Spring Break Ch. 04

The three girls were having a lot of fun and they milked the skimpy coordinated outfits for all it was worth. Their hips gyrated together and none of them were shy about showing off their assets. The drinks had loosened them up, although after a while Melinda said something to the others and they stopped accepting drinks.

Guy after guy came over. They flirted with most for a little while. The cute ones would get sandwiched between two of the girls. If they had a friend, one of the girls might dance between them. The rude ones got sent packing.

Out of habit, I scanned the crowd. It comes with being a people-watcher.

Near the edge of the dance floor, I saw a girl standing by herself, her arms crossed as if she were lost in thought. She was very pretty with long, dark hair pulled back in a pony tail and piercing eyes. She couldn't take her gaze away from Melinda. I noticed her watching for a long time.

The girl stood there, frozen like a statue. Suddenly, she was moving. I saw that none of our girls were dancing with anyone in particular, although they still had a monopoly on the club's collective attention. The girl I had been watching went straight across the dance floor to Melinda, sidestepping people who got in her way and pushing aside those who would not move.

Melinda saw her when the girl was about five feet away. Their eyes locked. The girl stopped in her tracks, as if she had run into a wall. Melinda kept dancing, her hips swaying back and forth, her chest sticking out obscenely. Her gaze never left the stranger.

Finally, the other girl took two steps forward, the intensity on her face never diminishing. Melinda reached out and the other girl stepped into her arms, almost instinctively.

I saw Melinda's hand caress the other girl's face, then she brought her mouth up. They kissed, much to the delight of everyone watching. Leah took Katie in her arms and did the same. The crowd howled lewdly.

Finally, Melinda released the stranger. There was a lustful look in both their eyes.

Melinda whispered something to Leah and then took the other girl by the hand and led her off the dance floor. The show continued with Leah and Katie, who still seemed to be in command of the room.

I watched Melinda lead the other girl to a corner. They still had lots of eyes following them, but managed to find a private place to talk. Their body language showed a magnetic attraction between the two, although the stranger seemed very nervous. The girls talked for a few minutes and then disappeared into the women's room. I checked my watch and started counting.

Leah and Katie were grinding together. I saw Carl still sitting at the table. I don't think he had moved once he saw the girls come in. His mouth was hanging open. I could tell he was shocked not only by his girlfriend's appearance, but by her newfound confidence and the way she was flaunting herself for the world to see. The girls had worked up quite a sweat while dancing and Katie's pink nipples were visible through the blouse that clung to her pert breasts.

After not quite 10 minutes, Melinda and her friend emerged from the women's room. Her hair was still up in the pigtails, but it was a little more disheveled. I could see that she had tried to tuck her shirt back in, but one tail was hanging out of her skirt. Melinda's make up was smeared in places. I saw the two holding hands.

The other girl was wiping red lipstick from her mouth. Her hair was down and waved in the air behind her. Melinda turned and squeezed the other girl's hand. The stranger pulled away, mouthed something to the blonde, then turned and headed straight for the door with quick deliberate steps. Both girls were unaware of the eyes upon them. Melinda looked like she was going to follow, but then let out a long sigh and went back to the dance floor.

I saw her look over at the table where Carl was sitting and then she started to scan the crowd. I assumed she was looking for me, so I headed back downstairs. I got the feeling that she was wanted to talk about this latest encounter.

Melinda had rejoined Katie and Leah, and although she looked like she was getting back into the swing of things, she had a distant and detached look in her eyes. I stopped by the table where Carl was sitting and took my seat. He still hadn't moved.

Guys were still coming up to the girls, although with less frequency. All the rest had either had their turn or had been shot down before they even got close. Melinda looked our way, blew me a kiss and winked.

I leaned over and asked Carl if he wanted another drink. He nodded and I headed for the bar.

While I was waiting for a rum & Coke and a Sprite from the bartender, I felt someone tugging at my elbow. I turned and was face to face with a pretty girl with deep blue eyes and blonde hair. She had on jean shorts and a tight t-shirt with the words "hug me" across her chest, although the real message was "stare at my perky boobs".

"Hi," she said in a cute southern drawl that was barely audible over the music. "Are you and your friend going to do anything more than stare at those girls?"

"If you'd stand in front of me, I'd stare at you," I smiled at her.

She blushed. I think she was a little angry that Leah, Melinda and Katie were drawing so much attention away from the other girls in the place. "I'm Paige, by the way."

I introduced myself and pointed. "That's my buddy Carl. He's a mute."

She laughed. I don't think she knew if I was joking or not. Then I noticed her friend behind her. "This is Vivien. We're from Mississippi. Where are you guys from?"

"Jacksonville," I replied.

"Are you in school there?"

"Yup. Physical therapy." It wasn't true, but it sounded better than my real major (history).

"Gotta love spring break," Paige said. Her friend was standing behind her, her obvious shyness coming across. We started to make a little small talk. Both girls were cute college co-eds from Ole Miss.

I think some people go on spring break and use it as an excuse to be something other than what they are. They go to Panama City or Cancun, adopt a wild and crazy persona for seven days and pretend nothing happened when they get home. Of course, if they get arrested, raped, pregnant, a tattoo or a venereal disease, it stays with them, but otherwise, I think some people pretend to be someone else for a week when they go out of town.

I got that feeling from Paige and Vivien. They were both pretty, if plain looking. Both had a "girl next door" appeal. They were neither drop dead gorgeous nor unattractive. Back home they were probably "invisible", but on spring break, they could be anyone. Or at least try to be anyone.

"Look, can we buy you girls a drink?" I figured that since our girls were flirting with every guy in the joint, I might as well make some friends, too.

"Sure," Paige replied eagerly.

After paying the bartender and leaving a generous tip, we gathered up our drinks and headed back over to the table where we were sitting. I introduced Carl to the girls. He was still speechless. I winked at Paige. "Like I said, he's mute."

Carl was distracted and that made things a little awkward because Vivien wasn't much of a talker either. I think she was following her more gregarious friend's lead and wasn't all that comfortable about meeting strange guys in a club.

I glanced over at Leah who had noticed the girls at our table. She tapped Katie on the shoulder and then pointed at us. Melinda also noticed and blew a kiss in our direction, then the girls turned their attention back to the half dozen prospective suitors around them.

"Listen, guys," Paige hurriedly downed the rest of her drink. "Would you . . . um, like to dance."

"I don't know how," Her eyes flashed with disappointment for a second. I smiled and extended my hand. "Would you teach me?"

Her face brightened up. I led her to the dance floor. Carl and Vivien followed. I'm not much of a dancer. I won't win any competitions and it's certainly not the reason why anyone would ever be attracted to me.

Paige was fairly comfortable and she soon had me awkwardly moving to the music. Carl was also getting into it, although he frequently kept looking in Katie's direction, much to the consternation of his dance partner.

I turned Paige around and she began to press her ass against me. I put my hand on her hips and we moved back and forth together. She had turned and I think she was about to kiss me, when I heard a commotion from the middle of the dance floor.

My head shot around, immediately looking for the girls. I saw some pushing and shoving.

The music stopped.

The place fell dead silent for the briefest of seconds, then was consumed by shouting. Some people in the crowd pushed forward trying to get a better view. Others fled, trying to get out of the way.

Carl was instantly in motion, leaving Vivien standing by herself.

"Excuse me," I patted Paige on the hip and went to follow Carl.

There was more shouting. I pushed my way through the crowd and found the girls at the center of the ruckus.

Melinda—have I mentioned that she is a second degree black belt?—had a guy face-down on the floor. His arm was twisted behind his back and his hand was turned at an awkward angle. Melinda had him in a joint-lock with one hand holding three of his fingers, his elbow in the other hand and her knee in the middle of his back. She could snap his wrist or rip his shoulder out of the socket with the slightest of movements. The look on her face was completely devoid of emotion and her eyes promised instant pain to further resistance.

There were two other guys on the ground. One was clutching his groin and the other had his hand over his mouth and nose, blood pouring out between his fingers.

Leah stood over the two on the ground, shouting obscenities at a fourth college-age guy. Her right hand was curled into a fist and her other hand was in the other guy's face, her index finger waving menacingly. She stood in between him and Katie, like mama bear watching over her cub.

In high school, Leah lettered three times in both lacrosse and soccer. Our senior year, she even kicked field goals for the football team. Rumours swirled around school that she had gone into the guy's locker room and punched out one of the other football players for giving her some lip about being a girl playing "a man's game" (true), broken another girl's ankle after being illegally slide-tackled (not true), and took on four girls from a cross-town rival's field hockey team after a game and won (unproven—Leah neither confirmed nor denied the rumour and the girls who were allegedly beaten up never said anything either, although one did have an unexplained shiner for a week after the game).

Katie's face was red with anger, almost as red as her hair. She was trading insults over Leah's shoulder with the one guy who was still on his feet. Her shirt hung open, the knot undone. She didn't even try to cover up; she was livid.

I grabbed Carl's elbow and pointed to the girls, and then the door. "Outside. Now."

The guy who was in Leah's face smelled heavily of tequila. We got there before the Disney bouncers did.

I stepped between the guy and Leah. Since I had never been dancing with the girls, he didn't know me from Adam, but I needed to cool his machismo off before Leah killed him. With my back to the girls, I put my arms around the guy and began to gently walk him backwards. I did this partly to get close and have my hands on him in case things escalated, but I also wanted to see if he might have been hiding a knife or other concealed weapon within easy reach.

He was still jawing with Leah and Katie, although I think it was mostly out of bravado. The guy saw what they had done to his friends and I really don't think he wanted a generous helping of whoop-ass for himself. But still, he had to look cool for the benefit of all the other girls watching and his friends.

I walked him to the edge of the dance floor, while saying to him, "Let it go, man. Let it go before the cops get here."

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Carl ushering Melinda, Leah and Katie out the front door. A couple of the bouncers went with them and some others were tending to the three guys on the floor.

When we were well out of the way, the guy I was holding turned around and stomped off. I looked through the crowd for Paige and Vivien, but they were no where to be found. I felt bad for ditching them like this, but quickly headed for the door.

Outside, Melinda and Leah were fuming. Katie was saying something to Carl and making large emphatic motions with her arms. There was still a ringing in my ears from the loud music.

The four of them were talking to two of the Disney bouncers and a short woman with a walkie-talkie and a Disney name tag. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun. She radiated authority and control. Although she barely topped five feet tall, I don't think I would have wanted to meet her in a dark alley unless she was there to protectme.

When I walked up, the woman said, "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I'm with them," I said, pointing to the four of my friends.

Some EMTs went into the club, followed by a couple of police officers.

Leah's eyes were darting around. She was still in the "fight or flight" mode and I knew she wanted to hit something.

I took her in my arms and held her for a long time. Her heart was racing. She hugged me back and calmed down after a few minutes.

The short woman was listening to something in her earpiece. She said something into the walkie-talkie. The bouncers kept spectators back away from us. Katie and Carl were still talking. She had tied her shirt back up so she was no longer exposed for everyone to see.

"What happened?" I asked Melinda once Leah's breathing became normal again. I kept my arm around her reassuringly.

Melinda frowned. "Those guys came over and were hitting on us. They had a little too much to drink and got pushy. We told them to go away and they didn't. One of them tried to feel up Katie and Leah took exception."

"Who threw the first punch?" I said quietly.

Melinda made a face and shrugged. "I don't know. It all happened so fast. I was dancing with some guy and all the sudden, I saw Leah knee that one guy in the balls. His buddy took a swing and I put him on the ground. I didn't see her paste the third motherfucker, but it was over in just a couple of seconds."

The girl with the walkie-talkie came over to us. "Those guys are saying they want to press charges."

Leah's face contorted with anger. I stepped between her and the woman with the walkie-talkie.

"We're looking at the security tape right now," the woman continued. "We've had trouble with these guys before. They're locals who like to come hang out and hit on out-of-town girls."

The woman pressed her finger against her earpiece and her brow creased for a second. We all held our breaths. Then her face broke into a big smile. She said something into the walkie-talkie.

"The tape shows the guy with the bloody nose clearly reaching for your friend's shirt first and ripping it open," she pointed at Katie. "That's sexual assault. Young lady, wouldyou like to press charges?"

"Hell, yes!"

"Up until now, they've just been jerks and that's not against the law," She showed her teeth in a predatory grin, as if she were unaccustomed to smiling a lot. There was a wicked glint in her eyes. "They never laid a hand on anyone until tonight. Even if you don't press charges, we can still ban them from the property so they don't disturb any more of our guests."

For the next half hour or so, each of the girls gave a statement to the police. We had all calmed down, although the playful and flirtatious mood was clearly ruined. When our involvement with the incident was over, we saw three guys being led away in handcuffs. There was no sign of the fourth. I guess I had not only saved his life, but I had kept him from getting arrested. According to the woman with the walkie-talkie, they were being charged with drunk & disorderly, sexual battery, assault, and public intoxication. She assured me that they knew who the fourth guy was and he would be asked to never set foot on any Disney property again, even if he was never charged.

Leah started to yell some obscenities at them, but Melinda stopped her before she got riled up again.

"Can you do me one last favour?" the Disney woman said to me, I guess because I was the most sober of the bunch. "Can you go home and sleep this off? I think we've had enough excitement for tonight."

"Sure thing," I replied, happy that I wouldn't be bailing anyone out of jail that night.

"By the way, girls," she said smiling again, "If you ever need jobs, I'm always looking for bouncers."

That lightened everyone up a little and we headed back towards the water launch to the Old Key West Resort. Once the adrenaline stopped flowing, the three girls seemed to calm down a little.

I had my arm around Leah's waist. I could still feel her shaking. Melinda walked beside us and Carl and Katie were close behind. We waited for the water launch. When it arrived, we got on the pontoon boat. It was rather late and we were the only ones who showed up for a ride. I noticed the driver of the water launch kept staring at the girls, still in their sexy outfits. I didn't blame him.

As we were pulling away, he asked absently, "Did you guys have a good time tonight?"

That set everyone off. The girls all started talking at once. Carl tried to get a word or two in. I knew the driver was sorry he asked.

"Did you see the way Leah jumped on that guy?" Katie said excitedly.

"I saw nothing," I said. "One minute you guys were dancing, the next minute, all Hell's broken loose."

"He reached for my shirt and the next thing I knew, he was on the ground. The other guy came in and Melinda took him down. And thenpow! Leah hit the third guy. It was like she . . ."

Katie turned to Leah and saw that there were tears in her eyes. She was trying valiantly to choke back sobs.

"Oh, my god," Katie whispered. "You were protecting me. I—"

In an instant Katie was in her arms. The two girls held each other and both broke down crying.

Leah pulled Katie on to her lap and squeezed her with all her strength. Katie leaned in and kissed her desperately.

Passion overtook the girls and they began to grope and paw at each other. They kissed harder.

I thought the boat driver was going to shoot his wad right there.

"Are you the only guy working tonight?" I said softly. He nodded. "Are you in a hurry?"

He shook his head. We were in a canal somewhere between Buena Vista Village and the Old Key West Resort. There were no other boats on the waterway and we were basically in the middle of a swamp.

"Can you give them a minute?"

He shut the throttle off and the pontoon boat coasted to a stop. The only sounds were of the outboard engine idling and the girls pent-up emotions surfacing.

Katie held Leah's face in her hands and kiss it all over. Tears smeared both girls's makeup.

I looked over at Carl and it occurred to me that he had never gotten a good look at his girlfriend kissing another girl.

It also occurred to me that he was about to lose his girlfriend to the girl she was kissing right then.

He shifted uncomfortably. I think part of him was turned on and part of him was embarrassed. After all, shouldn'the have been the one to take on the guy who had put a hand on his girl?

I watched the gears turning in his head.

Leah and Katie were talking in rapid, hushed tones. Their voices were broken with emotion. I didn't want to be eavesdropping on such a private moment, but there was no where else to go. We could only hear bits and pieces of what they were saying.