The Truth is a Lie (Adrianna)

[Adrianna Carstyn]

Adrianna was a big ball of torture, yup. She tricked men into dancing with her by batting her eyelashes and giving the most adorable, innocent face she could manage. It helped having such big brown eyes, nobody could deny such cuteness. Lani was goner pretty much every time she wanted something because he loved her too much to say no. She knew it, okay, no she didn't, but she used it in hopes that it was true. She honestly didn't know the kind effect she had on him. Sometimes it seemed like he really was effected by her in some way, but other times she was blind to it. With alcohol in her system, she was more forward with her attempts to get him to agree with it. Subtlty didn't come with the beverages it seemed. Still, she was glad that it was working, no matter what reason it was.

"UGH, but Laniiii! Shuffling is like soooo boring. You need to move around and get that blood pumping!" She sounded like a personal trainer and the thought had her snorting with a giggle. "Pretty please, at least do a little more than shuffling? I mean it's not like you can do a whole lot with it so crowded and schtuff," Adrianna nodded as if to accentuate her point. The alcohol not only made her less subtle, but it also brought out the talkative side of her, and sometimes no one wanted to deal with that. As long as she didn't get talking on any sensitive topics, all should stay well and dandy, but on the off chance that things did start drifting there (from a comment she would no doubt make) things could get ugly real fast. With as rarely as she drank, she'd never had the time to figure out what kind of drunk she was. At the moment she was thinking silly drunk, the one that acts completely ridiculous and somewhat childish, but in reality, this was how she'd been just two years ago. All bubbly and bright.

Letting out a squee of excitement when he finished, she tugged him right along and wiggled in between people to claim their own spot on the dancefloor, somewhat smushed together. But this was Lani, she didn't mind the proximity when it was with him. That was probably one of the biggest changes she'd gone through, not feeling comfortable being close to strangers or people she didn't feel as comfortable with (which happened to be more people than not). Had it only been a little over a year ago that she'd been with him as a friend, that later became much more? Things had changed so drastically in the time between that night and this night. Back then, she hadn't known the danger she'd put herself in by caring about him so much. And it ended in her being kidnapped, taken to Boston and eventually their downfall came with it. She wasn't thinking about those things now though. How could she? It was just like that night was happening all over again. Lani was still just as amazing as she'd thought he was all those months ago. The thought made her smile and she just glanced up at him.

"Tsk tsk! If you don't practice you lose your skills," She said pointing her finger at him like a mother scolding a child. But it made her happy to know that he still remembered their dance lessons. She nodded enthusiastically when he admitted to remembering keeping a beat. That was after all, one of the more important things about dancing. "Well then just keep the beat and sway back and forth. I mean guys usually just stand there anyway and nod their heads," Because the girls were usually bent over in front of them doing a lot more work. Slutty work at that. Good thing Adrianna had no desire of ever stooping to that level. Literally, she didn't ever want to be eye level with butts. That's just gross. He took her hands and she laughed with him before stretching her arms above her head and moving her hips in a fluid motion to the song playing. Looking at him again, she had a feeling he was going to end up just standing there. So she grabbed his hands and used them to dance with him like she remembered her step father dancing with her when she was little. Completely lame, but she didn't mind it. It was Lani. "Can't say you didn't miss hanging out with me like this!" She smiled a bright smile with a hopeful look in her eyes.

Well, at least, she'd missed spending time like this with him.

[Lani Hunter]

The young woman definite knew how to use her alluring attitude and features to her advantage. Lani had never really been able to resist those big brown eyes. He liked them now more than he liked them cold and hurt. Right now they were as they had been before and looking into them he could see her love and her happiness and it was like being welcomed into the warm embrace of a friend. It was easy when they were fighting to stand against her and to act as the wall against her and her own destruction because he knew what these eyes were capable of doing. Adrianna had always been the innocence that he had wanted to preserve and he had to admit he thought she was a little naïve when they first started dating. Then that had become endearing to him and the more he fought to keep her from realizing the world the more he had started to shut her out of his own life and in attempt to keep her safe he forced her away. And it was all for naught.

Lani didn’t know why his mind was drifting back to such terrible memories, the haunting expression on her face as she cried that barrel pressed to her head and how he had all the power in the world to stop it and hadn’t. She groaned again and the concerns brushed off like dust in the wind. He grinned like a loon and laughed at her complaining. “You get finger wiggling,” he replied and made an action of pointing his index fingers and moving them up and down. Lani was ‘dancing’ by all of his standards. It was more than shuffling that was to be sure. Lani’d gotten drunk with Odion and now with Adrianna and a host of random strangers and he was pretty sure so long as it didn’t become a problem he would slide right past 21 without anyone ever realizing he was underage. Having access to people who knew how to make identities was a benefit Lani never wanted to lose and he was in contact with several of his boss’s competitors for their access. Thieves and cons were easy. Loyalty was nonexistent, even in the guise of love as Lani had learned, and temporary alliance always went to the highest bidder.

Lani smiled, he was a free agent now, he was free to see to whom he pleased and steal what he pleased. He laughed and let her drag him onto the dance floor. Slipping between people and dodging the mass movement of bodies was fun as drunk people stumbled into each other and laughed like they were good friends with everyone in the bar. Luckily the ones that were made into competitors when drinking gave a sharp gaze but no more when bumped into. Unwilling to let anyone think they could take Adrianna away from him he shot that sharp look at a few people over her head. Also partially for their own protection, he hadn’t forgotten the slap she’d given that guy the first time they went out together. Lani smiled a little. Their first kiss, he remembered. He caught her looking and smiled back to her missing all of the thoughts running through her head and focusing only on his own. She was even more beautiful than he remembered.

He shrugged and ducked his head in an expression of ‘sort of kind of not sorry’. She had a point, but he was more interested in practicing other skills. “See I’m already a step more spectacular than the rest,” he said jokingly. He crossed his arms and bobbed his head to the beat as Adrianna had described. He was good at this and he could do this all night. That was apparently not gonna fly with his best friend and dance coach. He laughed and linked his fingers easily with hers. It was so familiar and it was comforting. Damn, Lani thought as he realized he might just be wishing for someone to love him. Maybe he was kidding himself and shouldn’t love anyone at all. He felt like a terrible fool. He never should have broken things off with Adrianna. He never should have left for Odion. If he hadn’t done that he wouldn’t have gotten his heart broken and he could have been there for Adrianna when she needed him. He was such a fool. The shaking of their hands as she moved him in dance shook away his bad mood and he smiled and laughed loosening his joints to let her take over the motion.

“I miss hanging out with you in general,” Lani replied, “Sorry I’ve been such a lame-face lately.” He smiled and laughed at his own made up description. His expression brightened as a song came on that he recognized. “Oh I love this song!” He exclaimed and without thinking about it he started singing along. “My songs know what you did in the dark, so light’em up up up,” As he sang got into the beat and did a little shimmy moving Adrianna’s hands with him, it couldn’t be called good dancing but it was a little more than shuffling. After a minute he realized he was singing and blushed a furious color and snapped his mouth shut after uttering a laugh. As soon as he did so he lost the beat and went back to a little shuffle. He didn’t sing in public, though according to anyone who heard him singing in the shower he had a decent voice, he wasn’t convinced.