Vignette Summary: Mia and Lana want to go dancing and Diego reluctantly tags along.

Tags: Humor/Slice of Life

Word Count: 1,172

Date: Saturday, May 11th, 2013

Time: 12:27 am

Location: Club Luna, Los Tokyo

While Mia and Lana stayed on the dance floor, Diego went to the bar to get refills for everyone. The gesture was one-part gentlemanly act of service and one-part distraction. Diego hated these kinds of places. He hated the vibe, he hated the music, and he was counting down the minutes until Mia and Lana had their fill and were ready to leave.

He could have easily stayed at home but tagged along for three reasons. One, he didn't trust the kind of guys who frequent these places. Two, he realized he was developing a codependency problem for his girlfriend, and he couldn't stay at home, all by his lonesome, while she was out. This predicament only grew in severity after three magical words were uttered to her the previous week and returned in-kind.

Reason three was staring back at him right now. After shaking off a very handsy and very drunk girl at the bar and navigating a sea of people with three glasses, he returned to his party to find his girlfriend dancing quite close to her supposedly platonic best friend.

Diego mostly liked Lana. She was easy to talk to, witty, and the trio had a lot in common. However, he always had some reservations about her since he suspected that her feelings for Mia weren't completely aromantic, as much as Mia denied it.

If Lana were a man, he'd have no issue telling her where to stick it, but he took a more subdued approach since Mia purported that her dalliance with same-sex relationships was merely a brief one-off.

"What's all this?" he asked, as he carefully handed each of them their drinks.

While Lana had a momentary look of surprise that she masked rather quickly, Mia simply beamed with no trace of awkwardness or guilt.

"Thank you," Mia replied. "Lana said this creepy guy was staring at me. They usually leave us alone if we huddle up."

"I have a name you know," Diego quipped.

Mia laughed. "Different creepy guy."

Diego gestured to Lana with his drink. "You owe me $16, by the way."

"Dang. I thought all this third-wheeling I was doing would entitle me to the occasional freebie."

"What? Third-wheeling? You? No. Perish the thought."

"Don't be mean," Mia admonished playfully. "If Lana didn't want to come, we wouldn't even be out right now."

"Wait, are you telling me that I could be at home with a cappuccino, watching boxing right now, if she wasn't here?" Diego looked at Lana again. "You need to get laid, stat."

Mia laughed in shock. "Diego! What did I say about being mean? You know she has a little sister at home. It's not that easy for her to date."

"Yes, Ema. The little cock and box blocker as I call her," Lana joked.

They all laughed.

"Okay, nothing I said was as bad as that," Diego said. "Where is the little squirt tonight anyway?"

"She's across the hall from our apartment. Our neighbor is 70 and they make cookies and watch Forensic Files together before they fall asleep."

"Aw, that's so weird but cute," Mia replied.

"I know. Sickeningly sweet." Lana smiled. "She's the best."

"I miss her," Mia lamented. "If you ever need a night off and your neighbor is busy, I don't mind watching her."

"Thanks. If I ever find someone worth dating, I'll keep you in mind." Lana sighed. "Soon she'll be old enough to stay by herself at night. I'm not quite ready for that yet."

"Will give you more time to hang out with us though." Mia grasped Diego's arm affectionately. "Despite his jokes, we would love that."

"Yes, I can tell he loves it here," Lana said sarcastically. "He looks like he's being held hostage."

"It's good for him. If you didn't suggest this, he would never leave the apartment."

"That's not true," Diego countered. "I just don't like places like this."

"Right, because they don't play your sad boy music here," Lana teased.

"Sad boy music?" Diego shot a look to Mia.

"Okay, in fairness to me, Lana wasn't supposed to tell you I said that."

"How is my music 'sad boy music?'"

"It's just not very upbeat," Mia responded.

"You didn't listen to mellow music back when you were studying in college? A lot of it is stuff I used to listen to back then."

Mia shook her head. "I can't study and listen to music at the same time. Too distracting."

"I could only listen to classical music when I studied. No lyrics," Lana replied.

"Oh, and I'm the pretentious one," Diego volleyed back.

"What kind of music is it, anyway?" Lana asked. "Like, specifically."

"I don't know. Different stuff. Alt rock, more downbeat electronica, some oldies, R , a bit of acoustic stuff, jazz."

Lana raised an eyebrow. "Jazz?"

"What's wrong with jazz?"

"Oh, nothing. Every guy I know who loves jazz is so well-adjusted."

Diego looked at Mia for backup. "Different strokes," Mia said diplomatically. "But I think most music should be fun. It shouldn't make me want to curl into a ball and die."

"You two suck," Diego remarked before taking a swig of his drink.

Mia stroked his arm. "We're just teasing. Are you telling me that you didn't like a single song tonight?"

"Meh." Diego listened in. "Actually, I'll admit, I do like this song."

Mia and Lana paused to listen too. "I don't know this one," Mia said.

"Me neither," Lana agreed.

"It's from the 80s. I'm surprised they're playing it."

"I don't even know how I'd dance to this," Lana said.

"You'd have to 80s dance to it," Diego explained.

"Meaning?" Mia asked.

He exhaled and handed Mia his drink before he started dancing for the first time that night, not just slightly swaying or nodding. Unlike Mia and Lana's more subtle and sultry moves, his dancing involved exaggerated arm swinging and hip movements.

Mia suddenly understood why he was always so resistant to activities like karaoke and dancing. It's hard to maintain your cool guy persona when you're such a dorky dancer.

The ladies eyed each other, stifling laughter, before Mia handed him back his drink. Once she had a free hand, she started dragging him away. "C'mon, old man. It's time to take you back to the nursing home."

"Kitten, you wound me."

Mia scrunched her face at Diego before dragging him back by the hand to rejoin Lana. "Sorry, Lana. He always gets like this when he forgets to take his meds."

Diego scoffed. "I was dancing to a song from the 80s. You know, the decade we were all born in?"

"I may need to look at your driver's license again," Mia teased.

"'Thanks for the free drinks and the walk home, Diego,'" he said, mockingly mimicking her voice.

"Sorry, you're right." Mia hugged him. "I'll be nicer."

"My drink is on loan, so I can say what I want," Lana joked.

They all laughed again.