SONG ABOVE: "Dancing In The Moonlight", by Thin Lizzy

ASHLEY:

      "Get the fuck off of me, before I kick your pencil dick up into your chest cavity," Macy snarls as Wes continues to press closer, almost as if he's trying to grind her into the wall.

      "Oh, you don't really mean that, do you, buttercup?" he practically croons. "Don't be so standoffish, we could have one hell of a good time if you'd just loosen up and let it happen."

      "Oh, bloody hell, is the stupid wanker trying to get himself tossed out?" Danny asks disbelievingly, as Jeff merely sighs and facepalms.

      "No, he's trying to get himself permanently disfigured, or worse," I inform them as I watch Steph move quietly up behind him, and notice that Lylah is already standing in the bathroom door facing him. "Their brother is a Marine who has given all three of them defense training, and I know that at least Steph also takes martial-arts classes. The last person I saw piss her off this badly wound up bleeding all over Feldy's fuckin' deck."

      Danny looks at me somewhat skeptically, but Jeff thumps him on the shoulder and points, saying, "Somehow I get the feeling that he's not joking, dude." We both turn our attention back toward the crowd of guests and see that Andy, Jinxx, and Feldy are attempting to get everyone to back away, informing them that they're a bit too close to guarantee safety if things start going down. 

      "You heard my girlfriend, asshole," Lylah calmly tells him. "Let her go, now, or you and I are gonna tangle."

      He turns his head and blatantly looks her up and down, then grins widely and says, "You make it sound like I'd have a problem with that, sugarbuns. You're pretty fine yourself, so if you just chill until me and buttercup here get finished, I've got no problem at all with takin' you for a spin, too. Hell, I actually enjoy gettin' down with a black girl every now and then."

      I see her and Steph look at each other rather incredulously, then she says, "Well, whaddya know? Chipper Dove is alive and well and crashing Ashley's party."

      Macy tries to squirm down the wall and duck under his arm, but he quickly grabs her around the waist and tells her, "Uh-uh, hon, that's not very friendly." 

      He jerks his head to flip his ponytail down his back, and very quickly realizes that this was a mistake when Steph grabs it, whips it a couple of turns around her wrist, and yanks his head back. At the same time, she reaches out and grabs his shoulder with her other hand, sort of digging in with her fingertips as she says, "She's made it pretty clear to everybody here that the answer is 'no', you spunktrumpet, so which letter is it that you're too stupid to understand?"

      He opens his mouth, but no words come out; instead, he sort of whimpers as his arm seems to go completely limp and drop to his side, allowing Macy to wiggle herself free and move next to Lylah. He tries to twist around then, and growls, "Let go of me, lard-ass! Where the hell do you get off  butting into something that's none of your business anyway, you dumb nosy bitch!?"

      "Aww, you say that like it's a bad thing," she responds in a syrupy-sweet voice. "And for your information, bitch-mode is still warming up, so I've barely gotten started. You made it my business when you started pawing my sister, so just consider yourself lucky that I haven't shoved your head through the wall."

      "That's your sister?" he sneers. "Boy, doesn't it just figure that the pretty one would be the family dyke? Just my fucked-up luck. Well, sorry to have to disappoint you, but you sure as shit ain't gettin' any tonight!"

      "Okay, we're done with this shit," I announce to Jeff and Danny as I move past and start walking toward Steph and Wes. As I reach them, he sees me walk up, and his face goes pale when I call out over the noise, "If nobody's done it already, I'd appreciate it if one of you would call the cops to come and get this idiot."

      "Dude, no!" he yells. "You can't do that, I'm already on probation! If you call the cops, I'll go to jail!"

      "That's kind of the idea, fuckface," I reply. "And if you're that opposed to the idea, you should've reconsidered the idea of trying to rape my friend in the middle of my goddamn party."

      He's still struggling to get away from Steph, and having no luck in the matter, because she's got his hair wrapped twice around her arm, with a deathgrip on the base of the tail. But even though he's obviously in pain, and his arm is still dangling, with his fingers occasionally twitching, he still smirks at me and says, "Oh, get real, dude! You know as well as I do that it's not rape if you make her like it. I mean, I'm sure you've had more than your share of ...oof."

      His words choke off, and he falls to his knees on the floor when I punch him in the gut, just below the sternum. It seems that the only thing keeping him semi-upright is Steph's grip on his hair, and he's coughing and wheezing when I step in front of him, flick the tip of his nose with my finger, and say, "Look at me, asswipe."

      Steph gives him some help with this by yanking back on his head so he can't look down, and I tell him, "Don't you ever even think of trying to lump me in with your particular species of slime, got it? I was raised to have respect for women, and I'd cut off my own dick before I'd ever force myself on a chick after she said no, or decide that being passed out counted as consent. And if I ever see you anywhere near any woman I know ever again, I promise that you'll lose yours. Also, if I remember correctly, I told you earlier what would happen if you kept trash-talking my friends, and yet you keep doing it. So I suppose I need to make sure that you fully understand that I don't make a habit of saying things I don't mean, don't I?"

      Even Steph looks a bit startled when I ball up my fist again and punch him directly in the mouth, causing blood to start dripping down his chin. "You can't say you weren't warned," I announce. "There were witnesses. Just like there are now, when I tell you that if I hear one more word out of you before they come to haul you off, I'll break your fucking jaw. And take my word for it, that won't be a fun time."

      He turns to glance back at Steph, like he might be thinking about trying to get loose, but when everyone else crowds around him, his shoulders kind of slump and he mumbles, "Why even fucking bother? You're all just looking for an excuse to beat my ass, so why should I give it to you?" Then he looks around until he spots Danny and Jeff, and says, "If you guys wanna grab my keys out of my pocket, then you can drive yourselves home, and then Monday morning, after I see the judge, maybe you can come and bail me out, huh?"

      Jeff just rolls his eyes and walks off toward the bar, but Danny starts laughing so hard that he snorts, and replies, "Not fuckin' likely! I don't want anything else to do with your sorry arse. Now, I freely admit to being a bit of a degenerate, but I'm not a rapey, shit-sucking perv like you, and they can toss you under the bloody jail for all I care." 

      The cops show up a couple of minutes later, and Steph finally lets go of his hair when they bring out the handcuffs and slap them onto his wrists. While the girls and I outline the basic details of what happened, Jinxx manages to get ahold of one of the managers of the building, and they agree to let the police access the security footage which will prove what we're saying. And since there are so many people here, they decide that it would be too time consuming for the two of them to try to take statements from everybody, so they finally settle for passing a sheet of paper around for everyone to write down their name and number, so they can get in touch to set up a time for all of us to go to the station. Once that's done, they march Wes out to their car and leave, and everyone just kind of stands around looking at each other, like they're not sure what to do next, and I figure that it won't be long before people start heading home.

      But then I see Steph sort of huddling with Macy and Lylah for a minute, then they all turn around and Macy says, "Okay, now that they've taken out the trash, what say we get this party back in gear?"

      "Damn straight! We're not gonna let that asshole ruin Ash's birthday, are we?" Lylah chimes in.

      Steph turns to look at me and flashes me a grin, which makes me think again about what Shane said this morning: She most definitely does have "pretty smiles". In fact, I'm startled to realize that her smile actually transforms her face from "plain", or possibly "cute", to something approaching genuine beauty, and I feel a strange flutter in my chest as I smile at her in return. How the hell did I not notice this before?

      "Okay, birthday boy, it's your call," she announces. "Cake first, or gifts?"

      "I was told there would be dancing," I respond. "What happened to that?"

      "Oh yeah, there will definitely be dancing, but we kind of figured it would be better to wait 'til a bit later, so people can burn off the calories from the cake," she giggles.

      "And perhaps sober up just a bit before going home," Alice adds.

      "Well, when you put it that way, let's go with gifts first. That way we can move everything aside before the cake comes out, and I don't have to worry about messing something up if I accidentally get icing on my fingers or something."

      We all head into the other room, where tables have been set up, and after filing over to the bar to get drinks, everyone finds a seat with the exception of Steph, Alice, and Jazy. They wheel a couple of serving carts over to my chair, and start loading packages onto the table. Steph taps me on the shoulder and points to direct my attention to a small projection screen on the wall directly behind me, saying, "I didn't bring your gift with me, because I'm pretty sure neither of us would be too jazzed if someone got schnockered and broke it or something. But you can come pick it up anytime you want, and I did bring a picture so everybody can see it. I hope you don't mind."

      I stand up from my seat and give her a kiss on the cheek, which causes her to blush again. "I don't mind at all, hon, that was actually a pretty damn good idea. With my luck, I'd be the idiot who knocked it over or dropped it, and I don't even plan on getting loaded tonight."

      She gently pushes me back into my chair, and they start handing me boxes, bags, and envelopes to open, as everyone calls out to let me know when I get to their gift. Before long I have a pile of gift cards, tickets to concerts and sporting events, and a few pieces of jewelry on the table in front of me, while they put bigger items like clothes, books, and knick-knacks back onto the carts. Then Lylah pulls out a small camcorder with a projector attachment, aims it at the screen, and within a couple of seconds, my gift from Steph appears overhead. It turned out even better than I imagined it would, the colors are gorgeous, and she actually had it wired to be a lamp, with a semi-transparent cream-colored lampshade that will allow it to put out as much light as possible.

      "That is amazing, Steph, I love it!" I inform her. "That's going in my living room, so I can show it off to anybody who comes over. Thank you so much!"

      "You're totally welcome, Ash, I'm glad you like how it turned out. But just to be clear, I didn't exactly show up empty-handed, so if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go get your other present."

      She and Jazy leave the room, while Alice finishes moving the gifts off of the table, and a couple of minutes later, Jazy comes back in, pushing another cart carrying a large cake, candles already blazing. Alice helps her lift it onto the table in front of me, and as everyone starts singing "Happy Birthday", I see Steph coming back with yet another cart. I raise myself up out of the chair a bit, and lean forward to blow out the candles, managing to get them all on the first try.

      Everyone cheers, and Markie calls out, "You got 'em all, Ash! Now your wish will come true!"

      Not likely, since there's no way I can wish Nan and Pop back.

      As Jazy starts cutting the cake, and putting it on the plates that Alice is setting out, Steph announces, "If there's anybody who isn't a cake person, we do have another option available. And I didn't leave out all of you vegans here, because there's one for you, too." She comes up alongside my chair, and I see two large metal baking pans on the cart, with steam leaking out along the edges of the covers. She's holding a couple of big serving spoons in one hand, but puts the other on my shoulder and says, "I don't know if you remember, since things were a bit chaotic at that time, but I promised you at Feldy's Christmas party that I'd try to recreate something that you'd been missing for your birthday. I'm not sure if I succeeded, but I gave it my best shot, so here it is. I hope it lives up to your expectations."

      She lifts the lid off of one of the pans, and as the smell hits my nose, I finally remember what she was talking about. She promised me a blackberry cobbler after I talked about my Nan's, and even as brief as the conversation was, she actually remembered, even though I didn't. Looking at the perfectly browned crust, with sprinkles of sugar baked on, and smelling the berries, almost make me feel like Nan and Pop should be walking in any second now. But this time, the thought only makes me smile, because this is as close as I can get to having my wish actually come true.

      "Well, I know what I'll be having," I declare. "Fuck eating healthy tonight, give me the biggest scoop you've got."

      "With or without ice cream?" she inquires, pointing to a large carton sitting in a tub of ice in the bottom of the cart.

      "Silly question, hon. Everybody knows that you can't have cobbler without ice cream." 

      She fills up my plate and places it in front of me, then starts dishing up more servings, setting them out so anyone who wants one can come and grab it as I grab my fork and move the first bite to my mouth. Holy shit, this is great! It's so much like Nan's that I almost expect to see her sitting across from me when I look up, just like our dinner table back home. Steph looks at me, nibbling nervously at her bottom lip, and inquires, "Is it okay?"

      "No, darlin', it's not okay," I reply. "This is amazing! If I didn't know better, I'd swear that my Nan had made it. I've spent the whole day wishing that she and Pop could be here, and now it's almost like they are. That's the best gift I could have asked for, so thank you, Steph, you've just made my whole week."

      She smiles so broadly at this that I almost expect the corners of her mouth to meet in the back of her head, and drops a quick kiss on the top of my head before going back to spooning up cobbler and ice cream for the guests. It seems to be pretty evenly divided between people having cake or cobbler, and I notice that CC and Jeff actually wind up having some of both, which isn't a surprise, considering that they both have a major sweet tooth.

      After we finish eating, and the dishes are cleared away, someone re-starts the music, and the lighted dance floor in the next room starts flashing in time with the beat. We all head in there, but nobody actually goes out on the floor until Jazy grabs my hand and claims the first dance, then a few other people follow us out. I circulate around the floor with several girls, and as we're dancing, I'm pretty impressed with the music selection, because whoever is DJ-ing has some excellent taste in music. There's a selection of hard rock, country, and classic rock, changing up between fast and slow dancing every few songs. I wind up taking a turn around the floor with Macy, and when I ask her if she knows who the DJ is, she replies, "Yeah, it's Steph. Jinxx and Alice had booked an actual DJ, but apparently he called up this morning and claimed to have double-booked. So since it was too late to get another one, she volunteered to set up the sound system."

      I glance around the room, trying to see through the crowd of people around me, and finally spot her across the room. She's standing by the bar, sipping from a can of Dr. Pepper and swaying slightly with the music as she watches the activity, and I realize that I've either spoken to, danced with, or bumped into almost everyone else since I hit the floor, but that this is the first I've seen of her since we ate. "Does she not like to dance, or what?" I question.

      "Oh, hell, no, she loves to dance," Macy informs me. "We both took classes back in Pennsylvania, and she's actually better than me and Lylah both. I guess no one's asked her."

      "Well then, when we finish up, I think I'll correct that," I reply. So after the song finishes, I squirm through the mob and make my way to the bar, stopping next to her.

      "I figured you'd be coming for some refreshment before long," she chuckles. "All that activity can work up a thirst."

      "No, I'm not here for a drink," I explain. "I just wondered if you might like to take a spin around the floor with me? Macy tells me that you're in charge of the music, so pick a good song, and we'll show everybody how it's done."

      She seems a bit startled, and blinks at me several times before asking if I'm sure. I inform her that yes, I'm quite sure, and then she asks, "Okay then, fast or slow?"

      "Surprise me."

      She pulls out her phone and waits until the current song finishes, then taps the screen, and a slow, almost jazz-like bass riff comes rolling out of the speakers, overlaid with a sound like several people snapping their fingers, and then a sax joins in. As I lead her onto the floor, a rather familiar-sounding voice starts singing along to the music:

"When I passed you in the doorway,

Well, you took me with a glance

I should have took that last bus home,

But I asked you for a dance." 

      I place my hands on her hips as she drapes her arms loosely over my shoulders, and as we move across the floor, I say, "I'm pretty sure I don't know this song, but I have the feeling that I should know who's singing. The voice sounds very familiar."

      "That's Thin Lizzy, the song is called 'Dancing In The Moonlight'. It's off of the 'Bad Reputation' album," she tells me. "It's one of my favorite Lizzy songs."

      "Yeah, it's pretty good, I'll give you that. Great song to dance to."

      Even though Macy told me that they'd taken lessons, I'm still a bit surprised at how good of a dancer she really is, and by how gracefully she moves. I also take the time to study her features more closely, and realize that she's much prettier than I had originally thought, and that her eyes are the color of cognac. Once this song is over, we continue dancing through several more, until we both decide to leave the floor and actually get that drink I passed up earlier. She grabs another Dr. Pepper, and I get a Jack and Coke, which is, surprisingly, the first alcoholic drink I've had all night.

      We decide to cut out and go stand on the back patio for a few minutes to get some air, and as we stand near the rail, she says, "I'm glad you liked the cobbler, Ash. And since you had to share this one, I actually made a few more in individual-sized pans, so you can take them home and have them all to yourself."

      "Thanks, hon, but I think I'll let you hold onto them for a bit, if that's okay," I reply. "I should probably just take them one at a time, otherwise I'd most likely have them all eaten within a day or two."

      She agrees that this would most likely not be the best choice, and we stand for a few more minutes, finishing our drinks and looking at the stars. The wind kicks up a little, and I see her shiver slightly, so I drape my arm over her shoulders and pull her a bit closer, to help her warm up. She smiles and says, "Thanks, Ash, you're really sweet. But aren't you chilly, too?"

      "No, I'm actually not," I tell her. "Then again, I have complete sleeves, and my legs are covered, so I guess I'm just not feeling it as much. But if you want to go back inside we can."

      She shakes her head slightly, and says, "No, I'm okay now. Unless you want to go back, that is."

      As the words leave her mouth, it hits me that going back into that crowd is not what I want at this moment, because that would make it rather more difficult for me to do what I've realized I really want to do. I turn slightly, so that we're actually facing each other, and reach up to move her hair away from her face. "No, let's not. I kind of have something else in mind right now, to be honest with you."

      "Like what?"

      "Like this," I whisper, cupping her cheek in my hand and lowering my lips onto hers. For a split second, she goes completely still, and I almost panic, thinking that I've completely fucked things up. But then her arms wind themselves around my neck, pulling me closer, and the rest of the world fades away.