh I wish they were Calleigh/Eric moments but ohwell. I have to live in fanfiction at the moment haha.

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Calleigh re-examined her appearance in the mirror for what seemed like the millionth time, but in reality was only the fifth or sixth since she'd completely completed her ensemble for the evening. Wearing more makeup than usual, her green eyes were the first thing you'd noticed when you looked at her face as they were beautifully lined in black eyeliner which was bolder than she'd usually wear, but she felt a definite need for attention at the moment. Her hair was pulled up in that semi-fancy way that she loved to wear it, but her outfit was the major attention grabber. She wore black heels, her preferred style of shoe because of her short height, a tiny black halter top with a plunging neckline revealing much more cleavage than she'd usually wear out in the evenings, and would never dream of wearing to work, complete with a short black skirt ending above the knee. She had no idea how everyone else at this dance would be dressed, but truthfully, she didn't care. Every time she thought about her past, an activity she liked to minimize as much as possible, she felt like she was still a helpless little girl trying to convince her father to stop drinking, and when he was drunk, trying to stay out of his way. When she felt like this, the only cure she could find was living right in the moment and concentrating on how alive she was- which she did by dressing up boldly, going to clubs, and attracting attention. It was a stupid thing to do since half the time she ended up either not enjoying herself at all and fending off drunk guys all night, or enjoying herself way to much and having to get up in the morning with a killer hangover, no memory of the previous night and a promise to herself to never do that again which was forgotten the next time she felt the need.

"Cal! We're going to be late!" Eric called from outside the door. "It's been fifteen minutes- I knew you couldn't get ready…" Calleigh opened the door and sauntered out, rendering Eric speechless and causing him to stop talking mid-sentence.

"We're going to be late?" Calleigh kept her expression innocent, pretending she didn't know the effect she was having on Eric, her Southern accent becoming more pronounced as she tried to keep from laughing.

"Um, uhh…" Eric tried to form a coherent sentence but was having great difficulty. Get it together Delko! He scolded himself. "You look… amazing." He managed to say.

"Thanks." Calleigh smiled, "So you were saying?"

"Oh… we're going to be late…" Eric blushed, "But you're out here now, so we can just go…"

"Right." Calleigh nodded and for the first time noticed Eric had changed his clothes as well. "You look good too." He was wearing jeans and a tight white muscle shirt showing off all of his muscles, which Calleigh guessed he put a lot of work into. "Well let's go."

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As they neared the location of the dance, they could feel the bass pounding on the floor beneath them, the music getting louder with every step. When they finally reached the doors to where the dance was being held, they were let in by the men who were standing outside, obviously checking ID's of the younger guests to make sure they were old enough to attend the dance, and if they weren't, to make sure they had a parent with them. Seeing as Calleigh and Eric both looked well over eighteen, they were let in right away. "It sure is… loud." Calleigh practically yelled right in Eric's ear.

"You can say that again." Eric nodded, smiling at the close proximity of their bodies that was necessary if they simply wanted to talk, or rather, yell. Moving farther into the room, they could see that the large room was already getting packed full, and the start time was only twenty minutes or so before they'd arrived.

"Want to get something to drink?" Calleigh asked. Eric just nodded. He knew how easily you could lose your voice from yelling back and forth in simple conversation at dances and clubs, and he didn't want to lose his voice for the rest of the trip. After giving the bartender their orders, they waited patiently while he made their drinks and then headed over to wear they had an area for those taking a break from dancing filled with over stuffed chairs and couches on the far side of the room.

"This is a pretty sweet club." Eric observed, trying to start some sort of conversation.

"It is." Calleigh nodded, taking a sip of her drink. Eric didn't know what to start a conversation about right then, and since talking itself was hard to do, he took the chance to sit back and admire Calleigh's outfit because he didn't know if he'd ever get the chance to see her so… boldly dressed ever again. He admired the fact that she knew she had the ability to look hotter than most of the hottest girls he'd hook up with at clubs and bars, yet she didn't need to flaunt it, and when she did, she wasn't conceded and bitchy like the girls he'd meet in Miami's clubs. "Want to dance?" Calleigh asked with a smile on her face that Eric could not say no to. He put his drink, which was still half full, down on the table in front of them next to Calleigh's empty glass.

"Definitely." Eric nodded, grabbing Calleigh's hand and walking across the room to the designated dance floor with her. Moving right through the crowd of people until they were nearly in the middle of the drunken couples who were dancing not very impressively all around them, Eric decided they had found a good spot to dance and that's exactly what they did.

Calleigh was amazed at Eric's dancing skill. He was a much better dancer than most guys she'd ever danced with, and he knew it too. After two or three songs, Calleigh and Eric began to attract a lot of attention from the couples around them, and Calleigh was very pleased with this, since it had been her goal of the night to live in the moment and attract attention, she didn't like it when she didn't succeed. After a few more songs, Calleigh was starting to get tired of dancing- she needed a break. "I need to go get another drink." She told Eric before heading in the direction of the bar. Before Eric could turn and follow her, which was what he was planning on doing, another girl had taken Calleigh's place in his arms and started to dance with him. He didn't feel like dancing with any girl but Calleigh, but he knew that it'd be rude if he just left in the middle of the song, so he just shrugged and continued dancing. Calleigh was hoping that Eric would have followed her to the bar, and understood when he didn't. Eric was a great dancer and no doubt another girl would have started to dance with him as soon as she left, she knew that it would happen, but still she also knew that she had somehow hoped that Eric would follow her out of the crowd but she now realized how silly her thoughts had been for her and Eric were only friends and lately, she'd been forgetting that a lot. As she finished up her third drink of the night, she knew that she was getting a bit tipsy, but she didn't care because that was half the point of this 'living in the moment' idea she was practicing tonight. It was then, as she sat her third empty glass down on the table in front of her, and she stood up to go and find Eric that she felt someone's arm snake around her waist. At first, she thought it was Eric, but after a second, she realized it wasn't because Eric's arms were way more muscular than these.

"Hey Blondie" A deep drunken voice slurred out. Calleigh froze, she didn't know what to do. She was too tipsy to fend off this guy herself, and Eric was out dancing with some other girl, too busy to care about her. When had this attention seeking, live in the moment night turned into a self pity party? She spun around to face the man and saw that he wasn't too much taller than her, and was one of the least attractive guys she'd ever talked to with his large beer belly, horrible taste in clothing, disgusting teeth and uncombed, dirty hair. "Let's dance." He pulled her towards him again but she managed to struggle out of his grip seeing as he was more drunk than she was. She had angered him now though, and he grabbed her arm causing her to wince as he pulled her towards the dance floor.

"Let go of me." She raised her voice in hopes someone who was at least a bit sober around them would come to her rescue, preferably Eric, but she knew that wouldn't happen.

"Hey man, let go of her." A tall guy came up behind the short drunk and gave him a push.

"Get out of here, I saw her first." The drunk made an attempt to push the guy back but missed and stumbled backwards and with one last look towards Calleigh walked away.

"Thanks." Calleigh smiled at the man who'd helped her. He was tall and handsome with the bluest eyes she'd ever seen and blonde hair that could rival hers. "I'm Calleigh."

"Daryl." He shook her hand with a smile, showing off his perfect teeth. Calleigh smiled back flirtatiously. What was it about this guy? Not only had he saved her from the disgusting drunk, he was also very handsome and polite. "I hope you don't mind me asking this, since I just stopped you from dancing with that other guy but, do you want to dance?"

"Sure." Calleigh nodded, accepting Daryl's hand as he led her towards the crowd of dancing people. Ironically, Daryl chose a spot only feet away from where Eric was dancing with some gorgeous brunette. Calleigh was getting rather frustrated with herself. Here she was, dancing with a very handsome guy who'd just saved her from a groping drunk, she was already tipsy and her memory shouldn't have been the sharpest and still all she could think about was Eric Delko.

"Did I tell you how beautiful you are?" Daryl whispered in her ear as they danced to a slow song. Calleigh giggled.

"Did I tell you how handsome you are?" She returned.

"Well you're the most gorgeous girl here." Daryl challenged. Calleigh was tempted to tell him he was the most handsome man there, but she'd be lying, and Calleigh didn't like to lie.

"Thanks." She uncharacteristically giggled again. Daryl just smiled at his luck of saving and now dancing with this beautiful, obviously Southern, girl who was everything he'd ever wanted and more.

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A/N: Okay, weirdo ending, I know and I was going to continue with Eric's POV but that'll come at the beginning of next chapter. So there was the beginning of the dance. I actually forgot this was a Christmas story hahahahaha that's how much of a loser I am, but Christmas will come soon I guess… haha so sorry if by prolonging this trip a bit I'm contradicting things I said at the beginning of the story but I'm just stupid that way so k! Please review and thank you sooo much to everyone who's been reviewing! You guys ROCK!