Re: Near the Entrance
"I don't know about excessive," he said, shrugging. "It's very well earned, and totally deserved." His grin was at once amused and honest, as though he found humor and a welcome compliment in the comment in spite of its delivery. But they moved quickly past the moment and into another, nearly as awkward as the ones before it. Carelessly he took her hand, looking over the crowd and toward the bar, finding a faint hint of a path through the roiling, raucous crowd. It should have been meaningless, an action born of necessity and nothing more. What he felt was something entirely other, entirely more, something as familiar as it was inexplicable. A shiver crawled down his spine, but he ignored it, blaming it on the booze and the music and perhaps her form-fitting costume. He put it from his mind even as his thumb brushed over her of its own volition, a small motion he failed to recognize on any conscious level. His own attention remained on the crowd, guiding them through the shifting maze of flesh until at last they reached the safety of the bar.
"You'll get service quicker than I would," he said, shouldering aside a hollow-chested boy clad largely in mesh. He shifted away from the space the waifish patron had vacated, gesturing for Lia to move into his place. "It's all yours."