Trying to Get You Alone: Junayd Chronicles 2

[Suji]

Suji took a long drink of the sangria, and then she picked through some of the food Junayd had brought over. In spite of herself, she was grateful that he'd taken the care to bring her the things she most enjoyed. Maybe it was creepy, but it was a sign of consideration too. She made small talk with him while Alain collected some food for himself.

"Soon I think, it looks like people are starting to settle in." There were a host of folding chairs set out, and they were filling up. Around the main ring of chairs people were standing, and there was a good handful of wooden benches. Suji gestured towards one nearby, and walked over, setting her plate and cup down.

Ahead of them, from the main gazebo, a sound check started. At first she couldn't place the noise, and it seemed hostile... until she realized it was an electric guitar. It seemed that they'd gotten clearance to use one of the generators for the night, which made it an even more rare event. Her eyebrows rose, and more than a few cheers went up around them.

[Alain]

"This better be good or I'll blame you," Alain said as he walked toward the bench. Suji sat on the end of one instantly creating one of those small social situations that shouldn't be a problem but end up being a problem. He glanced at Junayd and saw the lit teacher looking back at him. Who would sit next to her?

If Junayd were braver he would have used Alain's moment of hesitation to claim the sit for himself. But he wasn't and Alain knew he would just stand there until Alain did something. On the other hand, he would still manage to be upset that he hadn't gotten the seat he wanted even though he'd been unwilling to take it.

Alain chose the middle path and decided to sit far enough away from Suji that Junayd could choose to sit between them if he wanted.

[Suji]

Suji wasn't terribly surprised when Junayd squeezed in between her and Alain. She scooted away a bit, so that their sides weren't touching any more. It still wasn't an ideal distance, but it was companionable rather than claustrophobic. All the while she kept on downing more sangria. It probably wasn't totally responsible, but part of her couldn't help but think that it'd make the night easier to deal with.

That they were able to sit in silence, listening to the sound check without feeling the need to fill the air with small talk, was a testament to the fact that they really did get along as a group. Maybe it was awkward at times... a lot of the time... but ultimately they'd formed a pretty strong bond. It was noticeable enough that other people expected to see them all together, and would ask where the other one was if any two of them were hanging around.

Then, after about fifteen minutes, the music started. It was eclectic, and purely instrumental for now, but it had some of the staples of what used to make popular music. There was an electric guitar, drums, and a keyboard - not bass though. Suji felt her jaw slacken slightly; it was a strange thing, to hear live music playing. Her brain still kept trying to categorize it as a threat, but as they continued, she found herself smiling.

[Alain]

Alain sipped at his sangria, a little surprised at how good it was. Sangria had always seemed a bit sweet to him. The fruit made even the most bitter red wine taste like they'd dumped a bunch of sugar into it. And it didn't help that it was customary to use bad red wine for sangria. You didn't waste good wine by mixing in fruit.

But maybe his tastes had changed or he just wasn't as picky as he used to be. The cool, sweet drink was enjoyable now and he concentrated on enjoying it and the food they'd laid out while he listened to the sound check.

Eventually the music began and there was a low cheer from the crowd and Alain turned his head toward the stage. He watched for a while before turning back to his food. He enjoyed the music but he'd never needed to watch musician's play to enjoy their work and it almost made it better to eat good food, drink good wine and hear good music all at the same time. He nodded along to it a bit as he ate.

When he glanced at Junayd and Suji he could see that they were caught. Junayd was fidgeting a bit in his seat in a way that could be taken to be moving with the music. But with Suji it was different. He hadn't noticed before now but she always seemed to walk around as if bearing some heavy weight. But there was no sign of that in her expression now.

He smiled and it grew wider when she met his eyes.

[Suji]

Suji leaned back a bit as she listened to the music, smiling to herself. Junayd was making some very small bobbing motions and his foot was swinging a little; it was clear that he was enjoying himself. When she glanced over at Alain, though, she found that he was already looking at her. And instead of casually looking away, which seemed customary, he held her gaze and smiled. Suji almost laughed; not because it was particularly funny, but because there was suddenly such a light feeling inside of her chest that she felt like she was being tickled inside her ribcage.

Which was, in reality, a horrifying thought. As it was, it felt pleasant if uncomfortable, and eventually she looked away, staring back into her cup of sangria. She'd begun to feel the effects of the wine, though she was only approaching a buzz. It just seemed to make that odd, silly feeling inside of her stronger. Suji wanted to blame the wine and the music, and while they didn't hurt, maybe it was just that the combination -- even Junayd's bouncing knee -- made her feel safe. It was okay to have a bit of a crush on the Physics teacher because it was okay to get a little attached. He wasn't getting fired at by dracon beams, or being sliced up by Hork Bajir. He was right here, and would be here tomorrow.

And once she accepted that, it seemed like another bit of all the nightmare she'd been living in slipped away. Suji had clung to it even though it was like barbed wire, always leaving pieces of herself bleeding and stuck to it. It was okay. Feeling something was okay, at least when it came to Alain and anyone here. They weren't going to be ripped away from her.

Suji looked back over at Alain, and felt herself grin. Biting her lip momentarily, she flicked her eyes over, gesturing to Junayd's minor seat-dancing. She grinned again, mischievous but not malicious.

[Alain]

Alain daren't make a return gesture since he was in Junayd's eye line even if Junayd was concentrating more on the music then on anything he was doing. But he did smile when he saw Suji's glance. He glanced as well and had to stop from chuckling out loud. Junayd had moved from seat wiggling to full on head bobbing with a bit of shoulder movement. Unfortunately he wasn't completely on beat. Not that Alain was an amazing dancer himself, anything but, but he could follow a beat.

Alain rolled his eyes before deciding to fill all of their cups again. He'd been drinking too long to really be effected by a little wine but it was causing a delightful mellow feeling. He was glad he'd come out tonight. "I'll take these," he said only loudly enough to be heard before taking all of their cups back over to the wine table.

He carefully poured them all refills and then headed back towards the table, the three cups in a triangle held relatively easily in his hands. The cups weren't that big and he had piano hands, as his grandmother had always been nice enough to call it. To him that just meant his fingers had seemed to long. But many of Alain's body parts seemed too long to him and he was unaware of the fact that he'd actually grown into himself.

He sat back down and passed out the glasses among them all.

[Suji]

Junayd had been unnaturally quiet, which Suji attributed to him fully experiencing the music. And really, she couldn't blame him. Sometimes if you were lucky someone could find a CD player or even an old iPod with some speakers to play music, but other than that it wasn't easy to come by if you weren't a Controller. Suji rested back against tabletop, elbows leaning on the wood and her legs stretched out in front of her. When Alain came back with refills, she pulled her feet in just in case.

The second cup of sangria went down even easier than the first, and Suji found herself fishing out a slice of pineapple to eat. It struck her as a thing she'd only do if she wasn't sober, which seemed like a good enough benchmark, but as she'd finally caught the piece of fruit she couldn't let it go now. Deciding to relish her small achievement and not think any more of it, she happily ate it.

It seemed like the other two had finished up their seconds as well, and Suji collected the empty cups. "My turn I suppose." She went back to the table, and noticed that while the levels were definitely lower, there was still plenty of the drink left. People seemed to be more and more drunk the closer she got towards the tables: she figured it had something to do with having to make shorter trips. She filled the three cups and walked back to their table, though she had to do so more slowly than Alain and with a lot less grace.

When she got there, however, Junayd was gone. To the bathroom, apparently. Suji shrugged, and set down the drinks, sliding Alain's to him over the table. While she was doing that, suddenly there was a new sound added to the music. The song was slower, and there was a brief whine of reverb as a microphone turned on. Before she could turn and look, a female voice cut through the air on a strong note. It quickly dropped off, before slowly building again. It was a Bob Dylan song, Suji realized as it came to the chorus, and she found herself sitting down without really thinking about it. She sat next to Alain, carefully holding her cup of sangria.

[Alain]

Alain tried not to pay too much attention to the fact that Suji was sitting next to him but it was getting harder and harder. The music and the alcohol and her presence were all combining into an irresistible desire to do something. He wasn't quite sure what he wanted to do but the more the song played and got into his head the more he kept glancing in her direction and the less he worried about and arm or a leg that may be in contact with her.

"Hey, do you want-" he was about to ask but his question was cut off by Junayd as he returned from what was apparently a harrowing trip to find a bathroom.

"Sorry guys," he said, sitting down on Suji's other side now that was available. "You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find a bathroom. I had to go all the way across town it seemed. What did I miss?"

[Suji]

Suji felt a little dizzy but happy and really, this singer was great. She found herself actually leaning into Alain a bit; not much at all at first, but when he didn't seem to mind, she let herself put a little more weight into it. Not terribly much, nothing sloppy, and probably still within a reasonable range of being able to pass it off as slightly-drunken-but-totally-friendly if it came to that. But he never tensed up.

You used to be so amused,
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used.
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse.
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose-
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

How does it feel-
How does it feel?

Alain said something, and she felt it rumble inside of him as well as she heard it. He only got halfway through his question though, when Junayd returned. As casually as possible, Suji drew away from Alain, leaning back against the table. She even turned, handing Junayd's fresh cup of sangria to him. "A song. They brought out a singer," Suji answered him, feeling herself flushing and hoping it wasn't noticeable in the dark. The next song was starting.

[Alain]

Alain had grown up in the town houses of St. Louis which was pressed right up against the northern part of the Mississippi river. Many of the people had still made their living off of the casino river boats and river side cafe's down in the old district and while the music had seemed to flow downstream and truly found its ultimate expression in New Orleans, he had certainly gotten a taste of jazz, soul and motown in St. Louis.

So when they began to play the next song Alain recognized the opening notes of Jackson Five's I Want You Back. He had to smile at what could have been sad lyrics if not for the general upbeat of the song. Alain nodded to Junayd when he got back and tried not to think too much about how the song was a decent metaphor for the night.

When I had you to myself, I didn't want you around
Your pretty face only made you stand out in a crowd
But someone picked you from the bunch, one glance was all it took
And now it's much too late for me to take a second look

"Do you want to dance?" Junayd asked in a complete and totally surprising act of bravery. Alain looked over at him, the shock all too evident on his face.

[Suji]

Suji looked over at Junayd slowly, trying not to show how completely horrified she was by the thought. Junayd looked at her hopefully, and she noticed, not a little drunkenly. Which was probably the only reason he'd been able to spit those words out. Dancing was not a thing that Suji did. She had danced before, mostly due to being dragged to clubs she wasn't legally old enough to get into by her popular friends in highschool. But she hadn't done it in at least four years.

Carefully, Suji picked her reply. "I will, under one condition. We all dance. Otherwise, nooo way. I need maximum buffer if I'm going to be making a fool of myself." As it was, there were quite a few people up and dancing. It was mostly around the tables, but some people where clearing a small area towards the front of the pavilion. She took another healthy gulp of the sangria. Sure she'd passed the responsibility over to Alain, but in the end, the idea of seeing him dance was worth the humiliation of having to do it herself. Otherwise, there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell.

[Alain]

Junayd looked a little disappointed but Alain actually jumped at the chance. "Alright," he said standing up. Usually he was not the type to enjoy dancing. He was pretty sure he didn't do it well. But Junayd's offer and the lyrics of the song had provided incentive. He liked her, and he was tired of feeling guilty about it. There was no harm in it and potentially a lot of good. But not if he kept sitting around not acting on it and he wasn't going to be that guy. The guy that talked about all of the chances he hadn't taken.

So he would dance and just see where this night took him, where this choice took him. Completely aware of the fact that he had just embarked on a path that was guaranteed to bring him into conflict with Junayd at some point he held out his hand to Suji. "Come, let's dance."

[Suji]

A few more songs went through, generally lighter fare, until a slow one came up. Seemingly by consensus, they all returned to their seats. Suji knew it wasn't a great idea to drink sangria to quench ones thirst, but it was the closest thing available and by this time she barely even tasted the alcohol.

"Oh, I guess it's my turn again!" Junayd said cheerily, and grabbed for their cups. He bumbled back over to the table, where the large bowl sangria was only now beginning to look a little shallow. Suji sat back down in on the middle part of the bench. She leaned over to put her elbows on her knees and prop her chin against her palms.

"You can forget how nice music is," Suji said quietly, voice muffled by the position. The last time she'd really cared about music was in Dallas, with the silly record player they'd found there. Thinking about Dallas didn't do her much good though, and she shut her eyes, just listening. At least until Junayd returned. From the way he swayed where he was standing, it was clear that he was reaching his limit. Suji quickly took two of the cups to avoid getting splashed, handing one to Alain.

[Alain]

Alain took the cup from Suji. At this point it probably would have taken a lot of concentration and effort not to touch her hand when he took it and he had gotten rid of his inclination to try. "Thanks," he said, taking a refreshing sip of the drink. It was no longer cold. The ice they'd mixed it with at the beginning of the night had long since melted, coincidentally, watering down the wine as the night went on which was probably wise. But it was still a drink and after their somewhat frenzied but completely enjoyable trip to the dance floor, it was welcome.

"No thanks for me?" Junayd asked as he plopped himself down on the other side of Suji, as drunk as the rest of them.

"Thanks Junayd," Alain said quickly, closing his eyes and letting the slower song soak into him. After the dancing it was making him relax and while he could completely see himself staying here for a few more hours he was also relaxed enough to call it a night. He opened his eyes after a moment and looked over at Junayd and Suji, "you still ok? Or do you want to get out of here?"

[Suji]

"I don't want to leave," Suji said, settling into a position where she could lean back and close her eyes. It seemed to be a popular choice, and quite a few of those who weren't dancing were doing the same. She had a feeling that there'd be plenty of passed out bodies on the beach come tomorrow, but she had more self control than that. If it came to that point, she'd find a way to drag herself back to her room.

"I'm not wasting a chance to hear some live music." Once she had her balance, Suji linked her fingers behind her head, and crossed her legs at the ankle. Junayd shifted beside her, trying to achieve the same position with less success. Suji smiled to herself, but didn't let herself laugh.