Finding You (By You #3) (27 page)

She shook herself, trying to focus her thoughts. Maybe those shots had been strong than she'd first thought?

"He doesn't look too mean," she said, finally. "I'm sure he'll help us out."

Reagan shook her head. "I don't know. Isn't it his job to keep drunk girls like us
away
from the DJ?"

Sarah shot her a look. "I'm
not
drunk. And it's just for a silly bet, he'll probably think it's funny, too."

Reagan's nose scrunched up and she pointed a finger at Sarah.

"You
are
drunk. You know how I know? Because you can't stand still."

"
You're
the one not standing still," Sarah said. "
I'm
doing fine."

They both giggled together, leaning against each other just in case their feet didn't work properly.

"You really think you can walk up there, tell him about this silly bet, and he's just going to let you by? That's all the proof you need that you're not sober."

"It'll work," Sarah said, a lopsided grin on her face.

She stared at him for a while, trying to piece everything together in her head before going up to talk to him. After a while, Sarah glanced over at Reagan, who was suspiciously quiet. Her eyes were fixed on someone out in the middle of the dance floor, and Sarah shuffled herself around to get a better look at him.

"Who's that?" she said.

Reagan had a goofy grin on her face, too. It was cute, like they were twins or something. The Goofy Grinning Girls. That thought made Sarah smile even more.

"I don't know," Reagan said. "But he's cute, and I think he's looking at us."

Sarah squinted, studying him. He was tall with long blonde hair. He had a nice body, even if he was wearing tight jeans with suspenders. On second thought, he looked as ridiculous as everyone else. But now it was much more amusing than it had been, earlier.

Sarah jabbed a finger into Reagan's arm. "I think he's looking at
you
," she said, forcefully. "He's cute--go get him."

"Oh, now that doesn't sound like a good idea," Reagan said, giving a little shake of her head. "That's almost as bad a plan as your whole DJ thing."

"Hey, my plan is going to work. You'll see. And then you'll be jealous because I got a guy's number, and you won't even go talk to that one that's staring at you."

"Oh, I
will
go talk to him, then," she said, giving Sarah a determined, wobbly look. "It'll be like a race--who can get phone numbers first?"

Sarah's eyes went wide at the challenge. "You're on! Looks like I'm going to win
twice
tonight."

"Nope," Reagan announced. She took a slow, cautious step forward, then glanced over her shoulder. "Here I go. Off to get digits. Off to win."

Sarah waved her hands forward, letting out a giggle as she urged her on. Reagan gave her a big smile in return, then walked off to talk to him. Sarah watched her for a while as she gave Suspenders that same goofy smile. No, she shouldn't call him that, that's rude. Surely he's a lovely gentleman, he just happened to like tacky-colored clothes. As long as Reagan thought he was nice, that's all that mattered.

Sarah waved the thoughts away, turning to face the bodyguard again. She had her own stuff to worry about.

Okay, Ms. Miller, let's get this over with.

She blew out a heavy sigh, and marched off to talk to the bodyguard. Determined to win this bet and make Jeremy do whatever her silly little heart desired.

* * * * *

It didn't take long for the large man to notice her walking up to him. His eyes met hers when she got close, sizing her up with a few glances. Was he checking her out? No, of course not. Don't be silly.

"Hi there," she said, giving him her most devastatingly sexy smile. She probably looked like a model right then, with her fancy dress on in the fancy nightclub rave thing. His face remained passive, probably because he was trying to play it cool. That was fine. Two could play at that game. She could be as cool as ice.

She leaned closer to him, close enough that she could speak in a regular tone. But she yelled over the music, anyway. "I was wondering if a big, strong man like you could help me?"

Big and strong? Why did that even matter? Was she hitting on him?
Disgusting
.

Sarah stared at him, waiting for a response. She got the feeling that he was judging her by the way he was looking at her. By how quiet he was being while stared at her goods. Well that was fine, she didn't care about any of that. She just needed to get by and talk to the DJ. He could stare all he wanted if he let her by.

When he didn't respond, she continued, "It's just that, I got tricked into this silly little bet with my boyfriend--" She giggled when she said boyfriend. She liked calling Jeremy that. Maybe that should be his new name?
Boyfriend
. "--Anyway, I need to have a quick word with the
Titanic
up there. Is that what I'm supposed to call him?
Titanic?
Or is there some other...whatever...he goes by?

That seemed to get the big dude's attention, because he leaned forward and actually said something.

"It's
Titan
, ma'am. Not
Titanic
." His voice was deep and rumbly. It made her think of Oz--where was Oz, anyways? "No one gets by to talk to the DJ, tonight."

Sarah shook her head. Maybe he'd misunderstood her. "No, I'm not like a fan or anything, I just need to talk to him real quick."

"Ma'am, please move along."

Was he upset with her? First he judged her and then he got upset with her?
Rude
.

"Look, I'm not crazy or drunk or anything else you might think that I am. I just need his phone number so my boyfriend--" another giggle, "--will tell me what's on his mind."

"Ma'am, if you do not move along, security will be called, and you will be asked to leave." He held his hand up, gesturing for her to walk away.

She scoffed and stumbled back a step. "My friend told me you were going to be a jerk. I guess that's what I get for defending you. Thanks for nothing."

He didn't say anything in response, he just kept staring at her until she turned and walked away. Whatever happened to southern hospitality, anyway? Big shot DJ was probably from New York or something. He was probably rude, too. Maybe that's why he named himself after a big boat?

Sarah shuffled away from the bodyguard, feeling defeated. So much for winning the bet. So much for Jeremy telling her what she wanted to know. So much for
everything
. She let out a little grumble, then remembered what he'd whispered in her ear, what he said would happen if she didn't get the phone number.

Her eyes were narrow slits as the smile spread across her face. She could live with doing
that
. There's
no way
she would have ever done it for Huck, that's for sure. Besides, Jeremy was a lot bigger than Huck, so that would make it more fun...

Suddenly, someone hit her from behind, and it was only by some act of her Ninja Magic that Sarah stayed on her feet. Well, mostly on her feet. She had to put both her hands and knees on the ground to steady herself.

Ninja Magic.

She turned to see who was playing the game of human bumper cars with her, and saw the face of someone who should have looked familiar. She scrunched her eyebrows, and tilted her head to the side. Then it hit her--she could recognize that scowl, anywhere.

"Billie? Is that you?" she said.

The girl gave her a horrified look.

"Are you drunk already?"

"No,
you're
drunk."

Billie barked out a gleeful laugh. "Oh, you're sloppy drunk." She looked at her watch. "It's only 10:30 and Miss Goodie Two-Shoes is sloppy drunk at a rave." She shook her head and clapped her hands slowly. "Bravo. You never fail to surprise me."

But Sarah wasn't really paying attention to anything she was saying. After all, she sure was talking a lot, and that was a lot to keep up with. Especially when there were so many shiny things that kept distracting her.

"Where'd you get all those lights on your neck?" Sarah tapped her finger to her own neck, just to make sure Billie knew what she was talking about.

"I hate to say this, but I actually think I should take you back to your boy-toy."

Sarah huffed at her, indignantly. "He is
not
a boy. Jeremy is
all
man. Trust me--I know."

Billie let out a laugh and put an arm around her. She tried to pull Sarah further away from the DJ booth. But no, she couldn't do that. If she did that, it meant she lost the bet. And she wasn't going to lose the bet.

"No, not yet," Sarah yelled, twisting herself out of Billie's hands.

She almost lost her balance when Billie let her go, but she used her Ninja Magic again, and composed herself without falling on her butt.

"I can't go back, yet, I haven't won the bet."

Billie frowned at her. "What bet?"

Sarah pointed a shaky finger up at the DJ. "The
Man
Toy bet me that I couldn't get
DJ Titanic's
phone number."

"You mean
DJ Titan
?"

Sarah looked at her, confused and maybe even offended.

"Yeah, that's what I just said."

That must have been a pretty funny thing to say, because Billie laughed even harder.

"You're funny when you're drunk. We might have to do this every weekend.

"I'm not drunk. I don't get drunk. I'm just feeling good."

Billie shook her head, chuckling. "So you just have to get the DJ's number and you win this bet?"

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, but it's a lot harder than it looks." She pointed at the bodyguard. "Homeboy over there won't let me get by so I can go talk to
Titanic
."

Billie looked at where she was pointing, and got a thoughtful look on her face.

"I can get his number for you," she said, matter-of-factly.

"Get out! Would you?" Sarah said, pushing her on the arm.

Billie fixed her with one of her trademark scowls, before saying anything. She should really be careful or her face would get stuck like that. Hadn't her mom taught her anything? Oh, God... No, her mom
hadn't
taught her anything. Maybe her face really did get stuck like that? Sarah slouched over, thinking about how awful it must be to not have a mom to teach you things about your face.

Billie's scowl vanished as she leapt to grab Sarah's arm.

"Are you going to be sick?" she asked.

Sarah shook her head, giving her friend a worried look. "You just have to be careful, or you'll always look like that."

Billie gave her a confused look, then shook her head. "I should just get you back to Jeremy. You need to sober up."

Sarah shook her head again, more adamantly this time.

"I can't. Not without his number." Billie gave her another scowl. "Oh, please, Billie. If you can get it, please help me?"

"Fine," Billie said, her voice edged. She looked around for a second, then turned back to Sarah.

"Okay, I'll help you, but you have to do something for me."

Sarah gave her a single big nod, with a wink thrown in for good measure.

"You got it."

Billie shook her head, letting out a sigh as she did.

"I need you to stay
right here
." She pointed a finger at the ground where they were standing. "Don't move until I come back."

Sarah smiled at her, and gave her another huge nod.

"Consider it done."

Billie studied her one more time, muttering under her breath as she did. "I don't know why I do all this stuff for you. Okay... I'll be right back. Remember--don't move."

"I'm like a totem pole," Sarah assured her.

She watched as Billie raced off to talk to the same bodyguard Sarah had just talked to--the Homeboy with the attitude problem. There was just no way he was going to let her get by, but at least Billie was sweet enough to try and help.

Wait...had he just
smiled
at her? He did! And he
did
let her by!

Sarah's eyes went wide as she saw Billie disappear behind the DJ booth, and then reappear up top, next to
Titanic
. Sarah strained to see them, to see what they were doing, but they were just blurry shapes from that far away. Billie turned and disappeared behind the booth again, nearly as fast as she'd been up top. Then the bodyguard was letting her back out, and she was walking quickly back to Sarah.

How in the world had she done that?

Billie waggled a little piece of paper in the air when she was back with Sarah.

"Told you I could get it," she announced, happily.

Sarah shook her head. "How did you do that? You're like a secret agent, or something."

"These are my people," Billie said. "You just gotta know how to talk to them."

Sarah reached out to grab the paper, but Billie snatched it away before she could. She fixed Sarah with a serious look.

"There's one more thing I need you to do for me before I give you this," she said.

"You're my favorite roommate, I'd do anything for you, name it."

Billie's tongue rolled through her lips in an annoyed way before she continued. "All that stuff we talked about back at dinner... Promise me you won't tell Jeremy about it."

Sarah gave her a horrified look. "I would never..."

"Promise me," Billie said, with an edge to her voice.

"I promise I won't tell anyone," Sarah said, without hesitating. "I'll even pinkie swear, if you want me to."

Billie studied her intently for another moment, but shook her head. "I don't think that will be necessary." She handed Sarah the piece of paper, and her eyes lit up like big blue light bulbs.

"This means I win the bet!"

"That's great," Billie said. "Now let's get you back to your man-toy. You're in for one hell of a night."

Sarah gave her a wide grin, letting herself be led away. "You're the best roommate a girl could ever have, did I ever tell you that?" She gave a satisfied sigh as she unfolded the paper and looked at the blurry scratches on it. "I'm serious, I don't care what they say about you, you're alright in my book."

Billie let out a growl. "When you're sober again, we're going to have a little chat about
that
comment."