A Beautiful Forever by Lilliana Anderson

what
you’re talking about.”
    He leans forward on the table and speaks in a low voice that
only I can hear, “Sure you do – someone asks you a question, and you give them
a cryptic answer that leads to a question about them. You missed your calling
as politician or a journalist maybe. It’s an impressive skill.”
    “Hmmm,” I don’t have anything else to say, so I just smile
and wink at him (I have no idea why I winked. It just seemed like the thing to
do in that moment) before I turn away and begin a new conversation with Shane
and Petra, who are seated on my other side.
    When dinner is over, I try to beg off so I can go back to my
hotel but the others won’t hear of it, “You can’t go home now,” Naomi says,
“the fun part hasn’t even happened yet! You can stay with us on the couch
tonight if you’re worried about going back to your hotel alone. You’re moving
in tomorrow afternoon anyway.”
    “Thanks Naomi, but I still have to go back there to pack my
things and be out by ten in the morning.”
    “No problem, we’ll get Shane to drive you out there and
collect your things – he won’t mind,” she insists.
    “Naomi, it’s…” I watch as she rushes over to Shane and asks
if he can help me out in the morning. They both give me a thumbs up and nod
their heads, letting me know everything has been sorted.
    Elliot moves in next to me, “Gee, you’d think she’d know you
well enough to let you make your own choices, especially after you shared so
much about yourself earlier,” he comments, the sarcasm practically dripping off
his words.
    “What, and you know me so much better?” I say in retort.
    He shakes his head, “No, I don’t know anything about you.”
He walks backwards, watching me for a few steps, before turning around and
catching up to the other guys as we walk towards the night club.
    Petra and Naomi fall in either side of me, “You are going to
love this place Paige,” Petra gushes. “There’s always great music and tons of
people, we go and get drunk and then dance until we can’t walk anymore.”
    “Sounds great,” I laugh.
    “It’s better than great,” Naomi points out. “We booked a
table on the mezzanine level, tonight is going to be epic, and since you don’t
have to worry about going back to your hotel, you get to cut loose with us.”
    Sneaking a few glances, I watch Elliot as he interacts with
the other guys – I’m not sure if he’s annoyed with me or just teasing. Either
way, I feel kind of lonely without him next to me – he’s kind of been growing
on me this past week.
     

Chapter 8
Elliot
    It’s almost ten o’clock on a Friday night, and we’re
standing around, not quite lined up, outside a nightclub in the midst of a
bunch of 18-year-old girls shivering their butts off in tiny skirts and way too
much make up. At 27, I’m really starting to feel too old for these places but
Petra is only 20, and she loves the club scene, so her farewell – her choice.
    This is supposedly her favourite place. It's called Fabric,
and as she tells it, there are three different rooms where DJs play all night –
it sounds enormous, and really, really loud.
    The doors open and Petra leads us all straight to the door
where we get to jump the cue, she’s booked a table on the mezzanine level for
all of us, so we can either sit and drink or get down and dance in the sweaty
pit of people expected below. Personally, I’d rather not go down there; this
night club is bigger than any I’ve ever been in. My idea of a crowded night club
is obviously nothing compared with the reality of a club in a big city with
twice the population of Sydney.
    Once upstairs, a waitress comes to our table and takes
everyone’s drink orders, returning quickly and handing them around. The mood is
high as I watch everyone’s smiling faces while they attempt to interact with
each other to the tune of some house music that mutes their voices to everyone
but the ear they’re yelling