There were only 9 chairs at the tables, so Ali sat herself on Aaron's lap. Chris and Courtney headed toward the bar to get drinks for everyone and the others yelled over the music in conversation.
"This place is awesome!" shouted Colleen across the table to Erin.
"You've never been here before?" asked Dave, his arm draped across Erin's shoulder.
Colleen shook her head.
"You two've been dating for months and you've never been to Zazu's?" asked Ali, disbelievingly. "Everyone goes to Zazu's!"
"Well, we don't," said Rob.
"Why not? It's a great place!" said Erin. She waved to a group of people she knew over at the bar.
"God knows you come here often enough," remarked Trey, glancing down at the dance floor. "I'll bet you know the names of all the bartenders too."
Erin smiled. "You're right. I do!" She pointed to the guy putting glasses on a tray for Chris and Courtney. "That's Damon and next to him is Zach, and over on the corner is Samantha. And going behind Sam is Jesse." Trey rolled his eyes, which were then covered by two hands scented with Baby Soft.
"Guess who?" said a voice. Trey turned in his seat to find Tami standing behind him. She giggled.
"Where'd you go?" asked Trey. "You left before I could talk to you."
Tami frowned. "I had to drive my ex-boyfriend home. I told a waitress to tell you. I think it was her." She pointed to Alyson who was suddenly completely involved in watching the dance floor below.
"It was, huh?" asked Trey slowly. Alyson glanced at Trey quickly and turned to talk to Ali and Aaron.
Tami nodded. "I'm pretty sure. She didn't tell you?"
Trey shook his head no.
"Oh, well, no big deal. I'm here now and so are you! So let's dance!" Tami grabbed Trey's arm and dragged him out of his chair and over toward the glowing elevator. The steps were backed up with about 50 people just talking, so they couldn't go that way. In case you were wondering. :)
Chris and Courtney came back to the table, each holding a tray full of glasses. Courtney set hers down on the one table while Chris put his on the other and they handed each person their drink.
"Hey, you'd make a great waiter Chris," said Aaron, taking his pina colada. :) "Why don't you apply at the cafe?"
Chris looked at Courtney. "I'd love to, but my parents wouldn't like it. They'd rather keep me working at the country club so they can keep an eye on me." He sat down in a chair, Courtney taking a seat next to him. She looked over at Alyson who was watching the dance floor.
"Whatcha starin' at Alyson? Oh, Trey," said Courtney.
Alyson turned to give Courtney 'A Look'. "I am not watching Trey! What is with you people and thinking that I'm obsessed with him?"
"Well you are!" said Colleen, smiling.
"Thank you for your support Colleen," smirked Alyson. Erin tapped her on the shoulder. (don't ask me what arrangement these people are sitting in. With the way I'm writing this, they're playing musical chairs. :) Alyson looked over at her.
"You two are gonna dance together tonight," said Erin.
"Who are you? Madame Zaluna, Reader of the Stars? You just figured this out?" asked Alyson sarcastically.
"I'm gonna make you," replied Erin.
"How ya gonna do that?" asked Rob.
Erin grinned. "I'm thinking of tying them together. What do you think?"
Rob shook his head. "I like it!"
"Well, I don't," said Alyson. She sat back in her chair and glared at Erin.
"Guess what?" asked Chris, jumping into the conversation. "I found a great ad in the paper and I think we should all do it."
"Do what?" asked Colleen suspiciously.
Chris's eyes lit up. "They're holding auditions for a new musical. It's a stage version of Newsies. And I think we should all try out." (I know what you're thinking but just work with me on this okay?)
"What's Newsies?" asked Erin. "And why would I want to be in it?"
"It's a Disney movie," said Chris. "You should rent it. It's good. It's a musical, and the music's great, so therefore, you should try out." He smiled.
"Well, what's it about?" asked Colleen.
"The newsboys's strike of 1899," replied Chris. "And there's a sub-plot about the newsy leader running from the police and then getting caught and becoming a scab."
"Well, what parts are there for girls, if it's about newsboys?" asked Ali.
"Um, there's a mother, 3 nuns, which I think they're making four on the stage, another character's mom, and his sister. And the vaudeville singer, of course!" said Chris.
"Ooo, I wanna be the vaudeville singer!" said Erin.
"So, you want all of us to try out?" asked David.
Chris nodded. "Yeah. I mean, there're tons of newsies, plus the bad guys, and then the female parts. We could all hang out together doing it!"
"It's community theater?" asked Alyson. Chris nodded.
"Sounds good," said Aaron. "When are the auditions?"
"This Saturday," said Chris. "I think we should rent it so all you deprived people will know what it's about before we go. So how about tomorrow night?"
"We can do it at my house," offered Alyson. "My parents went out of town. Again."
"Are they ever home?" asked Courtney.
Alyson shook her head. "Not really. I see them about once every two months."
"Okay, how's 7:00 sound to everyone?" asked Chris.
Everybody agreed. "What about Trey?" asked Ali.
"I'm not letting him in my house," said Alyson.
"Oh come on, Alyson. What's he gonna do? Tear the curtains down?" asked Erin.
"Maybe," replied Alyson. Erin stared at her and Alyson laughed in reply. "Okay, he can come. But only if you make him promise not to ruin anything!"
Erin held up her right hand. "I promise," she said solemnly, then burst out laughing. "Trust me, my brother's not a pig. You wouldn't know that if you looked at his room, but he's not a pig."
Erin looked up and sucked in her breath sharply. Her ex-boyfriend, Grant, was coming over to the table. Dave and Grant didn't really get along very well. Dave glanced up at where Erin was looking and his face grew dark. Grant was the stereotypical country club snob. Whereas Chris was friendly and open to anyone, Grant looked down on anyone who's parents made less than $500,000 a year. He came over to where Erin was sitting and smiled.
"Erin! How are you?" asked Grant, flashing a perfect grin. He was wearing black slacks, Gucci shoes and what looked like a $100 shirt with a black jacket on top. Erin had dumped him because he was so superficial, but she couldn't deny the fact that they guy looked great.
"I'm fine, Grant. How're you?" answered Erin. Next to her, Dave was watching Grant closely.
"I'm doing wonderfully. I was wondering if you might like to join me on the dance floor?" said Grant.
Erin looked around at the other people at the table, and then finally at Dave, who face was expressionless.
"Um, I guess so," she said, standing up. Erin passed her purse over to Colleen. "Watch that for me, would you?" Colleen nodded as Grant took Erin's hand and guided her toward the steps leading to the dance floor. Dave leaned back in his seat and sighed, his teeth clamped together.
"What's the matter, Dave?" asked Aaron.
"I don't trust him," said Dave, watching Erin laugh at something Grant said as they headed down the stairs.
"You don't trust him, or you're jealous?" teased Ali.
Dave just looked at her and then returned his attention to Erin and Grant. They were slow dancing, and Grant had his arms around Erin, too tightly, in Dave's opinion. He had struggled for months to make Erin notice him and couldn't believe that Grant had stuck himself back in Erin's life. After being dumped, Grant hadn't even spoken to Erin. Now all of a sudden, he was being friendly to her. Too friendly. The guy was up to something.
Colleen took a sip of her drink and stood up, smoothing her skirt.
"Come on, Rob," she said, pushing in her chair.
Rob looked up at her, his eyebrows raised. "Care to tell me where we're going?"
"Dancing," replied Colleen, pulling him out of his chair and dragging him toward the stairs. Rob waved goodbye to everyone else at the table and put his arms around Colleen's waist as they descended the steps. When they reached the dance floor, they found themselves next to Trey and Tami, who had her arms so tight around Trey it looked like she was trying to squeeze the breath out of him. Colleen tried not to smile when she saw Trey's face. She'd figured out that Trey had only flirted with Tami to tick off Alyson. It was pretty obvious since he kept glancing back up at their tables. Unfortunately, it seemed his flirting had backfired this time. Instead of her being only half-interested, it looked like Tami was mentally going over china patterns and wedding guest lists.
"What're you smiling at?" asked Rob, looking down at Colleen.
"Trey's face," said Colleen, leaning her head against Rob's chest.
Rob chuckled. "Three guesses who'd he rather be dancing with. And the first two don't count."
"I thought Erin said she was going to make them dance together-whoa!" said Colleen. A huge crash of thunder outside had actually broken the sound of the blaring music, making everyone in Zazu's look toward the ceiling and doors. Then they continued dancing.
"What was that?" asked Ali, who'd taken Colleen's seat.
"Sounded like thunder," replied Aaron, whacking a napkin at Alyson, who whacked it at Dave, who in turn whacked it at Ali. They had a strange hand version of hackey-sack going at their table.
"You sure?" asked Ali, picking up the napkin and throwing at Aaron.
"The weather guy said it's supposed to rain tonight," said Alyson, waiting for Aaron to pick up the napkin he'd dropped on the floor. He threw it at her and she hit it towards Dave.
"Oh great," said Courtney. "I left the top down on the convertible. I'd better go put it up before it starts pouring." She and Chris stood up and headed toward the doors. Then Courtney ran back to the table to grab her keys, grinning sheepishly. She had a tendency to forget things....
"Auugh! I'm getting wet!" cried Courtney, turning the car on so the top would go up. It rose slowly behind her.
"What're you gonna do? Melt?" said Chris jokingly. Courtney just looked at him and told him to hook the top into the slot on the windshield. This he did and then got out of the way as Courtney put the power windows up. She jumped out of the driver's seat and slammed the door shut, turning back toward the building. Chris stood in her way.
"Move!" said Courtney, brushing a piece of wet hair off of her face.
Chris smiled. "Why? It's great out here. It's not hot and stuffy like it is in there."
"It's also raining," commented Courtney, her arms now crossed.
"Yeah, but we're alone," said Chris quietly and giving Courtney a small smile that was notorious for melting her heart. Courtney's knees went weak and her arms went around Chris's neck as he put his arms around her back and kissed her gently on the lips. Chris sighed and pulled her closer, his head on a cloud somewhere. Their bliss was shattered, however, by the glaring headlights of Chris's father's BMW on them. Courtney broke away from Chris and they both squinted into the brilliance of light. Chris's father slammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car. When he saw who his son was with, his face filled with rage. Chris's face, on the other hand, fell.