Chapter 5

     
       She noticed him staring at her too, and couldn't help but feel a shiver of awareness at his unmistakable appraisal. She felt like tugging the material of her short black bandage dress down but she refrained.

     She noted that their staring match was causing Nicole more amusement, seeing as she kept chuckling at their reaction to each other, she broke the tense atmosphere by clearing her throat.

     "Luke," she said sounding breathless.

     "Annie," He replied mimicking her. He still hadn't stopped calling her Annie, she thought in amusement.

     Faking a cough Nicole excused herself, not before sending her best friend a subtle wink that held more meaning than Anna cared to admit.

     The atmosphere was still quite tense, with Anna trying her best to avoid any possible eye contact with him.

  He smiled. "I see you haven't changed much."

      "How so?" She asked, curiously tilting her head.

      "You're still awkward and shy, not to mention beautiful."

    As if on cue, Anna blushed thankful he couldn't see her face clearly.

     "I'm not sure if that was supposed to be a compliment or..." She left the statement hanging.

     He shrugged, not answering.

    After an awkward pause, they began to converse more easily, focusing mainly on their college years together as friends, and little about their current lives. By her third drink, Anna had loosed up and was gently nodding, simultaneously tapping her feet to the music while laughing at the jokes he told. Humor had always come easily to him, she thought in amusement.

   Luke noticing her movements, guided her to the dancefloor with his hand on the small of her back. Since she made no protest he took her silence as approval.

   On the dancefloor, Anna felt the music in her vein, she could feel heart thumping to the fast-paced beat as she moved her body expertly. She danced like she was performing, entertaining everyone around her, most especially Luke.

   Then, the music changed to something much slower than the previous song prompting the hands on her waist to tighten, gently drawing her closer before lowering his chin on her head.

    "I almost forgot how good of a dancer you are." He murmured lazily in her ear.

   "Shame your friend didn't learn from you." That drew out a laugh from Anna, knowing that her friend was completely hopeless when it came to dancing, but always insisted on dancing anytime she heard music.

   Taking a quick glance at the dancefloor she quickly searched for her friend almost immediately spotting the blue material of her friend's velvet dress. She saw Nicole dancing with an attractive stranger, no doubt scaring him with her dancing.

   The rest of the night went quickly with interesting conversations in between dancing and of course more drinking. 

   By the end of the night, it was safe to say that the two friends were drunk and after Anna had tripped on her feet the third time, laughing hysterically at her clumsiness, Luke decided it was time for the girls to call it a night, so he ordered a cab for them, instructed the driver to keep them safe before saving his number on her phone.

   After he was certain that the girls where safely on their way home, he headed back to the club to conclude some paperwork before he retired for the night, seeing as he had spent more time with Anna than he had planned to.

   Upon entering his office, he poured himself a glass of brandy. Swirling the liquid in the glass around, he slowly took a sip of the amber liquid before setting the glass down to continue his work.

     He tried to concentrate on all the paperwork staring back at him but he couldn't help thinking about a certain blue-eyed beauty, thanking whatever entity that existed for bringing her back into his life. He lost her once, but fate was kind enough to bring her back to him.
   
......................

   Anna's body ached with fatigue as she slowly opened her eyes, at least her head wasn't pounding she thought. The same couldn't be said for her friend as she was suffering the brunt of her hangover.

    She walked quickly to the ensuite bathroom, almost sprinting to relieve her bladder and take a shower. 
   
     The shower relived most of her fatigue, making her feel more human. She quickly got dressed, picked up her phone, and went through the messages she received last night. She saw the good night message Luke had sent to her and smiled at the name he used to store his number on her phone.

   She quickly typed a good morning message to him on her way to the kitchen. The smell of bacon and wafted into her nose, causing her stomach to grumble, but that was a good thing.

  Of late, her appetite had improved and she had started eating well, meaning larger than normal. She would probably regret it later, she thought, making a mental note to start going to the gym when her mini holiday ends.

   With the smell of bacon came the voice of her best friend belting out the lyrics to Megan Trainor's all about that bass. She shook her head at the entertaining sight of her friend dancing while flipping some pancakes.
   
   For all her lack of talent in dancing, Nicole made up for it with a lovely voice. Something  Anna certainly didn't have. Nicole finished her routine by shimmering her hips before she gave her best friend a very dramatic bow.

    "I can't say I didn't enjoy your performance but aren't you supposed to be moaning about your hangover?" Anna said in between laughter.

    "The painkillers have kicked in, plus the best way to kill a hangover besides a greasy breakfast is good vibes, and I'm giving enough for both of us."

   Anna shook her head at her friend's antics, while she set the table for both of them.

   "So what's the plan for today," Anna asked popping a piece of bacon in her mouth.

  Nicole shrugged. "We could visit uncle Fred and then I don't know, watch a movie or something."

   She thought fondly of their uncle, technically he wasn't related to her but because growing up she had spent a lot of time in Nicole's house she got to know him as uncle Fred.

     The girls had spent the majority of their summers with their rich uncle in his extravagant house. He treated them like his own kids, since he never had any in his short marriage with his late wife, and the girls regarded him as their second father.

     Their fierce protection for their uncle and loyalty to his late wife was what made them stare with horror at the young lady opening the front door of their uncle's home.