I grabbed my black clutch from the table by the door and slipped my hand through Max’s.
“You look very handsome tonight Max. I’ll make myself scarce if there’s anyone there that catches your eye.”
“I don’t think you’ll need to do that.” He said and I noticed he was starting to blush.
Bless him he seemed nervous, I’d have to try really hard to put him at ease. I was used to putting shy guys at ease now after all the practise I’d had with Simon.
We walked down the path looking like a proper couple, Max in his black suit and tie, me in my black dress. He opened his car door for me and helped me into the passenger seat, making a fuss of sorting out my dress for me and checking I was in okay.
“Blimey Max, you are laying on the charm tonight. Is there anything I need to know about this party?”
“What do you mean?” He said looking panicked.
“I mean is there going to be any scary people there, or someone I need to impress for you. I’d hate to balls this up for you.”
He smiled with relief and explained that there would be no one there to worry about. Old friends he met when he first moved here were organising the party, he hadn’t seen them for some time and was just nervous about seeing them again. Oh, and they hated Joe hence the reason why he wasn’t invited.
When we got closer to the place where the boat would be picking everyone up I could sense Max growing tense, so I leaned over and grabbed his hand in a friendly squeeze.
“Relax it’ll be fine. We’ll have a great time. I’m really excited to be out tonight, plus the water surrounding us means certain people who might usually gate-crash can’t just join the party and spoil our night.”
Max squeezed my hand back then lifted it up and kissed it. Woah I wasn’t expecting that. Okay I could overlook that one, he was agitated at the moment and probably not thinking straight.
He parked up and we got out of the car. I walked round to meet him and link arms with him again. It wasn’t like Max to be so edgy, he was always so chilled. These friends of his must be pretty important to him, either that or they were mega judgemental. It’s probably the latter I figured. We turned a corner and saw the boat, if you could call it that, it was more like a floating hotel on the river. It was lit up on each level and looked beautiful twinkling and sparkling on the water.
“That’s one cool boat.” I said looking up in awe.
“It’s even better inside.” Max said grinning over at me now.
He held my hand like a true gentleman as we climbed aboard using the sturdy walkway and then wrapped my arm under his as he led me further into the boat. The wooden floors were highly polished and subtle blue lighting set the ambience for the quieter bar that we approached first.
“It’s a free bar tonight.” He whispered to me.
“Even better!” My eyes sparkled and he chuckled at my reaction. “Don’t worry I’ll behave.”
“Well that’s no fun!” He winked.
We ordered our drinks and then headed out to explore. There was a nightclub on the second level complete with kick ass DJ and a decent dancefloor.
“This boat is awesome.” I said.
“The view from the top is incredible but we can head up there later, it’ll look better later on when it’s really dark, plus it can be our escape from any weirdos who we can’t shake off.” Max replied.
Soon the dancefloor started filling up and everyone knew Max. How he thought he would be a lonely creep here on his own was beyond me. He was surrounded by men and women all vying for his attention, asking him what he’d been up to, where he was living now. Each time he spoke to someone new he proudly introduced me as his beautiful guest.
“See you’re the most popular guy here.” I whispered in his ear. He put his arm around my waist and pulled me a little closer.
“They’re good people but I think I’d rather spend my night with you.”
“Aw Max, you big old softie.” I laughed and kissed him on the cheek. He took a deep breath in and then pulled me onto the dancefloor. Oh no Max wasn’t known for having the best dance moves, this could be painful I thought, but a few glasses of wine later and neither one of us could care less what we looked like. Our uncoordinated moves only made us laugh more. I flung my arms around Max’s neck and gave him a massive hug.
“Thanks for inviting me tonight, I can’t remember the last time I laughed this much.” I spluttered over the music.
“I wouldn’t want to be here with anyone else.” He said kissing my forehead. He really was the sweetest guy in the world.
15
I made my excuses and zig zagged my way to the ladies to freshen up before the next dancefloor workout.