Let's Get Out Of Here

"So, are you here alone?" she asked.

He looked around. He had to. If he stared at her any longer, he was afraid he'd freak her out."Nah, my friends are here somewhere. We just got split up." He turned back to her. "How 'bout you? Is it just you and Valerie tonight?"

She sipped on her wine again. "Yeah, well, I came here with just Val, but we're supposed to meet up with friends later."

Angel took another swig of his beer and looked around casually. "Guys?"

"No, some of her girlfriends-they're not here yet though. That's why I'm here. I really don't like these kinds of parties, but none of her friends could get here until later, so she talked me into coming with her."

Angel smiled, unable to look away from her eyes. "I'll have to thank her later for that. So, where do you like to go?"

She held his gaze for a moment and then smiled, making Angel's legs weak. "I love the beach," she sighed. "I just moved out here a few months ago from Arizona, so the beach is new to me. I could spend every night there watching the sunset. I mean, don't get me wrong, the sunsets in Arizona are just as beautiful. It's just the newness of the cool salty air and watching while listening to waves crash and the birds ... quack?"

Angel jerked his head back puzzled. "Quack?"

She burst into laughter. "Squawk? You know what I mean!"

"God, you were doing so well," he teased, pretending to gaze out into the sky. "I mean, I could almost hear the waves crashing and everything."

Sarah still laughed. Angel wondered if she was getting tipsy, but he continued to tease her. He loved hearing her laugh. "I mean peep would've been closer, but quack? Really?"

Sarah's hand was over her mouth, but there was no muffling her laughter. "I got the point across, didn't I?"

"I'm just saying. The wind was blowing in my hair and everything. Look." He pretended to hold his hair down.

"Stop!" she squealed. He couldn't help laughing with her. It was such a cute laugh and so contagious. She was refreshing. It wasn't just that she was enjoying his jokes, but that she didn't mind laughing at herself. So many other girls would've been too busy trying to be seductive. She didn't even have to try. He could tell being seductive was the last thing on her mind.

She wiped the corners of her eyes. She'd literally laughed that hard. "Is my mascara all messed up?" She opened her eyes wide.

He stepped forward to get a better look. Her makeup had smeared slightly on the bottom corner of her right eye. "Hold still." He moved closer to her.

Using his pinky he very slowly and gently wiped the bottom corner of her eye . He was so close to her face he could smell the wine on her breath. She held her cup right in front of her, and he felt her tense up when his body touched her hand. He examined her other eye. "Your eyes are amazing," he said without moving back.

Their eyes locked for just a second, and then she backed up slightly. "Thanks."

She turned away, and Angel watched as she took a very long sip of her wine. It surprised him how uncomfortable compliments made her. With eyes like those, you'd think she'd be used to them. Still, she broke the silence as only she could.

"Where's my Precious?" she said in a coddling voice then bent over and opened her ice chest.

Angel watched as she poured herself less than a quarter of a cup. He enjoyed teasing her. "Maybe if you'd fill the cup, you wouldn't have to refill so often."

"Ah, to deal with lower society," she smirked. "This isn't beer, Angel. You sip, so if I fill it, by the time I'm halfway through, it'll be warm. I don't like warm wine, okay?"

"Oh no, you didn't just call me lower society!"

"Oh, yes, I did."

Angel held his pointer finger up in front of her, and she began to giggle again. "One word."

"Bring it." She took a sip.

"Quack!"

She covered her mouth with the cup to avoid spitting and turned her back on him, so he couldn't see it leak out the side of her mouth. She turned back to face him and kept laughing. "You had to go there." She wiped around her cleavage.

His eyes were fixated on her hands. "I had to." Gulping hard, he watched her continue to wipe the wine from the front of her blouse. "I can help you with that."

She smiled at him, half rolling her eyes. "That's okay." She returned her attention to her blouse, and he couldn't look away. He was still standing there gaping when he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Eric. "Hey, dude, you ready?"

Angel turned around. Eric was holding Romero up. "Damn, is he that wasted?"

Eric shot him a sarcastic look. Angel turned to Sarah. "This is my ride."

She glanced over at Eric holding Romero up and giggled a little. Angel could see she was lightheaded from the wine. She seemed so small and delicate and incredibly vulnerable. "I won't leave though. Where's Valerie?"

She smiled at him. "Go ahead. I'm fine."

Like hell. "Yeah, you are fine. But I'm not leaving you until Valerie gets back."

The party was beginning to end and Valerie, Sarah's ride, was nowhere in sight. Sarah had tried calling her several times on her cell, but the call wouldn't go through. Angel grabbed Sarah's hand in his and both their ice chests in his other. "Come on, let's go look for Valerie."

As they walked through the party, one of Dana's friends tried to stop him. "Hey, Angel, where's Dana?" Her eyebrows were arched, and she peered at Sarah. Angel kept walking, ignoring hear.

"Is Dana your girlfriend?" He could feel Sarah try to let go of his hand, but he only tightened the grip.

Angel pressed his lips for a second. "Nope."

Eric was right outside, looking a little irritated. Angel knew how Romero could get when he was drunk, and Eric had been on his own with him all night, so he understood his frustration. "Dude, are you ready to go?" Eric asked.

Angel still held Sarah's hand. He looked at Eric apologetically. "Give me a sec. She needs to find her friend."

Sarah was calling Valerie on her cell again, but she wasn't answering. When they got to the car, she looked at him. "I can't leave Valerie."

"Okay." He pulled her closer to him out of the way of oncoming cars that still cruised past the party. She leaned against him, and he put his arm around her waist. He'd burned to touch her all night, and now all he wanted was to take care of her. He examined her face, smiling tenderly. "How you feeling?"

She smiled, finally looking in his eyes. "Better now." It took all the willpower he could muster to not lean over and kiss her, but the last thing he wanted was for anything to happen tonight that she could dismiss tomorrow and blame on the wine.He turned to see Eric adjusting Romero in the front seat. Romero was totally out.

Angel motioned toward him. "By the way, meet my friend, Romero."

Sarah laughed. "Is that really his name?"

"Well, his last name. His first name is Ramon, but he doesn't like it."

Eric walked over and leaned on the car next to Angel and Sarah. He looked exhausted. Sarah rested her head on Angel's shoulder.

"Oh, hey," Angel said looking at Eric. "This is Sarah. Sarah, this is my friend, Eric."

Sarah held her head up just long enough to say hello. Angel knew Eric assumed she was just another girl he'd picked up.

Sarah moved off of Angel and leaned against the car now, but he still held her hand. "Where could she be?" Sarah grimaced.

They all stood there watching the driveway of the house where the party had been. There were people still walking out and standing around the front of the house. A car pulled up, and someone got out of the back seat. It was Jesse Strickland. The car that had dropped him off drove right past them and up the street.

Sarah didn't see him at first, but when she did, she straightened out. Angel noticed and his muscles tensed. "Something wrong?"

"Can we leave?" Her eyes were still on Jesse.

Jesse walked in a hurry to the back yard. Eric and Angel exchanged glances.

"What about Valerie?" Angel asked.

"We'll come back for her," she said, "I just don't wanna be here right this minute."

Angel stared at her for a second. "Sure."

He let go of her hand to gather up the ice chests. Sarah tried Valerie again on her phone. For whatever reason, Jesse made Sarah nervous, and Angel didn't like it. He grabbed the ice chests and threw them in the trunk then walked Sarah around and into the car. He sat down next to her and reached for her hand immediately. Eric eyed him through the rear view mirror.

"Let's drop off this guy first," Eric said, motioning toward Romero. "Then if you want, you can drop me off and take my car. I'll pick it up in the morning."

Angel smiled. Suddenly he was relieved he'd only had two beers. He wasn't ready to say goodnight to Sarah yet. He could always count on Eric to understand.