Shane grabs the hand I’m trying to reach with to get my beer back. “You don’t drink anything not given to you by me or Fletch tonight, Velma. Promise?”

“I’ll go get us beers,” Fletch says. “Watch her.”

“Like a hawk, dude.”

I swing around. “Are you chaperoning me?” This is ridiculous.

“Want you to have fun, little bit, but you’re not used to partying, and you might not be as careful as you should be. You can drink as much as you want, but we’ve got your back.”

I’m not sure if I should be flattered or miffed. I guess flattered. But really, why are they hanging out in places where it isn’t safe for girls to drink from cups?

“How long do I have to stay?”

Shane rolls his eyes. “Let’s dance.”

I dig my feet in. “No. I never said I would dance. I won’t dance. No. Never.”

He shrugs and then the world tilts and I’m hanging over his shoulder like he’s a fireman and I’m being rescued. The shirt he cut the bottom from is riding up my torso, and the shorts he made out of my jeans are feeling a little invasive too. I felt dumb wearing them, but he said all the girls are wearing Daisy Dukes and Ugg boots like mine, and he wasn’t wrong.

He pats my ass while I kick and tell him to put me down. Which he finally does. In the middle of people dancing. I guess that wasn’t the most interesting thing happening because no one is even looking at me.

“I can’t believe you did—”

He turns me in his arms and pulls my back to him roughly. “Dance, little sister.”

I grit my teeth. “I don’t know how.”

“Then just relax.”

“I don’t know how to do that either.”

He laughs low, his mouth so close to my ear. “Close your eyes. I got you.”

I don’t have much choice, his arm is banded around me too tightly for me to bolt. So I close my eyes. The music is loud, bass seeping through the walls and the floor, enveloping us in its fullness. He sways my body to the low thumping beat, snaking my hips the way he wants them to go and grinding on me from behind. I’m starting to see that no complicated footwork is involved, and I can pretty much just let him move me. I feel the throb of the music in the center of my body, and the vibrations are pushing out the thoughts that usually crowd my brain. I like this feeling. This lack of thought. Shane’s fingers grasp me harder, melding us together as we gyrate to the beat. I like this too. I lose myself to the rhythm.